by Naomi Lucas
“You’re now cleared to land.” As if whoever on the other side could read his mind. “Proceed to landing zone C.”
Landing zone C? Its a house, not a spaceport. Moss tempered his impatience. His file said nothing about who employed him. Whether he was dealing with one of the Larkswest’s themselves or a trusted employee, he had no idea, and it was against procedure to hack into people’s private networks and servers.
It happened all the time anyway, but the wealthy… Getting into their systems was a real challenge. One that might kill you for even trying.
“Roger that,” Moss said.
His ship moved into position without him, descending the short span to his destination. He straightened out his uniform and cracked his neck, stretching and popping the metal joints of his knuckles at the same time. Moss headed for his armory and slid a laser pistol into the sheath under his jacket. He stopped in the doorway on the way out, paused a moment, and doubled back to grab a mean-looking knife.
He felt his ship land, and with the endless zeroes and dollar signs projected in the back of his mind, he reformed his body to Loxuria’s environment. Fortunately for him, it was very much like Earth’s, which made it a perfect place for human and tardigrade life. If Larkswest industries owned the planet, he’d commend them for their selfishness, but they didn’t. In fact, much of the land outside this particular estate was either wild or leased out.
The panel released and he stepped off his ship. Hundreds of sights, sounds, and smells blasted through him. Moss stopped mid-step.
A woman stood several dozen yards away from him. Glorious.
A backdrop of exotic foliage—blues, greens, and every teal color in between—framed her as she waited against the landscape. She stood away from it, on the concrete landing in heels and a sexy black business suit, but somehow the vegetation desperately tried to reach out and consume her. It wanted to touch her, envelop her into its environment, and make her part of it.
Before he knew it, he was right in front of her himself as though drawn to her by some invisible force.
“Moss Johann? War hero Moss?” she asked directly, peering up at him without a hint of trepidation. She had a pixie face and a black shoulder-length bob. High class and erotic vixen personified.
“And you are?” he asked. Her hair has pink in it.
His instincts kicked in and his internal structure began to dessicate.
“Lucy Larkswest. The owner of this estate.” She held out her hand. “I’m glad you’re here.”
It lightly shook as it waited for him to take it.
Moss covered her hand with his own greedily, gently, yet tightening ever-so-little. When she tried to take it back, he only relinquished his hold after another inappropriate moment.
He didn’t want to let her go. She’s going to turn me into fucking glass. A trick that lay dormant deep within his structure.
“I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else,” he said.
What was wrong with him? Moss cleared his throat. There was a lot of money at stake, but as soon as he reminded himself of that fact, he quickly disregarded it. He’d never met a woman he wanted so fucking quickly. I shouldn’t have given her hand back.
Lucy stepped away from him with a blush. The smell of windswept bluffs and starlight filled his nostrils…and those things didn’t even have a smell.
“That’s good to hear. I have to say, I’m surprised you’re really even here at all. I didn’t know until just recently that your profession existed. I’m very grateful it does.”
“War hero Cyborgs that can take care of monster infestations?” Yeah, his profession existed alright. “Most would call themselves mercenaries but you went straight for the professionals. The Earthian Planetary Exploration Division has only just begun taking house calls.”
“Only recently?”
“You’d be the first, Lucy Larkswest. There must be something very special about you.”
She smiled up at him and indicated her hovercraft. “It must be my family’s money. Come, let’s head back to the mansion where we can talk more comfortably.”
Moss grabbed her wrist before she moved away. “Let me,” he said, a need to take control and protect suddenly coursing through him. He squeezed her again before moving toward the passenger seat and opening the door for her.
“I think not,” she hissed, heels tapping to catch up. “You’re my guest, and this is my hovercraft.”
“You don’t trust my driving skills?” he teased, enjoying the sight of her very pale skin growing hot with an ever-deepening blush. “I’m very good at driving.”
“And I am in charge,” she huffed, ignoring his chivalry and moving to the driver’s side.
He outpaced her and closed the door she’d just begun to open. “You can’t expect me to sit idly by while I watch a human drive a machine when a machine—like myself—can drive it better.”
“How dare you! Who do you think you are?” Lucy rounded on him and his throat constricted. There was less than a foot of space between them.
“The man you hired.”
“An asshole like every guy I’ve met, it seems.”
“I’m not just a guy, Ms. Larkswest. You didn’t call a plumber.” Moss leaned over her.
She slapped at his chest and pushed him away. “Whatever you are, I’m driving. I’ll have you know, arguing with me will you get you nowhere. Unlike most people, I don’t cow easily.”
“Very well.” He laughed and stepped out of her space. He needed the distance more than she did.
“Wait, what? Just like that?”
He shrugged. “Just like that.”
Lucy slammed the door when she got in. The momentary upset broke when the craft shot into the air at deafening speed. He casually dropped his hand to grip his seat.
“You can’t do that, you know,” she said, after a minute.
“Do what?”
“Make me uncomfortable.”
“Did I make you uncomfortable?” he asked.
She shook her head; her straight black hair with pink highlights moved enticingly over her shoulders. The pink caught the light, making it almost glow.
“I’ll have you know, this may be my first time in the presence of a Cyborg, and I do know that your kind are supposed to be honorable, albeit stubborn, that if you’re playing me to breach the terms of the contract—”
“Let me stop you right there. I don’t play. Cyborgs, in general, don’t play.”
“That’s not what I meant—”
“I will follow the letter of the law of our contract. You needed a glorified pool boy, and you’re willing to spend a fortune for one, which is why I’m here. I will admit, I didn’t expect a woman to be waiting for me when I landed, and I may not have accurately tempered my response, for such a scenario. For that, I do apologize.”
“You do?” She glanced at him.
“Yes.”
“Oh…” Her brows furrowed and he wasn’t sure why.
The beauty of Larkswest Estate zipped by him, completely ignored. Moss waited for Lucy to say more, but no other words came.
“I’m not used to coming across a woman who is alone,” he said, feeling like he needed to explain. “It’s not in my nature to accept that as natural.”
“Why is that?”
“During the war, no one was supposed to be alone. All pilots flew in teams, battleships were flanked by more battleships, soldiers were kept in squads. Men, women, children, the elderly, and even the few sentient intelligences were all housed together on planets, bases, and ships. It was highly scrutinized back then if a single person wanted to get on a ship and just leave. It happened, just not often, and never with women. Every life was highly valued when so much life was lost each day. Women are life-givers. It means something more to beings like me.”
“Okay. What does that have to do with me? I’m sure you realize, this place practically houses an army. I’m far from alone.” The hovercraft flew into an underground tunnel.
&n
bsp; “Being amongst androids isn’t the same,” he said, almost snapping, but reeling it in at the last second. “It’s not the same.”
“Ah. Well, um…” Her mouth opened and closed. He enjoyed the bow-shaped purse of her lips as she struggled for words. “As long as I’m not made uncomfortable again, mama bear won’t strike out.” The hovercraft touched down lightly. “We’re here.”
“Mama bear?” Moss tore his gaze from her to take in his surroundings, compiling and scanning for any and all data he deemed necessary.
“The estate and my androids. They refuse to let me do what I want!” Lucy yelled out as she exited the craft, addressing the house itself, and leaving him behind.
“Ah.” He smiled knowingly and got out of the vehicle. Child-safety protocols were programmed into the estate’s artificial intelligence. He seeded into its security programming and confirmed it. “Mama bear and I are going to get along just fine,” he said to himself as he followed after the woman who was putting far too much distance between them for his liking.
5
“I’ll be right back,” Lucy called over her shoulder, rushing through the stained-glass and marbled tunnel, up the stairwell, through the entryway, and to the nearest bathroom beyond. She pummeled head long into one of the androids and quickly dispatched it to settle the Cyborg in one of the rooms that overlooked the pool.
He has a name!
Moss. Moss Johann. What kind of name was that? Obviously not the kind that roamed the same circles she did. Every gentleman she knew sported names like Valentino, Alexander, or if their parents were wild, Derek. There were far too many Dereks in her world. She’d already cut out all of the Chads. Lucy stuck her tongue out.
But Moss? She wanted to meet the parents that decided on that one.
The bathroom door locked automatically behind her and she inhaled deeply, pressing her hands to her chest.
It thrummed.
It hadn’t thrummed so much since she first laid eyes upon Scott Leve, the lead vocalist to her favorite band. Her parents hired him to serenade her every day for a week leading up to her sixteenth birthday—a well-intentioned mistake on their part.
A first love ended in a first hate.
Think of the giant alien monster in your pool, not Moss’s eyes.
Eyes that were as white as snow, framed by thick lashes with arching brows the same color, and short-sheared hair to match. Dreadfully pretty, yet unmistakably masculine. With his unusual colored hair, clean-shaven face, and equally perfect skin, Moss all but appeared as anything but moss, decked from the neck down in a black field uniform.
Lucy sensed he hid weapons out of sight, using his stark looks to distract everyone from the obvious—that he was dangerous. Dangerous and far larger up close.
When she pushed him away, he only moved out of propriety, not because she actually had the strength to move any part of a man like him.
He was definitely not what she’d been expecting when she hired an exterminator.
My money bought me the best looking monster hunter in existence.
Squaring her shoulders, Lucy reapplied a thick layer of concealer to hide her glowing cheeks and licked her lips. Her eyes dropped to the disc of makeup on her counter. If only I had enough to hide everything. But she turned on the water and scrubbed her face clean, remembering Moss wasn’t a family connection nor business associate. She needed to deal with him on a more personal level.
The sound of her heels tapping on the floor warred with her queasy stomach as she left the bathroom to seek him out. She found him out on the veranda toying with the remaining rockets.
“I apologize for my abrupt departure,” Lucy said, happy that her voice remained steady. The Cyborg twisted to face her as she approached. “I had to take care of an urgent matter.”
His eyes sparkled. “I know all about urgent matters.”
“I bet you do.” Lucy crossed her arms. “You’re supposed to be a monster hunter and all.” It sounded so cool saying it out loud. Numerous questions danced on the tip of her tongue and she swallowed them all back.
“Officially we’re ‘Retrievers’ but I’m an extremophile. And for those who don’t know what that means, it’s ‘a microorganism, especially an archaean, that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity, or chemical concentration.’ Better watch out Lucy Larkswest. Millions of dollars will bring out us weirdos.” He winked and leaned down to pick up a discarded missile.
She paused, digesting his words. Confusion wasn’t in her nature, but weirdness certainly had a way of finding her. It liked to chase her down, knock her to the ground, and drag her kicking and screaming across every aspect of her life.
“If you’re trying to tell me you’re strange, I’ll have you know,” Lucy pursed her lips, “that I once spent more money on male strippers for my friend’s baby shower. At the time I’d forgotten it was a baby shower and hosted a bachelorette party for her by mistake. That party will go down in history as the best baby shower to ever have occurred in all of history.”
He pointed the tip of a missile at her and smirked. “I’d strip for you for free.”
“I don’t think so, Moss Johann, I don’t want to see what a self-proclaimed microorganism has packing under his clothes.”
“You got me there.” He laughed and she couldn’t help but smile back. “Would you believe me if I said I have over forty claws that are bigger than a normal man’s penis?”
Her gaze shot to his hands. “And my hair’s naturally pink,” Lucy mused.
“Riiight.”
Her smile widened.
“At least my attributes go beyond my looks,” she teased.
Moss pointed the missile at his heart. “You’re breaking my body cavity wide open.”
Lucy took a step closer to him, finding the banter refreshing and calming her down. The Cyborg wasn’t nearly as intimidating as she first thought. Very few people spoke to her like he did and she was going to relish every second of informal conversation that she could.
But the closer she got, the more she needed to strain her neck to meet his eyes. Her heart began to flutter anew. “That missile will do more than open your chest, Mr. Johann.”
“Moss,” he corrected.
“Moss.” Her mouth watered. “That missile couldn’t kill the monster residing at the far end of the pool.”
He turned to fully face her, the mischief gone from his expression. “Was it you or your androids that tried to kill it with this?”
Lucy leaned back. Is he mad? “We both tried.” Suddenly she regretted moving closer to him.
His face darkened further. “Don’t ever do something so stupid again. You could’ve been killed, horribly, and I know you have no idea what you’re up against. I read your plea for help nearly a hundred times.”
“I’m nowhere near stupid, and what kind of person talks that way to the person that’s paying them? You don’t even know me.” I’m so much more than what people write about me. Indignation fueled her. “I’ve had extensive training in self-protection and I know how to use more weapons than the average soldier can name. And even if I didn’t, I have some of the best technology on the market to teach me how.”
“Then why isn’t your pest dead, Ms. Larkswest?”
“Because I didn’t want to destroy the one place in the universe that only has happy memories!” Lucy turned away from him and leaned on the railing, looking out over the grounds. “I swam every day, every night in this pool as a child. I’d like to swim in it again.”
He lightly touched her arm. “It’s not worth you getting hurt over.”
“No,” she agreed. “But I can’t help but try.” She’d endure being chastised by him if it meant restoring her paradise. She didn’t like it but enduring summed up her whole life.
His fingers circled her wrist, drawing her from her past. Moss lifted her hand and kissed the back of it softly. The thrumming in her chest returned.
“I vow by tomorrow evening you’ll be a
ble to swim safely in your home again,” he whispered across her skin.
Her lips parted as their eyes met over her hand.
Oh no.
6
The next morning Lucy found Moss standing in the exact same place as the evening before. The dawn sun glinted off his short military-cut hair. She gawked at him from a room away and strived to keep herself as quiet as possible so as not to disturb whatever it was he was doing.
Cyborg things.
Cyborgs doing Cyborg things, going about being all Cyborgy.
“I know you’re there, stalker,” he said, his voice low and deep.
She stepped from the shadows as he joined her inside. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He looked up at her questioningly.
“Comparing my stealth skills to a stalker. I’m not known for my sneaking abilities.” Lucy joined him by the overlook. She actually wasn’t known for anything, at least nothing that truly mattered to her. Being born and raised as an heiress, she’d die the same way according to the masses. Not many heiresses made it into history books.
“If I wasn’t built the way I am. I may not have even known you were there.”
Lucy laughed. “You’re patronizing me.”
He bowed with exaggerated flourish before her, flinging out his armor-clad arm. “If I wasn’t built the way I am, I may not have even known the exact second you opened your eyes this morning, rolled over in bed, yelled at your estate’s AI, and then proceeded to down two cups of freshly brewed coffee.”
“Wow. Okay. Now, who’s the stalker?” But her pulse was already kicked into overdrive, and a blush was spreading up from her chest to her cheeks. Horror and arousal swirled about in her gut that left her feeling oddly satisfied. Coffee and yelling hadn’t taken up her entire morning. She wondered what else he had heard.
Lucy frowned. I like his attention.
I want more of it.
Oh no.
Moss worked for her. That meant he was off limits. He wasn’t even human, at least not fully, which made her tingles a little perverse in her mind. Lucy rubbed her bottom lip and watched him from under her eyelashes.