Touching Ice Read online

  She glanced around as she followed him through a few corridors, identifying the vessel as an Earth jumper shuttle—a big one—and that surprised her. It wasn’t old so somehow the cyborgs had acquired it. Since they weren’t on good terms with Earth Government, she had a sinking suspicion they’d stolen it and that made her a little afraid. They were thieves, which didn’t bode well for having high moral character.

  She bit back a snort. Like I can talk. I’m pretending to be a bot so I can have sex with a guy I’ve been spying on for months. She pushed those thoughts back. After four months of absolute solitude anyone would be a little nuts so she figured she could chalk her wild plan up to temporary insanity later. Ice paused by a door and placed his big hand on the scanner on the wall next to it. It read his palm and the door opened. He paused, glancing over his shoulder, and then stepped inside.

  Her gaze jerked around the room in a fast sweep. Bots wouldn’t care what his personal tastes were but curiosity overrode common sense. The size of the room reminded her of a walk-in closet with a bed, a wall of storage, and a foam cleansing unit shoved into the corner. Even so, her quarters on Folion were even smaller in comparison. Her gaze lifted to find Ice watching her with a frown.

  Shit. Caught. She forced a smile. “My polite response is that you have a nice home,” she stated quickly, hoping that would cover her error by misleading him into thinking it was a programmed function.

  “It’s not a home. It’s my living quarters.”

  “Information filed.” She kept her smile in place.

  He backed up a little, not that he had much space to move, and openly studied her body. “You’re not as tidy as the other bots. You actually don’t appear anything similar to them and there’s something about you…” Suspicion flashed in his eyes.

  She guessed that was his polite version of stating that she appeared messy. She’d run for her life through Folion to get to his ship so she knew she didn’t look her best. The way he studied her had her about to break into a sweat again. Is he wising up? She thought fast, spun around to face the foam cleaning unit, really wanting one anyway, and stepped inside, purposely leaving her clothes on. She reached for the button to lift the doors to activate it.

  “Wait!” He took a few quick steps forward. “You’re still dressed.”

  She looked down, making a show of peering at her clothes. She lifted her chin. “Am I supposed to remove them first?” If that didn’t cry “stupid bot” to the guy, she didn’t know what would.

  “Yes.” He gave a nod and then hesitated before his hands lifted. “Let me help you.”

  She kept her gaze down and stepped over the edge of the foam unit and back onto the floor of his room. She lifted her arms the way a child would, her heart racing. He could totally help her get naked.

  “What are you doing?”

  Her chin rose. “I am waiting for you to undress me. The shirt lifts over my head.”

  Big hands hovered for seconds and then he gripped her shirt, tugging it up her body. The bra threw him a little, a frown curving his lips. Megan cursed silently, forgetting she wore one when bots didn’t. She turned to present her back to him.

  “I am fully outfitted to be human.”

  He hesitated but then his fingers brushed her mid back as he unclasped the bra. She turned, wiggled her shoulders, and the bra dropped. The straps slid down her arms and it landed on her feet. She looked up to see Ice’s attention fixed on her breasts. Her nipples puckered from the cooler air.

  “Damn.” His hand rose quickly and his thumb brushed over her stiffened flesh. “You have reactive nipples? That’s amazing.”

  She had to clench her teeth to not gasp in surprise as he played with her. His other hand rose to her other breast. He pinched that one between his thumb and forefinger, shooting pleasure straight to her brain. She didn’t mean to but she arched her back a little to push them more firmly into his hands. His gaze lifted to stare at her while his hands froze.

  “You have expressions too?”

  Shit! She realized she couldn’t hide everything. “Yes.”

  He lowered his gaze, both hands cupping her breasts. He gave them a gentle squeeze, feeling them, weighing them in his palms, and rubbing her sensitive skin again. The wonderful sensation made Megan’s body react full force. Butterflies fluttered around inside her stomach and she grew wet between her thighs over what he did to her with his fingers. It had been a long time since she’d had someone touch her and the guy was total eye candy with his beautiful eyes, gorgeous, burnished metallic-gray skin, and his body to die for.

  Bad choice of words to describe him, she reminded herself. If he discovered her to be human, he might have to kill her to protect his secret existence. He released her breasts and his gaze met hers.

  “That’s amazing. You feel almost real.”

  Almost? Oh yeah, he is total eye candy but not the brightest sugar treat in the bowl. “Thank you,” she said sweetly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

  “They made you a little cooler though, in temperature. The other bots feel a bit warmer and they made your breasts a little too soft and small. I like more firmness and more filling my hand.”

  She debated if she could get away with smacking him upside the head. She fought the temptation, guessing that blaming a glitch that made her robotic arm jerk uncontrollably wouldn’t be believable. She resisted the urge and locked her teeth together instead and pushed back her irritation.

  He suddenly dropped to his knees and she held her breath. He was tall even when kneeling, his face level with her breasts. He stared at them before he reached for the waist of her pants, gripped them, and just jerked them down her legs. He paused and then looked up.

  “Not fully outfitted. They forgot to put underwear on you.”

  She swallowed. “I’ll make a note.”

  He looked away from her and tugged her pants down completely to her ankles. She had to lift each foot for him to remove them, happy to not have shoes. She stood naked before the cyborg as he tossed her pants to the floor. His arresting blue gaze swept up her body again.

  “Now you can use the foam cleanser. Do you know how?”

  “Yes.”

  He backed away on his knees. “Do it then and hurry up.” He slowly rose to his feet. “I’ll get undressed while you get clean. I wouldn’t want a dirty bot in my bed.”

  She spun around before he saw her anger. “I’m not a bot,” she managed to say in a cool voice. “I’m a simulated human prototype.”

  She stepped into the small foam cleanser, turned, and met his amused expression. She froze for a second, wondering what caused that emotion and then she forced her arm to lift, push the button, and the wall came up from the floor to hide her from his view. Her shoulders hunched as she leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath, thinking, This isn’t going to be easy. She activated the foam and closed her eyes.

  Her body was turned on even though Ice had pissed her off. He’d insulted her breasts. She opened her eyes when the cleaning foam that covered her body started to melt, turning to water that slid down her body to the drain in the floor. She examined her girls. Okay, they aren’t perfect the way a bot’s artificial ones are but for a real woman, they aren’t bad. She shook her head and then took some deep breaths.

  She figured she could totally play this off if she just didn’t talk to the guy. Four solid days of sex was so tempting. He liked to play with bots before he used them so that should turn her on enough to be ready for him to take her. She worked up her courage, knowing that he would grow impatient if she didn’t hurry, and put on her game face, hiding her emotions as she pushed the button. The wall slid down and she had to resist the urge to gasp as she stared at the very naked backside of one big, muscular cyborg.

  Ice had the best body ever. She already knew that from seeing him on a screen but nine inches of monitor view through a flat glass panel on a control terminal didn’t do him justice. In real person, his bare skin was a soft, steel-gray color all ov