Page 5 of Twisted Desire

“Knock, knock,” Nik calls out as he steps into my office, letting the door close behind him. He looks out of place wearing dark jeans and a light-gray T-shirt when everyone else walking around this place is dressed in business formal attire. It’s annoying how ridiculously good he makes it look.

I lift my eyes and meet his sparkling gaze. “Can I help you?” I feign a polite tone. It’s as fake as the purple orchids in the vase on the corner of my desk, gifted to me by the man standing near them now on my first day as COO.

He drops into one of the chairs across from me. “Slow day at the pub. I had to get out of there.”

Blinking at him, I lean back in my chair. “So you came to bother me while I’m trying to get actual work done?”

He grins. “Precisely.”

“You didn’t annoy me enough this morning? Jesus, Nikolai—”

“Relax. I knew you’d lock yourself in here all day if we let you. I’m here to break you out for an hour.”

I arch a brow instead of entertaining the idea that he’s right. “What?”

“You’re going to turn off your computer and come have lunch with me.”

Letting the silence hang between us, I cross my arms. “You’re lucky I’m hungry,” I finally say.

“Excellent,” he beams, hopping up from the chair. “Let’s fly.”

I blow out a breath and stand, grabbing my purse from under my desk and the jacket off the back of my chair before clicking off the screen. Month-end reports will still be here when I get back.

I swirl a straw around the glass of sparkling water in front of me and watch the ice cubes float around hitting each other.

“Sky?”

“Hmm?” I look over at Nikolai to find him watching me.

“You okay?”

“Sure.” I thumb through the menu, not really looking at anything.

Nikolai picked the small Italian bistro down the street from the hotel for lunch. I’ve been here a couple times and enjoy the food and minimalistic décor. A bright exposed light bulb hangs over the table, lighting the space around us just enough that the atmosphere is what most would consider cozy. Though with the midday sun, there’s enough natural light coming in from the wall of windows at the front of the restaurant that the indoor lighting isn’t making much of a difference.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks.

“A lot,” I comment. “There’s still so much to do in preparation, and the two of us are stuck wasting time at these human day jobs.”

“You want to focus on the war? We’ll get other people to cover our jobs.”

“No,” I say quickly. “I’m not going to let some temp screw up Tristan’s company. It’s fine. I’m just venting.”

His lips twist. “Gotcha. Well, I’m happy to listen anytime you need to vent.”

The waiter comes over, and we order. Nikolai picks some type of chicken and pasta dish, and I get a cobb salad. He also orders a side of pita bread and spinach dip to share. The bastard knows his audience.

“We’ve got another fae meeting tonight,” I remind him, dipping a triangle of pita into the dip.

“I’ll be there.”

We’re going over, in detail, our plan for putting an end to The Experiment. It’s going to be a long process, and it starts tonight. The training we’ve been doing over the months since Tris and Aurora left is one thing; it’s the real deal from here on out.

“Are you nervous?” he asks.

I shrug. “More anxious to get moving. The longer we wait, the higher the risk for a bigger attack from their side. I know we’ll lose people—hell, we still are right now—and it makes me sick, but the fight is necessary.”

“If I die, you have to tell people how badass I was,” he says with a grin.

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