MaleAndroidCompanion (15 page)

For a moment she was quiet. Then she cupped
his face, guiding him toward her mouth. Her kiss was tender, almost reverent.
“Why can’t you be real?” Her whisper was so soft he barely heard her.

Marc’s heart stuttered. He swallowed the
sudden lump in his throat.

“Kiss me like I’m yours,” she choked.

This time when her mouth touched his
something inside him burst wide open. She wanted him. Could it be possible that
she, a renowned celebrity, would even consider this geeky scientist?

Sliding his tongue along the seam of her
lips, he thrust inside. Gia was all fiery heat. Her feminine taste was a drug
making his senses spin out of control. He kissed her over and over again. She
whimpered against his mouth and he drank the sound. When they parted both were
breathless. Her pebble-hard nipples rasped against his chest.

Eyes slumberous and sexy, she rubbed her
silky body up and down his. “If you were real, I’d marry you in a heartbeat.”

Marry? Him?

Blood rushed to his cock, making him
impossibly firmer as his chest squeezed. Fear and excitement played tug-of-war
with his emotions. He was a man—real. Before, commitment had always been the
enemy. Yet the thought of devoting his life to Gia—no, Gina—had a beautiful
ring to it.

Through feathered lashes, she scanned his
face. “You and I would make beautiful babies together.” The weariness in her
eyes wrapped around him.

“How many children?” Marc found himself
asking—and really wanting to know.

Leaning into him, she brushed her lips
across his. “Two. A boy and a girl. And a Cairn Terrier.” She chuckled, the
girlish sound softening his heart. “I’ve always wanted a dog since I moved away
from home, but it seemed ridiculous and cruel with the schedule I keep to get
one.”

Absentmindedly, he nibbled on her neck
before raising his head. “Where would you want to live after we were married?”
Damn. He was falling into this fantasy as well.

“Oregon,” she replied with no hesitation.
“I love the trees, the mountains and water. In an hour or so we could be at the
ocean clamming or we could run or hike for miles undisturbed. At times I just
silently sit and watch the wildlife. It truly is a beautiful place. Do you like
to fish?”

A nature lover?

From watching her slink across the silver
screen and listening to her interviews, no one would guess that her privacy
meant so much to her. He liked that and so much more about her. She was
intelligent and easy to talk to. Marc couldn’t remember the last time he felt
like sharing parts of his family with a woman. And this woman made him laugh,
smile and want so much more than a couple of weeks with her.

“Yes. I enjoy fishing, but I haven’t had
the opportunity in a long while. The last time I fished I had Brandon and
Nathan fly out and we took a trip to Alaska.” But the vision in his head at the
moment was one of Gina sitting between his thighs, sitting on a grassy bank,
both of them with fishing poles in their hands.

“Alaska?” Unexpected sarcasm rose in her
tone. She shook her head, disbelief rimming her eyes. “You’re good. You almost
made me buy into your story.” She glanced up at him. “I guess since we’re
pretending, what about you? Where would you live?”

“Wherever you want to live would be home
for me.” His answer shocked him, as well as Gina judging by the drop of her
jaw. God help him. He was falling for her. Hell. What was he saying? Since the
first time he’d seen her on the silver screen he had wanted her. Of course that
was just a fantasy—this was reality. Even if he had a chance with her he’d
blown it. Once she discovered his deception, there would be no chance of him
ever making her his.

“Really?” There was a dreamy texture to her
voice. “I think that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Marc doubted that, but if she promised to
be his, he would build her a mansion in the green forests of Oregon or a beach
house on the ocean, anything her heart desired. And she could fill it up with
all the children and dogs she wanted. The thought remained unspoken.

A huff of air left her lungs. “I’m doing it
again. How pathetic am I?” Moisture filled her eyes once more. As one large
tear rolled down her cheek, she swiped at it angrily. “I—” She choked back the
words. “You know… I just forget sometimes.” She spun around, her back to him.
“I think we have enough to convince my family we’re legitimate.”

Gina’s sadness overwhelmed him. The urge to
take her into his arms and comfort her was strong, but before he could reach
for her she stepped away. “I need to pack.” Moving across the room, she pushed
a button on the wall unit that opened the partitions to a large walk-in closet.
Exquisite gowns hung on one side, casual wear on the other. A Ferris wheel of
shoes rotated and in between them were drawers. When she moved her hand in
front of one of the drawers it opened.

Sensor activated.

Marc stepped into the closet, easing up
behind her and pressing his naked chest to her back. “Packing can wait,
sweetheart.” Brushing her hair aside, he bared her shoulder for his mouth,
kissing a path up the length of her neck. “Come to bed. I want to be inside
you.”

For a moment silence lingered between them.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Blindly, she stared at the open drawer that held lingerie. “One minute I’m
okay. The next…” She drifted off, releasing a ragged breath. “It’s true that
the best way to forget a man is to lose yourself to someone else, but—” A
tremor raced through her and he folded his arms around her to quiet it. Turning
in his arms, she snaked her hands around his waist. “You’re not real.”

A surge of guilt rushed through Marc’s
veins. His lies were the reason for the confusion tugging at her brows. If only
he had introduced himself, maybe he might have had a chance with her.

“You do things to me—” Sucking her bottom
lip into her mouth, she bit down. “I let my guard down when I’m with you. Tell
you things I’ve never admitted to a single soul.” Once again, tears swam in her
eyes. “And you make me feel things I’ve never felt with another man. You make
me forget Doug, but you also reveal the emptiness in my life and what I’m
missing in a man, a real relationship.”

What a sorry-ass bastard he was. “Gina,
what if I was human? Would I really stand a chance with you?” Because he wanted
to be her man. He wanted to go to bed each night and wake up each morning in
her arms. He wanted to make her dreams come true.

“It’s a moot point, Marc.” Releasing him,
she jerked a clean robe off a hanger and walked past him, straight toward the
intercom in her bedroom. “Leda, could you please come up and help me pack?”

“Right away, Miss Easton.” The
housekeeper’s distinctive voice burst from the small white box against the
wall.

Gina pushed her arms through the sleeves of
the satiny white robe. Her silence was as good as a dismissal. On leaden feet,
she returned to the closet and started to yank clothes off hangers and out of
the open drawer.

Slowly Marc backed away. Somewhere in the
scheme of things he had fucked everything up, including his chance with Gina.
Yet confessing his sin now would ruin her visit with her family. He disappeared
into the adjoining bedroom and quietly shut the door.

The only choice he had was to continue the
charade. After the weekend, he would tell her the truth and hope that she could
forgive him.

He needed to contact Toil and make
arrangements for their trip to Oregon. Although Marc had met her security
detail, he would prefer his own. What ruse could he and Toil come up with to
get Gina to accept the Institute’s jet and protection?

Chapter Eight

Gia woke to a warm body pressed against
hers, one arm slung around her waist and a knee wedged between her legs. A
slight tug of her hair and she turned to find Marc wide awake and running his
fingers through her hair.

“What are you doing?”

The intensity in his eyes sent a shiver
through her. “Watching you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re the most beautiful woman I
have ever laid eyes on.”

She eased upon her back.

Splaying his fingers wide across her flat
stomach, he smoothed a palm up her rib cage to brush the underside of a breast
before he cupped her fullness.

Gia’s belly clenched. “Now what are you
doing?”

“Seducing you.” With his thumb and index
finger, he rolled her nipple into a hard peak.

Fingers of desire danced between her
thighs.

“Is it working?”

She opened her mouth to respond just as she
caught sight of the clock in the corner of the large television screen that
took up most of the wall across from the bed. In bright neon green, it
announced nine o’clock.

“Oh my god. We’ll miss our plane.” She
tossed back the comforter, knocking away his hand as she started to rise. Marc
wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back down upon the bed. “Stop
it,” she said. As she made another attempt to rise, he pinned her arms above
her head, a muscled thigh across her hips. “Dammit, Marc. Let me go.”

“Transportation hasn’t arrived. We have
time for this.” With his free hand he plucked at one of her nipples. “And
this.” Adjusting his hips, he draped them over hers, climbing atop her. “All
you have to do is lie perfectly still, I’ll do the rest.”

Marc’s morning hard-on pressed against her
pelvic bone. For a moment the bulge drew her attention, but then the fact that
they would be leaving soon pulled at her. “I need to—”

His lips stole the words from her mouth
with a long, slow kiss that screwed with her resistance. Nibbling on the corner
of her mouth, he eased her legs apart with a knee before laying his firm
erection against her damp folds.

“Nice.” Trying to dislodge her wrists from
his hold, she squirmed, sliding along the hard ridge between her thighs.

His chuckle was a deep blend of amusement
and lust. “Hold still.” Dipping his head, he circled a nipple in his hot mouth
and suckled for a moment before he broke the suction with a pop. The warm air
he breathed over the moist skin made both peaks draw up taut.

Breasts heavy with need, she inhaled his
earthy aftershave, which told her he’d already risen and prepared for the day
and then returned to her. The knowledge and the rich scent of him warmed her
blood and stirred her arousal. Rays of electricity burst through her core. A
flood of moisture anointed her thighs, her need building into a slow burn.

Angling his hips, he positioned his cock at
her pussy, allowing only the broad head to enter and tempt her. Then he eased
inside her with a slow, hard stroke. The full, tight sensation of him buried
deep inside her was amazing. Each of his thrusts was met with one of her own.

Gia found herself smiling. This is how a
woman should wake each morning. In the arms of a man who couldn’t keep his
hands off her.

M.A.C.’s marketing strategy had been
clever. Give a woman a taste of the good life and she’ll pay any price to keep
their product. But Gia had stepped beyond the boundaries and fallen for Marc.

He found a sensitive spot and she gasped,
arching beneath him.

If her family knew or the press found out
she’d be completely and totally humiliated. Once again she had to push her
thoughts away and focus on the man who held her and dropped over the top of her
so that their bodies came together before he took her mouth with his.

Mimicking the slow steady pace of his hips
with his tongue, he fucked her mouth with a tenderness that squeezed her chest.
When the caress ended, he worked his way down her throat, nuzzling her neck
before kissing a path across the hollow of one shoulder and finally to the
swell of a breast.

He cupped her. “I love your breasts. Soft.
Warm. Made for me like your body is—you are.” He licked her nipple and then bit
the tip, sending shards of fire through the peak. Then he drew the nub into his
mouth and sucked with long pulls.

Gia closed her eyes and savored the moment,
but it was over way too soon.

Releasing his hold, he licked and caressed
his way back up her body to find her mouth once more. Without hesitation, she
parted her lips and invited him in to taste her. Their tongues slid
provocatively along each other as they sipped from each other’s mouths, the
intensity between them growing like a slow, imminent wave that strengthened
with each thrust of their hips and their passionate kiss.

A contraction bore down on her womb,
alerting her to the first signs of her rising orgasm. She wiggled beneath him,
trying to find that special area that would carry her to heaven.

“Please, Marc,” she gasped, jerking her
hands. He let her go. As soon as she touched him, muscles rippled beneath her
palms. She clawed her fingernails across his back, flexing them as another
spasm erupted.

“Fuck. That’s hot,” he cried out, bowing
his back against her raking talons. “Mark me, baby.”

God. He was right. It was hot and his
reaction even hotter.