Serena watched him, her hands flexing.
“Did you know him?” he asked softly.
“I’m afraid not. As far out as he was when you found him, he’s probably one of the traveling rangers.” She sighed. “GenCon has a lot to answer for—I have a lot to answer for.”
“Why were you working for them?” The question burst out before he could restrain it.
The sadness left her expression, her face turning into a cool mask. “I had my reasons.”
The distance she was trying to put between them frustrated him, but he was a patient man. He could wait until she realized that she had no reason to hide her secrets from him.
“Come and meet Winston,” he suggested.
A flash of the eagerness he had seen before danced across her face. He escorted her over to the horse. Winston was still standing in the same position, watching them.
“Winston, this is Serena. We’re going to take her across the desert.” He turned back to her, glad to see that she didn’t look disgusted because he was talking to a mechanical animal. “Serena, this is Winston. He’s already proven to be both brave and resourceful, and I know he will get us where we need to go.”
“He’s even more beautiful up close,” she murmured, extending her hand. “May I touch you?”
She was asking the horse, not him, and for a moment there was no response. He saw the disappointment on Serena’s face before she could compose her expression, but even as she began to turn back to him, Winston pushed his head under her outstretched hand. She gave a delighted laugh and stroked the smooth, dark metal skin. The horse pressed closer, and J-100 couldn’t blame him. He wanted those long, pale fingers caressing his skin as well. His cock began to harden at the thought, and he did his best to suppress it as he went to retrieve their supplies.
Once all of the equipment was arranged, he lifted Serena onto Winston’s back. His hands practically spanned her slender waist, and he had to force himself to let go of her. But then he sprang up behind her and she naturally settled back against him. The soft warmth of her body sent a heated wave of desire through him, and he realized that he had no hope of controlling his unruly body. She didn’t seem to notice his erection pressing against the soft curves of her buttocks, and he did his best to ignore it as well. But as Winston started forward, each step the horse took caused her body to shift against his and he suppressed a groan.
This trip was going to test him more than anything that had happened to him since becoming a cyborg.
Chapter Nine
Serena felt an unexpected sense of excitement as they headed out into the desert. She rarely left the city, and when she did, she was in a rover and surrounded by other people. This was a much more intimate experience. Winston’s metal body moving beneath her, the warmth of John’s body at her back, and the stark reality of the desert were all new to her.
The frigid Martian wind brushed against her cheeks, but it didn’t bother her. Instead, she felt surrounded by warmth.
“How long is this going to take?” In her excitement about the possibilities revealed by the lab, she hadn’t paid much attention to the distance from the town to the lab.
“At least two days, possibly three. I’m not familiar with that area and I’m not sure what the conditions are like.”
Hmm. At least two days with the big cyborg who already felt uncomfortably familiar. It’s just been a long time, she reminded herself. The abortive relationship she’d had on the way to Mars had been swiftly terminated once she realized that the man was even more of a bastard than she had expected. He had planned to use his daughter Kami as a tool to advance his career. Fortunately, the child was now safe with her mother and the Judge.
Serena would never let anything happen to Kami. Even when she realized that Kami had successfully acquired nanites, she had suppressed the information from GenCon. She would never condone experiments on children, no matter how much she longed for a positive result.
But now she was here with this very large and very attractive man. What could it hurt to have a little fun with him? She’d never had a relationship with one of her bodyguards before, but it wasn’t exactly as if he was working for her. He had volunteered, after all. There was no question that he was equally attracted to her—she could feel the hard length of his erection against her buttocks. The fact that he made no attempt to try anything else only increased her certainty that he could be a good temporary partner.
A tiny portion of her brain tried to argue that she already had more than a physical attraction to him but she resolutely pushed it aside. That lesson had been burned into her brain long ago on that rainy night. She would never give another man the chance to hurt her emotionally.
They had been riding while she thought, and she twisted around to see how far they had come. New Acadia was no longer in sight and only the endless Martian desert and the jagged mountains surrounded them. It was a little unnerving but it was also freeing. She didn’t have to be Serena Gatling, Managing Director of GenCon Martian Operations. She could just be herself—if she even remembered that self.
“You said you’re not familiar with this section?” she asked. “Where are you located?”
“I have a mining claim in one of the mountain ranges northeast of the city.” He shrugged, and the movement of that big muscled chest behind her caused a pleasant flutter low in her stomach. She forced herself to concentrate on his words instead as he continued. “It’s
