Programmed To Please (The Tau Cetus Chronicles) (7 page)

Back out, then in again.

“Shit…
I won’t last, J. It’s too good.”

Jai clutched at the bed sheet. Through her fog of discomfort, her brain registered two things. One: he thought sex with her was
perfect
. Two – and much more important – he’d just called her J. Whether he realized it or not, Marque Callex had crossed a line.

This was personal now.

Jai struggled to catch her breath as Marque thrust again. “I’m a virgin model, Marque,” she tried to purr. “Made just for you.”

Marque’s movement abruptly halted. Despite the temporary physical relief, Jai frowned. What was wrong? She’d been trying to play to his ego.

But instead of being flattered, Marque let out what sounded like an angry growl. He started moving again, faster this time. Harder. As if he wanted to punish her for some reason. Jai locked her jaw against a cry of pain as Marque’s fingers dug into her hips to hold her in place for his thrusts.

She wasn’t going to be able to take this much longer. Between his ruthless fingers and his brutal thrusts, Jai was nearing her threshold level of pain, despite the lubrication. She could already feel tears forming in her eyes.

Veraine…what had Titus Veraine told her about anal sex?
Think, Jai!

Once he’s inside you and moving, clench your muscles for a tighter fit. It’s guaranteed to drive him over the edge. 

Despite the added discomfort, Jai squeezed desperately.

“Ahh…ahh…ahh.  Fuck!”
Marque let out a rough shout as he came, grinding against her as he emptied himself inside her.

Jai sent up a prayer of thanks that this was over. There was a long moment of silence while Marque gasped desperately for breath, then finally pulled out of her. The pain of his exit was worse than the discomfort of his entry, and Jai collapsed onto the mattress, burying her mouth in the sheet to muffle a low moan. She couldn’t help it. She felt used, abused, and now discarded. And she probably wasn’t going to be able to sit for a week.

Marque hesitated, and then sat at the edge of the bed next to her, resting a hand on her back. “What’s the matter?”

Jai didn’t trust herself to speak. Besides, there were still unshed tears in her eyes. Thank goodness her face was turned away from him.

“Look, I’m sorry I was brutal. I’m not mad at you. I’m actually mad at
me.”
He made a strangled sound, followed by a disgusted one. “
Unbelievable!
I’m doing it again.”

Jai turned her head. “Doing what?”

Marque took one look at her face, and inhaled sharply. “
Damn it.
I said I was sorry.”

He stood up, thrust a hand through his hair, and turned away quickly. “Listen to me – I’m apologizing to a robot,” he murmured furiously, obviously to himself. “You’re a
machine.
You can’t feel a damn thing.
I’m a fucking idiot for thinking I might have hurt you.”

He bent to pick his clothes up off the floor and yanked them on roughly.

Jai couldn’t let him leave like this. He was mad. Very mad. In his current mood, he might never return. “Marque?”

He paused in his dressing. “What?”

“Come back tomorrow, Marque.
Please.”

He scowled at her, finished dressing, and left without a word.

Chapter Four

She was driving him crazy.

Marque had made damn sure to attend the production meeting today, but sitting at the polished mahogany conference room table with the heads of his various departments, he couldn’t concentrate on a single word they were saying. He couldn’t seem to focus on anything except J.

Yes. She was definitely driving him crazy.

He’d gone back to Beautiful Dolls yesterday with the express intention of proving to himself that J was no more than a machine. Merely a vessel to satisfy his sexual needs. In fact, his two choices of sexual positions had been designed specifically so that he didn’t have to look her in the face.

But no sooner had he told her to strip, than the sight of her naked body had captivated him once again, intriguing him with her oh-so-human reactions to his touch.

He’d recovered from that little detour in his plan quickly enough to force her to her knees to service him, but she’d done it with such amazing skill that he’d been dying to find out exactly what kind of suction device could drive a man so out of his mind.

Because she had. Driven him completely and utterly out of his mind.

He’d felt trapped in her mouth while she’d sucked him hard, writhing with a pleasure so intense that his body had literally shook with it. And when she’d fingered him behind his balls… holy hell, he’d come quicker than any teenager.

He’d never felt anything that incredible in his life. The technique should be patented. Shit, even now the memory of it sent a violent shiver of pleasure through his body.

 “Marque? Are you all right?”

“What?” With a frown, his focus came back to the conference room. Ten seated men stared at him, each with varying degrees of curiosity on his face. Marque was positioned at the head of the table, but Chavis Smith was standing to his right, obviously addressing the group. Marque glanced up at him. “What did you say?”

“Not me.
You
. You sort of…
moaned.
Are you feeling okay?”

Fuck. She’s done it again.

Marque felt his face flush. “I’m fine,” he snapped. “Where were we?”

“The production schedule.”

“Continue.”

Marque heard Chavis start speaking again, but for the life of him, Marque couldn’t follow a word the man was saying. Were these meetings really so incredibly boring? Why did he hold them
daily
, for God’s sake? His brain was much more interested in the intriguing topic of J’s suction device.

Okay, so kissing her had probably not been the best way to probe for the apparatus in her mouth. His tongue hadn’t been able to discern anything other than her mechanical teeth and tongue. But damn, when he’d tasted her tongue…

It could so easily have been a human tongue. She’d played with him, teased him, responded to him, and dear God, when she’d taken control it had become an almost
human
kiss. He’d lost himself in it, willingly surrendering to her soft wet heat and her clever velvet tongue. That is, until he’d realized once again that he’d lost command of the situation, and then shoved her away from him.

Shit.

Marque ran a hand through his hair.

Even fucking her from behind hadn’t helped to reestablish his control. She was so damned tight. Perfect in every position. He’d been at her mercy just as much as she’d been at his.

Okay, so maybe he’d been a little rough with her during anal sex. But it’s not like he could hurt her. She was a machine, for Christ’s sake! She’d been deliciously tight but also damn easy to slide into. Pre-lubricated; she’d said so herself. And wasn’t it the very mechanical tightening of her beautiful ass that had made him come with the force of a roaring cannon?

Fuck. I’m hard again just thinking about it.
He shifted uncomfortably on his conference room chair.

So then, why had she acted like he’d hurt her? And why could he have sworn there were
tears
in her eyes when she’d turned her head on the mattress to look at him?

He’d apologized, and then cursed himself for a fool. The illusion of tears was surely just a trick of the light reflecting off those very mechanical starburst eyes of hers. She was a robot. Once again,
he
was the one giving her human characteristics.

Idiot.

He’d resolved right then and there to be done with her. He would not let anyone, much less a Beautiful Doll, get under his skin like this. No matter how much of an expert she was at sex.

Still… her parting words had brought him up short, and haunted him even today.

Come back tomorrow, Marque. Please.

Why had she outright begged him like that? Would things go badly for her if he didn’t return? Would she be given to another man, since Marque had bailed before his week was up?

Why would she care if that happened? Why should
he
care?

He frowned, considering.

If he didn’t go back to Beautiful Dolls, J would most likely become the plaything of another high-powered businessman. J…Beautiful Dolls’ most life-like model…with another man’s hands on her perfect body. Another man fucking her in any position he chose. Another man’s cock inside her amazing mouth.

“Not acceptable. Don’t you agree, Marque?”

Marque’s jaw tightened.

J with another man? Damn right it wasn’t acceptable.

Wait a minute…

“What?” Marque’s vision came back into focus. Shit, was this production meeting still going on? “What
now?”

Chavis momentarily looked taken aback at Marque’s brusque tone, and then he straightened. “We’re short again this month.”

Marque went cold. “Short? That’s impossible. We were running exactly on schedule last week.” 

Last week. Before J. Before his life had been thrown into upheaval. A lifetime ago.

Marque cast a glance around the table. The ten men’s faces had gone from their earlier curious looks to outright nervous expressions now. One possibly more nervous than the rest. Marque’s laser focus zeroed in on him. “Rekos?”

The older man cleared his throat. “I don’t know what happened, Marque. I’ve checked and double checked, but we’re short.”

“What’s missing?”

“Two stingers.”

Stingers. The smallest weapon Callex Industries manufactured. Easily hidden and smuggled.

This was the last thing he needed. Marque glanced at his watch. It was almost time to leave for Beautiful Dolls. He had to go back.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chavis said quickly. “I’ll handle it.”

Marque paused for only the barest minute, frowning, calculating, and then agreed.

#

Guilt was a powerful motivator.

At least, that’s what Jai was hoping. Then again, what did she know? She was no psychologist.

Marque Callex had been in a foul mood yesterday. There’d been no chance of talking to him or reasoning with him during their session, in order to establish the rapport Jai was so desperately after. And she had certainly tried. She’d attempted to diffuse his temper when he’d first arrived and then again after oral sex, but he’d had none of it. She’d gotten her hopes up once more during the amazing kiss they’d shared, but his temper had quickly reasserted itself when he’d demanded anal sex.

Had his bad mood come from the work-related stresses of his job? Or was Commander Rainey’s plan working, and was Marque Callex falling under the spell of Beautiful Dolls – and taking his anger over his unwilling infatuation out on Jai?

She hoped it was the latter.

Because that’s where the guilt came in.

There was no doubt Marque Callex was a strong man. Personally, Jai couldn’t imagine him becoming addicted to sex. Especially sex with what he thought was a machine. Marque’s willpower would be too great. And yet, that was exactly what Rainey wanted.

Build a relationship with him. Gain his trust…

Since she hadn’t been able to do that yesterday, Jai had resorted to the only other tactic she could think of that might bring him back for another session today. She’d thrown herself on his mercy.

Come back tomorrow, Marque. Please.

Had he seen the very real tears in her eyes? He would never guess they were from the rough sex he’d forced on her, but maybe he’d wonder about them. He’d apologized for the sex, true, but then called himself an idiot, because he was convinced she couldn’t feel a thing.

So the tears probably hadn’t affected him. Would her heartfelt plea? He’d left without promising anything.

Jai glanced toward the wall. The time read 12:27. She bit her lip.

If Callex didn’t feel anything at all for her, then guilt at his rough treatment of her wouldn’t make him return, but Jai was hoping that at least Marque would be curious about why she’d begged him to come back. He was an intelligent man. Intelligent men were challenged by a mystery, right?

On the other hand, if he didn’t return, at least she knew she’d tried everything she could have.

Except moaning during sex to make him think he could make a machine feel pleasure. You missed another opportunity!

I did not. There was nothing pleasurable about what he did to me yesterday!

She sighed and shifted on the hard wooden chair in her room at the Beautiful Dolls boudoir. Yes, she was uncomfortable sitting here after yesterday’s anal sex, but she wasn’t nearly as sore as she thought she would be. She wondered if Carron’s lubrication was to thank for that.

The thought of it made Jai shake her head in wonder.

What a difference a few days made! She’d been openly reluctant about participating in Rainey’s scheme to use sex to get to Marque Callex, but she was a lot less disturbed by the idea now. To tell the truth, she was actually beginning to enjoy the erotic caress of her silk sarong as it slid against her sensitive skin. Hell, sometimes she was even able to compartmentalize the embarrassment of being naked in front of her partner, Wyatt, who was watching everything that happened in this room via his hidden camera mounted in the ceiling.

Of course, the fact that Wyatt had now destroyed
both
of the discs from Callex’s first two sessions probably had a lot to do with it.
I’ve got your back, partner. There was no incriminating evidence we could have used against Callex on those tapes.

Still…the real reason for her change in attitude was Marque Callex himself. She’d never expected to find him so attractive, or his body such a work of art. He’d been gentle with her that first day during sex, and even the job of fellatio yesterday had been no real chore. His impressive cock was long and thick and the most interesting thing she’d seen after a year of celibacy.

And don’t even get me started on the incredible sense of power I felt giving such intense pleasure to a man like Marque Callex…