Read Prince of Air and Darkness for Free Online Page B

the illusion burst. He was once more a drop-dead gorgeous man with expensive taste in clothes. Today, he was wearing a deep blue turtleneck that brought out the color of his eyes. She was pretty sure the turtleneck was silk. The turtleneck was untucked over designer jeans instead of tailored pants, but the leather coat was draped over the chair again. Once again she wondered how a massage therapist could afford to dress like that. Family money, perhaps?
    Hunter clasped her hand warmly, and she noted the smoothness of his skin. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, slipping into the chair across from him.
    There was a faint pause, as though Hunter were waiting for her to explain her lateness. She wasn’t about to do so.
    “No problem,” he said, though the slight downward tug at the corners of his mouth suggested the words came with some difficulty. The frown disappeared almost instantly. “You look like you’re nearly frozen,” he continued. “Let me buy you a nice, hot cup of coffee.”
    “Oh, no, I—”
    “I’m buying you a cup of coffee,” he said firmly. “It’s the least I can do when I dragged you here for something you’d ordinarily do through email.”
    She knew defeat when she saw it. “A hot cup of coffee would be heaven right now.”
    “Your wish is my command.”
    When Hunter turned his back and got in line, Kiera let out a quiet breath of relief. The man was just too intense for words, and he set her nerves on edge. Not entirely in a bad way, but not entirely in a good one, either.
    Hunter soon returned with her coffee, dropping a pile of sugar packets and a wooden stirrer on the table. She wrapped her hands around the cup, feeling the warmth seep through the thick ceramic. She allowed herself only a moment of indulgence before digging out her laptop and loading the mockups. She turned the laptop to face him, meaning to give him a spiel about each design, but her tongue tied itself into knots as Hunter perused the mockups one by one. The way his finger slid over the touch pad gave her goose bumps, as if he were caressing her skin.
    “You do nice work,” he said without looking at her.
    “Thank you.” Damn, did her voice just quaver? She gulped some coffee, burning her tongue in the process. “Is there one in particular that strikes you as right?” She’d researched other websites for spas and massage therapists, and then designed three different schemes. One was highly professional, stressing the therapeutic benefits and conveying an almost medical image. One stressed the relaxing tranquility. And one combined the other two ideas with an overtone of sensuality, using warm colors and slightly soft-focused images.
    Somehow, Kiera was not surprised that Hunter seemed most interested in that third scheme.
    “This is just the kind of image I had in mind,” he told her, tapping the screen lightly. His finger landed on the picture of a beautiful woman stretched out on a massage table. A sheet covered her legs and came up just over her hips, and there was a contented smile on her face.
    Kiera couldn’t help noticing he was tapping right on the woman’s ass, and somehow, she didn’t think it was a coincidence. She tried not to think about her own body draping across a massage table, waiting for the touch of those strong, dangerous hands. Another sip of coffee seemed in order.
    “I’ve definitely chosen the right woman for the job,” Hunter said, resting his elbows on the table and regarding her with an unsettling intensity.
    “I’m glad you think so.” It was a lame reply, but she could barely think with those eyes on her. She felt as though he were stripping off her clothes, one slow layer at a time, unwrapping her like a Christmas gift. Her mind filled with images of bare skin and burning touches.
    She blinked to dispel the images, looking instead into her now nearly empty coffee cup. Still she felt his eyes on her, and she squirmed under his scrutiny. Her discomfort slowly turned into