Prince of Air and Darkness by Jenna Black

Bane’s face was almost enough to make Hunter laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.
    “A favor?” Bane repeated.
    “Yeah. I need you to find a kobold to rig up a device for me.” Kobolds were a breed of goblin who had a natural affinity for things mechanical. And unlike most of the fey, they could touch unalloyed iron without burning themselves and poisoning their blood.
    Bane gaped at him. “You couldn’t possibly be asking me to help you!” the goblin said incredulously.
    Hunter’s voice was grim, and he was sure his expression was as well. “If I’m to win a kiss in three days, I’ll need some way to force prolonged contact. I need a device that will trigger the elevator in my building to get stuck when Kiera and I are in it. Seems like something a kobold should be able to manage.”
    “Hey, shit-for-brains, I want you to fail, remember?”
    “But you’re not an idiot, and you don’t want to taste the Queen’s wrath any more than I do. She wants me to succeed. If refuse to help me with the mission, she will know, and you will pay.”
    Even the glamour and the disguise couldn’t hide the effect that reminder had on the goblin. No one, not even her favorite toady, was immune from the Queen’s wrath. His lips curled in a snarl, but he had no more choice in the matter than Hunter did.
    “I’ll bring the toy tomorrow,” he said, and it looked like the words caused him real pain. “But I’ll make you pay for it someday.”
    Hunter turned and strode away before his urge to shove his knife in the creature’s throat became overwhelming.
     

Chapter 3
     
     
    “All right, out with it,” Jackson said, and Kiera froze with a morsel of sweet and sour chicken halfway to her mouth.
    They were sitting at their usual table in their favorite Chinese restaurant. Kiera had called him not long after this afternoon’s meeting with Hunter, feeling the need for his warm, familiar comfort. There were no mysteries about Jackson, and no sexual tension to grapple with. He was the perfect antidote for the fog of confusion Hunter caused. Except, of course, for the fact that he knew her too well not to see something was bothering her. She just wanted to forget all the confusion, not talk about it.
    “Out with what?” she asked, doing her best to look like she had no idea what he meant.
    He jabbed a chopstick in her direction. “Don’t think you can put one over on me, young lady. Your face is like an open book. So give.”
    She sighed and lowered her fork to her plate. She should have known better than to think she could avoid this conversation. Maybe subconsciously she had. “You know that sexy client I was telling you about?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Quit grinning at me like that.”
    “Don’t get sidetracked. What about the sexy client?”
    Kiera fidgeted, wondering why this whole thing made her so uncomfortable. It wasn’t like she was a teenager. She’d dated her fair share of men, should be able to handle this kind of attention. But none of those men had been anything like Hunter.
    “He’s coming on to me,” she admitted. “Not in any real blatant way or anything, but he’s given me enough smoldering glances to give me third degree burns.”
    Jackson looked distinctly amused. “And the problem with this is . . .?”
    She frowned, wondering yet again exactly what her problem was. True, she thought it was ethically questionable to date a client, but it wasn’t like she was his therapist or anything. There was no objective reason she could name for why she found the thought of dating him so unnerving. Not that he’d actually asked her for a date or anything.
    “I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something . . . wrong with him.”
    Jackson raised an elegant brow. “Wrong in what way?”
    She grunted in frustration. “That’s just it: I don’t know.” She pushed her plate away, realizing she couldn’t eat anymore. “For one thing, he just flat out does not look like a massage