“You may stay with me under my protection, but on our way home we will pass Outpost Five, a trading space station.” He hesitated, watching her. “I’ll give you your freedom since you didn’t harm me, Rena. I’ll even give you enough money to pay for your passage home when one of many supply shuttles arrives there that can give you a lift back to Earth.”

Staring at him, Rena was surprised. “Really?”

He nodded. “I do not lie. We will be at this planet for a few days, repairing their ship and my own for distance travel, but then we’ll be returning to Garden. I will set you free once we’re near Outpost Five. I can let you have one of our pods and I’ll keep you monitored to make sure you dock there safely.”

“Why?”

He blinked. “You could have killed me but you didn’t. I uploaded the transcripts from your interrogation when we walked in the door and I am aware of how you lost your mother to her cause to free my kind. If any human deserves to be freed, it is you.” He paused. “You may sleep on the floor in here and I will protect you until I can safely release you.” He paused again. “I would ask that you not mention anything about your contact with us.”

Staring at him, Rena let his words sink in. “They might try to find your planet and attack if I let them know so many of you survived.”

He nodded, looking grim. “It would be a mistake on their part if they come after us.

We are heavily defended where we are. We have been preparing our defenses since we settled there so anyone attacking would never see the surface alive.”

Steel was willing to trust her to do the right thing. She understood that, even if he didn’t say it. She stared at him and nodded. “I don’t want them to come after you. I think what was done to cyborgs was wrong. Humans created them and when they couldn’t control them they committed a worse crime of trying to destroy them.”

“Yes.”

They stared at each other for a long time. She finally spoke. “How did you read the transcripts? You haven’t been near a terminal long enough to access them. We just walked in here and you started to pace.”

He hesitated. “I have programmed the Vontage main computer to send me information updates so when I entered my room they were transmitted to me when we walked in.” He hesitated. “I’m not like you.”

Staring at him she let it sink in. “You have some kind of auto-uploading data processor you receive by signal?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Blinking, she let that sink in. His skin told her he was a cyborg but she’d forgotten about the kind of things he must have in his body that could download information to his mind in an instant.

“So at just a touch…”

He nodded. “I can download files that are waiting for me. As long as I’m thirty feet within range of the terminal I’m able to receive the data transfers when my touch prompts them to be sent.”

“Can you send data as well?”

“If I keep the connection active. It is maintained until I disconnect.”

She blinked. The guy had a damn computer in his brain. That knowledge left her feeling a little uneasy. He turned away from her, walking to the dresser.

“You may have a blanket and pillow from the bed. I’m analyzing reports so I need some silence. I can communicate with you at the same time but I admit it is distracting. I just ordered food that will be delivered shortly.”

“With your thoughts?”

He hesitated, turning to stare at her. “It’s similar to writing a program or a document and then uploading it into the computer.”

She stared at him until he frowned, turning away from her. He opened one of the drawers and removed something, turning to face her again as his leg bumped the drawer shut. He threw a bundle at her that she barely caught. She stared down at the drawstring pants and shirt in her hands.

“Put those on. Your legs must be chilled and that shirt is probably not comfortable for you. Humans enjoy warmer temperatures so I’ve adjusted the room controls to accommodate you but it will take about ten minutes for the climate controls to respond.

They are sluggish.”

“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful.”

He walked over to the wall by the door, close to the terminal, and put his back to the wall. “After what happened between us, I find myself oddly considerate of your needs.”

He paused. “I don’t feel at ease with it.”

Speechless, she stared at him, watching him close his eyes.

“I have data to evaluate, reports to write, and requests to review. Please put those on and rest until the food arrives.”

He stood there silently, unmoving, as she dressed. Her attention kept flicking to him.

He was working? She stared at his chest to make sure he was breathing. Eyeing him from the bed she wondered how he stayed in such great shape if he mimicked a statue when he was working. She cocked her head, smiling at the thought of Steel as sculpture. His skin reminded her of a light stone color. Bored after a few minutes, she slipped from the bed and slowly walked to him.

He didn’t so much as twitch as she gently touched his arm, her fingers curling around his wrist. Rena waited for his eyes to open, but when they didn’t she adjusted his arm up. It stayed put where she positioned it. Grinning, she turned his arm upward and used her other hand to curl his fingers. She chuckled, thinking if he flexed he’d be showing her his biceps muscle in the pose she had him in. She let go, thinking his arm would drop but it didn’t. She moved to his other side, stepping there to take his other hand and put it on his hip.

Stepping back she grinned at him. This is kind of fun, she thought. He was totally in shut-down mode, which was eerie to her, so playing with his limbs made it amusing at least. She’d rather find something to chuckle over than stare at a breathing statue who freaked her out. She reached for the buttons on his shirt and opened each one.

He looked kind of sexy as she spread his shirt a few inches apart to reveal that muscular chest and his ridged abs. She reached up for his lifted arm, bringing it down to his hip so both hands were mirrored, letting her gaze run over him.

If she had to look at him she may as well look at a sexy statue. She hesitated and reached for his belt. She slid the belt out of its loops and let it fall to the floor. She looked up, staring at his expressionless face and closed eyes, then turned her attention to the front of his pants. She gripped the fasteners, undoing the top one and then a second one until skin and the enticing trail of silvery body hair showed—from his bellybutton lower down his body, delving into the vee of his open pants. Smiling, she viewed her handiwork. “Very nice.”

“What are you doing?”

She gasped, jumped as her head jerked up to stare into a pair of narrowed blue eyes.

His hands left his waist to grip her h*ps in a firm hold. His full lips curled downward as he watched her from beneath hooded eyes. Her mouth opened but nothing came out.

“I asked you what you were doing to me. I ignored it when you touched me at first, reasoning that you were concerned over my lack of motion, but there was no reason to open my shirt or remove my belt.”

“Shit. You were totally aware of all that?”

His eyebrow arched. “Explain what you were doing.”

Heat warmed her cheeks as embarrassment spread through her. Did she dare tell him the truth? She wasn’t sure if it would insult him or not. “I…”

“I’m waiting.”

“Well, you kind of looked like a statue and you seemed totally out of it and I was bored. You said food was coming but it hasn’t arrived.”

“So you loosened my clothing?” He didn’t look amused at all as his frown deepened.

She tried to back away from him but his hands tightened on her. She hesitated. “You were freaking me out just a little bit so I thought if I had to see you that way I could at least make you look like a sexy statue.”

Rena gasped as she was lifted and spun. Her back hit the wall but not hard enough to hurt her, more of a jarring thump, and then she was pinned between irritated cyborg male and hard, solid wall. She hung off her feet where he’d lifted her, their noses almost touching. She stared into Steel’s eyes, deciding he didn’t look amused one damn bit by her antics.

He moved his thigh, pressing it between hers. Rena didn’t resist, instead spread her legs enough to let him fit between them when he gently applied pressure. Her heart started to hammer in her chest and her fingers curled around his shoulders, gripping him firmly as they stared at each other.

He was a big bastard, strong, and his body was pressed against hers tightly. With his thigh between her legs, the vee of her pants was pressed against Steel’s warm thigh.

Staring into his beautiful eyes made her remember how nice it was to be that close to him, how wonderful it had been to be skin to skin with the hot male cyborg.

Rena made a split-second decision. She wanted him and wanted to know how it would feel to be touched by Steel, made love to, if cyborgs did that. She even wanted him to just flat-out f**k her without him being tied down. Her hands slid down his shoulders, down his chest. Her hands lifted from him to slide between his skin and shirt, pushing it out of her way to touch his hot flesh.

Steel’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

She moved her other thigh, lifting it and wrapping it around his hip, down the back of his leg. Now she was practically straddling him while upright. “Kiss me.”

Surprise widened his eyes as his body tensed and his hold on her tightened.

“I don’t bite.” She smiled at him. “At least not hard.”

His beautiful eyes narrowed suddenly. “What kind of game are you playing with me? I’m not amused.”

“I’m not playing. I really want you to kiss me.”

They stared at each other. He didn’t bring his lips to her so she took hers to his, closing her eyes right as she tilted her head, a breath from touching him. Her mouth brushed his closed one, pressing there, waiting for him to open up to her, but when he didn’t, she opened her mouth, letting her tongue slip out to swipe against his lower lip.

When he still didn’t open up to her she fought a wave of frustration until an idea hit her. She went for his bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth. He gasped but didn’t jerk away while she nibbled on his lower lip, teasing him as she gently sucked and used her lips, teeth and tongue to play with it.

A groan came from him before his lip jerked from her mouth. Opening her eyes Rena stared into a pair of gorgeous blue eyes as their gazes locked.

“I told you that I’m going to find a female to contract with in a family unit. This won’t change that.”

“I didn’t ask you to change a damn thing. I asked you to kiss me.”

He didn’t hesitate this time, his mouth going for hers. Rena closed her eyes and opened her mouth under his, their tongues meeting as they tasted each other, learned each other’s mouths. He tasted of coffee and chocolate, a surprise for her. Steel deepened the kiss, his hold on her shifting until he was gripping her ass with his large, hot hands.

He kissed her the way a starving man would, delving into her welcoming mouth, his tongue dominating hers. His h*ps ground against her spread-open legs, letting her feel the hard length of his c**k trapped in his pants, rubbing against her cl*t when he used his hold on her ass to move her up and down on him. Passion and longing rushed through her, knowing she was getting really wet where they rubbed together. A moan came from her into his mouth, met by him growling back at her.

Tearing his mouth from hers suddenly, Steel moved, turning away from the wall, still gripping her. Rena frantically grabbed his shirt, clinging to it until gravity tore her from his body when he bent a little, dumping her onto his bed her on her back. She stared up at him in astonishment that he’d just released her.