Anger glinted in his eyes. “You find this amusing?”

“Not really but it beats us having a staring contest, doesn’t it? You’re not real talkative and that leaves it up to me to open a line of communication.” She watched him.

“I’ll take you to your room. I’m sure you’re in need of rest.”

“No. Please? I’ve been locked to a med bed and was about to go out of my mind. I’m used to activity. I’m not into sitting still much or a big sleeper.”

He didn’t speak and it started to bug her. She’d rather argue with him than just stand there mute. Anything would be better than being locked inside a room until she screamed from boredom. She studied his clothes, the way his muscles were tense, and glanced around the room. A workout area had been set aside and he had a punching bag, weights to lift and a lot of padded floor.

“Were you working out when I arrived?”

“Yes. I do that to stay fit and healthy.”

“You were designed that way so it doesn’t matter if you work out or not. You’ll always look like this.”

He growled at her in response.

She frowned. “Look, I’m the same way. I could eat and eat but I don’t gain weight. It kind of sucks. I never thought I’d bitch about that but after a few decades you just want to change something, anything, but it doesn’t happen. My body maintains and so does yours.” She glanced down at her chest. “Be happy you’re a defense model. I think they stole a sexbot design to make this body and scaled everything back but the br**sts.” She tilted her head slightly, staring at him. “Talk about uncomfortable. I wonder how long they had the body displayed inside the lab, in storage. They don’t clothe them, you know. The team who designed it had to have seen it every day. Yuk. Talk about needing therapy.”

Emotion finally showed on his face when he expressed shock. “A sexbot?”

“Yeah. I’ve got double-D cups. Those are sexbot specifications. No other work Models or clones were made with br**sts that size. I wish they hadn’t screwed with my height though. I’m betting they did it to hide the fact that no Models were designed this small and it helped hide the fact that this body isn’t totally human. I looked up the measurements for the sexbots and standard on them is about five foot seven or eight. They shortchanged me. That’s a joke.” She smiled. “Get it? Short and they changed me?”

He stared at her.

“Do you have a sense of humor at all? I’m trying real hard here to get you to crack a smile.”

“No.”

“Big surprise. Great. I’m locked up with the grim cyborg. Maybe you should call Councilman Zorus and tell him to assign me to someone else. At least jerks who want to beat on me or nail me would talk. You know, telling me I suck for being human-looking or how I should suck on them.”

His mouth twitched.

“Ah ha! You almost smiled, didn’t you?”

“No. That was a grimace. I understood the crude reference.”

“I’m just grateful you got the innuendo. There’s hope for you yet.” She glanced at his workout area again. “Want to spar?” Her gaze slid to his. “Since you aren’t much of a talker? I could use the physical outlet.”

“It wouldn’t be fair and your leg is injured.”

She bent and removed her boots since he wasn’t wearing any footwear. She removed her socks before she straightened. “I heal fast and the leg is all good now. I know it won’t be fair but I’ll try to go easy on you. I won’t hurt you.”

His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened before he hid his shocked response. “I meant it wouldn’t be fair to you. You are no match for me.”

She inched closer and grinned. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That’s an Earth saying if you don’t remember or never heard it. You’re going down.”

“You’re serious? You want to spar with me?” He backed up into the center of the padded mats and actually smiled.

Cyan had to remember to breathe. It changed his face so much and despite the scars, she could tell he’d once been truly handsome. He still was—the scars on his face gave him a rakish, dangerous look. She followed him onto his training mats. Her hands rose, palms open, and she rolled her shoulders to loosen up.

“How about a little wager? If I win, you have to try to talk to me more, Krell. The tall, dark and moody thing drives me kind of nuts. I’ve spent too much time with an annoying computer over the past few weeks. Your doctors just wanted to ask me questions that gave me a migraine and that kind of ruined hearing another voice. Deal?”

“You’re a soldier, correct? Earth Government trained you to fight?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to win. Their training wasn’t sufficient.”

“Really? What do you want from me if you win? Notice I said ‘if’. Don’t get too cocky.”

“Silence for five hours.”

“Ouch.”

His hands lifted and his palms opened. She had to admit feeling a little relief at the gesture. She didn’t want to box with the cyborg. A punch from one felt like hitting a wall, from what she remembered. He couldn’t break her bones but he could cause damage to her body. Bruises or split skin hurt.

“Deal?” He almost appeared happy to her.

“Fine. Now I know you’re going to kiss the mat, Too Tall. I can’t shut up for that long.”

“I’ll take it easy on you. It will be considered my win after you’re pinned flat and unable to move.”

Cyan laughed. “You’re so confident. I’ll have to tell you all about my likes and dislikes after I pin you down. I like that in a man though. That bit of info was free.”

He crouched a little, his blue eyes glinted with amusement, and it brought him down more to her level. It was a mistake but she appreciated him trying to even their heights out as much as possible. It told her he was into fair fights and it made her like him more.

“You come at me,” he rasped in that deep, husky tone of his, “when you’re ready to rest on the floor.”

“You ready? I don’t want you whining afterward that I took you by surprise.”

He actually chuckled, a wonderful sound. “I’m prepared to enjoy five hours of non-chatter.”

“I’ll remember you said that and we’ll talk about it.” She suddenly lunged to his left and made him twist his upper body to try to follow her. She threw out an arm, nailing him in the hip.

He stumbled off balance, his crouched position already putting him at a disadvantage, and she pounced. Her fingers gripped his forearm, hot skin registered as she touched him, and she yanked him forward to put him totally off balance but used the hold to propel her at him in the same motion.

Their bodies collided but she had the advantage as they fell. She landed on top of him. He twisted onto his back a split second before he hit the mat and shock widened his eyes when he found her sprawled over his chest. She moved fast, threw a thigh over his hip, straddled him, and used her free hand to slam the palm of it into his diaphragm as she lifted to sit on his hips.

It knocked the air from of his lungs as he hissed out a breath and her hold on his arm slid up to his shoulder. She used all the strength in her arm to pull as she lifted up, grabbed his hip and rolled him while he fought to catch his breath. Her weight collapsed onto his ass when she straddled him again, grabbed for his wrists and yanked them behind his back, twisting them up to the point she knew he’d feel pain but it wouldn’t hurt him too much.

“What is that I hear, Krell? Did you say uncle?”

He gasped in air and his body tensed under hers. She clamped her knees on his h*ps tightly, lifted her feet, hooked them between his partially spread thighs and leaned forward enough to jerk them apart. Muscles strained and she knew she was going to hurt later from pulling a few but she managed to spread his thighs enough to make it harder for him to roll back over.

He snarled, not really a word but it might have been a curse. His head reared back but she jerked hers to the side just in time to avoid him smashing her face with the back of his skull. He tried to roll but with his arms twisted up his back and held in the center of his spine, he couldn’t find any leverage.

“You’re pinned, Too Tall.”

When his body felt as if it turned to stone under her she actually experienced fear. He was stronger and in a lengthy fight, he’d win. She’d had surprise to her advantage and knew she couldn’t hold him down for long.

He took some deep breaths but only turned his head to stare at her over his shoulder. Anger burned in those chilly blue eyes. “I could get free but I’d have to seriously injure you.”

“Don’t be a sore loser.”

She released his wrists and her legs relaxed. She managed to bite back a groan as pain shot up her thigh to her butt. That move would cost her for sure but she’d heal within a few hours from the muscle damage. The guy was really strong. She didn’t move from her seat on his ass but she did straighten.

He suddenly rolled and surprised her. Cyan gasped as her back hit the mat and she ended up pinned under about two hundred sixty pounds of muscular cyborg. He moved fast, jerked her arms above her head to secure her wrists with his hands, and since she’d been sitting on him with her legs spread, his h*ps ended up snugly cradled between her thighs. She swallowed and stared up at him with a little worry. He wasn’t crushing her but enough of his weight rested on top of her that she could barely draw breath.

“How did you do that?”

She stared into his eyes. “You underestimated me. It’s a common mistake. I am short, appear to be totally human, but I’m stronger than they are. Faster.”

His gaze lowered to her mouth and he adjusted his weight to ease some of it off her chest. It did however move his h*ps as he slid a few inches upward. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise. That wasn’t just his h*ps pressed against her. Something hard and thick wedged along the seam of her pants.

“Are you angry?”

He met her gaze again. “I’m surprised and slightly irritated but the latter is directed at myself.”

“I guess it’s okay to point out that I pinned you first and that means I won.”

The chill returned to his eyes. “That would be a fair assessment. What do you want to talk about?”

She hesitated. “Do you always get a hard-on when you fight or should I feel worried that we’re really about to do this for real? I’m not ha**ng s*x with you.”

He suddenly lifted off her, stood, but bent over to offer her a hand up. She hesitated but placed hers inside his. He pulled her to her feet fast enough to give her a head rush and she stumbled. His other hand shot out to grip her hip to steady her. Long fingers curved there and remained. They studied each other.

“I apologize.” His cheeks appeared to darken slightly on his pale, silvery skin. “It was the adrenaline rush.”

“Uh-huh.” She took a step back and he released her. “Okay. I’ll buy that.” Don’t look. Her gaze still shot downward despite her mental order. The outline of his engorged c**k was clear through his pants. “Shit. Size proportioned is right.” Her gaze jerked up to his face and she realized she’d actually said that aloud. “Sorry! Maybe we shouldn’t talk. Where is this room you said I could sleep in?”

He backed away and turned his body to try to hide the fact that the material of his pants was thin and he obviously wasn’t wearing underwear since his c**k strained against the front of them. “It’s down the hall, first door to the left.”

She spun, frantically looked for an escape, and caught a glimpse of the hallway. She didn’t bother retrieving her boots or socks. Her heart hammered as she quickened her pace to put space between them.