“You’re still a captive on their ship. I doubt it matters to them which room you remain inside as long as they know where you are.”

That seemed to set her mind at ease when she nodded. “They sure can’t take me back to the holding room they had me secured in. They know I could just get out again.”

“True,” he lied, not stating they could just drug her again. He eased down onto his knees next to the bed and hesitated. “Remove your shirt.”

Uncertainty crossed her delicate features. “Why?”

“You’re human and prone to infection. I wish to clean your injuries.”

She still hesitated but then struggled to do as he’d instructed. Her body still fought the effects of the drug, which slowed her down, and sweat beaded her brow before she managed to wiggle enough to ease the shirt off. The black bra appeared stark compared to her very pale, creamy, white skin. Zorus tried to conceal his interest in the generous, soft mounds of flesh barely contained inside the thin material. He’d never seen a female with such large br**sts before.

“What?”

He realized he’d failed to hide where his gaze kept straying when her hands lifted to cup her br**sts in a sad attempt to shield them from his view. He watched with fascination until her cheeks bloomed pink from a blush. He leaned closer, intrigued by her show of modesty.

“I don’t understand your question.” He dropped the kit onto the bed, opened it, and removed a small can of foam spray. He lifted a cloth hand towel.

“You were staring at my boobs.”

“I haven’t seen them that size before.” He didn’t care how she took that statement.

“I thought you said you used to have to sleep with women.” She frowned. “You lied?”

“No. I never slept with a human. I was forced to have sexual contact with them.” He paused to control the anger those memories caused him to feel. “The humans never removed their shirts during those sessions.” His focus drifted to the soft mounds cupped within her small hands, barely hiding any of the soft-looking flesh, still fascinated by the sight. “Cyborg females are more muscular and contain less fatty tissues.”

“Nice description to use.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t even want to hear what you have to say about my tummy. If your women are built the way you are, it’s all muscle there, right?”

He lowered his attention to her waist and realized his hand moved of its own accord, his palm settling on top of her bare stomach between her bellybutton and the waist of her pants. His fingers gently dug into the soft skin there to discover the kind of pliability he’d never touched before. He enjoyed the sensation.

“Hey,” her fingers curled around his wrist, a feeble attempt to dislodge his hold. “That tickles.” She laughed.

Zorus jerked his head up to gape at her. She grinned at him. The transformation of her features did something strange to him. An unfamiliar emotion struck him and he pulled his hand away from her quickly. He did glance at her uncovered bra, which she’d had to release to grab his wrist. He savored the sight.

“I apologize. That wasn’t my intention.”

“I know I could lose a few pounds.”

He refused to admit to her that she looked attractive to him. That paralyzed him for long seconds while he evaluated the sentiment. He dragged air into his lungs, noticed her feminine scent for the first time, and found it oddly pleasant. Worse, his body responded when his c**k stiffened.

“This can’t be happening.”

“What?” Her smile faded and she peered up at him with curiosity.

“Nothing.” He ignored his physical response and leaned over her to draw in more of her scent. He identified a mixture of vanilla and peaches that mingled with her natural chemistry. “Just relax while I wash away the blood.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She gave him another hesitant smile. “I appreciate it.”

It’s highly unlikely she’d appreciate it if I strip her na**d to see if her thighs are as softly textured as her stomach. That thought made him close his eyes for a few heartbeats while he endured his c**k hardening even more, until it dug into the unforgiving seam of the front closure of his pants. Anger instantly surfaced when he opened his eyes.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Smile at me.”

Charlie’s mouth parted but the smile faded. “Are you okay? Your face looks a little darker gray than normal.”

“It’s anger.”

“What did I do to piss you off? Try to make light of the situation of me being half naked? I’m trying real hard not to feel uncomfortable and if you were a regular guy I’d be a little afraid.”

“Regular guy? Explain that context to me.”

“You know. A human guy. I know you’re not interested in me as a woman, especially since you’ve made it no secret that you detest us. If I thought you had a sex drive geared toward women such as myself, well, this would be a real sticky situation.”

He made sure to keep his lower body concealed to be certain she didn’t notice the state of his very stimulated erection. “I understand.”

Zorus took extra care to be gentle when he cleaned her shoulder to remove the dried blood and examined the scratches for signs of infection. Anger surfaced again at the sight of the angry marks marring her delicate skin. He regretted killing the dock worker so quickly. Now his preference would have been to make him suffer first.

“How bad is it? It stings a little.”

“It’s minimal. You’ll heal within a week. I do not see any sign of infection but I’m going to obtain a med kit to be certain. Are you allergic to antibiotics?”

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

That drew alarm from him as he inched closer until his face hovered over hers. “You aren’t certain what medications you may have adverse effects to?”

“I’ve never had them. I’m a grunt, remember? The government doesn’t give out medicine to us. I may have worked in the better part of the city but it didn’t raise my status any. They only allow us to move so we’re able to get to work easier. They also hate to replace us and since murder rates are high in the slums, they put up with us living on the outer edge of the safe zones.”

The list of diseases and infections that could have taken her life scrolled through his thoughts. It angered him. She wasn’t a big female or overly robust. She actually looked a little frail to him and her softer, rounded body meant she didn’t have a healthy exercise routine to gain an increased physical durability.

“What will you do when you reach Saturn?”

“Find my brother, make him give me half the money, and I’ll start over. I sure can’t return to Earth. By now they’ve figured out who helped you escape and they’ll have issued an alert on me.”

“Won’t they send someone after you if you’re living on Saturn?”

“Maybe, but they don’t scan people as much there. If I live under the radar I can survive.”

He quickly calculated her odds of avoiding detection. “Why not travel farther from Earth? Your odds are better.”

“I’m a woman alone.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t know much about what’s going on, do you? Probably not,” she answered her own question quickly. “Slave traders grab unprotected women and sell them to space whorehouses. That’s if I’m lucky.”

“You’d enjoy that lifestyle?” Everything he’d learned about her made him highly doubt that.

“Hell no.” She glared at him. “Learn sarcasm. It’s just the alternative is ending up captured by space pirates.” Fear etched her features. “Do you know what those are?”

“Yes. We’ve come across those mutated humans who live in deep space. They carry diseases, are prone to extreme insanity, and usually attempt to breed any captured females. Our reports state that they don’t have a high success rate. The females usually die pretty quickly.”

“Exactly. I’ve also heard they turn cannibal sometimes and that’s not my idea of a fun feast, considering I’m plump. I’m pretty certain I’d be on the wrong side of the table when it came time to pass out forks.” Her gaze shifted to his chest. “Are you done? I’d like to put my shirt back on.”

He had no logical reason to stop her but he shook his head anyway. “I ordered the captain to bring you a change of clothing. Yours are damaged.”

“Do you want to back off then? If you get any closer, you’re going to be on top of me.”

An image flashed through his mind of doing exactly that and his c**k twitched and his balls tightened until he suffered a dull ache. He softly cursed at such a strong reaction.

“What’s wrong?”

The innocent expression on her face attracted him even more. For some reason she trusted him. It didn’t make sense. As a female, she should be aware that no male could be honorable with half of her clothing removed.

“Are you stuck? Did your knees go to sleep? The floor is pretty unforgiving. I slammed mine into it when I collapsed in the hallway and it really hurt. If you hadn’t picked me up I doubt I could have stood on my own immediately.”

He backed up a little while his gaze traveled to her pants. “Let me check you for damage.”

Her hands reached for her waist but instead of unfastening her pants, she gripped them tightly. “That’s okay. I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Untreated wounds can cause infection.” He dropped the cloth and easily pushed her hands out of the way. “Relax and don’t fight me.”

“I really don’t think I’m hurt.” She tried to swat his hands away but he ignored her feeble attempt, her weakened condition still present.

Zorus jerked her pants open and tugged them down. She couldn’t put up much of a fight with her sluggish responses. He easily slid them down to her ankles and jerked off her boots to totally remove the pants. He also removed her socks. His gaze lingered on the small scrap of red panties hiding her sex.

“That’s not my knees.” Her hands cupped between her thighs, covering the silky material. “Do you need to upgrade a program covering human anatomy?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my memory. Cyborg and human anatomy is the same.” He tried not to ogle her br**sts as they strained the black, skimpy material but the incredibly tempting curve of her creamy flesh pressing outward from the tight, small article of clothing, called to him. He barely remembered that he needed to examine her knees, but as his attention lowered down her stomach to her pale thighs, her knees were the last thing he wanted to study. “I’m going to scan you for injury.”

He placed his palms at the top of her thighs. They were as soft and supple as they appeared, perhaps even more so, and he traced them down to her knees. A slight redness marked them.

“You may have some bruising. Bend them up.”

Charlie tried to remember to breathe. The cyborg’s hands were warm and gentle, more of a caress than a touch. If he were human she’d swear he did it on purpose but he’d been real clear that he held no interest in her as a woman.

“What do you want me to do?”

He frowned at her and his brown eyes seemed darker than normal. “Bend your knees up. Tell me if it hurts.”

She ordered her racing heart to slow. He just wanted to make sure she hadn’t broken anything. It’s no big deal. He’s acting similar to a medic, probably training he has been given, and I’m the only one taking this as anything sexual. She repeated that twice inside her head before she followed his instructions to draw her legs upward and pulled her heels closer to her ass.