Page 22 of The SEALs' Single Mom Baby Surprise

“Hi. Mom said I couldn’t invite you in for breakfast but that you could bring up her thermos and maybe leave with a breakfast burrito.” Her big eyes blink at him with the same shape as her mother’s. The same discerning calculation.

“Deal.”

Reese waves her hand in a hurry up motion. “Come on. You’d better hurry before she changes her mind. She does that sometimes.”

And the little girl hurries back to her mom.

I grab the thermos and follow. The building is narrow with a set of stairs on the left. Latching the door behind me, I fall into step behind Sloane as her daughter goes up first. I try to keep my eyes off her ass, but it’s a losing battle.

I haven’t stopped thinking about her all night. About this.

Her apartment is on the second floor, just off the stairs—not a particularly safe location, but the traffic through might deter petty crimes. It has to be loud and a bit obnoxious. Probably why it was open.

Probably why she’d been able to move in so quickly. It took less than a week between her application and her move-in date.

Inside her door, Sloane holds out her hand. I close the door and lean against it with a raised brow.

“Wait here.” Then she gestures for the thermos.

I hand it over, and she takes it to the sink to wash it. Her daughter is sitting at a card table in front of her window with her own breakfast burrito half eaten and a full mouth.

A box sits beside it. There’s a couch but no coffee table or TV. The rest of the living room is bare. I’ll bet the kitchen cabinets and fridge are equally as bare, like she brought nothing with her to fill them up.

Sloane returns with a tinfoil wrapped burrito and an assessing look. “I have fresh coffee if you can drink it fast.”

I smile at her. “Okay.”

She goes and returns with a steaming mug. I take it, and she slips away again, brushing hair back from her daughter’s face. “Finish up and go wash your face, Ketchup Queen.”

I drink the coffee as fast as I can, but it’s scalding hot. Blowing across the surface between sips, I watch Sloane move around her apartment, packing Reese’s backpack, slipping in a brown paper sack lunch.

Her hair is down, sliding across her shoulders and back in long waves. She looks so young when she isn’t glaring at me. Even though her confidence and authority don’t waver one bit.

When Reese pops out of her chair, exclaiming that she’s done, Sloane meets her halfway to grab her plate before shooing her off to the bathroom.

I’m taking larger gulps as she turns to me, ready to be evicted. She meets me at the door as Reese disappears into the bathroom behind a closed door.

“Almost done?”

I nod, tipping the mug up for the last dregs. It’ll be enough to get me home and through a shower before I crash. I offer her the empty mug.

“I can drive you in to work.”

She frowns at me but doesn’t back away. “I have to drop my daughter off at school.”

“Okay.” If that’s her only qualm, I’ve made progress. Or at least, I think I have until she shakes her head.

“No. And you won’t follow me there, either.” Her tone is firm but not as hateful as it was last night.

“It’s my job.”

Her finger whips into my face, the scolding incoming. “No. I don’t want any attention brought to my daughter and her school. No. Back off.”

I grab her wrist and pull her closer. We’re nearly pressed together, and I’m flashed back to the daydreams that kept me company all night. Her honeysuckle scent is intoxicating.

“You don’t think they already know about her and her school? It’s in your personnel file, Sloane. And all of the changes you’ve made recently, they’re easy to find online if you know where to look.”

She yanks at my grip on her wrist, but I don’t let her go. I need her to understand how serious this is. It makes me want to shake her out of frustration.

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