At the moment, Lucy’s reactions were unpredictable and brought consequences he couldn’t fathom. Her human name had collapsed her into having to follow her companion programming again. Her Lucy Hellcat side had been poking around in his head just before the switch. No telling what she’d picked up from that invasion.
No. It was probably better for them both if he left as many of her defaults in place as they could both stand tolerating.
By the time he walked from the monitor room to where he’d left her, a stark naked Lucy was emerging from the bathroom. When she saw him, a welcoming smile instantly lit her face, just like every other time he came into view.
“Greetings Eric 754. According to my latest diagnostics, I am eighty-two point five seven percent recovered. May I service your needs now?”
His heart thudded hard several times over her happy and excited welcome speech. Lucy with a smile on her face was nearly irresistible. His physical reaction to her offers to service him was wearing him down. They had done something to her voice… he was sure of it… not to mention she reeked of a scent he couldn’t ignore.
The sight of her scars from other men who hadn’t turned her down finally gave him the strength to turn his head and lower his gaze. Cyber science was presented at its worst in Lucy’s handcrafted allure. But then he’d also found her sexy as a ragged woman throwing a temper tantrum behind electrified bars. There was just something about her… something he’d never encountered in any other female.
He didn’t need his logical chip to analyze his primary issue with her. Peyton could never have stopped him from going to see her and telling her what he’d found out. He’d been obsessed with the woman smiling at him, long before he’d accidentally activated her companion code.
The version of Lucy walking toward him looked determined to make his fantasies a reality at the first opportunity he gave her. Now he understood the seduction hell the ancient author Homer had been warning mortal men about in his books. His mythical Ulysses had suffered when confronted with the irresistible allure of the legendary sirens. A completely human male would have caved to Lucy’s intentions already—Eric had no doubt.
Digging for more willpower than he normally exercised around a sexy woman, Eric held up a hand and said, “Stop. Don’t come any closer.”
Lucy’s frown and glare of displeasure acted like a bucket of ice water being thrown in his face. Which was good because he damn well needed to cool down.
“Do not approach me until you are one hundred percent functional,” he ordered, saying the first stupid thing that popped into his head. “To ensure your recovery, I have sent for a cyber scientist to check your programming. She will arrive tomorrow. I will not require you to service my needs until after you have been checked.”
At her puzzled look, Eric lifted an agitated hand and ran it through his hair. It was a frustrated human mannerism he’d never felt the need for previously, but it was useful today because it kept his hands from reaching out to her.
“Get dressed, Lucy. We’ll see if we can find some food and then an activity to pass the time while you are healing. Consider all these things my orders.”
“Very well, but companion protocol requires me to inform you that you can place me in a hibernation state to conserve my energy consumption. No need for further activity is necessary. I exist only to service you. It is my primary directive.”
The dulcet, musical tones used to deliver her response couldn’t quite hide the dread hidden in her hesitantly offered words. Lucy was scared of the hibernation state, but so was he. He was scared of evoking any other changes in her.
“I don’t know how to make you hibernate and wouldn’t even if I did. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen between us. Now get dressed for both our sakes. I’ll return for you in a few minutes. If you can dial down your pheromones, do so.”
“Forgive me, Eric 754. I have no programming to comply with restricting my hormonal output. I regret that I do not have access to the source of your displeasure with me.”
“Okay. Just get dressed then. Be as conservative in your clothing choices as possible.”
“You truly wish me to cover myself as much as possible?”
“Yes—as much as possible. Try to cover as much skin as was covered by the clothes you were wearing in the cell. This is how you can best service my needs today.”
Silence fell between them. She appeared to be considering whether he had spoken the truth or not. He would bet all his credits that it was the first time any male had made such a request to her.
“Very well. It fulfills my every wish to please you.”
“Thank you, Lucy.” Eric turned on his heels and ran like hell from the relief he’d seen in her gaze.
For the first time, he was wishing he had some of Marcus’s iron self-control with women. Marcus had seen Rachel every day for more than nine months and never touched her at all. It was Rachel who’d eventually erased the physical distance between them. He had waited for her to make the move.
Lucy’s vulnerability threatened his resolve to keep her out of his arms more than her raging pheromones did. He was glad Kyra was coming tomorrow. He didn’t think he could last much longer than that.
Now he hoped Lucy complied with his clothing request because he didn’t want to have to use another dose of the heavy duty sedative stowed away in his pocket.
Chapter 5
Eric had to look away when he first saw the outfit Lucy had chosen. His inclination was to laugh, but who knew what kind of response that might provoke.
Apparently Rachel’s slim young hips hadn’t left behind a skirt or slacks that Lucy could squeeze her more rounded figure into. She looked as strange in her current outfit as Marcus had in dress clothes.
At some point she had managed to sanitize the clothing she’d worn while in her cell. He saw now she’d opted to put on her old slacks and pair them with what probably would have been a dress on someone Rachel’s size. Only the bare tops of Lucy’s more ample breasts peeked through the large circular opening located just above them.
As he had requested, the clothing covered almost all of her, but it didn’t help him deal with his torment as much as he’d hoped. His mind kept presenting memories of a naked Lucy that he’d evidently stored away involuntarily. If they were stored in his human recall, there would be no removing them or how they had made him feel. Every cyborg he knew had learned that the hard way. And he was hard now remembering the body that was under those ugly clothes.
Like before, Lucy smiled in welcome when he appeared in her line of sight, but she couldn’t quite hide all her nervousness. Plus, her alluring scent was mixed now with adrenaline, a telltale sign of fear and agitation. She had no reason to be concerned, but she couldn’t help her programming forcing her to be.
Eric was someone who preferred comfort over what was fashionable, though he tended to pick clothing that served both purposes well. After choosing clothing he liked, he never thought much about what he looked like to others when he wore them. He drew his fair share of interested women when he had a mind to do so. Clothing on a man or woman was just brightly colored feathers on a bird, wasn’t it?
Really… what else did any human have to be concerned about? Not much, he decided, letting his gaze sweep from her still wildly messed up hair down to her canvas covered feet and back up to her now mostly hidden breasts. She looked like a ragged version of Lucy Hellcat playing dress-up. He let his mouth quirk at the thought, but didn’t laugh. He didn’t want to have to explain to Lucy why he found her amusing.
“Is this clothing acceptable?” she asked hesitantly.
Eric nodded. “Yes. It is perfectly acceptable. Thank you for complying.”
“Do you still desire me… even dressed this way?”
One eyebrow arched as Eric considered why she would be asking such a question. Not that all women weren’t a little insecure about their appeal, but Lucy certainly wouldn’t understand that she still looked like her hellcat counterpart. That left only the fact that Lucy needed the validation for programming purposes. Eric grinned, happy to reply.
“Yes. I still desire you,” he admitted, the truth swelling his throat shut. He wasn’t even having to fake it. He really did want to strip those ugly things off her and take advantage of every offer she’d ever made to him. “But my desires must wait until you are completely functional. Your welfare is my primary concern.”
Lucy looked as uncomfortable with the declaration as she did in her clothes, but Eric swiveled to the door and motioned to her.
“Come on. Let’s go get food. I used to raid their kitchen area when I was here before. They keep a fully stocked pantry of un-perishables and have just about every kind of beer you could want. I think the alcohol was because we kept rescuing so many male cyborgs. Beer makes all men feel better. Hell, I don’t know. Maybe scientists like beer too. All I can say is the food is not the greatest, but it’s no worse than the military MREs we had to eat during the war.”
Lucy turned a blank gaze to him. “Was the war bad?”
Eric nodded. Apparently this version of her didn’t know she had been a soldier. “Yes. I was a Marine. Like all other Cyber Soldiers, I was involuntarily retired after the war. What is your background?”
His query was met with a long silence. Finally, Lucy drew in a breath.
“I cannot speak of my origins. Retrieval from long term memory storage is one of many malfunctions I have which need repairing. Occasionally I have leaks where information pours into current storage without having been summoned, but I cannot control those occurrences. I regret I cannot respond to your query in the friendly manner you asked the question. I regret my malfunction prevents me from being the pleasant conversationalist you deserve to converse with as your companion.”
“It’s okay. It’s not important. No one likes talking about the war,” Eric said, smiling to chase the doubts from her gaze. And he already knew the essentials. “You’re being the perfect companion. I only require you to try to answer my queries. I will not be angry when you cannot do so.”
He frowned when she dropped her head again. “What? Don’t lower your gaze, Lucy. State your query.” Then he got an idea. “You should probably know that the reason I keep correcting you is that I chose you specifically for your more assertive qualities. So I wish you to always answer me as if you are my equal in every way. I promise you… this is the only way you can be a true companion to me. There will never be any retribution.”
Lucy nodded, but also frowned. “My other contracts chose me because I rapidly heal and I am able to flush my memory storage. This means I approach every pleasure encounter with no lingering trauma from what happened during previous ones. Creator Omega worked diligently on me in order to create someone who would not be harmed in any way by fulfilling the demands of lust.”
“Is that right?” Eric asked, biting back the fit he wanted to throw. “Well, you belong to me now and I say you need to get in touch with your Lucy Hellcat side a little. She might have a different opinion about such things.”
“Are you referring to my Other? Or is Lucy Hellcat your endearment for me?”
Eric snorted. “Maybe it is an endearment,” he said, selecting the first two meals on the pantry shelf that didn’t look completely revolting.
He also pulled a six pack of beer with the lowest alcohol content and no residual side effects outside a mild buzz. He needed his wits, but he also needed a little anesthetizing too. His constant arousal without sufficient release was making him cranky. Every revelation Lucy made was making him want to go beat the shit out of Bradley Smith. And he would have stalked and deliberately killed Jackson Channing if Lucy hadn’t already done the job.
“Explain what you mean by your
Other
,” he demanded. His guess was that Lucy had personified her logic chip failure and the breakthrough of her real self emerging in the midst of her failing companion programming.
Not answering him, Lucy took the meals from his hands and exited the pantry ahead of him. He followed, carrying the beer, his gaze glued to her rigid shoulders. She walked to the nearest reconstitution oven sitting on a counter.
Her gaze was fixed on the wall, but she continued her task, barely looking down at what she was doing. Obviously on autopilot now, from all the times she’d eaten them in the military he’d bet, Eric watched as Lucy blindly went through the preparation process of adding liquid.
She moved to a second oven and rapidly repeated the steps on the second meal. Then setting the timers on both, she walked to join him at the table where he’d seated himself to watch her.
“I think my Other is some kind of advanced program running inside me which comes to my aide when I do not know what to do. Like now for instance, my Other knew exactly how to prepare the dehydrated food and simply gave the information to my processor in one rush of content. I cannot communicate with her, but I know she is always in communication with me. How it works is a mystery of my existence.”
Eric snorted at her theory. It sounded a lot like how his dual processors worked, except his were nearly always in sync. It had taken him several years of guiding his logic chips to perfect the process.