“Not a clue,” she growled, ignoring the screens as they blared about the price on her head. “But that’s a fucking fortune. Every bounty hunter on the base will be out looking for me.”
“Yeah… kinda think that’s the point.”
Zero’s face was grim as they reached the corridor on the other side of the hall. She felt the presence of that ticking clock like a sword hanging over her head.
They were both silent as they moved through the corridors. Down here, the “luxury” smooth paneling of the main areas gave way to bare metal. She made sure to roll her feet as she placed them to avoid her boots clanging on the decking. Zero moved just as soundlessly, taking point as she covered the rear.
Suddenly he lifted a hand, his fist bunched. She froze in place, waiting for orders.
“We’ve got company, ahead and to the right,” he murmured, his voice pitched low so it didn’t carry. “Can’t back up. Won’t make it before they’re on us.”
Before he’d finished speaking, he turned and grabbed her around the waist. In a move worthy of a ballroom dancer, he whirled her through a door that appeared in the smooth metal of the wall.
Her eyes widened as she got a glimpse of an automated maintenance closet in the split second before the door closed behind them, plunging them into darkness. How the hell had he even known this was here, never mind managed to get it open? They were only used by cleaning bots, no one else should have access.
“Shit, scans said they were down this corridor…” a voice reached them through the thin metal of the door.
“Fucking tin can. They should’ve shot her when those fucking units were decommissioned. Unstable motherfuckers.”
She winced at the conversation as the men looking for them paused on the other side of the door. Armored units had not been popular. A lot of vets blamed them for being discharged and sent home. She’d never understood why they couldn’t see the mobile units hadn’t taken their jobs but had saved lives. A tank suit was more durable, faster, and just plain harder to kill than a regular soldier. But a lot hadn’t seen it that way and had celebrated when the truth came out that the mobile suits nearly always killed or crippled their operators in the end.
“Must’ve doubled back. Let’s check the next intersection.”
The sound of booted feet running echoed through the door and then silence only punctuated by the sound of their breathing. She looked up, Zero finally coming into view in the dimness of the closet. There was just enough light from the cleaning bots stacked in their charging pods around them for her to see him.
Then she realized she was pressed up close and personal against a solidly muscled, very male body. Even the bits of him that weren’t metal might as well be; he was that solidly built.
“Fuck, what do they feed you? Solid titanium?” she whispered, trying to put some distance between them. However, the smallness of the closet put an end to that. As soon as she moved back, the bots behind her cheeped softly in protest. Her eyes widened. Their proximity alarms would reveal their hiding place to anyone in the corridor beyond.
His arm tightened around her waist, and she realized it was metal as well, not just the hand. But he didn’t hurt her, pulling her in just tightly enough so she nestled against his broad chest. Lifting his other hand, he brushed the hair back from her cheek.
“Something like that… but I have a fondness for strawberries and cream,” he whispered back, his voice a rough rumble in the darkness that sent a shiver along her skin like an auditory caress. “And my mind tells me that’s exactly what you’ll taste like when I kiss you.”
“Really? And who says you’re going to find out whether I do or not?”
Her hands spread out over the top of his chest, fingertips flirting with the line of his collarbones under his shirt. One found the edge where flesh met metal, and she flinched a little, not expecting it. But a few seconds later she replaced her hands. She shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. Everything about him was fascinating. It shouldn’t be. Not when she had a bounty on her head and people out to kill her.
His thumb brushed against her cheek. She felt his smile in the darkness. “You do. Can I kiss you, Eris?”
She hadn’t expected him to ask permission. She’d thought he’d charge in, all alpha male dominance and take what he wanted, so to be asked instead put her on the back foot.
“Yes. Yes, you can,” she found herself answering, holding her breath as he leaned down. His lips brushed hers in the softest kiss, all butterfly exploration, and her hands bunched on the fabric of his t-shirt.
He tilted his head, brushing his tongue against her full lower lip. Heat spiraled through her as she opened automatically for him. A soft growl rumbled up from the center of his chest as he took her invitation, deepening the kiss in a tangle of tongues and a blaze of heat.
She stopped thinking as he plundered her mouth with devastating finesse. All that mattered was him and how he made her feel… all that mattered was he kept kissing her like this. Whimpering, she pressed closer, and his hand slid down from the small of her back. He cradled her ass as she half climbed him like a tree, wrapping her leg around his hip and moaning as she rocked against him, the prominent bulge in his pants pressed right where she needed it.
He broke away on a gasp, lips a hairsbreadth from hers. With a soft moan, he leaned his forehead against hers.
“Much as I am desperate to continue, this is not the time or the place, beautiful. Let’s get out of here, get someplace safe, and then I plan to worship every inch of your body until you pass
