“Wyatt—this Wyatt—hasn’t said anything about love.”
“Have you given him a chance?”
“No, I haven’t. I was too scared to let him get close to me again, but this trip has changed that. But what if he’s just looking for a good time?”
“I don’t think looking for a good time involves trekking across hundreds of miles of Martian desert.” Esme raised a thin, dark brow in challenge, and Cherry smiled reluctantly.
“I suppose you’re right.”
“And the cyborgs are different from—”
“They’re still men.” She bristled immediately.
“I’m not saying that they’re not. But what they go through, I think it changes them. They’re looking for more and they seem to recognize it as soon as they find it. I think he found it as soon as he saw you.”
“I hope so, Esme. I really hope so.”
“And you’re going to give him the chance to prove himself, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Even though she was still scared, seeing him dragged past her and thinking that she had lost him again had washed away her doubts. She wasn’t going to let any more opportunities to be with him slip past.
“I think someone’s coming,” Esme whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
By the time the door opened, they had assumed their positions. Esme had dragged a chair into a corner of the room and collapsed down into it, her head in her hands, looking frail and pitiful. Cherry sat on the edge of the desk, her hands spread behind her, and licked her lips, looking as seductive as possible.
Fortunately, only one man appeared at the door, carrying a tray. Even better, it was Hal—the one who had “plans” for them.
“I brought you some dinner,” he said. “You two stay right where you are and don’t try any funny business.”
Despite his words, he didn’t look the least bit worried as he pushed the door open. His eyes went immediately to Cherry and her advantageously displayed cleavage.
“Now that sure is a pretty sight. That one hasn’t done anything but sob since she got here.” He jerked his head at Esme.
“I never did mind about the little things,” she drawled, her voice low and seductive.
He gave her a suspicious look. Damn, he wasn’t quite as stupid as she had hoped.
“You seemed awfully upset about that fucking cyborg earlier.”
“He’s the one who brought me out here to visit my friend.” She pouted. “Now how am I going to get out of this wilderness?”
“Hell, this ain’t the wilderness. We’re gonna have all kinds of things a lady might like—if she knew the right man.”
“And are you the right man?” She leaned forward, bringing her arms together, her breasts coming perilously close to spilling out of her bra. He licked thick, red lips and she could see his erection tenting his trousers.
“I could be. For a lady who knew how to treat me right.”
She arched a brow. “Do you know who I am?”
“No, ma’am. Don’t matter much to me.”
“My name is Cherry, and believe me, I know all about how to treat a man right.”
His eyes widened. “Madam Cherry?”
“That’s right.” She ran a finger down the edge of her cleavage. “And what I don’t know about men isn’t worth knowing.”
He took two steps towards her, then halted with a suspicious glance at Esme.
“What about her?”
“You don’t need to worry about her. She used to be one of my girls—she knows when to keep quiet.”
For a fraction of a second, he hesitated, then turned back towards the door. Her heart sank. Had she gone too far? But all he did was reach out and close the door. He dropped the tray on the other chair and stalked towards her.
“You’d better not be teasing me.”
“Not as long as you really are going to treat me right.”
He laughed as she leaned forward and she could see the calculation in his eyes. He thought he had her at a disadvantage. He was about to learn that he was wrong.
When he reached her, he buried his hand in her hair and yanked her towards him for a kiss. The move surprised her—she had expected him to go for her breasts first—but she took advantage of it, putting one hand on his face as she reached behind her back with the other. He even closed his eyes, and she almost shook her head, but his romantic impulse assisted her plan. A second later, she jammed her gun under his waistband and into his crotch, and his eyes flew open. He tried to jerk back but Esme was already behind him, jamming a thumb into his back. Hopefully, he would think it was a second weapon.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“As much as I appreciate your offer, I really think it’s time for us to leave.”
“You bitch,” he snarled, and she jammed the gun harder into his erection.
“Careful there. You don’t want to piss off a woman with a gun in your balls.”
He paled and held up his hands.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it.” He licked his lips. “Can we be reasonable about this? I haven’t done anything to you.”
“You mean other than take me prisoner?” She raised an eyebrow.
“That wasn’t me. It was that fucking asshole who just showed up. Thinks he’s in charge. He brought you here—all of you. We’re just supposed to make sure that there aren’t any issues with the construction.”
“You mean your friend? He’s in charge?”
He shook his head. “Nah. He’s a mechanic too. I mean that creepy fucker GenCon sent.”
“Creepy?” She remembered Esme’s words and her own brief impression. “White skin? Fast?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” He shuddered.
“Where is he?”
“The woman at headquarters told him to get back to town. He was really pissed about it too. He’s gonna be even more pissed when he finds out that you got the better of me.”
“What a shame.” Despite the lack of sympathy in her words, she could tell that he was really terrified. “Do you have living quarters? With a lock?”
He nodded.
“I’ll make a deal with you. Don’t give me any trouble, and I’ll lock you and your buddy in there. You can tell him that you don’t know how we escaped.”
Nodding eagerly, he actually looked grateful.
“Then let’s go. I’m going to move the gun now but believe me, I won’t hesitate to shoot.”
“I’m not gonna cause any trouble.”
“Where’s your buddy?”
“Cooking dinner for the two of us.”
“Lead the way,” she ordered, carefully lifting the gun out of his pants and moving around him until it was pressed against the base of the spine. “Just remember: a bullet here might not kill you but it will leave you paralyzed for the rest of your life.”
He shuddered again. “I’ll be good.”
Esme fell in at her side as the man opened the door and led the way down a long corridor. Everything was plain, white, and industrial, with more offices along the side. Why on earth would GenCon need administrative offices out here?
As they neared the end of the hallway, there was a cry from up ahead. The man jerked.
“He’s back. We have to get out of here.”
She jammed the gun harder into his spine but she could feel him trembling. If he panicked now…
He jerked again and Esme slammed the metal tray down on his head. He collapsed on the ground.
“I didn’t even see you grab that,” Cherry said admiringly.
Esme shrugged. “You’re not the only one who knows how to take care of herself. But what do we do now?”
There was another cry, abruptly cut off, and Cherry was about to suggest that they make a run for it when a tall figure dressed in black appeared at the end of the corridor.
“Oh, thank God. Wyatt.”
The words had barely left her mouth before she was caught up in his arms, his hands roaming over her anxiously.
“Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
Her voice choked with tears, but she managed to smile up at him. “I’m fine.”
A little further down the hallway, Tom and Esme were also wrapped around each other.
“How did you get free?” he asked just as his hand closed over the gun. He laughed and moved it aside just as she realized it was aimed at his ribs. “I don’t think you need that anymore, darlin’.”
“Maybe not, but it’s a good thing I had it.”
“What happened?”
“Someone surprised me. I didn’t get a good look at him, but he was fast, as fast as you are.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe one of my rangers has gone bad.”
“I don’t think he’s a cyborg,” Esme said as she and Tom joined them. “He looked odd.”
Wyatt went still. “Odd how?”
“His face was all white, like he was wearing a mask.”
Wyatt swore. “Fucking GenCon.”
“Does that mean something to you?” she asked.
“I don’t know how much she told you, but the man who took Daisy’s baby—he was like that.”
“She told me about him, but she didn’t really describe him. And I thought there was only one of him. That he was an experiment.”
“Apparently they’re still experimenting,” he said grimly. “I need to let the others know. First, we have to get out of here before he finds us.”
“I don’t think he’s here. That man said he had been called back to town.”
“We still need to get out of here,” Tom said. He had one arm draped protectively around Esme and a metal bar in his other hand.
“Before we leave, we need to put this man and the other one in their quarters,” she said.
“Why the hell would we do that?”
“Because I promised him I would. If that thing comes back here, I don’t want him to hurt them.”
Wyatt swore but he was already reaching down to grab the man. “Tom, you stand guard. I’ll be back in a minute.”
He dragged the man roughly up the corridor but she didn’t bother to object. They had treated him the same way.
Before she had a chance to get nervous, he had returned.
“Safely locked away,” he said. “I smashed the lock. They won’t be leaving there anytime soon.” He held up my hand as her mouth opened to protest. “They have food and water. They’ll be fine. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
When they reached the airlock, Wyatt swore again.
“We need transportation. I didn’t notice a transport shed, but they have to have some way of getting around.”
“I came on an ATV,” Tom said. “But it will only hold two of us.”
“That’s fine. I can carry Cherry.”
“I’m perfectly capable of walking,” she reminded him.
“I know you are, darlin’. But we have a long way to go and a short time to get there. We have to get back to town as soon as possible. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He gave her a grim look. “If anyone other than me opens that door, shoot to kill. Aim for the head. If he’s like the other one, that’s the only way to be sure.”
“I won’t miss.”
“That’s my girl.” He gave her a quick, hard kiss and disappeared through the outer door.
“I’m glad he’s on our side,” Tom said, staring thoughtfully after Wyatt. “He actually pried apart the bars of our cells.”
“Bars?” Esme asked.
“Yeah. We were in cages in some kind of lab.” He hugged her when she shuddered. “Don’t worry, honey. We’re free now.”
While they waited, he told them how he had been captured, and then Esme and Cherry told their tales.
“I don’t like this,” he said slowly. “I don’t like this one little bit.”
Cherry had to bite back an impatient retort. None of them liked it, but that didn’t change the fact that it happened. It was more important to prevent it from happening again.
The outer door started to open and she raised her gun, pleased to notice that her hand wasn’t shaking. Tom pushed Esme behind him and raised his metal bar.
Wyatt appeared in the opening and she sagged in relief.
“I’m not coming in,” he said. “That’s how they got me the last time. I suspect they have an automatic defense against cyborgs.”
“I’m more than happy to join you out there,” she said, hurrying for the entrance.
“The sooner the better,” Tom agreed. “We have to get back to town.”
The three of them stepped outside, and it was Tom’s turn to swear. Wyatt looked equally troubled.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“Look at that sky,” Wyatt said. “I reckon we don’t have more than an hour before dark. You know how quickly the temperature falls.”
“That’s not all.” Tom pointed to the clouds boiling above their heads. “I think there’s a dust storm coming.” He and Wyatt stared at each other. “I don’t think we have a choice except to head back to my claim.”
“I agree.” Wyatt gestured to the small ATV. “This is all I could find but I didn’t want to take any longer looking for anything else.”
“Where’s Maverick?” she asked, looking around for the horse. “Didn’t he come get you?”
“I’m afraid that he was… injured. Not permanently,” he added hastily. “But he needs a chance to recover.”
“What did that bastard do to him?” she demanded.
“He removed his main power supply. He has a backup, but it needs to charge.”
“I don’t understand.” She shook her head. “How could he get close enough to do something like that?”
“I think if that bastard had you, Maverick wouldn’t have taken the chance of you being hurt.”
Guilt washed over her. “You mean it’s my fault.”
“No, darlin’. That bastard is the only one responsible. And I’m sure Maverick will be just fine.”
“Since you don’t have transportation, Cherry can go with Esme in the ATV and I can run,” Tom volunteered.
“Thanks, Tom, but that’s all right. I got her. Don’t I, darlin’?”
“Yes, Wyatt. You do.”
The teasing grin vanished from his face as he heard the sincerity in her words.
“Good,” he said softly.
Chapter Fourteen
Tom and Esme climbed into the ATV and headed for the opening in the rocks. Wyatt picked her up, tucking her against his chest as her legs automatically encircled his waist. He kept one arm under her bottom and the other around her back as he started to jog, and she felt surprisingly secure. Secure and… aroused. The position left her pussy rubbing against the hard bar of his cock. She shifted her weight and felt him respond.
“Darlin’, this would be easier if you would keep still.”
“It would be easier if you weren’t always hard.”
“Impossible as long as I’m around you.”
She rewarded him with a sucking little kiss to his neck and he groaned.
“Tease.”
“As long as I’m around you,” she echoed, and he laughed.
He settled into an easy lope, keeping pace with the ATV. He wasn’t even breathing hard and she realized that he could outpace it if he weren’t careful.
“Thank you for staying with them.”
“I did think about running ahead and taking you to the claim first, but I don’t want to get separated.” He grinned down at her. “Besides, if they go missing again, you’ll just insist on setting up after them again.”
“Which you would do even if I wasn’t here. You’re a good man, Wyatt.”
He didn’t respond but his arms tightened briefly around her.
The rapid journey across the floor of the valley continued as the sky darkened. At first, it was exciting. She felt safe in Wyatt’s arms and the feel of his big body moving against her, firm chest against her aching breasts, his cock shifting against her needy p
ussy with every stride, kept her body hovering on the brink of orgasm. She found herself rubbing against him, seeking that final touch that would push her over the edge.
“You’re killing me, darlin’,” Wyatt murmured in her ear.
“I’m sorry. I just…”
“You need a little help?”
“Yes, please.”
He dropped back just a little, so that the ATV was in front of them, and slid a big hand beneath her coat, cupping her ass through her jeans.
“Should I rip these open? Leave you all bare and open to me? Run my fingers along that wet little cunt?”
Her hands tightened on his shoulders as she pictured it. Her need spiked and she reached between them, trying to release his erection.
He groaned but pressed her tighter against him.
“Not yet. The first time I bury myself in that hot little cunt won’t be on a run across the desert. I don’t want anything distracting us.”
“But I need you,” she gasped.
“I know, darlin’.” His hand tightened on her ass, his thumb digging between her cheeks and pulling the seam of her pants across her aching clit. She cried out as the pressure increased.
He growled approvingly and started rubbing her over his cock. His massive erection began to vibrate against her clit as he ground her against him, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her body, and she went soaring over the edge into a short explosive climax.
She sagged against him as her body trembled.
“Feel better now?” he asked.
“So much better. But what about you?” He was still as hard as ever.
“Later,” he said. “I meant it when I said that I want to take my time with you.”
“Are you sure?” she asked with a teasing wiggle. He gave her ass a quick smack, sending a whole new streak of excitement through her body. “That’s not the way to discourage me.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re the perfect woman?” he asked, and then she felt him flinch.
Someone had said that to her—he had. Had the memory tried to emerge?
“Just you,” she whispered.
He gave her butt another squeeze then took his hand out from under her coat and positioned his arm under her once again.
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