Page 15 of True As Steel

“I will tell you to suck it up or find a different spot to sleep,” I deadpanned while stripping out of my pants. “Why should I suffer all night because you might have some prudish reservations?”

Tamryn scrunched her face, looking totally unimpressed.

“You aren’t much of a gentleman, are you?” she asked, although it was more of a statement.

I chuckled. “That, I’m definitely not,” I replied matter-of-factly while hanging my pants on the backrest of one of the chairs around the table. “I’m practical and rational. Frankly, I’m surprised you took this long to finally seek some comfort for yourself. There was absolutely no reason for you to suffer from the heat this whole time when you could have simply removed a few layers. You may be a beautiful woman, but I am a Cyborg. Icankeep my hands to myself.”

She stared at me for a moment, looking dumbfounded. Then muttering something under her breath, she proceeded to peel off her clothes while I moved a free chair next to the couch and set the snitch’s display device on top. I then lay down on the couch.

Yes, I could keep my hands to myself, but my eyes had different ideas. Tamryn truly was a beautiful woman. Being a little too muscular, she would not qualify as a model, but she certainly had the height, the incredible legs, the slender body with narrow waist that flared in the most sensual way at the hips, and the firm, round breasts, just the perfect size to fit in the palm of a man. The white sports bra and boy shorts she wore as underwear contrasted nicely with her sun-kissed skin.

I barely repressed a smile at the slight blush reddening her cheeks while she hung her own clothes on the backrest of the chair next to mine. She climbed on top of me and, this time, I couldn’t help the shudder of pleasure that coursed through me. Tamryn stilled and cast a worried look at my face. Despite the inferno that had awakened inside of me, I stared back at her stoically, my face devoid of any expression. That appeared to reassure her as she finished settling on top of me. Forcing myself to control my breathing, I closed my eyes and savored the burning feel of her naked skin against mine.

Chapter 6

Tamryn

This had been a terrible idea. And yet, the room was too hot to remain dressed. I had wondered about what Jarog looked like under his clothes, but fuck me, he exceeded even my wildest fantasies. The man had the body of a god. It was taking every bit of my willpower to keep myself from running my hands over him and rubbing my face against his chest. It wasn’t like me to be this horny over some dude with a hot body that I didn’t really know. Considering his past, I should be even more wary of him. And yet, all I could think was how much I wanted to ride him.

Feeling his half-erect shaft beneath me did nothing to douse my arousal. For a split second, I actually wondered ‘why the heck not?’ Despite his best effort, I hadn’t missed him checking me out when I was undressing. We were both unattached, on the run, in the middle of a hostile territory, and clearly attracted to each other. Why not enjoy what little pleasures life still had to offer us?

But I silenced the voice of temptation and rested my head on his muscular chest. Damn, only our second night like this, and I was already addicted. I hadn’t gotten laid in too long. Once things got sorted out with Haelin—hopefully in a positive fashion—I’d see about scratching that itch. However, thinking about my Narengi contact acted as the most effective method to flip off my lust switch. Jarog’s questions had been beyond valid. I still had some reservations about his trustworthiness, but I couldn’t bear the thought that Haelin would want to screw him over. Worse still, I couldn’t bear the thought that she might reveal he had fooled me this whole time.

Sleep eluded me for a while. I couldn’t say which distracted me the most: my troubling thoughts, the divine feel of his hard body beneath me, or his fresh scent in my nose. Eventually, I escaped into Lalaland.

Although it felt like only minutes had gone by since I’d fallen asleep, I woke up feeling refreshed, daylight flooding in through the breakroom’s windows. Jarog’s arm around me felt wonderful. I’d awakened to a similar situation yesterday morning. I enjoyed far too much the possessiveness of it, even though I didn’t doubt he’d done it unconsciously. I lifted my head to look at him. To my surprise, he was awake but staring at the ceiling with an air of deep concentration. His eyes moved as if he was looking at something. Then, I noticed his right hand resting on top of the snitch’s display, which Jarog had placed on a chair near us last night.

It struck me then that he was interfacing with the device. The Cyborgs could wirelessly connect with pretty much any electronic device as long as they made physical contact with it, usually through their palm. I imagined Jarog was scouting the road ahead for potential trouble. That only reinforced the sense of safety I felt around him. That man was always on top of things.

His thumb gently caressing my back startled me.

“Good morning, Tamryn,” Jarog said, almost in a whisper, his voice deep.

Despite acknowledging me, his gaze was still locked on the ceiling as he continued whatever task he was performing.

“I will be with you shortly,” he said, his speech a little slower than usual, no doubt due to him multitasking.

“Take your time,” I said in a gentle voice. “I’ll start preparing breakfast.”

He smiled but didn’t otherwise respond. With much reluctance, I got off him. His arm around me slipped off in a caress that made me shiver. Damn, you’d think after a good night’s sleep, I wouldn’t still be such a horn ball. I focused on getting breakfast ready to rein in my wandering thoughts. The replicator didn’t have morning meals, but I didn’t mind. In truth, a solid meal this morning would benefit us more in the end.

As I was laying the plates down on the table, it struck me that I was still in my undies. I reached for my pants at the same time Jarog started rising from the couch. The amused—not to say teasing—expression on his face as he watched me put my pants on should have irritated me. But it softened his usually stern expression in a way that was quite seductive. To my relief, although he didn’t put his shirt on, he donned his pants before taking a seat at the table.

“I was planning on us leaving a little later today so that we could reach Satos at nightfall, but there’s a lot of activity along the straightest path I’d intended for us to take,” Jarog explained. “Therefore, we’re going to make a detour, which means we have to leave earlier.”

“Any clue who they are?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to get too close to them for fear they might detect the snitch,” he replied. “But they appear to be members of the Ferein Cartel, and they are carrying an escape pod.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I stared at Jarog, eyes wide, while waiting for him to elaborate.

“It definitely came from our transport ship, and it isn’t the one we landed in,” he said, his brows creasing. “The pod was closed, and despite zooming as much as I could with the snitch, it was impossible to see who—if anyone—was inside it.”

The crazy thought that it could be my brother or my uncle kept spinning in my mind. It was beyond unlikely, and yet…

“I know what you’re thinking,” Jarog said, his gaze boring into mine. “They have too big an escort surrounding it. We would never be able to recover it without getting captured ourselves. Based on their current trajectory, I believe they are taking it to the Ferein Cartel’s HQ before they will claim the bounty on whoever they caught.”

I pursed my lips but gave him a sharp nod.

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