Free Kiss of the Night by Sylvia Day Page A

true intent was revealed so she’s kept it under wraps.”
    “Well, someone figured it out,” Derek growled. “I’m really starting to feel out of the fucking loop here. I went through every report on Rep. Michaels and the only droid purchase I could find was a sex bot a few weeks ago.”
    “That’s the one I was talking about.”
    “You said a PA droid.”
    “That’s what she’s using it for,” he grumbled. “She’s had its programming altered.”
    Derek threw his head back and laughed. “What I wouldn’t give to be on that ship! I’ve never mixed it up with a sex bot and I sure as hell wouldn’t let one anywhere near Sable, but the idea is intriguing. You can tell me all about it and I’ll live vicariously through you.”
    Alex snorted. If anyone even looked at Sable wrong, Derek got pissed. Alex had always thought that kind of protectiveness was funny. Now that he was on the possessive side himself, it wasn’t such a laughing matter. “That damn droid is in the cargo hold where it belongs. It’s lucky I didn’t eject it, like I have half a mind to.”
    “Uh-oh. Sounds like somebody’s getting attached,” Derek chimed in softly. “Don’t forget she’s human, Night. The fact that she’s not a vamp helps our cause immeasurably. There’s no future with her. You’re immortal, she’s not.”
    “I know that.” But it was too late to stop the way he felt about her. He suspected he’d been half in love with her before they’d even met. The heat, the need between them…hell, the mind-blowing sex had finished him. “How’s her family?”
    “Fine. For now. Listen, Night, are you planning on telling her who you are? She hasn’t notified anyone about the threats to her family, including her own personal guards. She obviously didn’t trust anyone to assist her. Are you certain she trusts you?”
    No, he wasn’t certain and he hated that. “I won’t jeopardize the mission, sir. I know what the risks to her are if she handles this alone.”
    “Don’t discount the risks to our kind. We need her.”
    Alex took a deep breath and willed away the frustration that ate at him. “I know.”
    “Good. I trusted you with this assignment. Don’t fuck it up by getting emotionally involved. Understand?”
    “Yeah,” he bit out. “I understand.”
    “I don’t have the schematics on the sex droid readily available, but I’ll get them to you in an hour. And your hunch was right about the would-be assassin. A traveler bearing a Shinite passport went through Thieves’ Cove port the same time you were there.”
    Alex kept his face impassive, but inside him everything changed. Shinite assassins didn’t fail. The blaster shot in the bar had either been intended as a warning or it was only by a whim of fate that Briana was alive today. Either way, she was in deadly serious danger and that knowledge solidified his next course of action.
    “I’ve got all my security safeguards on their highest levels,” Alex said grimly. “But I’ll run through them again every day. I won’t take any chances with her life. And you were right about her dad. He’s hidden himself away at her request. Even she doesn’t know where he is.”
    “Good. That takes care of that concern. Tap into the droid at your first opportunity. We need to know everything it knows. Atkinson out.”
    Derek signed off and the comm screen went black.
    Alex double-checked the navigational settings and did a quick sub-space scan, before rising from his seat and heading back to Bree. In a little over a week they’d be in Tolan. Somehow he had to make her fall in love with him before then. She had to trust him implicitly or the mission could fail, and he couldn’t let that happen. This wasn’t about doing his job anymore or impressing Derek. This was about Briana and protecting the woman he cared about more anything.
    His heart ached as he entered his room where the scent of sex and her skin inundated his senses. If she grew to love him, it