Page 54 of Her Sensual Protector

“I want to spend time with you today,” the little girl whined.

“I’m busy today. It will have to be tomorrow.” Daisy was firm. It was the only way with this strong-willed little girl.

“Okay. But I don’t like it.”

Daisy had to bite back a laugh. This kid was killing her.

“Duly noted.”

She took her hand and they walked back to Maysa’s tent. When Maysa saw her, she raised her eyebrows and shook her head. Daisy shrugged. The women were in perfect accord. There was no stopping the little girl, she was a firecracker. Daisy loved seeing that spurt of energy and defiance when the girl was undernourished and living with so many in their small little tent. She had such a will. This little girl could grow up to change the world.

When she got to the aid station, she was met by a shock. Besides her directors of development, operations, and public affairs, there was Rayi Abad.

And Leo Perez.

One she was happy to see, the other she was stunned to see. Daisy honestly thought Leo would have given up on her by now.

“Daisy, these gentlemen assured us you would want to have them tag along. Rayi said that he would be able to help provide some much-needed publicity for this project, and I couldn’t agree more,” Annie Cartwright smiled. She was fifty-two and an experienced Director of Development that Daisy had stolen from the Red Cross two years ago.

“Yes, Rayi is great. He helped me on a project in Afghanistan not so long ago. Has he told you his resume?” Daisy asked.

“Yes, he has. It’s formidable.”

“I approved Leo coming along,” Doug Prentiss said. “He said he would be available for the next two weeks to do some security evaluations. I couldn’t be happier.” Doug gave her a long, meaningful look. “For many reasons.”

I’m going to kill Doug. I’m going to kill him in his sleep.

“Doug’s a great guy, Daisy.” Leo smiled easily. “We really hit it off.”

“I’m sure you did,” Daisy said through gritted teeth. She and Doug had worked together the longest. He was her mentor, but he lacked the leadership skills, nor did he want to run W.A.N.T., but he absolutely loved to stick his nose into Daisy’s personal life. Not that she ever had one. That had never stopped Doug from trying to get her one. Now Leo showed up, and Doug looked as happy as a pig in mud.

“Daisy, I’ve got a few ideas about the project I want to run past you.” Effie Long said as she handed her a list. “I’ve highlighted the most important points in pink. As the developmental director, I have to tell you, I don’t think your vision is doable, but there are parts of it we could accomplish.”

Doug and Annie laughed. Effie always had concerns about everything. That was her position, and she played it well.

“Okay, we’ll go to the aid center and get you settled. Like usual, you’ll have cots and on every fourth day you get to have a camp bath.”

“Sounds about right,” Effie sighed. “Okay, I have a set of notes for you to review. I didn’t think we needed the reporter or the security analyst, but I bowed to Annie and Doug.”

“I agree with Annie. Rayi will be a great addition to the team. But you might be right about Leo. We’ll see if he really brings anything useful to the party.” Daisy gave Leo a laser-like glare. He gave her a heated smile in return. Once again she could hear Doug and Annie laughing.

Great. Just great.

* * *

She looked pissed. Exhausted, but pissed. It was pretty damned funny. Leo worked hard to keep a straight face. He’d lucked out getting on the same bus as Daisy’s executives to take to the internally displaced person camp here in Aden from the airport. After watching the interaction between Daisy and her personnel he could see that his take on the players had been pretty spot on. Effie, Doug, and Annie were all true believers in the cause. Annie and Doug would both take bullets for Daisy, but it was Doug who would kill Leo if he made one wrong move. On the bright side, he thought Daisy needed a personal life, and he didn’t believe for an instant that Leo was here to provide security. He had totally caught on that Leo’s reason for being here was personal, and he was happy about it.

“Leo, what a surprise to see you. I’m sorry if you didn’t catch on to the message I was giving you.”

“Daisy, I didn’t get any message from you, so there was nothing to catch on to. Now that we're here together, hopefully, we can rectify that.”

Dough laughed.

Effie looked confused.

Daisy glared at him. She was not happy. Good, serves her right.

“How do you two know each other?” Annie asked.