now right outside of his and he stopped by often when coming or going from meetings to inform her of the next step or to give her additional instructions.
Today, he stopped in front of her, concern in his eyes. She didn’t notice his look though since she was still staring at the phone. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, his voice strong and confident.
Dana reacted to the tone, her mind reaching for the strength and authority. She needed him right now, so much she had to restrain herself from running into his arms and asking that he hold her tightly in his strong arms. That would be completely inappropriate as an employee, she told herself even as she looked up at him longingly.
Hassan had never seen her so frightened. Except in battle, he’d never seen anyone as frightened as she was at the moment. He tossed the papers he’d been carrying onto her desk and walked around, taking her in his arms and holding her tightly against him. He stood there until the shivers stopped and he heard her breathing return to normal, rubbing her back and soothing her with soft words and reassurance that everything would be okay.
This woman, with all of her feminist logic and soft heart, had gotten under his skin over the past two weeks. Every time she walked into his office, carrying the files in front of her like a shield and her soft cheeks blushing that gorgeous color when he looked at her, he wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He’d never dared, reading the signals she was sending out that she was trying to be very businesslike about the situation. And he respected that. At least intellectually he respected that. His body didn’t really like it a whole lot though. His body had very different ideas about the kind of relationship he wanted with her and lately, his body’s priorities were gaining in ascendancy while his mind controlled the situations only by a thread. Holding her like this, with her slender waist, soft breasts and silky cheek pressed against his chest and her unthinking trust that he would keep her safe, was making his gentlemanly instincts hard to maintain.
When her shaking settled down and he felt her arms loosen slightly, he looked down at her, but didn’t release her. He knew that he should probably step back and give her space, but she just smelled too dam good! Not to mention the way she curled into him and he didn’t want to give that feeling up.
“What happened?” he asked softly.
Dana almost told him. He was so strong and so competent, surely he could keep her safe. But at the last moment, she remembered the others whose entire career it was to keep people like her safe. They were dead now and she’d barely escaped. She simply couldn’t tell him what had happened for fear that he could be hurt as well.
“I saw a spider,” she said lamely and pushed her cell phone into her pocket so he wouldn’t guess that it had been a phone call.
Hassan stared at her, knowing she was lying but not sure why. “A spider?” he asked gently. “You are that terrified of spiders?” He sat down on the desk behind him so his eyes were at her level. She was achingly lovely even with no color in her skin and her lips being bitten painfully. He reached up and touched her lip gently where she’d been biting them a moment ago. “You really want me to believe that you react that strongly to a spider?”
She took a deep, shaking breath and looked away, hating lying to him. “I’m sorry, that was very silly of me. Arachnophobia isn’t pleasant.”
He thought about challenging her claim, but knew that she was too stubborn. Whatever had caused this kind of fear had come through on the cell phone she was now hiding in the pocket of her slacks. “Okay,” he sighed and stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t see the spider around here any longer, but if another one comes around, don’t confront it,” he said earnestly, hoping she would get the message that he didn’t care if it was a spider or something much more malicious, he would help her. “Call me for help and I will fix this, no matter how big or ugly the spider.”
Dana nodded and crossed her arms over her stomach protectively. Otherwise, she was likely to throw herself into his