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He would’ve been torn over the idea of cultivating the administrator’s friendship under false pretenses no matter what, but he was especially so with Sasha Willis He hadn’t seen her again since that first day and so avoideda decision one way or the other He suspected his time had about run out unless he took the coward’s way out and hid But the others were depending on hiiven the opportunity, he’d have to act

Damn it, why did she have to shohile he was still there? More importantly, why hadn’t he left while he had the chance? The ansas siain, to see if his memory of her held up to the reality

That she’d want to meet with the head Paladin wasn’t a surprise, but it was clear that Devlin hadn’t been expecting her Glancing around the office, Lare down the hallway Several of the Paladins, even those whose desks weren’t in this particular area, were hanging around and pretending to be busy

As soon as the wo any work done ended Lare all those male eyes focused solely on her didn’t faze her in the least She calht for Devlin’s office door and knocked While she waited for hi of her own

Her gaze swept across the room Her mouth briefly softened into a smile when she spotted Cullen, one of the feho’d actually spoken to the woman When the Paladin jerked his head in a sharp nod of acknowledgment, she s the men

When she spotted Larenition, and he could’ve sworn he felt a brief surge of warain, he was struck by her beauty The deep green of her blouse set off not only the red in her hair but also her creamy complexion Was her skin as soft as it looked?

After a second, her expression settled into a puzzled frown Had he stared too long, or had she suddenly figured out who--or rather what--he was?

Either way, it wasn’t his problee and forced his focus back to the book he was reading Far better that he spend his ti than worrying about the opinions of one human female, even if she was a beautiful one

And if he tried hard enough, he ht just convince himself that was true

"Don’t just stand out there pounding on the door Come in"

At Devlin’s bellow, Sasha tore her attention away from the men scattered about the office and back to the one she’d come to see Even so, she found herself reluctant to look away frouy seated in the back corner He was one of the twoon that first day

Now that she orking her way through the Paladin files, she readily recognized Cullen From what she’d read, his nickname of "The Professor" certainly fit with the first impression she’d had of him He’d been quietly helpful when he’d shown her the exit, uard stationed out in the alley

But it was the otherdifferent about him Even from a distance, he stood out from the crowd She didn’t knohy, but he did Eventually she’d run across his file and perhaps find so, she opened Devlin’s door and poked her head in He glanced up from the pile of papers spread out on his desk and tried to look surprised to see her Cute

She hadn’ta nu, although she didn’t fault hi the call It was his job to monitor who came and went Her only concern hat Devlin had been up to when the guard called to warn him of her approach

Noasn’t the time for inquisitions, so she’d let it pass--this once

"Ms Willis, coet you a cup of coffee or tea? Or ood I’ve already had way too ot two bottles out of the s the chair that offered a clear view of the door Odd that it seeh she didn’t sense any kind of threat co from Devlin himself

He handed her the water and then returned to his own side of the desk After popping the top on his own bottle, he asked, "So what brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"I wanted to discuss so drink of water, giving hie behind her comment

His dark eyebrows shot up in surprise "You think soed your line?"

"Not exactly," she said, frowning "But I don’t know that they haven’t either What I need to talk to you about is a bit sensitive, so I didn’t want to take any risks Besides, it was a good excuse to get out of the office and away from the stacks of financial reports on rinned "God knows, I understand that Despite all the hours I spend on the co in paperwork So what’s up?"

She’d pondered various approaches on the way over without really co from what she knew about Devlin, she decided to be blunt

"I’ve beenwith department heads for the past few days It won’t co different verses of the sas have been badly ed for some time I plan to fix that, but I can’t do it alone"