Page 27 of The SEALs' Single Mom Baby Surprise

“And I don’t?” Sloane returns. “We both have families to take care of, so I don’t want to hear it. If you have to bug off, I’ll stay and get the overtime. Lord knows, I could use it.”

That pings me, and I need to sniff out why. Is it just her being a single mom? Is it the recent breakup? And is it her ex who keeps blowing up her phone?

Kingston keeps quiet for the rest of the delivery. I keep to Sloane as inventory gets put away. Her frustration has doubled since this morning, and she needs an outlet or she’s going to tip over.

“Didn’t mean to step on your toes.”

She glares at me. “Don’t apologize if you don’t understand what you actually did.”

A smile flashes across my face. “But I do. I spoke up to lend you my authority, but you didn’t need it. And in doing so, I undermined you.”

Her shoulders pull back, and the look on her face is stony but not angry. It’s almost like she mistrusts my honesty, my knowing exactly what I did and how she responded to it.

“I’m not his boss.” This must be her way of accepting my apology. “I just get sick of his whining, acting like he’s the only one with responsibilities outside of work.”

There’s something else there, but she’s not ready to tell me.

The day moves slowly, but I don’t mind. I enjoy watching Sloane work, trying to figure her out.

She hasn’t given me many clues, but she’s offered me more today than she did yesterday.

Sloane barely takes a break, and like she promised, she stays late to finish the afternoon delivery, checking each one thoroughly.

I peek on Kingswell as he leaves, his interaction with Boone, and it all seems normal. Cole watches him leave, too. Cole and the sergeant major have been wading through bureaucratic nonsense.

Better them than me.

Cole nods to me, and I brace my hands on either side of the door into the office and lean in to look at him. “Yeah, Boss.”

“I’ve got an errand.”

I wave him off. “Yeah. I’ve got her.”

When I go back to where I left Sloane, I find her gone. She’s not in any of the nearby aisles. Fuck, it’s like she disappeared. And she’s so quiet when she works.

In my search for her, the power goes out. Shit.

I stop and listen. Sloane doesn’t scream from the sudden dark. Not even a squeak.

Then I hear the soft rattle of a cage. I turn toward the cage that holds the ammo and weapon parts. A power outage automatically locks them.

It takes me a minute to find my way back to her. Her fingers weave through the cage, and she pulls back when I near.

“You okay?” My eyes grow used to the dark, and I can see her pale outline, the way her arms wrap around herself.

“Yeah. Fine.”

A soft laugh escapes me. When a woman says she’s fine, she never means it. Or almost never. I’m sure Sloane, for all intents and purposes, is fine, but she’s shaken and won’t admit it.

“I’m going to get you out. Most of these electronic systems have a manual override or emergency release…” I feel around the lock for the small access panel. “If you know where to look.”

Carefully prying it open, I push the jumble of wires aside and release the mechanism to the door.

The click of it unlocking is satisfying, as is Sloane’s sigh.

I swing the cage open and meet her inside, pulling her into a hug.

She doesn’t resist, and I don’t like this overtly vulnerable version of her. Sloane is not timid. She’s the kind of girl who’s ready to set everything on fire. Ready to snap back. That’s the version of her I like.

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