Kissing Steel (17 page)

ship within seven hours so we can get them settled for travel.”

Dread settled in the pit of Rena’s stomach. “But you said—”

“No one expected the repairs to be done that quickly and the damage was less

extensive than we first believed. Taking the females to Garden is much anticipated and

my orders are to get underway as soon as it is possible.”

“That means we’re going to lose a day together, right?” She wanted him to confirm

it.

“Yes.”

I’m going to miss him
. “I see.”

“I am still going to drop you in an escape pod when we get within range of Outpost

Five and I’ve ordered one of my men to notify them so they know to hold a ship if one

passes there heading for Earth. You won’t be stranded there for any longer than

necessary. I also had one of my men take money out of our ship safe so that you’ll have

no trouble paying for your passage home.”

She just stared up at him, not sure how to react. Part of her was glad that he was

going to keep his word about giving her freedom back but she’d be returning to Earth

without the
Star
, without her recovery bonus, and Chuck would be waiting there along

with her shitty life. Her boss, Joe Emmit, would make her life a living hell at work, now

that she’d failed her mission. He hadn’t wanted her going on the recovery mission in the

first place. Chuck was going to be incensed that Demco had paid out money to the

recovery team that had failed and given their lives trying to take the
Star
.

“I believed this would make you content knowing that you are just two days away

from being released.”

She wasn’t sure how to explain to Steel the kind of hell her life had become in the

years since she’d made the mistake of marrying Chuck. Before Joe Emmit had become

her supervisor she’d had her job to escape to but now, with the boss from hell, that had

turned into a nightmare too.

She had no home life except to stay as far from her cold husband as she could, which

meant staying in her bedroom on the other side of the house, trying to remain invisible,

fearful of drawing his unwanted sexual attention. A drunk, horny Chuck was a nightmare

and she’d spent more than one evening locked in her bedroom to keep him from coming

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

in after her, with him yelling at her that it was her responsibility to bend over for him and

take it.

Chuck was never going to allow her to divorce him without destroying her work

reputation so no one would ever hire her and she’d end up homeless and at the mercy of

the cruel system that Earth Government had become for the unemployed. She knew her

husband wouldn’t hesitate to destroy her. Swallowing hard, she realized that Steel was

watching her very closely.

“You don’t look content at all, Rena. Why is that?”

“It’s hard to explain. I thought when I returned to Earth I’d be taking the
Star
back

with me and it was going to buy my freedom from having to work and live where I do.”

He sighed. “I am not giving you the
Star
and you aren’t going to be able to take it

from Flint no matter how many mercenaries you hire at a future date in an attempt to go

after it. You will just get more humans killed and you would be captured again.”

“I wouldn’t do that now that I know who has her, and hell, after I return I won’t ever

be given the chance to recover anything again. Demco paid out a lot of money to the

Bridden
crew so their failure will be counted as mine.

“Have your pal Flint deactivate Pod 3 because it’s transmitting to Earth the
Star
’s

location and that’s how we found it to track them. I’m sure Demco will be sending out

other recovery teams, just not ones led by me. The
Star
is far too valuable to them to just

write it off. As long as they have a way to find it, they will just keep sending more teams

to retrieve it.”

“Why share this information with me?” He frowned.

“I don’t want the
Star
taken from your people.” She shrugged her shoulders, turning

away from him to pace. “It’s better off in your hands than it would be in Demco’s any

day. They will just auction it off, trying to recoup their money and then you’d run the risk

of someone getting word out that so many cyborgs survived.” She turned to face him. “I

don’t want any harm to come to any of you.”
Especially you.

Steel leaned down and removed his boots, dropping them on the carpet. When he

straightened, he said, “I need to get clean and then I want you in my bed waiting for me

without your clothes.”

Suspicion gripped her and so did pain at his words. She was married to a cheating

bastard and one thing he’d always done was take showers before coming to her bed to

clean away the scent of whatever woman he’d been with. It hurt her to think Steel must

have had sex with Fiona and wanted to cleanse her scent from his body. It made sense

now why he’d halted her from taking him to bed.

Steel studied her expression closely, his hands going to his hips. “What is wrong?”

She turned away from him. “I’ll sleep on the floor from now on, Steel.”

“I thought you wished for us to have a sexual relationship while we were together.

What changed your mind?”

Rena refused to look at him as she leaned over the bed to remove the top cover. It

really hurt that he’d fucked another woman but she knew they didn’t have commitments

to each other. She was the one who had insisted on them getting physical. The night

before had meant a lot to her and she’d become close to Steel—too close, she realized.

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

She felt things for him that she knew couldn’t amount to anything. She was a human, he

was a cyborg, and he wanted a cyborg woman to form a family unit with.

“Rena?”

Her back stiffened at hearing him right behind her, so close that she turned very

slowly for fear of touching him. She was right when she saw that he was just a foot from

her, his big frame so close to her that she had to tilt her chin all the way up to meet his

confused look.

“My husband always had to take showers too when he came home to me in the early

days when we still had sex. He was afraid I’d know he was just with another woman.”

She turned away and moved around the bed. “How is Fiona?”

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and spun her around to face him. He glared

into her surprised eyes. “I did not have intercourse with Fiona or any other female. It was

hot on the planet and my uniform made me warm enough that I allowed my body to

sweat so I didn’t get overheated. I wished to remove the sweat from my body and that is

the only reason I wanted to cleanse myself before I climbed into my bed with you.”

“I want to believe you,” she admitted. “But I married the world’s biggest liar and

cheater.”

“I do not lie and I couldn’t cheat on you since that would imply I had made

commitments to you that we do not have in place, yet I still refused offers today from six

different females who wished to share their bodies with mine in an attempt to test our

chemistry.”

She wanted to believe him desperately and that in itself made her a little sad. Steel’s

significance to her was too much, too fast. She knew she was lonely and she loathed

admitting that she’d spent years wishing to be close to another person so she was

guessing that maybe she’d latched onto the sexy cyborg too quickly. She hesitated and

then reached for the front of his pants. This time Steel didn’t stop her, just released her

shoulder to stand there staring down at her with a tight expression, his eyes hooded.

Unfastening his pants, she eased them down his hips, shoving them down his thighs

where they pooled at his feet. He didn’t move or lift a leg to help, just regarded her warily

as he stood still for her. She gave her full attention to his briefs, her fingers working into

the waistband and lowering them down his hips too. Steel wasn’t aroused as she freed his

cock from the fabric but when she went to her knees that changed quickly as his blood

surged to his cock.

“What are you doing?”

She reached for him, one hand sliding between his slightly parted thighs to brush her

knuckles along the underside of his scrotum, feeling the soft, hairless skin there. Steel’s

cock twitched as it stiffened, straightened, and enlarged as he obviously responded to her

touch and her position on her knees before him.

“I asked you what you are doing.” His voice was low and deeper than normal.

“What does it look like?”

“You’re inspecting me to make sure I did not have intercourse? Proceed, Rena. I do

not lie but if you need proof, there it is. You will smell sweat and male but you won’t

find the scent of a female on me.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

Guilt ate at her a bit as she realized he was right and that she’d been doing just that,

inspecting him and making sure he hadn’t had sex, which he hadn’t. Gazing up at him she

saw the tense expression he allowed her to see, not trying to shield his emotions from her.

She licked her lips just to have Steel’s body respond to the sight of her tongue darting out

of her mouth. She inched closer, her other hand gripping his rigid sex and opened her

mouth, letting her tongue touch the crown of his shaft.

“You won’t taste another female on me either,” he groaned. “I do not lie.”

Taking Steel into her mouth, she worked him with her tongue and lips, almost

smiling as another groan of satisfaction came from Steel. His hand brushed her cheek,

pushing back her hair and she looked up at him as she sucked on his excited flesh. With

his guard down, Steel’s passion was there for her to see—his lips were parted, his cheeks

a little darker from being flushed, and his eyes looked sexy as hell to her.

“I won’t last long,” he said softly. “You’re too good at that. I believe you said you

want to straddle me. Rise and release me.”

Hesitant to do that, she slowly eased him from between her lips and started to get to

her feet but Steel was faster, bending forward, his hands gripping her upper arms to help

her to her feet. He kicked off his pants and briefs as he moved to the bed, sat down on the

edge and held out both hands to her.

She moved toward him in a heartbeat, tearing at her clothing to get free of them,

wanting nothing between her skin and his. Steel patiently waited, his cock standing at full

attention between his slightly parted thighs and then she stepped between those thighs.

His strength never ceased to amaze Rena he firmly grasped her hips, lifting her easily

to put her on his lap where she straddled his hips. She was the one to reach between them,

grip his cock, and guide him to the entrance of her body, but right before she could adjust

to ease down on him, Steel surprised her by moving her again, tossing her on the bed next

to where he sat.

“What—”

Steel gripped her thighs with his hands right behind her knees, shoving her legs up

and apart, baring her pussy to him where he leaned over her, his face above her stomach.

His eyes had gone cold.

“You did not believe me when I told you the truth. Perhaps you were with another

male while I was gone.”

“Are you kidding? I was locked in your room.”

His expression softened. “It is not pleasant to be accused of something you did not

do, is it, Rena?”

She took a deep breath, feeling her cheeks warm with embarrassment. “I get it and

you’ve made your point.”

A silvery eyebrow arched. “Have I? Perhaps I won’t believe your words and will

investigate your sex to make certain that no male scents are there.”

Her heart was beating quickly but as his words sank in it sped up just a bit more,

knowing what he was going to do. “Go ahead.”

Steel spread her thighs wider, lowering his face closer to her wide-open pussy. “You

owe me an apology for not trusting in my word since I have never told you a falsehood.”

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Kissing Steel – Laurann Dohner

“I’m sorry, babe.” She meant it. “It’s just that it’s really hard for me to trust a man

after being married to one who lied to me every time he opened his mouth.”

Steel hesitated so close to her pussy that his hot breath teased her throbbing clit that

ached for his tongue. “This is the man who you belong to on Earth, the one you will be

returned to?”

“I don’t want to talk about him right now. You wanted to inspect me, remember?”

She forced a smile. “I’m turned-on and if we keep talking about that subject it’s going to

kill my mood so fast it won’t be funny.”

“I wouldn’t want that,” he said softly. “I am so hard for you after you taunted me

with your mouth.”

A soft moan came from Rena as Steel brushed a surprising kiss on her inner thigh as