The Reluctant Alpha (West Coast Wolves #1) - Susi Hawke Page 0,67

us down. My last thought as I passed out completely was how very much I loved my life now.

Fifteen

Matt

"Hey there, little wolf. How’s your morning going?" I smiled and pushed back from the desk as Elisha slipped into my office, closing the door behind him. When he hesitated by a guest chair, I held my arms wide. "Don't even think about it. I need to hold you. It's been too many hours since I saw you last."

He huffed, shooting me an amused smile, but still came over and sat down on my lap. Wrapping my arms around his stomach, I nuzzled the side of his neck before resting my chin on his shoulder. I felt his contentment as he rested a hand over mine and threaded our fingers together. "Breakfast was two hours ago, my love. You barely had time to miss me."

"Two is too many, and I always have time to miss you. What are the boys up to? Oh, before I forget. Jared said yesterday he vetted a good list of candidates for the nanny job. I pointed him in your direction because I knew you'd want to be involved. And let's face it—we both know you're the better one to take the lead since I'm getting a handle on having kids. Did he get a chance to talk to you about it?"

After a few days to settle in and adjust to being a family, we were trying to choose a routine. The problem was, balancing our responsibilities to the pack while finding time for supervising the boys’ activities was a lot. It also brought my attention to other things missing in our community, but I hadn't found time to address them yet.

Groaning, Elisha rested his head against mine, seeking comfort. "Never again. Jared told you he had a list? No. Jared had a line of people for me to interview. He sprang them on me while I was going over menus with Paula. It’s okay, though. He got in trouble with his mother for stressing me out."

"I don't understand. Why would Jared jump you? I can't believe he didn't put it on your calendar."

"Mr. Efficiency? I doubt he even considered I might want time to get a list of questions together and decide what I was looking for. We barely talked about the idea of hiring a nanny yesterday. Yesterday! And today he had people ready to be interviewed? You'd think it was his personal mission."

Wincing, I realized precisely why Jared might believe it was. "I'm sorry, the conflict is probably my fault. When you were having lunch with Christina yesterday, I had Jared watch the boys while I met with the group of local business owners to discuss the new tax system the Gamma Council voted on. They were happy with the hefty reduction, but when I came out of the meeting, I found Jared cutting gum out of Noah's hair while Saul told him what he was doing wrong."

Elisha shook as he started laughing. "Paula told me. Apparently, the gum came right after a paint incident which didn't go as planned. I meant to ask Saul about it, but he's been hanging out with Devon all morning. Devon made the mistake of walking in with a copy of one of my brother's favorite books in his back pocket. Apparently, there's a library around here somewhere? Anyway, they went for a visit."

"Yeah, it's in the next town over. Nice of Devon to get him out of the house. As for the paint incident? Here's what you need to know. Jared thought painting would be a good activity. He didn't realize Noah needed hands-on supervision. It’s why you didn't see him at dinner last night. He spent hours scrubbing the dining room in his mom’s living quarters. Rumor has it Noah got more paint on the furniture than on the paper."

"Oh, God. Poor man! So he wasn't being a jerk—he really was desperate for us to find childcare. Especially with the new baby on the way. Yeah, I get it now. I'm glad I was nice because I’d feel awful if I'd been rude to him.”

I gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. "I think we got sidetracked. Tell me about the nannies—did any of them seem like a good candidate?"

He sat up and tried to turn. It only took me a few seconds to have him sitting sideways, where he could see my face. Elisha rolled his eyes. "It's not fair how easy you make moving me