Page 75 of Silver Secrets

“Alright, alright. I’m just as happy as anyone else that the hug was a success, but Christ, Doc. Let’s keep things professional here.”

“He was talking to you,” Stone joked.

“Please. Everyone knows I couldn’t get a cool nickname like ‘Doc’. He stuck me with the color of my hair.”

Gage patted his lap and then held out his hand. “Red.”

“See what I mean?”

“Okay, Track. Don’t do anything Hawk would try in here if he was alone with a pretty lady. See you guys later.”

Eighteen

Insomnia was now his new best friend. Even with making tea for Sloane every night before bed, he just couldn’t get his mind to turn off. And when he did finally fall asleep, his eyes would pop back open two hours later, and he’d be up for the rest of the day. It was so frustrating. But he was wasting precious time staying in bed. There was work to be done, and if he wasn’t going to sleep, he needed to get up and tackle it.

Sometime in the night, Sloane had rolled off his chest, and although he’d woken up missing the warmth of having her in his arms, he was grateful that he could slip out of bed without waking her.

Tugging a shirt over his head, Gage made his way out of the bedroom and headed straight for his laptop. Work for The Trident was getting pushed further and further behind schedule, but he wouldn’t apologize for that. His number one priority was taking care of Sloane and making sure she was safe. Cap and Gunner both understood that, and he knew if there was any push back, they’d have his six, no questions asked.

Still, he didn’t want to let them down, or put the business in a bad spot. Which is why, hours before he should have been up, Gage would take the restless night as an opportunity to catch up on some coding.

It was only two hours later, when his eyes started to feel the familiar strain from staring at a computer screen, that Gage realized he’d forgotten to grab his glasses. Shit. He wouldn’t risk heading back into the bedroom and disturbing Sloane’s sleep just to grab them.

It was so easy to get lost in the lines of coding. Looking for the one piece of information that wasn’t where it belonged. Looking for something extra that flew under the radar and caused catastrophic failure of the coding down the line.

That’s why he was surprised when he looked up from his computer screen to watch Sloane walk into the living room, fully dressed. It wouldn’t have been weird if they were starting the day, but when the quickest little glance at his watch told him it was three in the morning, Gage sat up in alarm. Her hand was pressed low on her belly, and he could see flashes of pain in her eyes.

“What’s going on? Are you going somewhere?”

“It’s not a big deal, I just… I need to go to the store. Shit.” She leaned over, clutching at her stomach. That had him jumping up, rushing to her side.

“Whoa. Are you feeling sick? Let’s get you back to bed and I’ll bring you some ginger ale.”

“No, I’m okay. I need to go. It’s just that it’s the middle of the night.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Gage fought the growl bubbling up in his chest. If she wasn’t sick, why did she need to go out to a store for something? “No place around here is going to be open. Maybe Mae can help me if I call. Lily might be able to, but I hate to bother her when she has the baby sleeping.”

Sloane pulled her phone out of her pocket, looking at it like she was holding a bomb.

“Put that down. You don’t have to call Mae. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t have anything with me,” she whispered.

“Anything with you for what?”

Her cheeks flushed. Shit, maybe she was coming down with something. He lifted his hand and brushed it across her forehead. She didn’t feel warmer than normal.

Sloane smiled as she reached up and pulled his hand away from her face.

“I’m sorry. I got my period. I have an IUD so I wasn’t even thinking about my cycle and having supplies on hand, but maybe the stress of everything recently made it come back?”

Christ. Gage let out his breath, relieved that it was something he could easily help her with.

“Why are you apologizing? There’s supplies under the sink in the guest bathroom. If it’s not what you need, you can write down whatever you want me to grab, and I’ll drive over to Rogersville to get it. I’ll make one of the guys come hang out over here until I can get back.”

“You keep things here at your apartment? For who?”

He shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I noticed Mae keeps the bathroom at work stocked, and it hit me that just because I didn’t have a woman living with me anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t make my home comfortable for my friends. You and Lily and Mae are here whenever we get together and I host. I didn’t want anyone to feel like they have to miss anything when we’re having fun because something comes up. And now that you’re here on a more permanent basis, I’m glad I was thinking ahead.”

She cupped his face with both of her hands, taking a second to look into his eyes. His hand reached up and moved some of her hair so that it tucked behind her ear.

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