“Hi there. I figured you might be hungry. I hope subs from Sharky’s are okay with you.” She placed the bag on his desk and leaned down to kiss him. He had to grip the edge of his chair to keep from grabbing her and pulling her down onto his lap.

“You’re very good to me. I didn’t realize it’d gotten so late. I’m sorry I didn’t check in with you today. Here, let’s go eat this in the break room.” He took her hand and the bag. He got a few looks from his co-workers and he wanted to laugh and tease them all about his good fortune.

“Sit, I’ll get some plates and sodas,” he told her as he moved about the room.

They settled in and he’d inhaled a foot long sub and a bag of chips before pausing to catch the amused look on her face.

“Hungry huh?”

He laughed. “Yeah, I skipped lunch. Thank you for this. I needed it.”

“There’s another one in the bag, I figured you might need two.”

“If we weren’t getting married already, I’d be proposing to you right now for that.”

He polished off the second sandwich, this one with more manners than the first, and sat back with a satisfied sigh.

“That was marvelous. I feel way better.”

“Good. Maybe I’ll pack you a lunch or something every day. Why don’t you have snacks in your desk? I have snacks at work. It’s not good to go all day without eating, Ben. You need your reflexes sharp.”

The concern on her face warmed him. Other than family, who’d ever worried about whether he ate regularly? His warrior-woman was going to make him lunch? Damn, the hard-on was back.

“…I have all kinds of stuff to tell you but I’ll wait until you get home. You gonna be really late?” she’d just finished saying when he tuned back in.

“I have about another hour or two to deal with here. Then I’ll be home. I’m sorry.”

She packed up their trash and tossed it. “Don’t be. It’s your job. Mine is like that sometimes too. I’ll be home when you get there. I have laundry to do anyway.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

She paused and blushed, ducking her head quickly. “Oh. Thank you.”

Ben liked being with her this way. Just normal couple stuff. Liked it that she seemed touched by the way he cared for her, God knew he was bowled over by what she did for him.

At her car, he kissed her slow and thorough, letting her taste slide through him, hoping it would hold him over until he could do a much better job in private.

“Be careful, red wolf. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Three hours later, he pulled into their driveway and realized how much better it was to come home when the lights inside were on. Knowing Tegan was in there, in their home, filling it with her presence made him pretty damned satisfied with his life. General insanity of his mother going nuts and the f**king werewolf mafia notwithstanding.

He found her drinking a mug of tea, tucked up on the couch and reading a book. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and she looked like the best thing on Earth.

“Don’t you dare apologize,” she called out as he came toward her.

He laughed. “Okay, come to the bedroom with me and fill me in while I change my clothes.”

She sat on their bed and told him about the meeting she’d had that morning. Lex wasn’t convinced it was Pellini but they’d all agreed it would be something devious he’d get up to just to keep people focused on something other than his activities.

“I also spoke with Agent Benoit’s assistant, who is a wolf. Did you know that?”

Ben nodded his head. “Never met him though.”

“Nice enough, Midwestern wolf. Anyway, there’s some supposition Pellini might try and stir some anti-wolf sentiment to keep the Packs fighting and worried about humans.

Cade thinks Pellini would do it to make the Packs on the fence about him fall his way.

All the Packs against him, the ones with the most power, are the ones who advocated coming out to humans to begin with. There’s been a general rise since this time last year in this sort of thing. They’re looking into it.”

“Imagine all the good people like Pellini could do if they just applied their intelligence and energy toward something positive instead of this shit.”

“No kidding. Man I love those boxer briefs. I’m buying you more, I love the way they hug your ass and thighs.” She rolled on her back and waggled her brows. Her hair tumbled free from the ponytail and her beauty hurt him for a moment. She was so damned precious, essential to him.

“You’re so beautiful.”

“What brought that on?” She smiled, just a simple, pretty smile. From what he’d understood from Nina, she hadn’t done much smiling for many years after losing her first husband. He liked that she did with him.

“I just love looking at you. Love having you here.”

“I love being here. I like the feel of this house a lot. Looks like my cousin Dave is interested in buying my house. Which is nice because it keeps it in the family. Oh and they’ve set a date for the National Council meeting. Three weeks from Saturday. The security plans will start arriving over the next few weeks so the groups going and know what’s happening. Benoit’s aide told me he’d be contacting you tomorrow about it.”

Ice moved through him at the thought of how dangerous this would be for her but at least he’d be there too. He’d have climbed the f**king walls if she’d gone and he’d stayed back home.