Page 79 of The SEALs' Single Mom Baby Surprise

Tracing my hands over everything I can reach anyway, I exhaust my options and myself. So I rest.

Curled up on the bed, I refuse to put my back to the door. It’s too much trust to give.

My mind swirls blackness as the events of the day and my situation catch up with me.

I’m halfway to sleep when the door bangs open and Mikhal barges in. Lifted half on my elbow, I blink at him. The smile on his face now is sinister.

“I’ve learned a few things about you that perhaps you don’t want me to know…”

I struggle to sit all the way upright as he approaches the bunk, trying to keep some space between us. My fatigue is worsening the green around my gills. Bile hovers at the back of my throat as I try to swallow it down.

“Why don’t I share with our new friend, too?”

Two big guys haul Jack into the room, his hands bound behind his back as they shove him to his knees in front of Mikhal. Another two men follow with fully automatic weapons pointed at his back.

I stare into his stony blue eyes. All I see is relief. He’s relieved to see me alive and whole.

Me, too.

I wish he were close enough to touch. That I could lean into his big chest and just let everything else go. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.

But just as quickly as relief came, it crashes away again as panic ensues. If he’s in here, he’s been caught. We’re both in trouble, and there are so, so many people around to keep us here.

I hate myself for still being glad that I’m not alone. Tears blur my vision.

Mikhal steps behind him as his goons retreat. The fact that they trust him to handle himself scares me more as he bends down beside Jack, talking in his ear. “Want to know your lovely little lady’s secret?”

I can’t breathe, can’t fill my lungs with air as I stare at them both.

What is he talking about? What kind of animosity is he trying to sow? What can he have figured out during our interrogation?

That smile returns, but this time it’s small, a smug signal that he’s hammered another crack in my armor.

“She’s pregnant.” His whisper drops like a bomb, and all the air is sucked out of my lungs. I’m gasping, choking on the information that I only figured out hours ago being let go like a weapon.

Jack blinks at me, and I bet he wishes he didn’t come, that he might have left me here and not had to deal with the fallout of my idiotic decisions.

36

SLOANE

Crawling off the bed slowly, I inch my way in front of Jack as Mikhal watches. Jack’s forehead creases as his gaze pings back and forth between my eyes, reading me. Is Mikhal telling the truth?

He is. Can Jack see that by merely looking at me? He can always tell so much.

My hands are shaking as I reach for him tentatively.

The gleam in Mikhal’s stare punches through the panic. He let the cat out of the bag because he wants to see a little drama.

So, I give it to him. “It’s true. I–I didn’t know how to tell you.”

My fingers barely graze his chest, which almost heaves under my touch. It’s not hard to will tears to my eyes. I so much feel like crying over it. Over doing this to him and Rhett and Sterling. I’m just so stupid.

Jack’s silence has me fumbling on. “I didn’t want to ruin your life. That’s all I ever seem to be good at. It’s why Skylar ran away the moment he found out about Reese. Why Alistair treated me the way he did.”

My fingers grip his T-shirt, and I miss the warmth of him when I drop my hands. The best show I can give is the one I’m most scared of. Just get it out of the way, say all the things I’m actually afraid of.

“I should have put more effort into preventing this. Because why would you want to be attached to some young girl who doesn’t know any better? Who doesn’t know my place? Who has to fight with you abouteverything?”

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