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Hours later, as Marissa sat at her desk at Safe Place, she answered her cell phone and couldn&039;t keep the sain"

Butch&039;s Boston-accented voice was full of gravel As usual "When are you coht, Where had the night gone? Then again, it was always this way at work She came in as soon as the sun was safely below the horizon, and before she knew it, the light was threatening in the east, and driving her back to the compound

Into the arms of her male

Hardly a chore, that was

"About forty-five minutes?"

"You could coested an altogether differentto that verb than "return home" "Butch - "

"I didn&039;t ht"

She bit her lip, picturing him naked in the sheets that had been messy when she left "No?"

"Mmm, no" He drew out the syllables - at least until his breath caught "I&039;ve been thinking about you"

His voice was so deep, so raw, that she knew exactly what he was doing to hied in some seriously beautiful mental pictures

"Marissa coether, she pulled out of the spell he knew da around her "I can&039;t leave quite now But I&039;ll start getting ready to check out - how about that?"

"Perfect" She could hear the grin on his face "I&039;ll be here waiting for you - and listen, all kidding aside, take as long as you need Just coive you an hors d&039;oeuvre you won&039;t forget"

"You&039;re pretty unforgettable already"

"That&039;s irlie I love you"

"I love you, too"

As she ended the call, that big, fat, happy smile stayed on her face Her mate was a traditional kind of male, "old-school," as he called himself, with all the biases that ca, open a door, puh a er than what could fit in a sandwich bag you naot in the way of her job Ever That was the one area of her life where she called the shots, and he never complained about her hours, her workload, or her stress level

Which was just one of the many reasons she adored the Brother The displaced females and children who stayed at Safe Place were a kind of fae of the facility, the staff, the progra and everybody as under its roof And she loved her job When Wrath had given her the charter to run the charity, she had nearly balked, but she was so glad she had fought through the fear to find her professional purpose

"Marissa?"

Glancing up, she found one of the newer counselors standing in her office&039;s doorway "Hi, there Hoas group tonight?"

"Really good I&039;ll be filingcookies down in the kitchen I&039;entlemale here with a delivery?"

"Really?" She frowned at the calendar on the wall "We don&039;t have anything scheduled"

"I know, so I haven&039;t unlocked the door He said you&039;d know hi if we shouldn&039;t call the Brotherhood?"

"What does he look like?"

The fe He&039;s got dark hair with a white stripe in front?"

Marissa jumped up so fast her chair let out a squeak on the floor "Tohrment? He&039;s alive?"

"I&039;m sorry?"

"I&039;ll handle this It&039;s okay - you head back to the kitchen"

Marissa shot out of her office and went down the front set of stairs Pausing by the main entrance, she checked the security monitor that V had installed, and then immediately yanked open the door

She threw herself at the Brother without thinking "Oh, God, where have you been! You were lost for nights!"

"Not really" He returned her e care of soood"

She stepped back, but held on to both his thick biceps "Are you okay?"

Everyone at the , and she could iine how hard that had been on hi relationship between the Brother and the quiet, fallen aristocrat would heal him Instead, he&039;d disappeared after she&039;d come out of her fertile time, and Autumn had moved out of the house

Not a happy outcome, obviously

"Listen, I know you take donations, right?" he said

Respecting the fact that he hadn&039;t answered her question, she stopped probing "Oh, we absolutely do We&039;ll take anything - we&039;re experts at adaptive reuse around here"

"Good, because I have soive the females, maybe? I&039;m not sure you can use any of it, but"