Page 38 of Her Chosen Protector

As soon as Asher came back into the office, Eden knew that she had won. She was going to get to help. Officially. Not that she wouldn’t have done what she would’ve wanted to do anyway, it was just easier to be on the payroll officially, so to speak.

“What’s the plan?” Leland asked before she had a chance to.

“Well, I’ll tell you what’s happening right now.” Asher pulled out the chair from behind the office desk for Eden to sit down. She gave him a jaunty smile and sat. It was easy to smile and be happy now that she knew she was getting her way.

She totally felt vindicated. It meant that Asher must have gone to bat for her. They’d only really met twenty minutes ago, but he’d found value in her in just that amount of time. That tugged at her.

Made her feel really good. Yeah, in her job as a translator she was well-respected, but to have someone like Asher Thorne really see her value in a situation like this made her feel worthy in his estimation. And that was important to her.

Her mouth quivered into a smile as she stopped with the mushy stuff. What was really important was that the man was positively delicious. Now that was a real reason to smile.

Focus, York.

Surrounded by bad guys, remember?

Still. Those blue eyes.

She sat down and he leaned against the desk so he could look over all of them. “I have three other men here in the bank building with me. Two of them are working on disabling the elevators. One is working to get eyes and ears on your office, Señora.”

They all nodded. Made sense so far.

“On the outside coordinating our effort is my lieutenant and the second-in-command who is our computer genius. He’s pulling up everything he can on Perez to see if there are any weak spots we can exploit. Then there’s our resident wildcard who was out front working with your nephew,” Asher said as he nodded to Suzanne.

Asher had been reluctant to mention that bit of information, but knew he needed to be as transparent as possible.

“What has Rafa got to do with all of this?” Suzanne asked in a calm whisper.

“While we were blowing our way into the back gate, we needed a diversion. He and Cullen used

the food truck to give away free food to keep all of the civilians away from the blast site.”

“If you say one more word, instead of writing it down, Suzanne, there will be holy hell to pay,”

Leland said as he leaned over her. The woman was not intimidated.

Asher almost laughed at the byplay and would have if they weren’t in such deep shit. He noticed Eden’s eyes twinkling. He did laugh when she winked at him.

“What is so damned funny?” Leland demanded to know. “Eden, check her throat. Make sure it isn’t swelling worse than it was because she’s talking so much.”

Suzanne’s pen dug into the notepad as she quickly wrote something down and handed it to Leland.

“What did she say?” Eden asked.

“Nothing worth repeating,” Leland said as he glared at Suzanne. “Please check her out.”

Asher watched as Eden competently examined the woman’s neck and throat. “Damn. Suzanne, you should have raised your hand. Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?” Eden looked up at Asher with an intense expression on her face. “We need ice. I need to go upstairs.”

“Send Leland,” Ash said.

“What’s wrong? How bad is it?” He cupped Suzanne’s shoulder and leaned in. “Woman, why didn’t I notice that the swelling had gotten worse?”

“Because, scarf,” Suzanne croaked out the two words.

“I’ll be right back with ice.” Leland stood up straight.

“Bullshit,” Eden said. “Everybody is expecting me to be the one to get the ice for Suzanne. I’ve been doing it since we arrived. If Leland starts doing it then there are bound to be questions.”

“Nobody but the clerical workers will notice,” Leland protested. “Eden, we don’t have time to argue.”