Cypher growled and cut him off. He stood and went to Vee. Her neck strained up to keep their eyes locked as he neared.
“We’re in eighth place,” she whispered.
He pushed back a strand of her hair. “You checked?”
“I needed to know what happened…on the outside. What everyone saw, if they saw what I did… If it really happened. They didn’t.”
“I know.”
She nodded. “I’m glad.”
“You are?”
Vee wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “What happened… It hurt seeing you like that—dead. I know you said you weren’t. I don’t know. It feels personal what happened, and I’m glad it wasn’t seen by everyone, played back on every channel, made into something that it wasn’t—orisn’t—to make me hurt any worse. D-does that make sense?”
His mouth twitched. “Yeah.”
“Good. Can we go to bed now?”
Cypher dropped his hand from her hair. “Sure.”
Vee lowered her head like his response made her sad.
He took her hand, raised it to his mouth, and kissed the back of it. “Let’s go to bed.”
He pulled her after him as he led them to the captain’s quarters. Afterward, she went to the bathroom, and he heard the water turn on. She left the door open. Cypher stalked to the threshold, stopping before he entered.
Steam filled the room, and he eyed the outline of Vee’s body within the cleaning stall. It’d been days since he’d last rutted her, and his cock jerked to life. Days of torture. Days of guilt and confusion and endless wanting.
Days of knowing that this would all soon come to an end.
It would be easier to break the ties of their relationship, he’d thought. Easier when she won the championship and pursued the life she’d always sought, easier for him to leave and never return. It wasn’t in him to follow her even if he could, and he’d considered it.Reallyconsidered it. He wanted her that badly. Sex or no, she was the first true companion he ever had.
But Cyborgs were meant to lead, not follow. His codes quaked at the idea of pursuing a life that wasn’t his, even if it was Vee’s. As a man, he didn’t mind…but as a machine, even an animal, the idea made him restless—made his systems shy away.
On the other hand, the championship was dead in the water, and her life was now in flux. Though his was staked down in cement and unchangeable at this point.
The water stopped, and the blowers blasted on a second later.
Vee opened the stall. She stopped short and stared at him.
Clean and perfect, smelling like him and his ship, her hair windblown around her face, his mouth watered. His body heated.
His eyes flashed with emotion as he took her in, small, delicate, and perfect in her sweet nakedness.And mine, all mine.His hands clenched at his sides. He wished—he wished she was his.
A dangerous thought took over his head.
She can be.
Vee curled an arm around her chest and reached for a towel to cover herself. His eyes darkened at the movement.
“Don’t,” he ordered.
She stopped.
“Come here.”
She cocked her head, swallowed, and came to him. His bear shook with delight, the metal in his cock vibrating. It bulged and strained against his gamer suit.
