“Can you safely discuss what was done?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know the details but they transferred ‘me’ into this body.” She met his gaze, held it and couldn’t resist running her hands over her thighs. He lowered his gaze, watching her movements with keen concentration. Being aroused seemed to distract her enough to avoid the usual pain while discussing her past.

“Go on. I’m interested in hearing this.” His voice came out low and husky.

“It seems that I’m not affected by the aging process. At least I don’t think so. I haven’t gone senile yet. As far as sensations go, this body feels totally human.” She licked her lips, knew she was playing with fire, and traced her hands upward to her waist, along the sides of her br**sts, and paused there. “It can feel everything, every touch, even a breeze.”

She paused when he tensed, his hands gripping the edges of the arms of the chair enough to see his fingers dig into the material. He looked ready to lunge at her and she wondered what she’d do if he did. She doubted she’d say no if he wanted to touch her. She couldn’t ever remember wanting to know what it would be like to have a man make love to her as much as she wanted Krell. She wasn’t sure if he’d be tender or not. He was a mystery and obviously, from what his friends said, a little sex starved. She could relate. He didn’t leave his chair though. She felt disappointment.

“And pleasure. It feels everything, like any human body.” Oh hell. What are you doing? You’re taunting him. She couldn’t resist doing it. She’d always lived on the edge after she’d woken up inside the lab to discover she’d cheated death. An experience of that magnitude changed a person, made them take more risks since no one knew how short life could be until they’d had it taken away. She wanted him and she hated regrets. The worst that could happen, she reasoned, is he could be a shitty lover in the sack.

“Ours is the same. I am not aware of any loss of sensation but I’ve never actually had a human body so can’t compare the two.”

The deepness of his voice, the raspy tone, turned her on more. She licked her lips and his intense gaze watched. His knuckles whitened, something she noticed since she was aware of every breath he took, and how quickly the pace of it had increased.

“I always wondered something about cyborgs,” she admitted. “Are we talking total honesty here between us? I’m willing to answer any of your questions if you answer mine.”

His gaze jerked up to hers and he tensed. “What information would you like to know? You seem to be an expert on my kind if you truly are who you claim to be. You should know everything about us.”

“I know about your implants and how you’re able to shut down your body’s responses unless someone overrode those functions.” She paused, hating how once some jerk could do that to them to prevent them from muting any pain inflicted on them if they were being punished. “Since your escape from Earth, have cyborgs allowed emotions and physical responses to exist?”

His jaw clenched. “You mean my physical reaction to you?”

“You could shut it down but you haven’t.”

Anger darkened his eyes. “I actually did.”

That surprised her. “It didn’t look that way to me.”

“Perhaps my implants are malfunctioning.”

She let that slide despite the questions it created. “Did cyborgs in general stop using their implants to control their body functions?”

“Most did. They wanted to experience true life without deadening any natural responses.”

It made Cyan happy to hear it. “Do you masturbate?”

Shock parted his lips as he gaped at her.

“Do you?”

Anger came next, an emotion easy to read on his features. “Do you?” It also sounded in his gruff voice.

“Yes. It feels the same as before. I was really happy I didn’t lose that sensation. I’m still as sensitive in that area. As a matter of fact, it had been a really long time since I was able to do it. I think I kind of went overboard for the first few years.” She smiled, not embarrassed in the least. “I was finally able to have sex with someone else. A frail, unhealthy body can’t engage in sex with a partner. Most men wouldn’t want to do someone with limited physical mobility unless it was out of pity. That’s not what any woman wants, for a man to feel that while touching them. Physical defects were so rare on Earth that it made others uncomfortable. It was a rare, incurable, genetic alteration caused by an experimental drug some women took before they got pregnant.”

His toes drew her attention when they curled slightly. “Have you enjoyed engaging in sexual interaction with a male?”

“It was okay. It depended on the guy. Some of them can talk a good game but when it comes to play time, they couldn’t back it up. You still haven’t answered my question. Do you masturbate, Krell?”

He glared at her. “Occasionally I give in to my physical needs. It’s irritating to keep ignoring the urge.”

The image of Krell stroking his c**k made her hotter. Her ni**les tightened and her belly quivered. Her panties were growing damp. Some things had changed with her new body and she was aware of every reaction she had to Krell. An ache began at her cl*t and quickly escalated to an empty feeling inside her pu**y, a longing to be filled. She took some deep breaths, watched him, and hoped he’d come at her now. She really wanted him to. She decided to press him further in an attempt to snap his control.

“When is the last time you did it? Maybe that’s the reason you’re reacting to me despite trying to shut it down. Maybe your body has overridden the implant you tried to trigger. You want me, Krell. Sometimes a desire is stronger than any programming. It proves you’re alive if you have strong desires you want to follow through on.”

“That isn’t an issue I wish to discuss unless you are willing to inform me when you engaged in the activity of seeking self-gratification.”

“The night before I hit the station.” She smiled. “On my bunk.”

He shifted again in the chair. His teeth sank into his bottom lip when his mouth parted and his breathing increased. She wondered if he imagined her stretched out na**d on a small mattress, touching her own body. She moved her hands, sliding them over her br**sts, and he leaned forward, his gaze riveted.

“These feel real too.” She squeezed them gently. “As if they were my own. I was sure they’d have some weird artificial filling but they are amazingly sensitive. It’s not cloned skin but real tissue.” She leaned forward. “Want to feel them?” Her hands opened to drop away as she arched her back.

He stood abruptly, the pillow hit the floor, and his c**k strained harder against his pants. He snarled at her. “I don’t find this amusing.” He turned, storming away down the hallway.

Cyan sagged in her chair and closed her eyes. She flinched when a bedroom door slammed loud enough to reverberate through his living quarters. He thought she was purposely screwing with his head instead of offering to have sex with him.

Her chin lowered to her chest as her head hung. Her body ached and she knew she was in definite need of changing her panties. They were really wet. Her ni**les were as achy as the area between her thighs. So much for seducing the too-tall, sexy cyborg.

“Damn! Good going, Cyan. Total strike-out.”

Chapter Six

Cyan finally stood, feeling guilty that Krell thought she’d purposely tried to torment him. He obviously didn’t understand that the offer had been real. She guessed he figured it was payback for the stunt he’d pulled by allowing the two cyborg jerks to hit on her. She walked down the hallway softly, paused at her door before taking a few more steps to his closed one. She obviously needed to be more aggressive and blunt with the guy.

The door jerked open before she could touch it with her fist. Krell grabbed her. He hauled her off her feet by her arms, twisted her in the air, and her back hit the wall where he spun them into the hallway.

“What do you want now? I heard you coming. You can’t move stealthily enough for me not to hear your approach.” He snarled the words in her face since they were level, with her lifted off her feet. “Do you wish to see if I’m seeing to my own needs now that you’ve gotten a sexual response from me? Would you enjoy knowing you won our verbal sparring as well the physical one we engaged in?”

“I came to tell you that I wasn’t messing with you.”

He jerked her higher, staring deeply into her eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re lying. You’re hard to read.”

“Sorry. I’m not screwing with you. I was honestly interested.”

“Was?” His hold on her arms loosened as he adjusted his grip on her. He did it easily, with his strength. He leaned forward, used his chest to pin her against the wall and released her arms entirely. He grabbed her h*ps instead, leaned back, and one arm slid around her waist. “Do you want to engage in sexual intercourse with me? That’s what is going to happen if you keep playing games.”

She winced. “Sexual intercourse? Really? You use that term? It’s so clinical. I’m going to have to deem you totally unsexy if you say penis.”

His gaze flashed anger at her. “Would you prefer a human term? Unless you want me to f**k you with my dick buried deep into your vag—womb, you will stop coming after me now.”

She smiled. “You almost said vagina, didn’t you?”

He snarled and suddenly dropped her to her feet, backing away. “Go to your room now.” He tried to storm back into his.

She grabbed his arm and used her strength to spin him this time. His back hit the door and she followed him into his bedroom. He nearly fell when the door moved behind him in its partially open state. Her gaze swept his room as she followed him in, refusing to release her hold on him.

He had a big bed, a full entertainment package on his wall and a big dresser beneath the viewing screen. His bedroom also had a large window with a view of the cyborg city. She tore her attention from it to stare up at him.

“I like your room better.”

“I’m not switching sleeping quarters with you.” He jerked out of her hold and glared.

“I didn’t think you would.” She hesitated. “We have a problem.”

“We actually have several.”

She grinned, really liking him. “I’m attracted to you and you feel the same toward me. We’re living together, you said you are stuck babysitting me, and I’m not allowed to leave. We could ignore this whole sexual tension thing or just give in to it. I don’t know about you but I hate being miserable. You don’t like to talk but I hate being bored. We’re either going to kill each other inside of a week or we’re going to end up tangled together in the sheets of one of our beds.” She glanced at his. “Yours is bigger.” She met his shocked gaze. “So let’s be realistic. I want you and you obviously want me.” She looked down to see his c**k still strained to break free of his pants before she smiled up at him. “I’m a little intimidated by your size but I’ve never backed away from a challenge.”

“You’re serious?” He paled.

“Ouch. Most guys would be thrilled if I wanted to strip them naked. Don’t look so overjoyed there, Krell.”

“I don’t want to join a family unit.”

“That’s marriage on this planet, right? Long-term commitment? Is it like a law that if we go to bed together we have to make it official?”

“No. Yes. No.” He backed away.

“Decisive. I like that in a man,” she chuckled, teasing him. “Which is it?”

“Joining a family unit is the equivalent of marriage on Earth. We test our compatibility, usually before joining a family unit, by engaging in sexual activity.” He paused. “I’m not fit to be in a family unit.”