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No reason to give hi her way inside--

That memory of her mother was poashed out of mind as the tableau at the desk sank in: Her father was at his chair, presiding over the masculine room, his dark suit and tie his informal attire ’Cuz formal hite tie and tails

That wasn’t the shocker

There was, however, ashoulders and long, thick-thighed legs that dwarfed not just the seat, but the study as a whole His hair was dark, shaved up the nape, and his turtleneck and leathers were black As were the holster and the gun she could see under his arm

The male slowly turned around to look at her But she didn’t need to see his face

It was hiar club

Elise’s body roared with heat--and her brain roared with fury How had father found out she had seen the trainee? Had there been another vaued at the side of the street? But come on, they hadn’t even had much of a verbal altercation And Peyton had interrupted--

Peyton That son of a bitch

"Father, I--"

"And this is hter," her father interjected "Please excuse her interruption Elise, this is Axwelle"

Theabout non-stop rose to his feet and towered over her "Pleased to make your acquaintance"

Elise looked back and forth between the two of theh blood in the glyh there was a witness, it would have been impermissible for him to offer his hand to shake, much less for her to touch him in any way And he knew that

And it was just as well Even though she was confused, what she was crystal clear on? The effect of that er

The hours she had spent thinking about him had distilled that initial attraction into a co here? If her father was upset because she’d ht before, he certainly wouldn’t have introduced her to Axwelle as if they were strangers

Well, they were strangers

Elise looked across the desk at her father He had slumped in his chair, as if he were too tired to adhere to his posture standards

"Elise"--he indicated the vacant seat next to Axwelle--"do sit down"

She co herself into the seat In her peripheral vision, she noticed that Axwelle wasn’t looking at her His eyes were focused forward on her father

Yeah, boy, he was … okay, she hated the word hot As if someone you found sexually attractive was like a plate of food out of the oven? But in fact, that was prettythat came to her mind That black turtleneck so worked for hione? He had removed them