Page 42 of Sloane

Craig rubbed the middle of Maddie’s back. “We saw women getting off the plane that Sloane was on, remember?”

Sloane didn’t wait for her to respond to Craig, when he lobbed, “And, no offense, but how many women are on the SWAT team with you?”

Oh snap.

I quietly took a seat across from Ryan to continue watching the back and forth.

“Well, none. Yet.”

“And what percentage of women make up the SDPD?”

“A little less than twenty. But the department just signed an initiative to reach thirty percent female recruits in the academy classes, by the year 2030.”

“That’s great. And we’ve integrated women into our companies and are exceeding our goals for women’s retention rates.”

That seemed to soothe Maddie because she dropped her hand from her hip.

Craig chimed in, “I think we can all agree more work needs to be done recruiting women into our respective fields, but progress is being made.”

Maddie and Sloane nodded in agreement, and Craig grumbled, “How the hell did you two get on this topic anyway?”

****

Sloane

“We were talking about how if I slept with a subordinate, I could get court-marshaled.”

Craig grimaced, then stole a glance at Maddie. “Guess it’s a good thing we aren’t in the Marines, huh, Princess?”

“Yeah, good thing.”

Ryan piped up. “College basketball starts tonight. I was thinking about going to San Diego State’s season opener next Friday if anyone wants to go.”

It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but I couldn’t help feeling a pang in my stomach that I wouldn’t be able to attend with my friends. I loved basketball—especially college. And San Diego State was my alma mater, although being enlisted while trying to go to school, it had taken me longer than the usual four years.

“I wish I could.”

Ryan tilted his beer bottle at me. “Me, too.”

“We’ll be sure to go to a game when you’re back for good,” Craig added. “Hell, we’ll get season tickets.”

Maddie snorted, then wrapped her arm around Craig’s waist. “You’d go to three games—tops. You work too much, babe.”

“Fine.” He pointed at me and said, “But we’re going when you get back.”

I smiled and said, “It’s a date,” but inside I worried that it wasn’t going to happen. That I wasn’t coming back. If that was the case, I was going to enjoy the hell out of my time with my friends and my girl while I had it.

“Make sure you send me pictures of you guys at next week’s game.”

Craig hadn’t committed to going, and he glanced at Maddie. That’s when I knew they had officially become an old, married couple, even though they were neither old nor even engaged.

“Do we have anything planned next Friday?”

I wanted that. So fucking bad.

Sitting down next to Ashley, I laid my arm across the back of her chair, and she moved closer to me. I wasn’t sure if she was even aware that she had, but I liked the idea that gravitating toward me was her reflex.

I wanted to have to check with her before I made plans. To share my life with her. Spend my weekends snuggled next to her on the couch watching TV, taking Tank out for walks in the evening together. Hell, I wanted to go grocery shopping together. Shit I used to tease my attached friends about, I now wanted. And I might not ever get to have it.

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