Then, to her horror, she burst into tears.
Her sister flew to her and wrapped her arms around Kyrin’s neck, but Rich answered her.
“Like hell they are.” His deep voice was hard now, none of the teasing banter left. “I’ll kill anyone who tries it.” He glared menacingly at the nurse and orderly who were backing slowly away.
“Hey, man—I just w-work here,” the orderly stammered. “She’s yours. You can have her.”
“I thought she was crazy,” the nurse whispered. “Always going on about cyborgs…”
“Yeah, we’re rare as unicorns—prettier though.” Wilkins flashed a grin at her. “Not as magical though unless you think a man with the firepower of a blaster cannon and mega-fast processing speed is magic.”
“Just…stay away from me.” The nurse’s nerve broke and she turned to run, her rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the tile floor like frightened mice.
“Pity,” Jake remarked. “I was gonna let her stroke my horn if she fed me an apple.”
“80, you idiot,” Harper growled and then Abby was unfastening the straps that held Kyrin’s arms in place and helping her sit up so they could hug properly.
“Thank you,” she whispered, but she met Rich’s eyes over her sister’s shoulder. “Thank you all so much for coming for me.”
“I’ll always come for you, sweetheart.” Rich’s voice was low and hoarse, and his pale blue eyes were filled to overflowing with emotion. Kyrin thought that despite his metal battle armor and his cybernetic accoutrement, he had never looked more human.
“Come on,” Drew growled before she could answer. “Hate to break up the reunion but Doc can only hold them so long at the front desk before they start calling in the big guns. We need to get Kyrin out of here!”
“I’m coming!” Kyrin struggled to get off the stretcher. Abby helped her but then Kyrin’s legs gave way like wet noodles and she almost fell.
Suddenly strong arms were scooping her up.
“I’ve got you,” Rich murmured in her ear. “Just relax, sweetheart. We’re gonna get you out of here.”
“Thank you,” Kyrin whispered and then the drug, which she’d been fighting with all her might, suddenly swallowed her whole. Her head sank against the big cyborg’s chest and everything went black.
Chapter Fifteen
She woke up in a white room with a distinct medicinal odor wafting through the air. For a moment she panicked, thinking the rescue had been a dream. Thinking she was still back in the hospital, just coming out of the anesthesia after the termination.
“No…no!” she cried, scrabbling madly to get her hands under the white sheet that covered her, wanting to touch her belly, needing to see what had been done to her. “No, my baby!”
“The baby is fine, Kyrin.” Suddenly Doctor Chambers’ face was hovering over her. “I ran some tests to be certain while you were out. She’s healthy and normal with absolutely no complications that I can see.”
Kyrin stared at her, uncomprehending for a moment.
“She? She?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” The doctor looked concerned. “Should I not have told you? Did you want it to be a surprise?”
“A surprise?”
Kyrin was aware that she was repeating everything the other woman said, but she couldn’t seem to help it. Her mouth hadn’t yet caught up with her racing brain. At last she managed to get some words of her own out.
“I’m going to have a daughter?”
“You and Rich are going to have a daughter,” Dr. Chambers emphasized gently. “If you want him to be involved, that is.”
“If…” Kyrin shook her head, still trying to make sense of things. “I mean, do you think he’ll want to be involved?” She well remembered the protective rage in the big cyborg’s eyes when he’d come to rescue her from the awful hospital, but she wasn’t certain that protective possessiveness extended to the new life growing inside her.
“Hell yes, I’d like to be involved. If you’ll let me.”
Rich came striding around the corner of the med bay, his pale blue eyes flashing.
“Sorry, Doc, I know you said to wait,” he said to Dr. Chambers, who was giving him a reproving look. “But I heard her voice and I just couldn’t help myself.”
He dropped to his metal knees beside Kyrin’s cot and took her hands in his.
“You all right, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice still gruff with emotion. “Do you want me to give you a little more time?”
That was the last thing Kyrin wanted.
“Rich…” She squeezed his big hands—one metal and one human—tightly with her own. “Did…did you really mean what you said? Do you really want to be involved—to be the baby’s father?”
“I am the baby’s father,” he growled fiercely. “I want to be with you every step of the way, Kyrin.” He looked at her earnestly. “Now, I know…I know you have your career at IPKA—”
“Not anymore.” Kyrin couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice. “My father ended that for me. I doubt they’d take me back anyway after what I went through, even if he hadn’t. I’d be considered too traumatized to ever act as a negotiating Peace Officer again.”
“I know a place where they could use a peace negotiator,” Doctor Chambers, who had been watching quietly, remarked. “It’s this big ship filled with men who are half metal. They scare regular people to death. I think having a negotiator with past IPKA experience under her belt would go a looong way toward smoothing their way in the galaxy.”
Rich looked up at the doctor and then back to Kyrin, grinning.
“That’s a damn good idea, Doc!”
“I’ve been known to have a few of those.” Dr. Chambers smiled modestly. “Listen, you two, I have some things I need to see to outside the med bay. Kyrin, you’re healthy and free to go when you want,” she added. “I’m sure you and Rich would like to talk about everything that has happened.”
“Yes…” Kyrin still felt dazed at the way her life was changing so rapidly. “Yes, I think we’d better. But first…” She looked at the big cyborg pleadingly. “Can I have a shower? They watched me day and night at that damn hospital and almost never let me be alone to bathe.”
“Of course, sweetheart.” He rose smoothly and offered her a hand. “You can use the shower in my quarters. If…” He cleared his throat. “If you want to.”
“Thank you. That sounds perfect.” Kyrin nodded gratefully. She took the big cyborg’s hand and was relieved to see that she was much more steady on her feet than she had been the last time she’d tried to stand up. But she liked being near him—feeling the warmth of his big body. So she let herself lean against him anyway.
Rich took the hint immediately and swept her into his arms.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he rumbled. “My place is this way.”
And he carried her off, out of the med bay and down the long metal hall.
The way she nestled against his broad chest, curled up trustingly against him, was a salve to Rich’s soul. He couldn’t help brushing his lips against her temple as he walked, nodding to the few units they passed in the hallways.
No one stopped them to chat, simply nodding their heads and adding a small smile as the big cyborg carried his tiny little woman carefully. Which was good. There was no way he’d have been polite to any of them, not even Drew, at the moment. His only focus was looking after her.
He hadn’t missed the things she’d been screaming when they’d found her yesterday. That the father of her baby was a cyborg and she loved him. Did she mean the baby or him? No, it couldn’t be the baby… he’d heard the doc tell her the baby was a little girl.
Ahh, but she didn’t know that then, did she? the little voice sneered. And even if she didn’t mean the baby, they had her strung out on drugs again. She had no clue WHAT she was saying.
He hated that voice. Seriously fucking hated it. But it had a point, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He might not be able to count on anything she was screaming to g
et those bastards to let her go.
“We’re just in here, sweetheart,” he murmured as the door to his quarters slid open at their approach.
While she’d been out of it in the med bay being looked after by the doc, he’d been busy. The sparse bunk had been replaced with a double, hastily bolted together and tested to ensure it would take his cyborg-enhanced weight. He didn’t think he’d manage to get the image of Harper and Wilkins jumping up and down on a bed out of his head. Ever. And then he covered it with a new pink blanket. Where the fuck Unit 89 had managed to find it, Rich had no idea but he’d thanked the normally quiet and introverted man anyway.
The bed wasn’t the only thing to get the makeover treatment. There were new rugs on the floor, potted plants on the shelves above the small desk and even a picture on the wall. All located and donated by other units to help Kyrin settle in with him.
His machine half hadn’t seen the logic. What difference would colored blankets and ornaments make? Even his organic half had had reservations. What if she didn’t want to move in with him after all?
He brushed the thought away. If she didn’t, then she didn’t. He’d simply have all the new decorations moved for her… or, he’d move himself and let her have his.
Then he’d set about courting her properly until she let him move back in.
But he needn’t have worried. Utter pleasure filled her eyes, a small gasp on her lips as she looked around at the new decorations.
“A welcome home,” he rumbled. “From us all, to welcome you to the ship.”
To welcome you home, with me, he added mentally but didn’t dare voice the sentiment, not just yet.
Instead, he carried her through to the small bathroom attached to his bedroom. Even for a normal person, it was tiny, with just room for the toilet, a sink and a shower cubicle. He set her down gently on her feet, his touch reassuring rather than seductive. She’d said a shower. That was all.
“Errr, I’ll be just out there if you need me,” he said, motioning toward his quarters.
“No!” Her response was quick and warmed his heart as she reached for him. The look in her eyes was soft as she pleaded, “Please… just hold me? Maybe…maybe you could stay here and help me? I’m still a bit wobbly from those damn drugs.”
He didn’t say anything else, didn’t trust himself to, so he simply nodded and started to undress her. She stood, her head down as he stripped off the awful hospital gown and flung it into the corner. He hated the sight of the thing… it was a reminder of everything they’d nearly lost.
“I’ll get you new clothes,” he promised, stripping off his own shirt and stepping into the shower with her.
It was a small cubicle for him on his own, never mind with her in there with him, but he made it work. Turning against the spray in case it was too cold for her at first, he let it hit against his broad shoulders. When he realized it was warm, he slowly eased aside so it washed over her as well.
She sighed in relief, leaning back against his chest with her eyes closed. When she didn’t look like she planned on moving any time soon, he reached out for the shower gel holder and pumped some into his big hand.
He smoothed it over her skin, washing her tenderly. Big hands as gentle as he could make them, he soaped her shoulders, biting back his shiver at the feel of her delicate frame under the silken skin.
She didn’t say anything, just sighed, so he carried on. He washed her arms with gentle movements, paying close attention to her hands and fingers. His heart thudded in his chest as he moved on, sliding his hands back up her arms and over her shoulders.
They paused for a moment on the gentle slope of her breasts, but when she didn’t murmur or move to stop him, he continued, slicking the foamed soap over the luscious mounds of her breasts. She murmured, and he froze instantly.
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have—”
He went to move his hands but she covered them with hers. Slowly, without speaking, she slid them over her breasts and down over her stomach. He felt the changes instantly. Her breasts were fuller and heavier. Her stomach had just the tiniest bit of rounding.
He groaned, the feel of his child swelling in her belly getting to him on a primal level.
He felt the tension in her body, and he kept a rigid hold on his own reactions. Sure, he was half-naked in the shower with her and just that was enough to have him reacting predictably, his processor working overtime to quell the physical reactions. Good thing he still had his trousers on—though they were getting fucking soaked.
“Sweetheart?” he murmured, brushing his lips over her temple. “What’s the matter?”
She turned in his arms, hands on his chest. It warmed his heart that she didn’t even seem to notice his implants now, her fingertips brushing idly over one of his rib spurs. The implant, not the skin around it, but the actual implant itself.
But his attention was caught by her expression. Wary. Worried.
“Do you… I mean, I know we didn’t meet the right way and you pretty much had no choice but to…” She colored prettily, her cheeks flushed. “…but to have sex with me. But… did you want to? Do you still want to? I mean…with me l-like this?”
He didn’t know what to say for a moment, even his processor struggling, not with the words, but the meaning behind them. Did she seriously think he didn’t find her attractive?
“Kyrin, sweetheart.” He didn’t bother to hide the low, nonhuman note in his voice. She knew what he was. He shook his head, opening and closing his mouth several times as he tried to find the words. With a growl, he gave up and grabbed her hand, shoving it down to his now raging erection, which tented his trousers.
“Does that feel like I find you unattractive?” he demanded, his other hand cupping the back of her neck to make her look up at him. “Kyrin, my love. Breeding unpleasantness aside… they wouldn’t have had to drug me to desire you… to want you… to love you,” he whispered, his eyes searching hers. “And you like this—the way you are now? Knowing you’re carrying our child safely under your heart? Gods, sweetheart… you have no idea what that does to me. I love you and want you so much… but I’m scared as well. Terrified in fact,” he laughed a little, the nerves obvious in his voice.
“Scared about what?” she whispered. “You can take those trousers off if you want to—they’re pretty soaked by now.”
Rich did as she suggested, shucking off the soaked garment and kicking it to the edge of the shower stall. Immediately, her small fingers wrapped around his cock in a way that stole his soul. Fuck it, he didn’t need it anyway. It, and his heart, belonged to her completely.
“I’m scared that you’ll only ever see the metal monster,” he whispered, trying hard not to let his eyes cross as she began to stroke him gently. “Scared that now you haven’t got the drugs in your system, you won’t want me anymore. Scared that you won’t want me to be a part of your life or the baby’s life. Scared…” his voice dropped even lower as he voiced his deepest fear. “… scared that you won’t love me back.”
Chapter Sixteen
He loves me! whispered a stunned little voice in the back of Kyrin’s head. He actually loves me. He said it twice!
Then the rest of what the big cyborg had said sank in. Rich loved her, but he was desperately afraid she didn’t love him back.
“Oh, Rich…” She reached up to him, standing on tip-toes to put her hands around his neck. He bent obligingly, bringing his face down to hers.
“Sweetheart?” he murmured, his big hands sliding restlessly over her body, caressing her gently but so urgently Kyrin felt as though every inch of her skin was lighting up under his touch.
“I do love you.” She searched his eyes—the pale blue color that reminded her so much of a Husky’s. So striking and so filled with fear and hope and need—all the same things she felt. “I know it doesn’t make sense. We haven’t known each other all that long and like I said, we didn’t meet the right way at all. But, well…I can’t help what I feel. What I know
, which is that we belong together. Does that sound crazy?”
“Not crazy at all!” He gave a laugh that was more than half relief. “God, sweetheart, you don’t know what it does to me to hear you say that.”
“I think I might have an idea…” Kyrin reached for his thick, throbbing shaft again. Though she’d had it inside her, this was the first time she’d had a chance to really explore the more intimate parts of the big cyborg’s anatomy, and she found she was enjoying herself immensely. It gave her a sense of power to hold this vulnerable part of him in her hand—to know that she could make such a big, strong man weak with her very touch.
But it was a two-way street—feeling his big hands roving over her naked body made her feel pretty weak and needy herself.
Suddenly a new appetite woke in her—one every bit as strong as the crazy-hungries, as she called her sudden attacks of ravenous hunger when she felt like she might faint or die if she didn’t get food. Only she wasn’t craving food this time—but Rich…inside her.
“Rich,” she whispered, continuing to caress his long, thick shaft, stroking up and down in a lazy rhythm that had him thrusting into her palm. “Would you do something for me? To prove that you love me?”
“Anything, baby.” He leaned down and took her mouth in a deep, tender kiss. “Anything at all,” he rasped, his deep voice thick with passion.
“Make love to me,” Kyrin whispered, looking him in the eyes. “Properly this time. No drugs…no crazy cultists standing over us or chanting for you to take me. Just you and me together because we want to be. Can we do that?”
“Sweetheart…” He kissed her again, one hand cupping her breast as he gently thumbed her nipple. “You have no idea how long I’ve been dreaming of doing exactly that.”
To Kyrin’s surprise, he slid his length out of her grasp and dropped to his knees before her.
“Hey, what—” she began but then he was nuzzling between her thighs. “Rich!” she protested but her words turned into a moan as he backed her up against the shower stall wall and propped one of her thighs over his broad shoulder.