Touching Ice Read online

  “May I serve you?”

  Megan lifted her chin to watch as one of the sex bots addressed the tall cyborg. He crossed his arms over his chest and a grin spread on his face.

  “How long do we get to keep them?”

  “I don’t understand your request,” the bot stated.

  “At least four days,” a deep male voice answered from the other side of the room. “We are to drop them off at the Hixton Station. We’re getting paid good money for saving them. I wonder how much each one is really worth if they are willing to shell out that much to us just to transport them?”

  “Probably a hell of a lot.”

  Megan stood, peering across the small cargo hold and she forgot to breathe for seconds while she stared at him. The cyborg she’d become obsessed with inched his big frame around the bots, working his way to the center of the room to reach the other cyborg.

  A laugh burst from the dark-haired male. “I love the side benefits of this job if we get use of thirteen bots for four days.”

  Her glance darted around at all the taller bots near her, counting them. There were twelve in all. The cyborg had said there were thirteen. She frowned, counting them again. Her attention returned to her fantasy man as he stepped near her, close enough for her to reach out and touch. He grinned at the other man.

  “I won’t be complaining, that’s for damn sure, Onyx.”

  “I bet not, Ice.”

  His name is Ice, Megan thought, as she stared up at him. He was a foot taller than her, putting him at six foot two. He looked huge in person, bigger than he appeared on screen. If she reached her arm out straight, she could brush her hand over his molded, black leather uniform, which displayed his immense biceps. In person his hair was even more amazing—white with very light-gray streaks that were only noticeable from close up but she had discovered that already since she’d had the cameras zoom in on him a few times while she’d spied on him with the bots.

  The scent of leather, masculine soap, and wonderful male teased her nose. One of the bots, nearly his height, turned to face him as it smiled. The bots were all between five foot seven and six foot one and sturdy bodied so they weren’t easily broken.

  “May I serve you?”

  Ice’s eyebrows arched but he grinned. “It’s a hard job but someone has to do it.”

  Onyx laughed. “The men are going to be thrilled with this job.”

  “We thought we were going to spend a lot of money using bots but now we’re getting paid for four days of unlimited sex. I’d call that a good day for us but a bad one for Folion. What the hell happened?”

  “A ship came in too fast. We were monitoring their communications and it sounded as though they were drinking a little too much to celebrate time off and slammed right into it. Good thing we were on the starboard side. The damage was really bad when it hit. Damn. Do you know what this means? Folion won’t be available to us.”

  The grin on Onyx’s face died. “Shit. I guess we’d better really make the best of the next four days. Maybe they’ll send out another ship to host these beauties.”

  Ice turned his head and looked directly at Megan. She froze, her breath catching again while she stared into his beautiful light-blue eyes with silver streaks in the irises. He tilted his head, his full lips curving downward slightly as his gaze left hers to slowly travel down her body.

  Of all the days for this to happen, she thought sourly. She wore a light-blue tank top with black sweat pants. They were comfortable work clothes but she probably looked like hell. Her blonde hair was in an untidy ponytail, which never completely tamed her wild curls, and she knew she looked like a sweaty mess from running. She didn’t even have shoes. This wasn’t how she wanted to meet the man who occupied all of her latenight fantasies while she lay in her bunk. His gaze rose.

  “What is she?” Onyx stepped closer. “A maintenance bot? Her smaller size and chaotic appearance would indicate so.”

  She fought the urge to sag with relief. She started to silently pray that they kept mistaking her for a bot. Cyborgs had been deemed dangerous on Earth, the government had ordered their eradication, and if their continued existence was reported, Earth would probably send military ships to correct that fact. She’d always thought that’s why their shuttle visited a totally computer-controlled ship. No live beings were present to report their visits and it was well known that Folion kept no records—to protect their clientele. Computers had no interest in earning rewards for snitching to the government but humans, on the other hand, did. She worried that the cyborgs would kill her, but as a bot, she wouldn’t pose a threat to them.

  Ice shrugged, looking away from her. “Maybe she’s a defective model they use for general purposes or maybe she’s a specialty item for some of the working human males who have fantasies about small females who have active sweat glands. I remember, while in training on Earth, that some of the human males would stare at human women and get turned on by their appearance during workouts. They indicated it made their dicks hard and they spoke of wanting to lick the sweat off those females.”

  “Interesting.” Onyx inched closer to her, openly studying her. “I didn’t know they made bots that small. I wonder if the simulated perspiration is flavored.”

  Ice’s broad shoulders shrugged. “Perhaps.” He grinned. “You have four days to find out.”

  Apprehension spread through Megan as the large, dark-haired cyborg grabbed her hips with two big hands and jerked her against his leather-clad body. His head bent, moving to the side as he lowered his face, obviously going for her neck. She realized he intended to lick her skin to find out what flavor gel her supposed artificial body used for sweat. His hand slid from her ass to between her legs.

  Megan’s reaction was instinctive as she brought her knee up, slamming it between the vee of his tight pants, hitting his solid body in the groin. His response was just as swift as he shouted and pushed her from him. Megan hit the wall hard enough that it caused pain to shoot from the back of her head where she impacted.

  “Son of a bitch,” the cyborg hissed. “She kneed me.”

  He cupped the front of his pants as his head snapped upward. Pure rage gripped his features. His hand shot out and Megan didn’t have time to avoid the blow. He backhanded her hard across the face, sending her sprawling to the deck. She lay there for long seconds, her face throbbing with pain, too stunned to move.

  “Damn it, don’t damage their property,” Ice barked. “Maybe she’s not a sex bot and is programmed to defend herself. She didn’t ask to service you.”

  “I think we should throw it out the damn airlock and say we didn’t get that one onboard,” Onyx groaned. “Fuck, that hurts.”

  Movement from the corner of her eye had Megan turning her head. Ice crouched next to her, a frown on his handsome features, his gaze fixed on the other man.

  “The computer running Folion probably recorded us taking it. You’d better hope it’s not damaged since it hasn’t gotten up.” He leaned closer, his attention going to her.

  Megan met his beautiful eyes as their gazes locked and then she looked away from him. “Systems are fine.” She used her coldest voice as she forced her body to move.

  Ice didn’t move for long seconds, she could sense him staring at her, but she refused to look at him for fear he’d see something that would give her true identity away. He lingered next to her long enough for it to be uncomfortable but he finally moved.

  Ice stood and turned his back to her. “You’re damn lucky she isn’t damaged, Onyx. They are only on loan until we deliver them.”

  Her face hurt but she didn’t rub it as she got to her unsteady feet. A wave of dizziness hit her but then it cleared as she leaned against the wall, hoping they wouldn’t notice anything odd about her. If she could just pretend to be a bot for four days she’d be totally safe on their shuttle.

  “Right. I won’t touch that one again but there are twelve others. I like that brunette one in the red dress. Then I think I’ll do the blond