by Lisa Lace
I only saw truth in his eyes. The ship finally hailed us, and the pilot asked for permission to dock.
“Fine. Let him come aboard. But I’m still going to Earth.”
“That’s what I said. I won’t change our course without your permission.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
The hatch opened with a clang. A moment later, Arnon dropped into our ship.
Chapter Nineteen
ARNON
Jayne looked distraught and scared of what I might do. “What do you want, Arnon?” Her voice sounded different. It was like I had never heard it before. Her threat to leave was real.
I had been a fool.
“Can I speak to you privately?” I glanced at Anders, giving him a dirty look.
She looked slightly frantic. “We can talk right here.”
“I don't want to discuss our relationship in front of my brother.”
She shook her head fearfully. “I don't think that's a good idea.”
“Jayne.” She turned to look at Anders. “Remember my promise? I won’t let him make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Wait a second. Am I the bad guy here? You're the one helping her escape.” I glared at him.
Anders gave me a cold look. “Call it what you want. The way I see it, I’m the one taking care of someone after her husband abandoned her. You should be thanking me.” He moved toward me with anger all over his face.
I felt betrayed, then shocked. Was that what I had done?
“I don’t want to take the baby.” Could she feel the truth from my heart?
“That’s not what she thinks. Talk to him, Jayne. If he’s still acting like this, I'll take care of you.”
She nodded, looking calmer and relieved. “Okay.” The word came out like a sigh. “It didn’t seem like you, but that's what you said. If your father could make you do something like that, who knows what else you would do?” She trailed off, looking hopeless before she walked past me into the bedroom.
I turned to Anders. “You’re right. Thank you for taking care of her.”
“Just so we’re clear. Now convince Jayne you’re not evil. I’m the screw-up. You’re the golden boy. Don't encroach on my territory.”
I doubted his self-assessment. He had apparently grown into a capable man. We had all underestimated him. I intended to speak with him about his personal issues later. For now, I had to fix things with my wife. Nothing else mattered unless I could make things right. I entered the room and shut the door, leaning against it and taking in her beauty. Jayne sat on the bed, looking as nervous as I had ever seen her.
“Did you think I was going to take our baby?” I whispered.
“Why wouldn't I? You said as much last night.”
I should have thought about what to say before I boarded the ship. How could I even begin? “What I said yesterday was wrong. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Please, just forget it.”
“It’s a hard thing to forget when your husband says he’s leaving you and threatens to rip a child from your womb at the same time.”
I swallowed hard. “I deserved that.”
“Yeah, you did.”
I hoped admitting I was wrong was a good first step toward rebuilding our relationship. “I was wrong, Jayne. I was an asshole of the highest order yesterday. I should never have said those things, and I didn’t mean them.”
She studied my face as I spoke.
“I had intended to come to you so we could figure out a way around my father’s plan. Instead, everything fell apart. I said terrible things. I thought you had lied to me. I had just come from an awful meeting with my father.”
“Yes.” She stood and interrupted my litany of excuses. “I forgive you for all of it, even for keeping the reality of your wings from me. The question facing us is, what are we going to do?”
“I'm not sure what you mean.” I had thought it would take more groveling before we reached this point.
“The situation we face is the same whether I forgive you or not. I'm still H4T7 positive. Your father still wants us to part ways. I'm pregnant, in case you forgot.” She turned away from me as her eyes filled with tears. “And our relationship is hitting a rocky stretch.”
I felt as though my heart was being ripped out of my chest.
“I didn't expect us to be sunshine and roses all the time. We shouldn't have this much trouble so soon. Maybe we just aren’t meant to be together.”
I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I kept my arms at my sides. I didn’t think she would welcome my touch. “Don’t say that.” Fear leaped into my heart again. I thought everything had been going well, but maybe Jayne had a different picture of our conversation in her head.
“How can any of these things be worked out? They aren’t fixable.”
“There’s got to be a way. Let me think about it.” I started to walk around, as much as I could in the cramped quarters. “I’m not supposed to marry a woman who carries the gene, but does that matter? We will need men in the next generation. Even if we have a family full of boys, they’ll be vital too.”
“That make sense, as long as you can convince other people.”
“If Father has a problem with us, he can disown me. We can go live in a cavern in a cliff and remain blissfully unaware of planetary politics.”
“That sounds a little dangerous.”
“As a matter of fact, there are some nice, safe homes built in unusual places on Auxem. You can do a lot with wings.”
“What about the baby?”
“I want this baby more than you can imagine.” I finally crossed over to her side. I had to hold Jayne in my arms.
Despite herself, she couldn't help reaching up and clasping her hands around my neck. My arms went around her waist, and I pulled her close to me.
“Really?” She sounded like she could hardly believe it.
“Of course. I am both delighted and excited. You have no idea.”
“Tell me. Try to make me understand.”
“I can’t wait to hold him in my arms.”
“Or her,” she interrupted. “Even if there’s a ninety-nine percent chance we will have a boy, that implies there is a one percent chance we're going to have a girl.”
“I never thought of it that way. I suppose that's the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. I don’t care which it is. A boy or a girl, either way, I can’t wait to hold that baby and play with them. I can’t wait to see you swell up as the baby grows inside you. I hear woman’s breasts get large and sensitive.”
She licked her lips and bit the bottom one, which I found terribly attractive. But I could tell that I hadn’t won her over yet. She still harbored doubts.
“You’ve convinced me that you want the baby.” She dropped her eyes. “But what about me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want me?”
I lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “Do you think you're undesirable?”
“You were ready to let your father separate us. That’s not exactly showing me that you love me.”
I gazed into her eyes. “I love you, more than anything. Can't you feel it?” I pushed my hips toward her in case she hadn’t noticed the bulge in my pants. “Give me another chance. I promise I’ll never let you down again. I will love you and our child. I will take care of you.” I held my breath as she stared at my face.
“Only under one condition. I’ll forgive you and give you another chance, but you have to forgive me too. I knew about the report. A lab tech told me about it, but it sounded like a mistake to me. You had already said that I didn’t have the gene. I was supposed to get tested again, but you came home that day, and we got distracted.”
I nodded my head. Considering what we had already done together, I couldn’t believe she wasn't blushing.
“I completely forgot about the retest. No one ever contacted me again. I don’t know if the tech overlooked it...maybe there was a cover-up. Someone might have suppressed the informati
on considering that we were both essential to the project.”
Nothing Jayne said mattered to me anymore. We were supposed to be together. I couldn't bear to let something as trivial as a test result tear us apart.
“I forgive you, Jayne. Now I know that I can’t live without you. I don’t care about your genetics.” I looked away, suddenly remembering an inconvenient fact. “I might have been wrong about your original test.”
“What do you mean?”
“The method we used in the field that night can be inaccurate if not done properly. Doing a test in a lab is entirely different than in a bedroom. I was distracted when I was testing you.”
She smiled gently. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it before, but I didn't think it was important.”
“I believe you.” I kissed her desperately and passionately, trying to show her with my lips what was in my heart. When we came up for air, she seemed stunned.
“Do you know something?” Her eyes looked hazy.
“What?” I kissed her cute little nose.
“That thing about pregnant women being lusty is true.”
“Will you let me take care of you?”
“Please. Now, and for the rest of our lives.”
JAYNE
I couldn’t believe it. A few minutes ago, I had been scared, hurt, and disillusioned. Suddenly Arnon was back in my arms and loving me.
He undressed me carefully like I was a precious package. Next, he stripped off his clothes, getting back into bed. He covered us with the blankets and turned down the lights. We kissed until the need between my legs became overwhelming.
Without speaking, I guided him to my entrance. Arnon nodded his head and slid down my body, filling me with his hardness.
He slowly rocked into me. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I wrapped my legs around him and moved my hips to take him deeper inside me. I loved the feeling of him pinning me to the bed.
“I'll always trust you, and never leave you alone.”
My nipples rubbed against his chest and I felt my orgasm building.
“I think I’m going to explode.” He stiffened against me, jerking with a shattering release. My orgasm hit me with an intensity that blew my mind. He covered my mouth and swallowed my cries of passion with his kisses as his white-hot eruption filled me up.
My body spasmed for a long time until I finally lay still beneath him. A few minutes later, he said, “I like pregnancy sex.”
“Me too.” I didn't open my lazy eyes.
“We’re going to have a lot more of it. I promise.”
The love in his eyes proved that he meant it.
Chapter Twenty
JAYNE, 9 MONTHS LATER
I looked down at the baby boy in my arms and felt a wave of protectiveness come over me that I could never have imagined. There were no words to describe the love for a newborn baby. I held him close and rocked him, dropping little kisses all over his face and head.
I had never been happier.
I looked over at Arnon. “How is she?” I needed to know my daughter was safe.
“She’s wonderful, aren’t you, baby?”
I smiled at how gentle he was with her. He would be a great father.
“Dad came by while you were sleeping. He gave me his formal congratulations.”
“Really?”
“I guess we couldn’t expect too much. At least we don’t have to go live isolated from the rest of the world.” He shrugged.
“You know something? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it, little guy?” I whispered to my son, but Arnon heard me and gave a soft chuckle.
“I can’t believe this girl was hiding behind her big brother.”
“I didn’t let them scan the baby. There is plenty of evidence that it’s unhealthy for the child.” I felt defensive.
“Maybe it’s bad if you do it on Earth. Our medical exams are perfectly safe. She’s tiny, though. The doctors couldn’t even feel her.”
“They just thought Abel was unusually large.”
“They’re both perfect and healthy.”
“Who would have thought that we would have a boy and a girl?”
“Not me, that’s for sure. I thought we would end up like my family. One hundred percent boys. Aliyah was definitely a surprise. Weren’t you, sweetie?” He dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“Abel will have to take care of her. She’s going to be a handful.”
“If she’s anything like her mother, she can take care of herself.”
“If she’s anything like her father, she’ll be honest, kind, and caring.”
“I love you, Jayne.” He leaned over for a kiss.
I managed to say one more thing before our lips met. “I love you too.”
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Bonus Book - Cyborg Heat
by Lisa Lace
CHAPTER 1
The world outside the windows of the large building that housed Cyborg Sector had long gone dark, but Amanda Conrad remained at her desk. She was only vaguely aware of the fact that the other employees had already left for the day, having arrived safely at their homes after fighting downtown traffic, and were probably just finishing up dinner with their families. She ignored the street lights that flickered on and off in the world outside, illuminating the rain-moistened streets and ushering the stragglers home.
Amanda could have returned to her house, and nobody would have minded. She’d already put in a full day, but she couldn’t help working a little bit extra. Every time Amanda coded a new set of instructions into the computer, she came a little closer to developing a better operating system for the cyborgs. She couldn’t stop while she was in the zone. The silence of the office around her only made it easier to concentrate.
“Are you coming?” came an impatient voice over her shoulder, breaking her concentration.
Amanda looked up, squinting as her eyes readjusted to the real world. Jenny stood next to the elevator, her dark hair draping in a glossy curtain over her shoulder, resting her hands on her hip. “Almost. I'll probably finish in another minute.”
Jenny gave Amanda a skeptical look. “You know everyone else has been gone for hours, right? It won’t kill you to get out of here once in a while. I’m going to a party across town. Do you want to come with me?” She whipped a compact out of her purse to check her makeup. Jenny was one of the junior researchers in Cyborg Sector, but she liked to act as if she owned the place. She often treated Amanda like a little pet, trying to groom her into Jenny Mark II.
Amanda had been trying to stall Jenny’s efforts for as long as possible. She shook her head. “I still have a lot of work to do here. I’ll pass this time, thanks.”
Her friend rol
led her eyes. “Of course you’re going to pass. It's not just this time. It’s every time! I don’t think you even came to the office Christmas party. One of these days, I’m going to stop inviting you, and then you’ll be all alone with the machines.” Jenny stepped into the elevator and pressed a button, waving her fingertips at Amanda as the doors closed.
The comfort of silence descended over the office. Bending back to her computer, Amanda was instantly interrupted again. “She’s wrong, you know.”
Amanda jumped in her chair, startled by the new voice. She thought Jenny had been the last person remaining in the office. “What do you mean?”
Jake stood up so she could see him over the divider. The large room that housed the desks of all the scientists assigned to Cyborg Sector was split up by short cubicle walls. Only the most talented people, like Dr. Feldman, had private offices. But the cubicles were enough to give each of them the semblance of privacy, and they often found that the close quarters assisted with collaboration. The design gave everyone equal access to the large labs that extended out to either side of the office room.
“She said everyone was gone, but you and I are still here,” Jake explained as he grinned down at her. “All alone, in this big building. It’s dark and rainy outside. It’s a perfect night to catch a cab over to Smith Street and grab a beer or two.” Jake was one of her fellow researchers, but he didn’t act like a typical scientist in his off-hours. He spent his weekends partying with anyone who was willing to tolerate him and often stumbled into the office hungover on Monday mornings.
Amanda pushed her glasses up her nose, hoping to conceal the fact that she was rolling her eyes at him. Jake had been talking to her like this ever since she came to work for the military. It was true that there weren’t a lot of women around, but she knew they weren’t a good match.