“He’s not a drug user if that’s what you’re implying.”
“I’d never dream of saying that.” Oh, yes he would. He suspected her father had many faults. Habitual drug use wouldn’t surprise him. It was something almost every nobleman did. And in the government you had easy access.
“Yes, you would. You have no problem accusing anyone of horrible things. Even if you don’t accuse, you definitely think it.”
He moved to examine her leg, pulling a knife from his boot. He cut away her blood soaked pant leg around the injury, jostling the sliver of metal. “Does that hurt?”
“Are you kidding? I can’t feel anything, anywhere. Disconcerting feeling.”
“Oh, come now. I know you’re a drug user, even if dear daddy isn’t.”
“Was a drug user. And I didn’t do anything quite like this.”
“What’s so different about it?” He needed to keep her talking. He’d let her talk about anything.
“Most of the drugs me and my friends used created a euphoric feeling, not a numb body feeling.”
“Not an orgasm feeling?”
She laughed. “Okay, so you caught me. I was a big user of that particular drug.”
“Couldn’t find anyone to get you off the good old fashioned way?”
She snickered. “Sometimes. I’ve met a lot of skeevy men and most of the time you don’t want to sleep with any of them. Much better to take a drug that gets you off, and avoid the assholes that are out there.”
“Or you could marry.”
She snorted and shook her head. “Not you too? If my father brings in one more dickwad of a suitor, you’ll have quite the murder-suicide on your hands. Those are the biggest assholes of them all. They’re all rich, and political up and comers. Condescending, like I don’t have a brain when, if I’d finished my schooling, I probably would have beaten them out of whatever position they hold.”
“I have no doubt. Okay, I’m going to pull this out now.” He didn’t think the shard had hit an artery. She probably would have died already if it had, but it still was going to bleed a lot, and she’d already lost enough blood. The regenerator would probably only stop the blood loss.
He freed the shrapnel and blood immediately welled and started streaming down the sides of her leg onto the bench. He grabbed the regenerator and held it over her wound. The blood loss slowed and then stopped, but the batteries died before he was finished. He wiped away the blood, and was satisfied that the injury was no longer life threatening. He reloaded the doper with an antibiotic and injected it near the wound.
“There we go. That should do until we get you home and I can take you to medical.”
“No! My father can’t know about this outing, for your sake and mine. If he knows I was injured, he’ll see it as your failure, and have you killed.” She slowly sat up. She blinked hard and swayed.
“Maybe you should lie back down.”
“I’m fine.” She grabbed his arm. “You can’t tell my father what happened, or anyone in the infirmary. Go get more medical supplies and fix the rest of my wound, but you can’t take me to sick bay.”
She eyed him but her gaze was unfocused. “I know you were hit. You should have used some of that on you.”
He glanced at his shoulder. Blood had spread down his torso and was soaking into his pants. “It’s nothing. I’m already healing. I do need to pull the cloth away from it though.” He plucked it away from the wound and flinched.
“It’s the gift of being what I am. You heal pretty damned fast.” He whipped his shirt over his head and used it to wipe off the majority of blood that had spilled.
“We still need to give you a dose of antibiotics and see if we can’t bandage it at least.”
He showed her his palm, with the rapidly healing tiny puncture wounds. “Don’t worry about me. See how these are healing? I’ll be fine. I’m worried about you. It’s very hard for me to catch an infection, but you’d be easily killed by one. My superior genetics can fight most things off.”
“My God. Those look like they’re days old.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
“Launch imminent,” the computer said. “Strap in.”
Jamila pushed herself to sitting. “We need to move.”
“No, stay here and brace yourself. We’ll be okay.”
He put his arm around her from his kneeling position on the floor and waited for liftoff. It wouldn’t catch him off guard this time. The ship launched and he barely moved a muscle. Jamila shifted slightly, but kept her seat.
“Wow, you’re so strong.”
He grinned. “Yes, I am. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. I think the bad parts of the painkiller are starting to wear off. I feel more focused than I was a second ago.”
“Good. I need you to tell me what I should say to your father when you don’t come to dinner.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost nine.”
“Crap, we’re already late for dinner. We should make it back before he’s done. We have to think of a lie about where we’ve been. How about shopping?”
“We don’t have anything new.”
She rolled her eyes. “Pfft, as long as he doesn’t see us sneaking in, he’ll never even ask what I bought. He doesn’t care, as long as I’m not out creating a new scandal.”
“Okay then. We were shopping and ate out.”
She was still too pale for his liking. He got the feeling that if she sat up, she’d fall right back over. Would she need a transfusion? He glanced at the blood on her clothes and beneath her on the bench and made an estimate of what she’d lost. No, she would be fine without a transfusion. Weak, but she’d live. She wasn’t cold to the touch, or shivering, and since he’d stopped the blood loss she would be fine. He tried to keep himself from worrying. Why the fuck was he concerned? She was a means to an end. Nothing more. But she was also beautiful, compassionate, and brave. She wouldn’t be risking herself if she weren’t.
“Does anyone know you meet this man?”
“Only Alice and Darion. They would never tell.”
“Has anyone seen you meeting with him?”
She glared at him as best she could while lying on a bench. “No, why do you think we meet there?”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, either someone saw you or he betrayed you. Which do you think it is?”
She sighed. “Someone probably spotted us. He was doing something illegal too, so I doubt he ratted me out. Who do you think the assassins were?”
He snorted. “I don’t know. I assume they’re trying to kill you to strike at your father. I think if it were the government, they would have come out and arrested you. You’re an important person. If they wanted to out you, they’d want to do it publically to make a point that even the upper classes won’t get away with what you’re doing.”
“You know your life is great when you’re happy it was a normal assassin and not the government.”
“Yep.”
“Approaching destination,” the computer’s robotic voice crackled. “Fasten your safety harness.”
He placed his arm over Jamila again and braced for the landing. They hit the floor of a hanger with a jolt that made his teeth rattle, but he didn’t move.
He stood and pulled Jamila to her feet. He leaned down to pick her up and she put her hand on his shoulder.
“I’m all right. I don’t feel any pain. I can walk. We need to go back through the window so we don’t run into anyone. Luckily, at this time of night, no one is working on the grounds.”
He nodded. “Okay, but if you feel faint or your leg hurts tell me and I’ll pick you up.”
“No problem.”
He took her arm anyway and she rolled her eyes. He didn’t want her to fall before he could
catch her. It was better to lead her by the arm. They made their way slowly around the house as Jamila glanced around like she’d never seen the place before. In spite of her proclamation of feeling more focused, her gaze wandered in odd directions, her eyes vacant.
They reached her window, and he climbed through first and lifted her over before walking her to bed. “Lie right here. Don’t move. I need to tell your father that we’ve arrived so he doesn’t come looking for us. If he hasn’t already. And I need to get medical supplies.”
“Okay, I’m kind of tired and dizzy, so staying here is not a problem.”
Of that, he had no doubt.
Chapter Five
He’d saved her life. If he hadn’t been there, she would have been killed. She hadn’t even realized a grenade had hit the ground until the blast shook the earth. He was right, she didn’t know how much danger she was in. She and her father always had threats against their lives. But no one had ever tried that hard to kill her. He’d saved her and been injured in the process. How bad was it? When she’d looked, she couldn’t really tell where he’d been hit. Her eyesight was too blurred for that. She thought she’d seen a lot of blood. Would he be okay?
The door hissed faintly as it slid open and the large, slightly blurred figure of Galen came to stand over her bed.
“How you doing?” His deep voice sent shivers up her spine.
“I’m alright. The pain in my leg is starting to come back.”
“Right, well, I’ve brought the regenerator, so I should be able to fix that. Turn over.”
She flipped over onto her stomach and he went to work. The faint hum of the medical instrument was the only sound that filled the room.
“You were right to demand I stay home. I should have listened to you. I almost got you killed.”
He rubbed his hand over her back. “No, you were doing a good thing. But I wish I’d known what you were doing — we could have come up with a plan that was a little less dangerous. Like, I retrieve the food, and you hover over the city in the shuttle. That sounds much better to me.”
“I couldn’t tell you what I was doing. I didn’t know if you would turn me in.”
He clucked his tongue at her. “Come now, Jamila. You know what I am.”
“A slave.”
He snorted. “Yes, as well as other things. I would never turn someone over who was helping people.”
“Yes, but they say most cyborgs have been brainwashed. How would I know you weren’t loyal to the government?”
He sighed. “You’re right. Definitely don’t trust every cyborg you meet. Plenty are loyal to the government. If I had been, you would have known as soon as I found out what you were doing. I would have killed you immediately. We aren’t really the ‘capture and interrogate’ types, unless those are our orders.”
She shivered. That was an unpleasant thought. She pushed up so she was leaning on her elbows and glanced at him. “You’ve known cyborgs loyal to the government?”
“I was one, once. We all were. We were freed when a small group managed to break their brainwashing techniques. They started kidnapping us whenever they found us, and deprogrammed us.” His hands shook visibly as he maneuvered the regenerator. “It’s a very unpleasant process. And most importantly, it’s not always effective, so never tell an unknown cyborg anything.”
She laughed but even to her ears it didn’t sounds pleasant. “Well, I don’t expect to meet many more. Unless someone revokes the kill order on them. You really should find a way to escape this place. It’s not safe for you. If you fail my father or he decides you aren’t needed, he’ll hand you over to the government. They’ll kill you for sure.”
“I won’t be as dead as you’d think. We’re an expensive piece of equipment. Even though the government says they’re killing us, they’re actually pretty desperate to have us back. They’ve lost billions. More.”
That didn’t make her worry less. “Then you really should leave. Unless you want to go back to working for them.”
“Lord no. Talk about hell. Of course, you don’t realize it at the time. Its only after you’ve been deprogrammed that you figure out they’ve stolen everything you were. Right down to your soul.”
He placed the medical instrument on the bed. “All done.” He ran his hand up the back of her thigh until it came to the curve of her butt and then back down again. Little goose bumps followed in the wake of his palm. “Good as new. Why don’t you get in the shower and clean up. You’re bloody and dirty.”
“Right.” She pushed herself to sitting and dizziness swamped her. “Wow. I don’t think I’m capable of bathing right now. Maybe later.” She lay back down and he pulled her back up.
“No, no. I need you clean, and I need to get rid of the evidence of this evening’s exciting little adventure, even if I have to shower with you.”
She giggled. “Well, that does sound intriguing. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how very lovely you look shirtless.”
And she certainly had. No one was that ripped. It didn’t happen. At least no one she’d been around. Eight pack of abs and incredibly defined, broad shoulders, which she’d always found gorgeous on a man. Yep, none of the noblemen her father had set her up with were built like that.
He grinned. “Well, that’s always nice to hear from a lady, but the point is to get clean. I need the shower too.”
“Hmm … how about giving me that orgasm we were discussing on the ship?”
Good lord. Why had she said that? She couldn’t have him. Even though he’d saved her life, he was still dangerous. Being gorgeous didn’t change the fact he could cause hull damage to a ship by kicking it. Or that he could probably bend steel. Or that his brain could hack computer systems. Dangerous. Period.
He pulled Jamila to her feet and the world spun. So much for those drugs wearing off. Apparently, they were just getting started.
“This is a bad idea, Galen.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t look.”
She snorted. “Since you’re supposed to help bathe me, explain how that will work.”
“Okay, so I will look, but I’ll be strictly professional about it.” His voice had dropped into a deep, sensual purr that gave her goose bumps, and his hands were roaming over her back. Yeah, he was going to be professional.
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“Because you’re hot, and men jump into your bed at regular intervals.”
She groaned. Clearly he’d heard too many rumors. Okay, she was no blushing virgin, but she got more action in the media than she ever got in real life.
“Half that shit they say about me is a lie. And even if it weren’t, my father has been keeping damned close tabs on me for the last year.”
“So you need to get off. I think I can arrange that.”
“That’s not — ”
“Shh. Chill.”
She sighed. This was a bad plan. If her father ever suspected, he’d turn Galen over so fast his head would spin. Though she got the feeling telling Galen that wouldn’t stop him. He walked her into the bathroom and turned on the water before lifting her onto the counter. He slowly undid the clasps on the flight suit she was wearing all the way to the crotch. He parted the material, baring her breasts.
He sucked in a breath. “You are so tempting. If you weren’t hopped up on painkillers, I would take you right here.”
He pressed his lips to hers, his tongue plundering her mouth in an imitation of what his body would do to hers if only she could let him. He ran his thumb across her hardening nipple and a little thrill shot straight to her clit.
She broke the kiss as she slid off the counter. She grabbed his hips to steady herself before peeling the tight suit off her body.
“Hmm … the view gets lovelier by the second.”
She smiled. “Well, I’d
like my view to keep improving too.”
He shook his head before his hands went to the buttons of his pants. He released them slowly, watching her reaction as he revealed the dark thatch of hair at the base of his cock. He pushed the pants slowly over his hips until it sprang free. His dick was long, thick, and partially aroused, swelling quickly under her gaze.
She stepped close enough that her nipples brushed his chest and wrapped her hand around his shaft. He let his breath out slowly as she cupped his balls. “The view gets lovelier by the second.”
He chuckled and raked his teeth gently over her neck. “As much as I’m enjoying this,” he hissed as she gave his cock a leisurely stroke, “the goal really was to shower, and I can’t do this right now. Not while you’re … ”
She squeezed him gently. “While I’m what?”
“Sorry, I lost my train of thought.”
She laughed. “Glad I have some power over you.”
“Oh, I’d give you all the power if you keep doing that.”
“Well, I must say I like the sound of that.” But she doubted it was true — he was too aggressive to give up any power. Her pussy was getting soaked. She wanted him in her. She didn’t give a damn about the consequences right now.
He laughed and grasped her wrist. She let go of his shaft and he pulled her under the water.
“Enough of that. I do believe it’s my turn.”
He pressed her against the wall. “You might want to hold onto that bar.” He pointed to the hand hold to her left before dropping to his knees in front of her. He lifted her leg and placed it over his shoulder.
“You smell good. Like you’re very turned on.” He ran his finger around her clit, and down to circle her sex before he dipped his thick finger inside. “Hmm … perfect. Tight and hot and so wet for me.” He pumped his finger in and out of her vagina while he rubbed her bud with his thumb.
She gasped and rocked her hips against his hand as he stared at her.
“You’re gorgeous when you move like that. Someday I’ll have you under me, I swear it.”
My Cyborg Savior (Crimson Romance) Page 6