Page 21 of Her Sensual Protector

“Nope, just the two.”

How did he manage to sigh and laugh at the same time?

“I thought the CIA only wore windbreakers in the movies.”

“I wouldn’t know about that. I don’t own a windbreaker,” Leo said.

“Yeah, but you’re special forces. A SEAL, right?”

“I thought we covered that at lunch,” Leo said.

“We covered the fact that you’re really good at side-stepping questions. Just like you did now. Since you’re going to play that game again, I don’t see any reason to stay on this call, do you?” She knew she was being a bitch, but she didn’t have time for this shit. She needed to talk to Rayi and Alistair, then find out what the hell Jim was up to with Deyvid, because that could be scary as hell.

“Here I thought I was being cute.”

“Nope. It was getting old. Are you going to start being straight with me?”

“Daisy, I’ll be as straight as I can. Yeah, I’m a SEAL. Yeah, we’re looking into how we can help your father, but I can’t say much more than that.”

“Help my father or rescue my father?”

“What’s the difference?” Leo asked.

A brick that had been sitting on top of her chest lifted. The idea that Navy SEALs were planning a rescue had her breathing easier. It didn’t mean she wasn’t going to look at things from all angles though. Hope for the best and plan for the worst, that was her motto.

“Earlier you said it was bad. Are you going to act quickly?” she asked.

“That’s another thing I can’t answer. The when and how are need-to-know.”

“So if you can’t tell me anything, and I answered all of your questions at lunch, why the call now?” she asked him.

“Because you shook your tail this evening.”

Daisy barked out a laugh. “I think that’s a dance. ‘Shake Your Tailfeather’. Or did you mean something even more, shall we say, evocative?”

Leo snorted. “Don’t get me started, Ms. Squires, I would like to be all sorts of evocative about your tail.”

Daisy rolled her eyes; this was so inappropriate, but it felt good. “Look, Leo, let’s get down to it, what do you want?”

I did not say ‘get down to it.’ How long has it been since I’ve been laid, anyway? Holy hell! Two years! No wonder everything coming out of my mouth sounds like a cheesy porn movie.

“Daisy?”

“Hmmm?”

“What did you do when you got away from the CIA?”

“It doesn’t matter. I haven’t found anything out that will help yet. Now that I have your number, I’ll call you if things change.”

I have to get off this call now. God knows what will come out of my mouth next!

“Daisy, we need you to stand down. We’ve got this under control. The last thing we need is you getting into trouble too.”

“Leo, you know who I am. You know what I do. I’m careful. Thousands of women around the world depend on me. I’m talking about their very lives. I’m not going to screw this up. You can trust me.”

“Then tell me what you were doing today.”

“I told you, it came down to nothing.”