Kissing Steel (11 page)

your passage home when one of many supply shuttles arrives there that can give you a lift

back to Earth.”

Staring at him, Rena was surprised. “Really?”

He nodded. “I do not lie. We will be at this planet for a few days, repairing their ship

and my own for distance travel, but then we’ll be returning to Garden. I will set you free

once we’re near Outpost Five. I can let you have one of our pods and I’ll keep you

monitored to make sure you dock there safely.”

“Why?”

He blinked. “You could have killed me but you didn’t. I uploaded the transcripts

from your interrogation when we walked in the door and I am aware of how you lost your

mother to her cause to free my kind. If any human deserves to be freed, it is you.” He

paused. “You may sleep on the floor in here and I will protect you until I can safely

release you.” He paused again. “I would ask that you not mention anything about your

contact with us.”

Staring at him, Rena let his words sink in. “They might try to find your planet and

attack if I let them know so many of you survived.”

He nodded, looking grim. “It would be a mistake on their part if they come after us.

We are heavily defended where we are. We have been preparing our defenses since we

settled there so anyone attacking would never see the surface alive.”

Steel was willing to trust her to do the right thing. She understood that, even if he

didn’t say it. She stared at him and nodded. “I don’t want them to come after you. I think

what was done to cyborgs was wrong. Humans created them and when they couldn’t

control them they committed a worse crime of trying to destroy them.”

“Yes.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

They stared at each other for a long time. She finally spoke. “How did you read the

transcripts? You haven’t been near a terminal long enough to access them. We just

walked in here and you started to pace.”

He hesitated. “I have programmed the
Vontage
main computer to send me

information updates so when I entered my room they were transmitted to me when we

walked in.” He hesitated. “I’m not like you.”

Staring at him she let it sink in. “You have some kind of auto-uploading data

processor you receive by signal?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Blinking, she let that sink in. His skin told her he was a cyborg but she’d forgotten

about the kind of things he must have in his body that could download information to his

mind in an instant.

“So at just a touch…”

He nodded. “I can download files that are waiting for me. As long as I’m thirty feet

within range of the terminal I’m able to receive the data transfers when my touch prompts

them to be sent.”

“Can you send data as well?”

“If I keep the connection active. It is maintained until I disconnect.”

She blinked. The guy had a damn computer in his brain. That knowledge left her

feeling a little uneasy. He turned away from her, walking to the dresser.

“You may have a blanket and pillow from the bed. I’m analyzing reports so I need

some silence. I can communicate with you at the same time but I admit it is distracting. I

just ordered food that will be delivered shortly.”

“With your thoughts?”

He hesitated, turning to stare at her. “It’s similar to writing a program or a document

and then uploading it into the computer.”

She stared at him until he frowned, turning away from her. He opened one of the

drawers and removed something, turning to face her again as his leg bumped the drawer

shut. He threw a bundle at her that she barely caught. She stared down at the drawstring

pants and shirt in her hands.

“Put those on. Your legs must be chilled and that shirt is probably not comfortable

for you. Humans enjoy warmer temperatures so I’ve adjusted the room controls to

accommodate you but it will take about ten minutes for the climate controls to respond.

They are sluggish.”

“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful.”

He walked over to the wall by the door, close to the terminal, and put his back to the

wall. “After what happened between us, I find myself oddly considerate of your needs.”

He paused. “I don’t feel at ease with it.”

Speechless, she stared at him, watching him close his eyes.

“I have data to evaluate, reports to write, and requests to review. Please put those on

and rest until the food arrives.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

He stood there silently, unmoving, as she dressed. Her attention kept flicking to him.

He was working? She stared at his chest to make sure he was breathing. Eyeing him from

the bed she wondered how he stayed in such great shape if he mimicked a statue when he

was working. She cocked her head, smiling at the thought of Steel as sculpture. His skin

reminded her of a light stone color. Bored after a few minutes, she slipped from the bed

and slowly walked to him.

He didn’t so much as twitch as she gently touched his arm, her fingers curling

around his wrist. Rena waited for his eyes to open, but when they didn’t she adjusted his

arm up. It stayed put where she positioned it. Grinning, she turned his arm upward and

used her other hand to curl his fingers. She chuckled, thinking if he flexed he’d be

showing her his biceps muscle in the pose she had him in. She let go, thinking his arm

would drop but it didn’t. She moved to his other side, stepping there to take his other

hand and put it on his hip.

Stepping back she grinned at him.
This is kind of fun
, she thought. He was totally in

shut-down mode, which was eerie to her, so playing with his limbs made it amusing at

least. She’d rather find something to chuckle over than stare at a breathing statue who

freaked her out. She reached for the buttons on his shirt and opened each one.

He looked kind of sexy as she spread his shirt a few inches apart to reveal that

muscular chest and his ridged abs. She reached up for his lifted arm, bringing it down to

his hip so both hands were mirrored, letting her gaze run over him.

If she had to look at him she may as well look at a sexy statue. She hesitated and

reached for his belt. She slid the belt out of its loops and let it fall to the floor. She looked

up, staring at his expressionless face and closed eyes, then turned her attention to the

front of his pants. She gripped the fasteners, undoing the top one and then a second one

until skin and the enticing trail of silvery body hair showed—from his bellybutton lower

down his body, delving into the vee of his open pants. Smiling, she viewed her

handiwork. “Very nice.”

“What are you doing?”

She gasped, jumped as her head jerked up to stare into a pair of narrowed blue eyes.

His hands left his waist to grip her hips in a firm hold. His full lips curled downward as

he watched her from beneath hooded eyes. Her mouth opened but nothing came out.

“I asked you what you were doing to me. I ignored it when you touched me at first,

reasoning that you were concerned over my lack of motion, but there was no reason to

open my shirt or remove my belt.”

“Shit. You were totally aware of all that?”

His eyebrow arched. “Explain what you were doing.”

Heat warmed her cheeks as embarrassment spread through her. Did she dare tell him

the truth? She wasn’t sure if it would insult him or not. “I…”

“I’m waiting.”

“Well, you kind of looked like a statue and you seemed totally out of it and I was

bored. You said food was coming but it hasn’t arrived.”

“So you loosened my clothing?” He didn’t look amused at all as his frown deepened.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

She tried to back away from him but his hands tightened on her. She hesitated. “You

were freaking me out just a little bit so I thought if I had to see you that way I could at

least make you look like a sexy statue.”

Rena gasped as she was lifted and spun. Her back hit the wall but not hard enough to

hurt her, more of a jarring thump, and then she was pinned between irritated cyborg male

and hard, solid wall. She hung off her feet where he’d lifted her, their noses almost

touching. She stared into Steel’s eyes, deciding he didn’t look amused one damn bit by

her antics.

He moved his thigh, pressing it between hers. Rena didn’t resist, instead spread her

legs enough to let him fit between them when he gently applied pressure. Her heart

started to hammer in her chest and her fingers curled around his shoulders, gripping him

firmly as they stared at each other.

He was a big bastard, strong, and his body was pressed against hers tightly. With his

thigh between her legs, the vee of her pants was pressed against Steel’s warm thigh.

Staring into his beautiful eyes made her remember how nice it was to be that close to

him, how wonderful it had been to be skin to skin with the hot male cyborg.

Rena made a split-second decision. She wanted him and wanted to know how it

would feel to be touched by Steel, made love to, if cyborgs did that. She even wanted him

to just flat-out fuck her without him being tied down. Her hands slid down his shoulders,

down his chest. Her hands lifted from him to slide between his skin and shirt, pushing it

out of her way to touch his hot flesh.

Steel’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

She moved her other thigh, lifting it and wrapping it around his hip, down the back

of his leg. Now she was practically straddling him while upright. “Kiss me.”

Surprise widened his eyes as his body tensed and his hold on her tightened.

“I don’t bite.” She smiled at him. “At least not hard.”

His beautiful eyes narrowed suddenly. “What kind of game are you playing with me?

I’m not amused.”

“I’m not playing. I really want you to kiss me.”

They stared at each other. He didn’t bring his lips to her so she took hers to his,

closing her eyes right as she tilted her head, a breath from touching him. Her mouth

brushed his closed one, pressing there, waiting for him to open up to her, but when he

didn’t, she opened her mouth, letting her tongue slip out to swipe against his lower lip.

When he still didn’t open up to her she fought a wave of frustration until an idea hit

her. She went for his bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth. He gasped but didn’t jerk

away while she nibbled on his lower lip, teasing him as she gently sucked and used her

lips, teeth and tongue to play with it.

A groan came from him before his lip jerked from her mouth. Opening her eyes

Rena stared into a pair of gorgeous blue eyes as their gazes locked.

“I told you that I’m going to find a female to contract with in a family unit. This

won’t change that.”

“I didn’t ask you to change a damn thing. I asked you to kiss me.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

He didn’t hesitate this time, his mouth going for hers. Rena closed her eyes and

opened her mouth under his, their tongues meeting as they tasted each other, learned each

other’s mouths. He tasted of coffee and chocolate, a surprise for her. Steel deepened the

kiss, his hold on her shifting until he was gripping her ass with his large, hot hands.

He kissed her the way a starving man would, delving into her welcoming mouth, his

tongue dominating hers. His hips ground against her spread-open legs, letting her feel the

hard length of his cock trapped in his pants, rubbing against her clit when he used his

hold on her ass to move her up and down on him. Passion and longing rushed through

her, knowing she was getting really wet where they rubbed together. A moan came from

her into his mouth, met by him growling back at her.

Tearing his mouth from hers suddenly, Steel moved, turning away from the wall, still

gripping her. Rena frantically grabbed his shirt, clinging to it until gravity tore her from

his body when he bent a little, dumping her onto his bed her on her back. She stared up at

him in astonishment that he’d just released her.

Breathing hard, their gazes locked together. She reached for the front of her pants,

pulling her knees up to push them down her hips, hooking her thumbs in her shorts and

taking them down her hips with them. She removed them totally, tossing them aside. Her

feet flattened on the bed, her legs still bent as she sat up a little, removing her shirt.

Tossing it to the floor she went for the bra-like top next, tearing it over her head. She

dropped back, flat on his bed, meeting his passion-filled gaze.

“Take your clothes off.”

He let his attention slowly wander down her naked body. Her heart pounded as she

watched his face.
Will he refuse?
She knew he was aroused but he wasn’t a typical man.

Will he decide to not have sex with me?
Her body ached for him. He stood there,