Passion Model Read online

It was the way he said my name. Tender but rough at the same time, and filled with longing. He said my name like the taste of it pleased him.

  I cried out and buried my face in his shoulder to muffle the sound. My hands clutched his back. We rocked against the fountain, the spray of it hitting us but leaving us dry. His thrusts became ragged as he neared his climax, and I was right there with him.

  I saw fireworks behind my closed eyes as the pleasure of my orgasm ripped through me. Red, blue, gold, the colors filled my vision until I opened my eyes and stared into Declan’s face.

  His gaze didn’t waver from mine. He said my name again, lower this time, harsher, as though speaking had become some near impossible task. I shuddered as another orgasm rippled through me.

  He never closed his eyes, not even when his own climax made him buck and shudder against me. He kept his gaze fixed on mine the entire time, and all the while he whispered my name.

  It’s funny how after orgasm the senses become so heightened. The garden’s silence, unbroken but for the fountain’s splashing, seemed as loud as a hovertrain when my heart’s pounding faded from my ears. Declan rested his forehead briefly against mine. He could’ve kissed me had he tried, but I guess the split lip made him reconsider.

  After-sex awkwardness isn’t something I generally have to deal with. Pleasurebots don’t care about conversation. They get off, they get you off, they consider themselves as having done their job.

  People, on the other hand, insist on talking.

  “Wait.” I put a hand to his mouth when he started to speak. With the other, I pushed him gently off me. With efficient movements, I buttoned myself up again. The warmth of his seed coated me down there.

  He tucked himself away, then ran a hand through his hair. “Are you all right?”

  The simple consideration in his words made me pause. “I’m fine.”

  He frowned. “Just…fine?”

  “What would you like me to say, Declan?”

  Now his expression shuttered, his gaze clouded. “Something more than fine.”

  I’d been stupid to bring him here, and stupider to fuck him again. I pretended to fix my hair to disguise the sudden trembling of my fingers. I turned my head so I wouldn’t have to see him.

  “Okay, you got your jollies. Now you can go.”

  “Is that what you think?” His words had a thin edge of anger to them.

  I needed to distance myself from him. There could be no future with Declan for me. The way we met and what I was precluded that.

  “You got what you wanted from me. Now go.”

  “If you think that’s all I wanted…” He paused, broke off, started again. “Gemma, I meant what I said when I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day.”

  The sincerity in his tone wormed its way beneath the wall I was rapidly trying to build. “We shouldn’t see each other. You know that. Not when it could mean…”

  “You’re not on-duty now. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “But last night I was on duty, and we committed a crime.” I swallowed heavily. “Today can’t change that.”

  “Last night is over.” He gave me that damned cocky grin. “Today didn’t bring it back. It’s gone. I screwed up, made a mistake. But…I couldn’t help myself.”

  “No?” I gave him a hard look. “You could’ve stopped the inspection at any time.”

  He ran a hand through his hair again. “I didn’t want to.”

  “Yeah, I know.” My heart twisted.

  “I couldn’t resist you, don’t you get it?” He put his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. “No man could. And then today, I just wanted to see you again. Touch you again. Gemma, you might not believe this…”

  “I’m sure I won’t.”

  “But I haven’t felt this way about anyone in a really long time.” He took a deep breath. “In fact, before last night, I hadn’t even slept with anyone in over a year.”

  This revelation stunned me into silence. It’s unheard of for men and women past the age of sexual initiation to remain abstinent for such a length of time. Sex is indulged in as generously and casually as eating. It’s the reason I have a job.

  I didn’t know what to say. “You must be joking.”

  He shook his head, then gave me just a ghost of a grin. “Not until I met you.”

  Our eyes met and our gazes locked. Who was this man? He’d fooled me into thinking he was something he was not, he’d made my body sing and my heart leap. Could I admit he’d also given me hope?

  “I wasn’t out at the hut last night looking to get laid,” Declan said. “But then you swaggered up to me and flashed me your badge. Hell. I’ve been dreaming about something like that since my first wet dream. Fucking a cop? I couldn’t refuse.”

  “Declan.” I rolled the name on my tongue like it was fine piece of chocolate. “I have to tell you. I’m—”

  Then he reached out to tuck a strand of hair away behind my ear. The gesture, so simple, so insignificant, took my breath away. How long since someone had touched me like that? Without needing something from me? Without taking something from me? I was lost, and I knew it. Lost in a casual gesture from a man I barely knew.

  “What, Gemma?”

  I’d meant to tell him the truth. I’m not a metalgirl, and I’m not a fleshgirl. I’m mecho, something both and neither.

  He cocked his head, waiting for me to speak, and I thought of how he’d whispered my name over and over. Like some sort of prayer. I thought of his lips pressed to mine, and I answered him.

  “Nothing, Declan,” I said. “It doesn’t matter.”

  Chapter Five

  We parted with the pledge to meet again the next night.

  “I’ll come for you,” he promised, and left the garden before I’d had the chance to ask him for his address or how I could reach him.

  Mysterious. I laughed softly to myself as I let myself into the dark apartment. In Newcity, the only people who have a private life are those wealthy enough to afford one. Everyone else’s vital information is stored in System, and readily available at a retscan’s notice. Everything from shoe size to favorite beverage can be found in those databanks. If I really wanted to find him, I was sure I could. For now, not knowing anything about him other than the taste of him was exciting.

  I paused to peek in at Kaelyn, huddled in her closet. When I’d first brought her home, I’d made a bed for her in my room. I hadn’t known nights on Eloven are perfectly, seamlessly black. It had taken several sleepless weeks before Kaelyn could explain to me why the faintest glow of light from the viddy screen’s sleep setting made it impossible for her to sleep.

  Even now, the faint glow let in when I opened the door made her stir. She blinked, slowly, and sighed.

  “My Gemma.”

  “I’m home, Kaelyn. Go back to sleep.”

  With a drowsy nod, she snuggled back into the nest of blankets she preferred over a mattress, and went back to sleep. I paused a moment longer to stare at the strange creature I’d brought into my home. An impulse I didn’t understand moved me to tuck the blankets around her more firmly, and to smooth the line of her folded wing as she dreamed. It wasn’t my right to own her, this alien child, but I couldn’t be sorry about it. She’d have died if I hadn’t bought her and taken her to live with me. I was sure of that.

  I closed the closet door and went to my hygiene room. I tossed my drab gray outfit into the recycling chute, then opened the small key panel next to my mirror and punched in the codes for a new set of clothes, a couple chocobars, and some other supplies for the next day.

  System’s smooth female voice reverberated in the small room. “Credit account charged. Items scheduled for delivery 05053005.”

  Naked, I looked myself over in the mirror above the sink. Even in the bright light, all but one of my scars were nearly invisible. The only one still obvious was the snaking line from the back of my neck across my throat and down my left shoulder. Even that had faded to a simple, silver line