Falling for Sky (Cyborg Seduction Book 11) Read online

  “You mean some idiot getting ideas of attacking you.”

  “Yes.” She chewed on her bottom lip, staring at his face. “How old are you?”

  One of his gray eyebrows arched. “Does it matter?”

  She hesitated before glancing at his hair. She didn’t want to insult him by mentioning his hair color reminded her of someone’s grandfather. His features were a drastic contrast to that idea, and no elderly person of advanced years had his muscle mass, no matter how many drugs or medical procedures they underwent.

  He smiled. “I was genetically made this way.” He reached up to brush a few strands of hair behind his ear. “Do you want to know a secret I’ve never told anyone before?”

  “Yes.”

  “There’s a reason I’m more Earth-friendly than others of my race. I was created for a special project by some of the senior scientists. They purposely gave me this hair color to help me fit in with them better. I wasn’t put into general population with other cyborgs, but instead kept inside their labs.” His expression hardened. “At least until the government decided to lock us down after a few incidents that made them reevaluate the cyborg project. I was taken away from my friends. The scientists and I had become very close. They weren’t bad guys. They tried to protect me for as long as possible.”

  “What incidents?”

  He hesitated. “There are more male cyborgs than female ones by vast numbers. The reason for that was, the female ones were harassed, leaving them no choice but to defend themselves. It was quickly decided they weren’t worth the trouble, so production of females was shut down.”

  “Harassed how.”

  “They weren’t created to be sex bots. But some of the human assholes they were assigned to work for decided to try to force them perform that job, too. They…resisted.”

  Comprehension dawned, and it wasn’t pretty. “Oh.”

  “Our males would also defend them if they witnessed female cyborgs being attacked. Your guys didn’t fare well in a fight against us, since they created us to be so much stronger. A lot of humans died as a result. It was self-defense, but we weren’t seen as living beings with rights. Including the right not to be raped, murdered, or both. Cyborgs were basically slaves, but eventually, we wanted equal rights. Cyborgs are living, breathing beings, but they were essentially killing us by sending us on suicide missions no sane person would take. My kind eventually said enough and demanded to be given rights. Earth Government sent us all to facilities for holding. Then they decided to kill every one of us. We were given no choice but to escape or be murdered.”

  “That’s shitty…but not surprising. Earth Government sucks.”

  His mouth curved a little upward. “You worked for them.”

  “Who doesn’t anymore? They get you one way or another. Working off-world at a mine beat the crap out of staying on Earth. It’s gotten really bad there over the past twenty years. They track everything you do and even who you talk to. You’re fined most of your wages for ridiculous things, just to keep you poor. I had a mining background and it afforded me a job on Velion One.”

  “What kind of background?”

  “I was born on the moon. My parents were miners. That was my life until they were killed when I was in my teens. I’ve hated living on Earth ever since I got sent there. I’d dreamed a lot about it as a kid, but the reality wasn’t so hot. I later worked on Mars. Five years ago, a deep-exploration ship found precious minerals on Velion One that EG wanted. I heard about it, and eventually won the job to run the operation. They prefer women when they can hire us.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Women tend to stay saner for long stints alone on a planet, more so than men. We’re less aggressive and don’t have all that testosterone making us nuts.” She grinned. “That part’s just my opinion, though.”

  He smiled. It changed him from merely striking to making her heart race. He was incredibly handsome. She wondered if he was aware of his appeal to women.

  “If you ask EG, it’s cheaper to keep one person in place, rather than rotating them out, and cheaper to keep women in supplies.”

  “Why?” He seemed genuinely curious.

  “Well, it’s just cheaper to ship supplies than people. The supply shuttles don’t have to be oxygenated unless a living person is onboard. They’re totally manned by androids, who don’t need to breathe air or eat food, and they don’t make messes. And women tend to require less food, which means fewer and less-expensive resupply trips.”

  “You said you were there for four years?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a long time to go without seeing anyone else.”

  “I had—”

  A buzz interrupted her from telling him about Jorg. Sky frowned as he rose to his feet. She watched him stride to the door and slap his palm over a sensor pad—then he just stood there. It sank in quickly that he must be doing something besides just resting his palm over the control, and that something was likely internal. He finally turned away from the wall, Anger clear in his expression.

  “I apologize for just walking away like that. The cyborg council has issued orders for the Bridden to immediately return to Garden. They are pissed that I saved you.”

  Trepidation filled her. “What does that mean?”

  He returned to the bed and sat closer to her. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my ass on the line. I’ll take full responsibility for my actions. You’ll be okay.”

  “What are they going to do to you?” She began to worry. “I didn’t mean to get you into trouble, Sky.” Guilt wrestled with the worry. “I’ll tell them I issued a flag distress. You had to respond to that. It’s the law.”

  He chuckled. “We don’t give a shit about what laws Earth Government makes. I didn’t have to save you. I chose to.”

  “Why would you do that if you knew it was going to get you into such trouble with your supervisors?”

  He studied her. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

  “Yes.” The conversations they’d had in the past flashed through her memory. “We are.”

  “Friends don’t leave friends behind to be killed by pirates.” He winked.

  She couldn’t help but smile and appreciate his humor. “I’ll talk to your supervisors. They need to know how dire my situation was. You saved my life.”

  “They won’t care why I did it. There are certain laws they get their panties in a twist over.” He sighed. “Don’t worry. Their bark is worse than their bite. At worst, they’ll force me to stay on the planet for a while. If they really want to make me suffer, they’ll assign me to work with Zorus.”

  “What is that?”

  “Who. He’s a dick. Of course, I’ve been assured ever since he met Charlie, he’s almost been decent. Love can change someone, and I’m told he’s living proof of that.”

  “Is Charlie his boyfriend?”

  Sky threw back his head and laughed. “No.” His blue eyes glinted with humor as he stared at her. “Charlie is a woman from Earth.”

  “Oh.”

  “They are married.”

  That surprised her. “Cyborgs get married?”

  “Yes.”

  She remembered him saying he was single, but she hadn’t known he wasn’t human at the time. It made her realize that he must be more than wires and machine parts on the inside, if cyborgs married women from Earth.

  It also implied he was probably able to have sex and feel emotions for someone.

  “What are you thinking about? You just got the oddest look on your face.”

  “Nothing,” she lied.

  He arched one gray eyebrow. “Friends don’t lie to each other.”

  She hesitated. “You said your friend got married. I was just thinking about that.”

  “That makes you curious?”

  “So…you have sex?” She had to lower her gaze to the collar of his uniform, unable to stare into his eyes as she asked.

  “Yes.”

  Her cheeks warmed. She swallo