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  “I’m glad to hear that.” Mei-Li was cautiously optimistic. “Then you’re feeling…”

  “Less like I need to splatter my brains across the wall to make it stop?” he growled. “Yes.”

  Mei-Li closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. God if he’d really be suicidal…she had probably come within a hair of losing him! The thought left her feeling shaky and weak but she made herself go on.

  “Why did you go?” she said in a low voice. “After the memory was over. Why did you leave if you were feeling that way? You should have stayed with me—should have let me help you through it.”

  “I do not need help,” Six said stubbornly. “I am perfectly fine.”

  “Perfectly fine?” Mei-Li didn’t bother to try and keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “Is that why you’re running away again? Looking for a way to stamp out your emotions instead of working through them?”

  “Why should I try to live with something that makes me weak?” he demanded. “Why should I endure the feelings associated with those memories if I do not have to?”

  “Because not all emotions are bad ones,” Mei-Li said gently. She scooted closer to him and put a hand on his knee. He stiffened immediately but she didn’t remove her hand. “Six,” she said softly. “There are positive emotions too. Caring and warmth and tenderness and love.”

  “So you say.” He swallowed hard and looked down at her hand, still on his knee. “But so far most of what I have felt is pain. I do not wish to bear it anymore.”

  “Then let me help you bear it.” Mei-Li got up on her knees to reach him better. She put an arm around one broad shoulder and touched the back of his neck lightly, caressing the small bandage that covered the healing scar left by his implant. “You got the emotion damper when you were fourteen,” she murmured. “You had to—there was no one left to help you deal with the trauma you suffered, to ease your pain. But I’m here now, Six. I want to help you bear it. Please…”

  A shudder went through his big, muscular frame and he closed his eyes.

  “I cannot, Mei-Li.” His deep voice was hoarse with longing. “I cannot deal with these emotions and I do not wish to. Please…do not ask it of me.”

  “I’m not asking you to stay or to change your plans,” she said, taking a gamble. “I’m just asking you to let me ease your pain. After all, you allowed yourself to feel it because of me—let me be the one to help you heal from it.”

  “Why should I?” But his voice was a low, wounded whisper—not a defiant shout of anger. “Why bother when I can just get rid of the emotions forever?”

  “Because you won’t be able to get rid of the memories this time,” Mei-Li answered. “I know because Yipper told me. “So I want you to have some good memories too—not just the awful ones. Good memories of our time together.”

  “The memories will not give me emotions, either good or bad once I have taken the serum,” he reminded her.

  “They’ll give me feelings though. Please, Six…” She leaned closer to him, letting her small breasts brush his arm and kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth. “I want some good memories, too,” she whispered. “Please help me make them.”

  “I…should not.” His deep voice sounded slightly strangled.

  Mei-Li was getting desperate here. She needed to get close to him—to show him that some emotions were good and worth having. She needed to touch him and let him know the pain of his past could be if not erased, then at least eased. She had a feeling if she could just show him that—just remind him of everything he would be leaving behind if he took the emotion blocker—she could convince him to stay with her.

  “Please, Six—just let me hold you close one more time before you go,” she whispered and kissed him again. “Just give me one good memory to remember you by.”

  With a low groan, Six turned towards her and covered her mouth with his. The delicious dark chocolate taste of his tongue made her moan breathlessly but before she knew it, he was pulling away again. She was afraid he was going to refuse her and push her out the door but instead he looked into her eyes.

  “All right,” he growled softly. “One memory before I inject myself with the emotion blocker and leave. What shall it be?”

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Six couldn’t believe he was doing this.

  One memory—just one, he reminded himself. She asked it as a parting request—how could I deny her?

  Of course the fact that he didn’t want to deny her was secondary. Gods, it felt so good to hold her in his arms—so right to taste her sweet lips. He knew he shouldn’t do this—shouldn’t give in to the insatiable hunger inside him. But he couldn’t help it. He wanted to touch her…to taste her one last time.

  He pulled her closer, lifting her small, slender body into his lap, the better to cradle her against him. Gods, her skin was so smooth and her hair was like black silk against his arm as he bent her back, the better to taste her mouth. She moaned breathlessly, making the soft little pleasure sounds that made his shaft feel harder than a rock when he heard them. Six couldn’t help remembering that she sounded the same way when he tasted her, when he spread her sweet pussy lips with his tongue and licked deep into her hot little cunt.

  And then she started talking.

  “Touch me,” she whispered. Her soft, sweet voice seemed to go straight to his balls and her warm breath in his ear sent a shiver of desire down his spine. “Put your hands all over me—I want to really feel you. If this is the last time, I want your hands on me everywhere.”

  Gods… Six couldn’t help the low groan that escaped him as he complied with her demand. His hands slid over her smooth shoulders and down her bare arms, then lower to the small of her back and her round little ass. He caressed it eagerly, making her purr with delight, then slid both hands back up again to cup her small, perfectly formed breasts. He could feel her tight nipples under the thin, silky material and she moaned and twisted in his arms when he rubbed his thumbs lightly over the hard little nubs.

  “Six!” she gasped, uttering his name like a prayer. Then, to his surprise, she put her hands on his wrists to stop him.

  “What is it?” he asked. “I thought you wanted to be touched?”

  “I do.” She was breathing hard, almost panting. “But on my own terms. This is my last memory we’re building here—remember? You won’t care about it once…once you take the serum. But I will.” Her dark eyes were troubled but she looked determined. “I want it to be perfect.”

  “Very well.” Six let his hand drop to his sides. “Tell me what you want and I will do it.”

  “Good. I do want you to touch me. But slowly. And without this in the way.”

  She got off his lap and stood before him, nibbling her lush bottom lip. Six had the idea she was trying to get up the nerve to do something. Then she reached behind her back and there was a low purring sound of a zipper releasing. The deep green garment she’d been wearing slipped down to puddle at her feet.

  Six gave a low, hoarse exclamation at what was revealed. He had seen her naked before but the outfit she had on was somehow more provocative than mere nudity. Her small breasts were barely covered by two black lace cups that molded to them without hiding much of anything. He could see the dark pink peaks of her nipples through the thin fabric but somehow the fact that they were almost hidden by the flimsy material made his cock ache.

  Below, a scrap of the same black lace barely covered her plump little pussy, dipping low to show just the top of her slit and a tantalizing glimpse of her slippery inner folds. Gods, her soft little pussy…the longing and desire it inspired was enough to make him curl his hands into fists at his sides.

  I am only doing this to give Mei-Li one last good memory, he reminded himself again. I must make it the memory she wants. He didn’t want to hold her down to taste her again—that had been wrong. But Gods…

  “So…do you like it?” Mei-Li twirled in front of him, turning slowly so he could take in the sight of her slender, pale