by daisy harris
“So I was seeing inside your mind?”
He nodded, then placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a friendly squeeze. “Yes. And if it makes you feel any better, I was networked like that too. It sucks. But Frank reprogrammed me, and he’ll do the same for you.”
She bobbed her head in agreement.
Bane let his arms fall to the sides. He stepped back down into the boat. “In the meantime…” His eyes sparkled up at her, apologetic and playful all at once. “I’ll watch what I’m thinking.”
An image flashed in her mind—a picture of her sleeping in the bow of the boat, and the hem of Bane’s t-shirt riding up her hip.
“Hey!” Her flash of anger was edged with a hint of joy.
Bane shot her a devastatingly handsome grin, then ducked back inside.
* * * * *
The thwap-thwap-thwap of helicopter blades echoed overhead. As the machine calculated its landing position, the data streamed into 402’s brain. He relayed to headquarters the supplies they’d need to maintain the doctor in stasis until they could get him to the re-animation facility in Redmond.
402 marched into the clearing to meet the team.
Ana stepped off the helicopter. She stood only five feet tall, and with her black pixie haircut looked more like a wild teenager than a forty-year-old stein, but she exuded a cold and absolute power that demanded obedience. Without conscious direction, 402 took a step back.
“I need you to stream me an update as soon as possible,” Ana said by way of greeting. She wouldn’t have received his transmission to headquarters, isolated as she was from the rest of the Synaviv mind.
“Of course.” He fell in step behind her as she trudged up the pathway leading to the woods. Apparently she’d been briefed on the lab’s location.
Several more team members dismounted and filed behind them, far too many for a simple retrieval. “If I may ask…” Ana didn’t receive uninvited telepathy from any part of the Synaviv mind. “Why did you bring so many?”
She spoke directly forward, requiring 402 to hurry to her side to hear her reply. “The data you’ve downloaded so far suggests he’d be easier to re-animate on-site. He’s already chipped, but so far he’s only networked to his home server.”
Ana’s hatred of prolonged interaction showed in the rigidity of her stance, and the slamming of her steps in the soil. 402 slowed so as to fall behind.
“It’s imperative we capture Connor as well. There aren’t many assassin models still in operation.”
“Why don’t we give chase by boat? He’s still in the islands somewhere.” He hurried to keep pace while keeping his distance.
When they reached the house, Ana refused to approach the door and eyed him expectantly. It wasn’t locked, but Ana was known to avoid touching things whenever possible. He opened the door then stood back to allow her passage through.
“He’ll expect a frontal attack. We need to lure him to us instead.”
402 pondered her meaning but didn’t have time to reply.
“So where is this Doctor Love?”
402 knew she was telling a joke but wasn’t sure whether to smile in response. He’d seen firsthand Ana’s treatment of scientists and steins who’d built themselves girlfriends and wives. They usually ended up half machine and plugged into the mainframe.
She had issues.
“The creator is in the lab downstairs.”
“Wonderful. I haven’t had the opportunity to work with one so fresh in a long time.”
402 recognized the vicious leer on her face. He’d seen it in the men who created love dolls. When Synaviv had promoted him to Operative, he’d been proud to eradicate such evil from the planet. But all idealism faded if exposed to enough reality.
“Oh, and 402.” Ana turned on her way down the stairs. “I’m going to switch you onto voice command for the remainder of this project.” That smile again. “Now.”
Black tendrils wove into his mind from the edges. 402 tried not to show his discomfort, or worse, his anger as headquarters stole his body and mind. Through the grayish smoke in his vision, he saw Ana’s look of triumph, right before all went black.
* * * * *
Drizzling rain filled the air as Josie clamored up the trail after Bane. Her feet swam in the rain boots he’d given her and she considered that he hadn’t really thought through this plan very well in not bringing her clothes from Adam’s house. The path curved up a hill, through tall trees whose branches overlapped and wide-spanning trunks that dropped leaves the size of her head.
He hitched his backpack higher on his shoulders and cinched the waistband tighter on his hips. The move drew her attention to the way the smooth and stretchy material of his trousers hung from his behind. Her fingers tingled to reach out and pinch the bunched muscles of his buttocks.
That brief glimpse of his thoughts echoed in her mind. Clearly he hadn’t meant to do her harm and now that the shock faded, she observed it from a different angle. Josie wondered at the snippet, curious about where it might have led.
She ran her hands through the brush that rose around her. Each branch was filled with droplets. Spikes pricked on some plants, others felt smooth. One felt soft and downy at first, then stung her curious fingers and Josie pulled her hand to her chest. Her legs ached as they summited the hilltop.
Bane led her a small ways down the other side and he pointed to a small clearing. “It won’t be the softest night’s sleep. But I’m so dead on my feet I won’t care.”
Josie cocked her head to the side and noticed the way his body slumped forward and his feet dragged. “This’ll be fine.”
He bent at one side to lower the pack to the ground. “I can defend this, but I’ll want to catch some Zs before nightfall.” He kicked a few stones out of the way. Then he pulled a pile of cloth out of his bag and rolled it out on the mossy ground. Josie watched him slide metal sticks from the same nylon bag. He adjusted them back and forth ’til they became long, skinny poles, which he fed through loops of plastic on fabric.
“What is that?” Josie marveled at Bane’s skill as he swiveled the metal tubes and the interior of the contraption inflated, forming an oblong box.
“It’s a tent.” He rifled through the pack again, pulling out several machines, which Josie now knew to be guns, and then two sleeping bags. “We may have to zip these together to stay warm.” He didn’t meet her eyes. “But I won’t try anything.”
He tossed a few more items into the enclosure and crawled inside. Josie could tell she’d be able to fit too, but it would be a tight squeeze. The idea of being in such a small space so close to Bane’s body again sent shivers of anticipation fluttering along her back and shoulders, even while a small tremor of nerves jolted between her legs.
The tent stretched one way, then another, as Bane organized things within it. Something about the increasingly long stretches between his movements told her he was dragging it out. “Um, I’m done. But I need to sleep for a while.” The tone of his voice sounded like a question.
Josie went to her knees at the mouth of the tent and stuck her head inside. “What do you want me to do?” She searched his deep-set eyes for direction.
Bane rested on his heels, his knees splayed wide. The top of his blond head nearly brushed the roof of the tent and his broad shoulders filled the close space. “I’m asking if it’s okay with you if I rest for a while.”
As she’d never been asked such a question, Josie didn’t know how to answer. “Yes, it’s fine…” When he didn’t move, she struggled to clarify. “Do you want me to come inside, or stay out there?” She jerked her thumb back in the direction of her hips, which still poked out the tent’s door.
“Whichever you want, babe.” He said it with a small chuckle, but Josie noted the redness creeping up his neck to play under the stubble on his jaw. She remembered the way his chin had scraped hers when they kissed. Her hand rose to cool the abrasion.
“I want to stay here.” She crawled into the tent alongsi
de Bane and lay on her side on the sleeping bag he’d rolled for her. “I want to know… I want to understand what you were thinking before.”
Nervousness danced in her belly, but Bane turned away from her and lay down on his own sleeping bag, his back to her, his head resting on a small pillow. “Forget about it. It won’t happen again, and in a few days neither of us will even remember this.” He made a show of yawning, stretching and settling his body.
Imitating him, Josie stretched her arms above her head and struggled to find a comfortable position on the ground. Bane had spread some thin, inflatable pads under the sleeping bags, but it was far less comfortable than her bed at Adam’s house, or the mattress on the boat.
The thin cotton of his t-shirt strained across his shoulders and upper back. Josie scooted closer, until she nestled against the length of him. A little jolt of excitement shot through her to feel his firm backside against her hips, and she angled her body until those mounds pressed into the cradle of her groin. Of course, that necessitated her laying a hand on his upper arm for balance, and her face pressed between his shoulder blades.
“What are you doing?” The pillow muffled his voice.
Josie stopped shuffling, realizing she’d been pawing him. “Nothing, just getting comfortable.” Instinct told her to pull away and roll back to her side of the tent. Bane’s muscles felt stiff under her fingers. But she didn’t want to let go.
“I only have so much self-control, babe.” He began rolling her direction, and Josie scooted back to avoid getting squashed. When his gaze fell on hers, it looked darker, and infinitely more scary than usual. “If you don’t want a repeat performance of earlier, you’ll keep some distance.” His look dared her to argue, demanded she slink to her corner and cower.
Well, Josie had done enough of that with Adam. “If you just explained to me what you were trying to do…” Her voice rose and she struggled to find the right words, but Bane’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. He dragged her hand to the juncture of his thighs and pressed her palm to the ridge along his fly. Only this time she knew what lay beneath, and what he meant to do with it.
Bane held her hand steady and rubbed his groin against it with a hard look in his eyes, and Josie understood—he wanted what she’d experienced. Her heart leapt in understanding, and at the idea that she could give another being such sensation as she’d felt.
Yet the part in her hand was thick, long and so hard she imagined it must be filled with bone. “Bane…” She spoke in a steady voice, knowing he was about to break in some way. “I don’t know what to do.”
His eyes closed at the next forward thrust of his hips. “That feels good.” She experimented by gripping a little tighter through his pants, and his mouth opened. She lifted her head and placed her lips on his. He tasted soft and sweet and when he groaned again, she joined him, her own senses rising in time with his.
Her mind spun with how to make it better for him, and her fingers walked up to the fastening of his pants. Bane hissed into her mouth and drew his hips back when she struggled to unzip his fly. He reached to help her and Josie gasped in surprise when a hot weight jerked into her fist. The skin felt like silk stretched taut over stone. Josie trailed her eyes down Bane’s body, past the lifted t-shirt revealing ridges of muscles and shiny scars, along the path of brownish-blond hair on his belly, to the appendage jutting from between his legs.
It was thick as her wrist and twined with bluish veins. Its reddish cap seeped clear fluid, and she passed her thumb through the moisture.
“Fuck, babe.” Bane reached a hand down to cover hers. He clamped down hard and stroked her fist up his shaft. “Any chance you’d go down on me?”
At that moment she might do anything, if she could only understand what he asked. “What do you want me to do?” Her voice came out soft, husky. It didn’t surprise her when he moaned at the sound.
“Put it in your mouth.”
Josie observed the body part in her hand and wondered how it would fit in her mouth. But a warring curiosity wondered what it would taste like. Still passing her hand up and down his member, Josie gave him a little smile and rolled her eyes. “Well, since you explained what you meant…”
Chapter Six
Bane focused his thoughts on the beatific expression on Josie’s face as she observed his cock from her position between his legs. He’d rolled to his back and she’d taken up residence between his thighs, still jerking him between her small, white hands. When her lips stretched wide to accommodate the cap, he nearly shot right in her mouth. But he blocked the thought before she could see it.
“Am I doing this right?” she rasped wetly against his head. The fingers of one hand feathered onto his scrotum.
“Um…” he yelped. Bane swallowed and brought down the pitch of his voice. “You’re doing great.” He saw her smile in the crinkle of her eyes. “You know, you don’t have to do this.”
“I want to!” she happily slurped. “Does this feel good?” She swept her fingers over his ball sac and to his taint and Bane’s back arched. The movement lodged his cock deeper into the wetness of her mouth. Josie clamped her fist down at his base to hold him steady. She licked her way up and placed a kiss on his tip, before giving him a scolding look. “Don’t choke me.”
“Okay.” He fought to keep his hips on the ground and she slid her hand in another teasing pass. He knew she didn’t mean it to be teasing. Josie just didn’t know to do it hard enough to get him off. He twined his fingers in her ebony hair, though he resisted the urge to press her head lower.
After a few more agonizing minutes, Bane palmed her face and lifted her up. “That was great, babe. You can stop now.” His cock pulsed in protest. Bane moved to kneeling and secured himself back in his pants. He only needed a moment alone in the woods to finish.
Josie sat back on her knees with a confused look on her face. “But you didn’t…” She sounded hurt. Man, this girl just made him feel more and more like a douche. “I wanted to see you, when you…y’know…”
“Came?” His voice was a growl. He’d meant to be good, to take the high road, but the way she fastened a trembling bottom lip between her teeth sent his pulse beating in his ears. And anyway, neither one of them would remember this in a few days.
Bane slipped his hand to her nape and slanted his mouth over hers. He plunged his tongue inside, giving her a chance to show fear, to push him away. Instead she gripped his shoulders and rubbed her chest against him. He kissed her deeper, then nipped at her mouth. In response she tore her shirt over her head and tugged his up to his armpits.
He didn’t have time to pull it off before she pressed her upper body into his. Josie kissed his chest, and when he got the shirt off, his shoulder. Her fingers played at his fly. He felt blood climbing his cheeks and whispered in her ear, “I may have to help you out. Um, with what you’re doing.”
Her hand found his dick again and she pulled her head back to look him dead in the eyes and gave him a big, sappy grin.
Bane’s blush climbed to his ears. “I don’t know if I can do this.” It wasn’t just that he’d never gotten head or a hand job before. He’d never had someone watch him, especially not a beautiful, angelic, innocent woman…
Her smile faltered. “Can you only do it the other way?” Her hand stilled.
It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. But when she sat back on her heels, he noticed her press her knees together.
“No, babe. It’s not that…”
Crap, now she looked sad. He leaned forward and kissed her again, and then drew her up so they were both kneeling and facing each other. Fuck his performance issues. She wanted to see his money shot, and he would give it to her. Still devouring her mouth, he pulled her hand into his lap. Bane rested his free hand on her knee before skimming up the inside of her thigh.
Her knees pressed tighter as his fingers met her curls. Bane dragged a line of kisses to her ear and whispered, “I won’t hurt you. Open your legs for me?”
He grinned at the suggestiveness of the request but schooled his mind to remain in the present—nice, gentle, sexy thoughts she’d enjoy hearing.
Josie shivered and widened her knees. Then she tightened her grip and dragged it the length of his cock, circling the tip with her palm. Bane let his head fall to her shoulder. His middle finger speared into her slippery folds.
She made a sound between a yelp and a cry and buried her head in his shoulder. Bane shifted forward, one knee inserted between hers. He leaned into her and helped her hand work up and down his dick while his finger stroked from her opening to her clitoris and back again. She mewled and rocked her hips on his hand. Her wetness coated his palm and fingers. Bane groaned into her neck and bucked into her fist.
They stroked each other in time, each of them straining and panting. When his fingertip breached her entrance she tensed. Bane pulled his touch back, running only along her cleft, but Josie sighed, “Don’t stop,” and pressed her mouth onto his. With a growl, he slid his finger inside her. Her center clasped on each knuckle until the heel of his hand rested on her mons.
Bane sank his finger into her faster, bending it to reach what he hoped was her G-spot. When she cried his name, he figured he’d found it.
She rose and fell of her own accord, fucking his hand, and Bane gave up using her trembling fingers on himself. He released her fist and stroked his cock hard while Josie wrapped her thin arms around his neck. He breathed deep the rosemary-and-woman scent of her hair, and reveled in the sound of her screaming. Her center clamped on his hand and her knees squeezed tight on his thigh.
His fist flew a staccato beat and Bane rubbed the tip of his cock on her soft skin, his pre-cum mixing with her damp sheen, and milked the final thrusts he needed. The orgasm clamped down on him from behind and traveled the length of his cock and up his spine. Each grip of it ached like pain, and he arched back, falling onto the hand that had been between Josie’s legs. Behind clamped eyelids, colors danced in his vision. Hot splashes of cum landed on his belly. Josie’s hands covered his thighs. She peppered kisses on his chest. Still panting, Bane opened his eyes.