Six years since I’ve had sex. That’s why I’m noticing he’s hot. She sighed.

“Are you contemplating how to kill me?”

Nala refused to tell Stag where her thoughts had gone, instead glaring up at him. “How did you guess?”

“Your tone implies disdain.”

“Give me a break. What am I going to do? Stab you with my fork? You’d just pull it out and be pissed some more. I could hit you with the tray but whatever part of you I nail would just dent the thin metal sheet. I’m not stupid. I’d break bones if I punched you. No thanks.”

“Are you done eating? I’m ready to go to bed.”

Her heart rate increased as she gave him a once-over again, her gaze lingering on his abs and that towel. After her twenty-fourth birthday, she’d secretly stashed an image advertisement for a sex bot model in her quarters. It had been blond, brown-eyed, and a bit smaller bodied than the cyborg in front of her.

She stood up. Stag might not have the greatest personality but she could get over that if he planned to touch her. It had been a really long time since anyone had. He claimed to be sentient. It implied he might have all the right body parts. He motioned his head toward the bed.

“You get the inside.”

“We’re sharing?”

“Yes. I won’t let you sleep on the floor. It’s too hard and cold. That would be cruel.”

She climbed up on the bed and lay down. He didn’t follow but instead walked over to the wall of storage and opened a high panel she couldn’t reach. He jerked something down that she didn’t catch sight of.

“Computer, dim lights to three percent.”

The room became so dark she couldn’t see anything. Disappointment hit. He meant to just sleep. She closed her eyes and scooted closer to the wall. He really was a machine. Only one of those wouldn’t try to seduce a woman in his bed.

The mattress dipped and the covers she lay on pulled a bit from his weight. She turned onto her side, giving him her back. He probably didn’t want any part of them to touch and that meant pressing tight against the wall. It wasn’t a large bed but it was wider than a single bunk.

“Give me your wrist. Raise it.”

Her eyes snapped open. “Why?”

“I’m restraining you. I don’t trust you not to attack me in my sleep.”

“Give me a break!” She was really getting fed up with his accusations. “You’re a cyborg. I’m not. How much stronger are you than a typical human? I’m guessing what? Five times?”

“Give me your wrist or I’ll force it. I don’t want to bruise you more.”

She flung her arm up and over her head. “Paranoid bastard. There. You just want the one or both?”

“Both.”

“Great. That’s going to be comfy for sleeping.”

“I’m more concerned with my comfort.”

“Of course you are. Dick.” She lifted the other one.

He was tender when he touched her, wrapping some soft material around each wrist. It felt a little elastic but thick. She was at least grateful he didn’t use cuffs. It would have hurt to rest her wrists on metal bands as she slept. He released her and she tested the give in them. They weren’t so tight she couldn’t move around a bit. He’d tethered her somehow to the frame above her head, but he’d given her enough length to move her arms about a foot.

“Computer, lights at ten percent.”

She twisted her head, staring at her wrists now that she could see them. “Belts?”

“Yes. From my workout gear. Don’t tug hard and they won’t abuse your skin.”

“Do you feel safer now?” She stared at him under her upraised arm. He lay on his side, facing her.

“I do.”

“Fantastic.”

He reached over her waist, upward, and tapped a finger on the wall. A hidden compartment sprang open. He withdrew a folded cloth and a small black bottle.

Fear hit. “Don’t you dare drug me.”

He made a sound like a snort and closed the panel. “Go to sleep. This isn’t for you.”

He rolled onto his back and she laid her head down, wondering if he drugged himself to sleep. Barney, one of her crew, used that method, pouring his sleep medicine into a rag and breathing it in when insomnia bothered him.

The bed shifted a bit and she heard the distinctive sound of something hitting the floor. It sounded suspiciously like his towel.

Did the cyborg sleep totally naked on top of the covers? She was right next to him. Maybe he hadn’t been taught how rude and inappropriate that was. Cyborgs might not regard nudity the same way people did.

The next noise was the cap of the bottle being popped open. Curiosity pricked at her over what he was doing but she refused to give in to the need to peek. She wasn’t going to ask why he used drugs. It wasn’t any of her business.

Nala tried to relax, hoping to sleep since it wasn’t as if she had been given a choice. She adjusted her cheek, resting it on the inside of her arm for a pillow.

The mattress moved, and she frowned, wondering what Stag was doing now.

Then the bed rocked a little bit. A new sound came with the motion, a slightly wet one. What the hell?

She couldn’t take it anymore and opened her eyes, turned her head, and lifted up a bit to get a look at him.

Stag lay flat on his back less than a foot from her. The cloth was spread out on his lower stomach and upward, almost to his rib cage. One of his hands was firmly wrapped around his very stiff cock.

Her eyes widened, watching his hand move up and down his sex as he arched his hips. He had been created with all the appropriate anatomy of a man. The shaft was thick and long, the head fuller, and it glistened in the light. That was the source of the sound. It wasn’t a drug in the bottle, but some kind of lotion or lube.

“What are you doing?” The words burst out of her before she could stop them.

He didn’t stop or even slow down manipulating his dick with his hand. “Quiet. I’m almost ready to come. Don’t ruin the moment for me.”

She twisted her head away, squeezed her eyes closed, and her heart pounded. Stag was jacking off right next to her.

Her entire body turned rigid. She’d never seen anyone do that before, but the seconds she’d witnessed his fist pumping his cock were burned into her memory. His skin was a light gray but it was darker on his sex. His breathing increased in pace, becoming choppier, and then he groaned. The bed jerked when his body did. The motion stopped for long seconds.