“I mean. I don’t want you to leave. Ever.” She shifted her eyes from him prettily then flounced back on her enormous bed. He leaned over her, pressing his hands to either side of her head to scrutinize her face. A blush slowly rose from her chest to bloom on her cheeks. “I’m utterly ridiculous.”
“I can’t leave.”
She finally met his gaze, and he moved his knee to her other side, preparing to pin her anew.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“My ship’s broken. I’m stuck here indefinitely, at least until I can find someone to give me an interstellar ride, or has the right parts to fix it.”
“You’re kidding me?” She tried to sit up. “You better be kidding.”
“Not at all. I’m stranded until further notice. The parts are strewn all over the estate. It could take weeks to find all of them.” He pushed her back down.
“How dare you!” She shot back up. And he pushed her back down. “How fucking dare you?”
“Cursing now, heiress?” Moss couldn’t keep the grin off his face any longer.
“You lied to me.”Could her eyes flare any more beautifully?
“You are a bear!” She pushed at his chest, and his cock jumped. “Let me free!” She tried to wiggle her way out from under his arm. Moss scooped her up, bursting with laughter as he placed her back on the bed.
“Never.” He leaned in to rub his nose against hers. “I mean, why else would I break my own ship? That goes against every code in my mainframe. It goes againstCyborgcode.”
Lucy stopped fighting him. “Ugh. You’re the worst.”
He kissed her softly on the lips. “Or the best damned man ever spliced with the most invincible creature to ever come from planet Earth.” Moss punctuated each word with another whispery kiss.
When she began to kiss him back, he knew he’d won.
“I’ll get you back for this,” she threatened.
Music to my ears.
“I can’t wait.”
Epilogue
Three months later.
Moss paced Larkswest’s armory back and forth, tugging and running his fingers through his hair simultaneously. There was a crowd of people outside, far more than any Cyborg was meant to deal with on a normal basis. This many people reminded him of the war. This was worse than war.
This was a fucking first for his kind. At least, publically, it was a first.
The armory door shot open and Nightheart strode through. It took less than a microsecond for his old boss to profile him. “You’re a wreck. This life isn’t for you. You should come back to the EPED.” It was everything Moss didn’t want to hear.
“This estate has a bitch of an AI running it. I could have it stamp you out of existence before your next breath.” Moss no longer sided with the house. Lucy’s frustrations had become his own.
Nightheart shrugged and straightened his suit sleeve. “Perhaps, but not without casualties.” The man sighed. “I don’t want you back anyway.”
“Yeah, I heard you already replaced me. Thanks for not waiting a week. I feel so expendable. How’s the new recruit?”
“Dommik is exactly how you’d expect him to be.”
Moss’s lip twitched. “Can’t have enough small, gross creatures in your group can you?”
“What can I say? The majestic beasts from the shifter project all died in the war.” Nightheart smiled. “Only us ugly sons of bitches are left.”
“Too bad,” Moss muttered.
