"Fifteen minutes?"
"Make it quick."
Kyrian let the soothing water slide over his battered body. The night was still young, but he was tired already. His shoulder throbbed and ached and his side wasn't much better.
Yet what held his attention was the woman downstairs.
Why was he so attracted to her? He had saved countless humans over the centuries. He had felt nothing for them other than a passing curiosity.
And yet this woman with open, honest eyes and a beguiling smile tugged at a heart he had banished centuries ago. He didn't need that. Dark-Hunters were forbidden to take steady lovers. Out of necessity, their sexual encounters were relegated to one-night stands.
They were reborn to walk alone through time. Each of them knew it. They had sworn themselves to it.
Never before had it bothered him.
There had only been one other time in his long life that he had felt this strange giddy feeling in the pit of his stomach when a woman smiled at him.
He cursed at the reminder.
"Oh, come on, Kyrian," he said as he bathed himself. "Get out of the house, kill Desiderius, and go home. Forget you ever saw her."
Pain cut through him at the very thought of never seeing her again.
Still, he knew what he had to do. This was his life and he loved the night he was bound by oath to. His duties were his family. His loyal oath his heart.
His job was his love, and it would remain that way for eternity.
"Amanda?"
Forcing her thoughts away from her handsome Dark-Hunter, Amanda looked to where Grace was seated in the armchair.
"Would you mind going up to the babies' room and getting a diaper for me?" Grace asked. "If I walk up those stairs again, I might not come back down."
She laughed. "Sure. Be right back."
Amanda went up the stairs, then headed down the hallway. She passed the bathroom at the same time Hunter came out of it, wrapping a towel about his waist.
They collided. Hunter put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, his eyes widening a degree as he recognized her.
Amanda froze as she realized her silver charm bracelet had gotten tangled in one of the terry-cloth loops.
Worse, the sight of all that lush, tawny skin and the feel of his strong hands on her body made her mouth water for a taste of him.
Her heart hammered at the sight of all the lean power and strength. At the smell of his warm, clean skin. His wet hair was slicked back from a face so well sculpted that she doubted any man could ever be more handsome.
He fixed those dark eyes with sinfully long eyelashes on her. The raw hunger in them made her hot and shivery. He looked as if he could devour her, and in truth, she wanted to be devoured by him. Completely. Utterly.
And with relish.
"Now, this is interesting," Hunter said with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Amanda didn't know what to do as she stood there with her wrist dangerously close to the sudden bulge under the towel. Why was it they kept getting attached?
Her gaze slid over the multitude of scars covering his body and she couldn't help wondering how many of them were from the torture he'd mentioned to Julian.
"Most of them," he whispered as he moved one hand over to cup her neck in his hand. She felt his fingers stroking her hair. His grip on her shoulder tightened ever so slightly.
"What?" she asked, looking up.