Kingston 691: Book Two of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (14 page)

King felt his eyebrows raising. “I am not OCD. I just hate disorder…and clutter.”

“Are you hearing yourself? Check your definition of what constitutes obsessive-compulsive behavior. It will say
see Kingston West
,” Seetha demanded, folding her arms again.

“Seetha, I’m getting angry with you,” King warned.

Seetha snorted at his threat. “Well, that would be a first.”

She grabbed the glass of wine the wait person set on the table. She tilted it up and drank it down without stopping. Then she glared again. “I don’t think I care if you’re angry. I don’t even care if you’re confused. We are not each other’s problem anymore. Let’s end this trying stuff now.”

Seetha stood and grabbed her things. “Thanks for the bread. It was delicious. I’m sure your restaurant is going to be a raving success. Bye, King.”

King was standing before he realized it and blocking her exit with his massive frame.

“Seetha, no…don’t go yet. You’ve had too much to drink and not enough food. Your body is still recovering from severe deprivation.”

“You can sure as hell say that again. I’ve been deprived since they took you from me,” Seetha declared. “But if you’d just leave me the hell alone, I might actually find a man capable of making me forget you.”

King shook his head and put his hands on her arms. He saw all eyes in the restaurant turn their way, but he ignored their questioning stares. Seetha struggled against his hold, but she was too fragile to offer much resistance. But even if she’d fought with all her might, he wouldn’t have let her get away. He may not know why it was critical to keep her with him, but everything pointed to it being the only acceptable solution to his dilemma.

“Seetha…I can’t let you go,” King whispered urgently.

Seetha stopped struggling to stare up into King’s gaze. “
Why?
” she whispered back, the question pounding in her brain.

King bent his head and kissed her since it was obvious his lips weren’t able to form words she could hear. He kissed her eyes, her cheeks, and then her mouth again while she stood frozen in his arms.

“I don’t know why,” he said finally, lifting his mouth inches from hers. “But I want to find out. Doesn’t wanting you count for something…even if it is…illogical?”

“Let go of me, Kingston,” Seetha ordered, glaring when he obeyed because part of her hadn’t wanted him to. “Now kiss me again…for real this time. I don’t give a rat’s ass if all your customers are watching us or not. What the hell do you think kept me alive for the last two years? I’ll tell you what it was. It was you…this chance with you…because I’m an idiot, despite having two engineering degrees.”

King snorted at her speech, but happily caught her when Seetha flung herself at him. Her arms around him felt like…like…like sitting in the giant chair at Annalise’s house. They felt right. Was this…? Her mouth hot on his silenced the rest of his thoughts…until he heard…
clapping
?

He set Seetha down to the floor again, not having realized he’d picked her up. She was weaving again…and looking well-kissed…and he was predictably aroused…even with their audience. Learning about his passion for Seetha Harrington was every bit as traumatic as waking up after being restored.

Seetha stared at King, glanced at his customers, and then back at him. “I…I…I shouldn’t have drank so much,” she said softly.

A giggling audience yelled reassurances. Their support made her blush. Reality sunk in finally. King looked just as stunned as she felt. For once, they were experiencing the same reaction. “I think I better get Franco to call me a pod cab. Sorry if I embarrassed you.”

Seetha bent and gathered up all the stuff she’d dropped just before she launched herself at….
no, she didn’t dare think about it
. When she raised back up to standing height, she saw King’s eyes were still on her legs. Seeing nearby patrons covering their mouths and laugh in surprise, she snapped her fingers in front of his face until he met her gaze again.

Massive chuckles and giggles from their audience over her actions had her face flaming again. She took King’s arm and turned him toward the kitchen. “Go back to work. I will see…I’ll see you some other time…when I’m sober.”

King looked back. He couldn’t help smiling at her ruffled composure. “Okay. Can I have that date now? That seems logical too.”

Seetha hugged her bag and her portable to her chest. Hope fluttered inside her like a wild bird trying to escape a cage. “I wouldn’t want you to think I was a hypocrite.”

“Is that sarcastic remark some form of agreement?”

Seetha sighed and nodded. “Yes. I see you’re still as literal as ever.”

“If you say so. I’ll come by Annalise’s tomorrow for lunch.”

“Okay.”

“Bye Seetha.”

She waved as she dashed through the tables. Franco smiled as he held the door for her.

“Your pod cab is already waiting, Ms. Harrington.”

“Thank you Franco. Please call me Seetha.”

“You do have very nice legs, but I believe I prefer to keep my job. Good night, Ms. Harrington.”

His teasing made her laugh. “King’s really not that scary when you get to know him,” Seetha declared, tossing the words over her shoulder as she fled.

Chapter 11

King had sent a com message about when he’d be arriving. Now her bed was covered with discarded clothing in reaction to knowing he’d be there in two hours. She wanted to be rational and calm, but her mind was determined to focus on one burning question. Would he kiss her again? Her body went into sensory overload at the thought.

She snorted at the discarded clothing. Most of it was so new that several pieces still had the purchase tags attached. Sighing at how stupid she was being about how she looked, she rolled her eyes and narrowed her choices down to two.

She turned at the tap on her bedroom door and smiled at her mother who was grinning at the mess. “Don’t start. I know how bad this is. I’ll hang them all back up when I make up my mind. How did I wear the same clothes for two years without going insane? I have a closet full now and can’t make a damn decision about what to wear. You’d think anything clean and new would be fine.”

Annalise snickered. “I wasn’t going to criticize your dilemma. It actually makes me smile to see you so nervous about something. You hardly ever get this way, Seetha. You were always too stoic about emotional matters. The crying and the nervousness are both good things in my opinion. Or at least they are a healthy response to what you’re going through.”

“I’ll be honest with you. I’m very nervous about seeing King again. He’s not as accommodating as he used to be. He actually told me
no
yesterday. I was…well, I think I was stunned.”

Annalise giggled. “King saying
no
? That’s hard to imagine. He’s been perfectly accommodating to me. His cyborg side must be having fits.”

Seetha glared. “Are you saying I’m causing him problems? Because I’m not. In fact, I’ve been trying to do the exact opposite. He won’t stay away from me. Now he’s talked me into a stupid date…or at least that’s what he’s calling his trip here today. I really don’t know what he has in mind.”

“
A date?
Well, it’s interesting he’s thinking in those terms, isn’t it?”

“Except I’ve gotten used to thinking of him as my ex-husband. He’s acting like we’ve never met before. We’re not exactly in sync here, Mother.”

Annalise pondered that for a moment. “In a way, I think I would have to agree with him. He is just getting to know you. You never met the man during the war. Are you going to tell me what happened when you went to see him yesterday?”

Seetha grabbed a pair of black leggings and a bright orange contrasting tunic. The vivid colors looked good on her. Nothing was going to make her look less skinny. It was silly of her to try. She dressed quickly, ignoring her mother’s question as long as she could.

Seetha shook her head. “No. All I did was embarrass myself by acting stupid.” She flushed when her mother laughed. “I thought I might make lunch here where we can talk privately—if that’s okay.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. Take him out to the patio. He always liked watching the hummingbirds while we ate.”

“Mother, you know as much about King now as I do,” Seetha declared.

Annalise shook her head. “Not hardly. He never once
said
he liked anything, Seetha. But I could tell from the way he always asked if we could sit there. He was very much a typical cyborg with me. The man never made a decision alone until one day he just stopped what he was doing and walked away. That friend of his…Peyton Elliott…exercised some kind of control over the cyborg side of King.”

Seetha frowned. “Like what kind of control?”

Annalise shrugged. “I don’t know. Before King left, he mentioned a military protocol and said he’d been reactivated. I think they still have that in place in all of them. King’s little group…team…or whatever he calls them still have some kind of connection with each other. I don’t think they want to change it.”

Seetha nodded, remembering Eric sending out some sort of wireless signal to Peyton Elliott during her rescue. When she’d briefly watched King interact with his former captain, she noted they had talked with their gazes, but friends often did that. She really hadn’t given it too much thought at the time, perhaps because she had been slipping in and out of consciousness while observing.

“I’m still freaked out about King telling me no last night. It never happened about anything important before. When we were together, he would jokingly argue over dinner or the toothpaste or something else minor, and it was always with humor. But if I had ever made up my mind about anything, he went along without questioning it. Last night I said we were done in the most decisive manner I could. He said no…and said it flatly and confidently…even though he couldn’t explain why he was being so adamant. He said something about needing closure. I doubt he even knows what that means.”

“Well, all that sounds normal for a man who hasn’t made up his mind yet about his feelings for you. I’m sure he’s no more strange in his thinking than some of those weird men you’ve had coffee dates with,” Annalise said to reassure her, patting her daughter on the arm. She walked to the bed and put clothes back on hangers, setting them aside to be hung.

Seetha smiled at her mother’s auto-pilot reaction of picking up after her. She picked up the carefully hung clothes and carried them to the closet.

“Mother, you need to stop hoping. I have no confidence in us reconciling. Our past is just a missing data file to him. Finding something to put in its place is probably his idea of closure. I can’t shake this feeling I have that one day he’s going to have learned enough, and then he’ll cease to care again. I don’t think his actions have anything to do with him remembering any of the past we shared.”

Annalise nodded. “I happen to agree with your last statement. I think he may be fabricating a story because he doesn’t want us to know his real thinking.” She put the last piece of clothing on a hanger. “How was the food at his restaurant?”

Seetha snorted and then laughed. “I don’t know. All I had was bread—just like you.”

Annalise belly laughed and it felt wonderful to do so. “Well, how bizarre. We’ve both eaten his food hundreds of times at home.”

“The bread was delicious…and he served it with that herb butter he used to make all the time.” Seetha shook her head. “What am I doing? Am I a fool for spending this time with him? I can feel myself hoping, no matter how much I try not to.”

Annalise shrugged. “He’s not my husband…I mean…” She sighed and laughed. “You know, this is really awkward. I never thought about how odd it was going to sound every time what I did came up in conversation. I guess I never imagined it would.”

Seetha laughed at her mother’s discomfort. “You need to grow some attitude about life like I’ve had to. If Cyborg Husband contracts counted the way real marriages did, this would be awkward. Instead, it’s just a little on the strange side. All that matters is that we both tried our best to love him in our own way. Screw everyone but us.”

Her mother’s sigh over her language had her grinning. “Sorry—bad language became a habit when I was in the camp because it helped me feel a little less like a victim to curse at the guard bots. I guess King is worrying me on the same fundamental level, even if his demands aren’t as sinister.”

“Sometimes I forget what happened to you because you’re handling it so well. Don’t worry about me. Go ahead and hate those metal bastards…and Norton too. It’s healthier for your state of mind,” Annalise declared.

“Listen to you being all sassy. Now
that’s
what I was talking about.”

Grinning at her proper mother using very improper speech, Seetha finished her task and headed to the kitchen to cook.

***

King was seated at the patio table when she carried their plates outside. The best looking man she’d ever laid eyes on was watching the hummingbirds and grinning over their antics. He was obviously finding pleasure in them, just like her mother said he would. When he saw she was studying him, he looked embarrassed to be caught.

“I can’t help being fascinated with those little things. They’re like zippy little hovercrafts with long beaks.”

Seetha grinned back…it was impossible not to. “I think the most trouble I ever got into with my mother was when I tried to catch one of them. I was trying to make it land and be still. I got a nature lecture that is still ringing in my ears all these years later. Now every time I look at them, I feel guilty.”

“For what?”

Seetha laughed as she set down their plates. “For trying to hurt one, even though I didn’t mean to actually harm it. What I did was only because I didn’t understand it would naturally fight me to keep its freedom. A hummingbird needs to be a hummingbird and do what hummingbirds do. It shouldn’t be forced to do what was not in its nature.”

She sighed as she sat and shook out a napkin for her lap. “I could say the same about buying you, King. I wanted to think Cyber Husbands were an okay thing and I didn’t question the morality of them until it didn’t work out. Once I saw how easily they took your memories from you, I realized the bigger picture around my mistake. Only I had no idea how to make it right and I was reeling from my own emotional reaction to it.”