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When he returned, he walked up to her and set the takeout by her elbow.
She glanced at the box and then up at him.
“You need to eat.”
Something flickered in her eyes. “I can take a few minutes.” She pushed her chair back and grabbed the food. To his surprise, she left what she was doing to take a break.
He followed her all the way to the kitchen. Thankfully, no one was around. While she settled at the counter with the food, he walked to the fridge and grabbed them each a bottled water.
“Thanks,” she said quietly. “You didn’t have to do this, but it looks fantastic.”
He didn’t respond, only stared at her. Actually, he couldn’t look away. The woman lit up his damn world.
If only he did the same for her.
She took a few test bites and then dug into the dish. It warmed his heart to see her devour the food with relish.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
She stopped midbite. Brown eyes landed on his.
“I know this is your job and you’re capable of handling yourself. It’s just that…”
“You want control over me?”
“That’s not it at all.”
“You think I’m too weak now that I’m…”
He shook his head. “I only want you safe, Lena. You’re my whole goddamnworld.”
“That’s always been the problem. You have some dream in your head about us and marriage. Even this pregnancy is your dream. You get me stuck at home on a shelf, safe and sound, while you traipse around the globe, righting wrongs. Go, Slade!”
“It wouldn’t be like that.”
Her brow shot up. “So I get to traipse around the globe and you play wonder-dad? Perfect!”
“I didn’t say that either.”
They stared at each other. Several pounding heartbeats stretched on. His gut boiled and his chest burned. Why couldn’t they ever figure this out so they could just be happy?
“What do we do, Lena?”
She bowed her head, hiding her eyes from him. When she spoke, her voice was filled with tears. “I don’t know, Slade. I really don’t.”
* * * * *
“Graham, what stack would you put this in?” Mustang held up a sheet of paper with handwritten scribblings and a map of some building with the rooms labeled.
Lena tapped a finger to her lips. “Put it on stack number three.”
“Gotcha. Any luck hacking the kid’s laptop?”
“Working on it,” she responded.
“Any idea why Ramon’s son is called Trey?”
She looked up. “Trey is for the third in the line. He’s Ramon the third.”
