“I offered to be the designated driver, remember?” the robot countered.
“No need,” she replied. “I didn’t have any mind-altering substances.”Unless you count two massive orgasms, she thought but didn’t bother to share.
The fox-shaped robot moved over to the passenger seat, allowing Dawn to take her place at the console. She set coordinates away from Venus and watched the street as the craft began to slowly rise.
Below them, the massive male from the club wandered the streets, his face searching for the one that got away. Then his eyes found her vessel and she inhaled heavily before she remembered the tinted shielding on the ship would hide her from his gaze.
His eyes. She strained to confirm through the distance.The irises seem to be glowing red.How is that possible?
In the club, his eyes had been dark. Now in the light of the dome overhead, they were definitely emitting a red glow.
Then the ship was making its way through the dome entrance and shuttling back out into the wicked Venusian atmosphere. A few moments later, they were in the depths of space, heading back toward the asteroid belt and home.
Dawn took a moment to consider why she’d fled. The woman interrupting them had seemed a good excuse. Dawn had allowed herself to assume he’d already made a date with the other female and that her time with the golden god was up. But if she was honest with herself, she knew it wasn’t jealousy or rivalry that had made her flee.
It was fear, plain and simple.
The sex had been phenomenal, and it had only just started. Dawn couldn’t imagine the delights he’d had in store for her. Even now, she wanted to turn around, to go back to the Double V, and surrender to every little nefarious thing Z could do to her body. But it wasn’t a good idea.
It would have been easier to have meaningless sex with someone like Andwad. Someone with whom she could not see herself wanting anything more than a quick coupling and a discrete parting. But Z was like no other. Incomparable. Irreplaceable. Irresistible.
And therefore, having sex with him was completely inadvisable. Irrational.
Insane.
If she’d let him have his wicked way with her, bringing her to even greater heights, how much worse would it be when the night ended and he showed her out, only to take up with another club member after? It would hurt her pride, shatter her confidence. It was too much emotion for her. Dawn wasn’t used to expressing her softer emotions, and knowing that this male had cut through to the deepest part of her without even trying proved what he was.
Too dangerous.
“What say we take the day off tomorrow?” Ladee’s forced cheer broke the silence, causing Dawn to start. “We could make popcorn and poke fun at the op-ed pieces in the New Territh Times.”
She caught the fox staring at her hands. They were shaking on the stick. Dawn took a deep breath and gave the fox a smile. “Sorry. I’ve got to work tomorrow.”
Ladee sighed. “A few hours at a sex club do not a vacation make.”
“I’m afraid they’ll have to,” she replied. “With Brian’s betrayal, I have no readily apparent line of funding. I have to find something to sell to replace that lost patent.”Goddamn Brian. It’s sad that the hardest time you fucked me was when you signed with the Hills.
“What about investors? I know I’ve brought the idea up before.”
“Ladee…”
“Just a small infusion of capital with the promise of minimal future returns—”
“I have no idea what the application of the tech I’m working on now might be. And you know I can’t risk it being sold to someone who will misuse it.”
The fox folded his arm. “An investor, carefully vetted, does not have to be an enemy. It can be a partner. I’ve sent out a few feelers, just to test the waters, and—”
“Youwhat?” Dawn gripped the stick until her knuckles turned white. “How dare you? It’s not your place to hunt up investors. Investors I don’t want. Ladee, you know how important this is to me.”
“I also know that you’re working too hard, trying to do everything on your own. You’re a genius—no one would dispute that—but even a genius needs someone to help pay the bills. Keep the lights on. Make sure you take a vacation every now and again.”
“This is bullshit, Ladee. I won’t be railroaded by anyone, least of all you.”
The fox let out a sigh, relaxing back into his seat. “You’re close to burning out, Dawn. Hide it from yourself if you want to, but I know the truth. This next project, it’s more involved than anything you’ve ever tried before. The idea of you tackling it alone is ludicrous.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, bot,” she grumbled, piloting the craft toward the small hangar attached to her lab. “But I can take care of myself.”
“This ‘you against the world’ attitude is unsustainable. You’re only hurting yourself.”
