Free Born of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon

alone.

    His thoughts back on his job, he switched on the terminal. The bright blue screen glared,
    causing him to flinch. His eyes burned from the strain of wearing his glasses indoors, but
    despite the pain, he didn't dare remove them around Kiara.

    Maybe he should have assigned Rachol watch duty tonight. This mission was bound to be
    his undoing.

    He had spent the entire dinner wanting her, feeling her presence next to him. If only he
    hadn't allowed her to touch him at the theatre, he might have been able to banish her from
    his thoughts.

    Nykyrian scoffed at himself. Who was he trying to fool? Since the first performance he
    had seen her in, he hadn't been able to banish her from his thoughts. She had haunted his
    dreams like a stalking phantom out to steal his rotting soul.

    He sighed wearily. This mission was definitely not what he needed to help him get her
    out of his mind. He heard her finish her conversation. She entered the front room with a
    warm smile on her face as she looked at him. Nykyrian's blood raced in heated response
    to her gentle look.

    "Is Rachol gone?" she asked cheerfully.

    "Yes," he said, forcing himself to concentrate on his work.

    Kiara sat in her favorite chair, across from him. Her father's dire words echoed in her
    ears. He had warned her of the OMG's ferocity, telling her they killed on contract without
    emotions.

    Watching Nykyrian closely, she tried to read his thoughts. Though his face didn't betray
    any tell-tale signs of feelings, She knew he had them. No one was totally devoid of
    emotions.

    Nykyrian's own words drifted through her mind. Emotions are bred out of us during
    training. She still refused to believe he was emotionless. Were that true, he wouldn't have comforted her while she cried.

    A wicked smile curved her lips as she studied his lean, muscular build. She had seen and
    been held by many men who constantly worked to improve their physical appearance, but
    none of them had ever appealed to her as much as the man before her now. A man whose
    distance annoyed her.

    She wasn't used to having to fight for someone's attention. Usually, she fought to escape
    it. Kiara wondered if maybe that was part of her attraction for him— the old hard-to-get
    routine.

    But as she studied him, she realized even if that were part of it, there was much more to
    her desire than just the challenge of the aloof. There was something about him that called
    out to her like a hurt child needing comfort. Kiara almost laughed aloud at the thought.
    She stared at Nykyrian, his jaw tense, his features blank. No, there didn't appear to be
    anything about him even close to frail.

    So why did she feel this way? "What are you working on?" she finally asked.

    He growled a low warning in his throat that made her a bit uneasy. "I have a lot of work
    that needs to be finished. I'm not here to be sociable. I'm here only to protect you."

    Kiara folded her arms around her leg and rested her chin on her knee. She watched his
    flying fingers, the keys of the terminal clicking beneath them. "But since you're here . . ."
    His fingers stopped, the sudden silence echoed around her, increasing her discomfort. "I
    just thought you might as well tell me something about yourself. We could end up
    spending days together, weeks, and I for— "

    "Fine," he snapped, cutting her off.

    Kiara hid her triumphant smile behind her knee, but she was sure her eyes glowed in
    mischief.

    Nykyrian sat back and defensively crossed his arms over his chest. "If it will solace your mind, I will allow you to ask eight questions about me. After that, you'll never again ask
    me another thing about my past, or my friends, and you'll remain quiet and let me finish
    what I'm doing."

    The sharp, clipped words irked her. She stared at him, trying to think of things that would give her some advantage over him. "Okay," she said, as she thought of the first one.
    "What's your surname?"

    "One, Quiakides."

    Surprise widened her eyes.