Page 48 of Her Chosen Protector

He reached into his tactical vest and pulled out a glow stick. He jerked off his night-vision goggles.

“Rafa doesn’t have the combination,” Leo said. “Trying to get ahold of Señora Azua at the hospital.”

“Never mind,” Asher said as he popped the stick and a green glow lit up the numbers on Eden’s piece of paper. Her hand was trembling.

The door to the basement banged open. Shit, I should’ve shot the lock.

“You key it in,” she said.

He did. It worked. The door was heavy. But he got both of them inside and the door shut before the enemy arrived and that was all that mattered.

“Leo, we’re in.”

No answer.

Asher tried again.

“Leo, we’re in the vault. What’s the status of everybody else?”

Nothing.

He looked around at his solid steel surroundings. Of course, he wasn’t being heard. In the eerie green glow, Eden grinned at him.

“You think that was funny, huh?”

“Yeppers. Did you figure it out?”

“You mean the fact that my radio won’t work in here? Yeah, I think that’s finally penetrated.” He stifled a grin, waiting to see if she’d catch onto his stupid play on words.

She laughed. “Good pun. You know, I like you, Asher.”

“Thanks, I like you too, Eden.” And he meant it. Smart, good sense of humor in the middle of the madness, and she was willing to lay her life on the line for someone else. He shook his head and felt light-headed. Was it because of a possible concussion, or the woman in front of him?

Eden bent her head. He got the feeling that she was a little embarrassed. Who would have guessed? Then she looked up and smiled at him. “I gotta tell you, I really, really like the fact that there is carpet and a table and chairs in here. Suzanne has done this up right.”

He held up the glow stick and looked around the large vault. It was huge. The entire back wall was covered with safety deposit boxes from floor to ceiling. In the middle of the room was a huge conference room table, with ten plush chairs. At the far right end was a door.

Eden sat down at the long table, in one of the plush armchairs, and reached under her skirt.

Reached under her skirt.

Reached under her skirt.

What the hell?

Then he saw she was rolling down one of her stockings.

It took all of his willpower to keep his tongue from rolling out of his head. She’d totally caught him off-guard with that move, and he hadn’t realized just how much she’d turned him on.

Calm yourself, Thorne!

“These are shredded and covered in blood, I’ve been needing to take them off,” she let out a tired sigh of relief as she stretched her toes.

He started to watch as she began rolling down the next stocking. She wasn’t doing anything overtly sexy, but Asher still had to look away, or risk drool dripping on the carpet. The woman had legs that went on forever.

“No gold bars.” He heard her yawn.

“Huh?” Asher hoped it was safe to turn back. It was.