Taken by the Cyborg (Galactic Pirate Brides Book 4) by Tamsin Ley (best ereader under 100 TXT) 📕

He had already been monitoring the camera feed inside the lift, waiting for it to be empty. It whooshed past the service tunnel opening, coming to a stop on the floor below them. “I’ve summoned the lift.” He guided Attie forward onto the cab’s ceiling and popped open the ceiling panel. “From here, simply take your usual route back to your quarters.”

He lowered her inside, but she remained looking up at him expectantly. “Aren’t you coming?”

He shook his head. “I can’t pass for human out there.”

“Sure you can. Turn off your eye and tuck that hand in your pocket.” She pointed to his cybernetic appendage. “No one will give you a second glance.”

He blinked. He had intended to stay in the service tunnel until the next guard shift. Hours of waiting, every second potentially his last. He looked at the long sleeve of his tunic and the cybernetic hand. Plenty of people had an implant or appendage but weren’t considered cyborgs. Could he truly pass for human?

He looked at Attie again. She nodded and held up her hand. Her encouragement melted the last of his resistance.

Turning off his cybernetic vision, he lowered himself into the cab next to her. The world looked flat using only his single human eye, and it made him uncomfortable, but he reminded himself it was only for a short while. A reminder of what it was like to be normal.

“Level six,” Attie said, and the car began to move.

To minimize potential contact with the ship’s crew, Doug commanded the car to bypass the other levels.

Staring at the door as if it was a gateway to hell, he took Attie’s hand. “If I suddenly drop dead, run as fast as you can and don’t look back.”

She looked at him with a horrified expression. “Why would you drop dead?”

“If anyone realizes I’m gone, they’ll destroy the nanites in my body. I’ll burn up from the inside out. I don’t want you anywhere near me when they track me down.”

She made a choking sound. “That’s why you can’t leave?”

“One reason, yes.”

“But you seem able to control everything else. Isn’t there a way for you to stop him?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ve tried to hack the device, but the codes are too tightly integrated. Any alterations would trigger an immediate self-destruct.”

The doors opened, and Attie guided him blithely past two crew members busy in conversation. The precariousness of their situation made his heart beat faster. Or perhaps it was due to her soft hand in his as they sauntered down the hall together as if they were lovers. Venturing into the Icarus’s main hallways had to be the single most idiotic thing he’d ever done, including that time he’d tried to pickpocket a rakwiji bounty hunter in a bar. There must be something wrong with my circuits.

The corridors weren’t wide, but they provided more space than he’d had in a very long time. Every turn they made, every door they passed made Doug pull Attie tighter against him. By the time they reached her quarters, he had his arm around her shoulders and his chin touching her hair.

She opened her door and ushered him inside, letting the door shush closed behind them.

For a long moment they just stood there, breathing hard as they stared at her empty room. He’d seen her quarters plenty of times on camera, but standing here in person made him feel funny inside, as if he’d just brought her home from a date rather than helped her escape from a secret, maximum security lab.

The air smelled of everything Attie, and the warmth of her body against his side made his groin harden. She turned toward him and let out a long, relieved sigh, her gaze like gravitons pulling him in. This was the last time he would ever be near her. The last time he experienced the smell of her hair, the softness of her lips, the fathomless blue of her eyes.

He wanted to memorize everything about her. So even though he knew they were running out of time, knew he risked undoing the precarious trust he’d built—he lowered his head and kissed her.

Chapter 13

Attie hadn’t let go of Doug’s arm when they stepped inside her quarters. He needs grounding, she told herself. But she couldn’t deny there was a part of her that wanted to keep touching him, too. Everything she’d believed—about her sister, Syndicorp, her own life, even—had shattered since yesterday. And now Doug could be killed at any minute. All in order to keep her safe. He was putting everything on the line to protect her.

The first kiss both startled and thrilled her. Where their previous kisses had been a frantic, bruising collision of mouths, this time his lips were feather light. He dipped his head toward her mouth again, and her insides trembled. She slid her arms around his hips.

There wasn’t time for this, but she wanted it. Wanted him.

He turned into her, cupping her face with both hands as he lavished her with his kiss, tongue prodding her to open. She rose on her toes to meet him, heat flooding through her. Dragging his cybernetic fingertips down her ribs to her hip, he pulled her against him with a deep sexy sound in his throat. She could feel how hard and ready he was through their clothing.

Leaving her mouth, he pressed kisses along her jaw and down her throat. His touch was like a spark hitting rocket fuel, igniting shivers along her skin. Her pussy grew slick as his human hand roamed down her bare midriff, then up beneath her skimpy top. He gripped her breast, fingers massaging her flesh until her nipple ached. Between her shoulder blades, his cybernetic hand bunched the fabric of her shirt. The sound of tearing fabric met her ears, and the top opened down her back. She let the fabric slide free of her arms as he backed them both toward her bed.

He