Page 1 of Seeing Stars




  Her new toy has something extra she hadn’t counted on. A soul—and an attitude.

  Only one week, and Milla Sulay will start her lonely new life on the Homestead planet Selkca. In anticipation, she’s booked passage aboard the Pleasure Princess, where she intends to make use of every amenity—including the Pleasurebots. Mandroids specially designed to give her whatever she wants. For as long as she wants it.

  Except there’s something decidedly unbot-like about the mouth-watering unit sent to her cabin.

  Jarden’s surgical enhancements give him advantages over standard-issue human men, with one exception: he’s tired. Weary of servicing an endless parade of horny, arrogant women. Except his beautiful client can’t quite hide her vulnerability behind the disdainful diva act.

  Before he can figure it out, the cruiser makes an unscheduled stop in Newcity airspace. Not good. In Newcity-speak, he’s a “mecho”…and not exactly legal. After years of working aboard the Princess to earn his freedom, the only place he’s headed is prison.

  Then Milla unexpectedly makes him an offer he should refuse. Within minutes of having his dream snatched away, Jarden must decide if life as her field husband on Selcka is a way out—or simply trading one form of servitude for another.

  This title has been previously published under the title Anything You Want.

  Warning: Contains space-bending sex, turbulent language, and artificial everything…except the one thing that’s guaranteed to arouse all your senses. Hang on, it’s gonna be a bump-and-grind ride!

  eBooks are not transferable.

  They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520

  Macon GA 31201

  Seeing Stars

  Copyright © 2011 by Megan Hart

  ISBN: 978-1-60928-452-7

  Edited by Lindsey Faber

  Cover by Kanaxa

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Original Copyright: 2007

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: May 2011

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Seeing Stars

  Megan Hart

  It was the biggest cock Milla Sulay had ever seen. A full ten inches long, three inches wide and made of clear, bendable plaz-foam, it hung next to a neighbor of similar width and girth. That one had an attached, realistically detailed scrotum designed to hold the battery powered motor that provided the unit’s patented thrust-n-grind motion.

  “Take them away,” she said to the SRV-S 327 that had shown her to the stateroom. Milla tried to sound bored instead of appalled—or worse, intimidated—by the immense “amenities”.

  The servbot couldn’t have cared less. Programmed to obey simple commands to the letter and with an extremely limited intuitive function, the SRV-S 327 would turn down her bed, hang up her clothes or draw her a bath, but it would perform all of those functions because that was its purpose, and not from desire. It certainly wouldn’t make judgments about her bedroom habits, no matter what they were. Or weren’t.

  “As you please, miss,” said the servbot in an accent straight out of Olden England. It bobbed its squat metallic body in a parody of a curtsey. “Will there be anything else, miss? Warm bath? Vibro-masturbatory massage? Shall I ring for a Pleasurebot to service you?”

  The warm bath sounded good, but Milla wasn’t interested in being vibrated to orgasm by a faceless, rolling torso made of metal and plaz-glass. The Pleasurebot, on the other hand, was a possibility. “Nothing right now. Thank you.”

  The servbot didn’t require thanks any more than it had required an explanation. Its internal circuits whirred faintly and it bobbed again on hidden springs, then turned on the gear wheel it had in place of feet and left the room. Milla closed the door and leaned against it with a sigh before looking around the cabin with a grin so wide it tickled her earlobes.

  Her first night in her very own cabin, with an entire week ahead of her. A full seven Old Earth-measured days to do whatever she wanted. Milla caught sight of the empty hooks where the gigantic phalluses had hung. Nothing she had planned included self-pleasure. She’d have time enough for that when she got to Selkca and her homesteader’s plot. Years of time, in fact, to make herself come. It would probably be her only choice.

  This week, Milla was going to spend every minute she wasn’t eating expensive pastries being seduced, caressed and aroused as often as possible. She intended to make enough memories to last her for the rest of her long, possibly lonely life.

  Jarden could ignore the flashing red light indicating a cabin in need of service, but there was no way to ignore the whoop-whoop of the bell. With a groan, he rolled onto his back, the hard bunk protesting with every movement. He stabbed at the button on the wall.

  “Your turn, buddy,” he said with a jerk of his thumb toward Peter. “C’mon, you go and let me get some sleep.”

  Peter, a fully equipped COK-275, looked up from the holo-bloid he was watching. “Huh?”

  Jarden sat, hunching so as not to hit his head on the bottom of the bunk. “Your turn.”

  Peter shook his blond head. “Oh, no. I am on break.”

  Jarden sighed. “Fella, you don’t need a break. Right? You can go all night, isn’t that the slogan?”

  “COKs never quit!” Peter beamed, proud, but didn’t trigger off the holo-bloid.

  Jarden reached over to do it for him. The high-pitched voice of the chanteuse currently embroiled in some sort of chastity scandal cut off in mid-croon. Peter blinked, but made no move to turn the holo-bloid back on. That was one good thing about that unit’s lack of brain power. Peter didn’t usually resist suggestion, whether subtly worded or strongly enforced.

  Of course, there was always a first time.

  “Cabin 378 needs service, Pete. Go on and get it.”

  Again, frustratingly, Peter shook his head. At six-two, with a fused-alloy frame and muscles built from the highest quality components, he wasn’t easily pushed physically, even if his mental status made him easily influenced. Jarden couldn’t make the ’bot get up and go by force. He had to find a way to convince Peter he wanted to go.

  “Think of that hot, wet pussy waiting for you, Peter.” Jarden watched the front of Peter’s thin briefs tent, just a little. “Yeah, see? Think about fucking some sweet, hot piece of snatch, right?”

  Peter’s hand went to his crotch and massaged. “I like to fuck.”

  “I know you do, fella.” Jarden himself liked to fuck, quite a bit. The problem was, unlike Peter, Jarden wasn’t a COK, a DIK or a STUD of any model year. He was as human as any man could be, aside from the sixty-seven percent of him that had been recreated from artificial materials. The artificial systems regulating his circulation meant he could keep an erection more than twice as long as a so-called normal man, and climax more than once during a fuck-session, but damn it, he still needed to sleep once in a while. With the Pleasure Princess at full capacity and several of the Pleasurebots who’d normally be providing the sexual services the passengers required out of operation for repairs, Jarden had been pulling double shifts.

  “I’m tired, Peter,” Jarden explained simply, because Peter couldn’t understand anything much more complex. “I need a few hours of shut-eye. Okay?”

&nbsp
; Peter’s hand had, by this time, stroked himself to full erection. Jarden had seen it before. Impressive and aesthetically pleasing, Peter’s prick was top-of-the line. Now it nudged its way from Peter’s stick-seam fly, and Peter shuddered a little.

  “Peter.” Jarden pointed at the flashing light on the wall. “Cabin 378. Hot pussy.”

  Peter stopped stroking his cock and blinked. “I’m on break. I’m on break.”

  Fuck. “Peter.”

  Peter’s big blue eyes, fringed with thick black lashes, didn’t blink this time. “I’m on break.”

  Shit. “Okay, hold on, fella. We’ll get you to the servshop. Okay?”

  Peter’s erection wilted in his hand and he stared at it, the mouth that had been built for kissing opening in feeble surprise. “I’m on break?”

  “You’re broken, fella,” said Jarden. “No question about that.”

  Which meant that Jarden wasn’t going to get that nap after all.

  Milla had bathed and slipped into a sleek toss-away of sheer pink. She’d fastened the stickseam all the way to her throat, where the high collar tickled her chin. The gown itself, meant to be worn but once, swung around the tops of her thighs. Bare beneath, her skin tingled from the application of Arous-All lotion she’d slicked onto her bath-damp flesh after getting out of the tub. She’d paid extra for real water.

  God-of-Choice only knew how long she’d have to go without real water to drink, much less bathe in. Selkca was a desert planet. Its native population had the ability to produce H2O via some internal synthesis, but the Homesteading Council’s information had informed Milla all ’steaders on Selkca had to rely on monthly deliveries of imported, artificial water.

  When the knock came at her cabin door, she’d just put down the bottle of Arous-All lotion. The cabin had been fully stocked with the entire line of Arous-All products, guaranteed to “Get you ready!” As if she needed help. She’d been ready practically from the moment she’d signed the travel contract.

  She opened the door, already tilting her head in anticipation. She’d ordered a COK-275 from the extensive room service menu, and those ’bots were always tall. The one standing in front of her, however, was taller even than she’d expected.

  “Miss Sulay?”

  She nodded and stepped back to let him into the cabin. “I was beginning to think I’d have to call again.”

  “Sorry for the delay. I’ve been authorized to give you an hour’s credit for the time you had to wait.” The man flashed perfect white teeth unblemished by jewels or etchings.

  Correction—not a man, Milla reminded herself. The perfect abs and biceps, the sultry smile and eyes the color of the space outside her cabin window belonged to a mandroid. A Pleasurebot. A creature built for the sole purpose of providing sexual pleasure. She looked him up and down, admiring him, and he put his hands on his hips with another grin as the front of his thin toss-away briefs bulged.

  “You’re wearing Arous-All,” he said.

  Milla nodded. He had dark hair cut short in the back and falling long over one dark eye. Tawny skin. Nipples like arti-chocolate discs. “Turn around.”

  He did. The view from the back was as impressive as from the front. He had a tight, rounded ass and long legs. Milla moved closer and cupped his rear with both her hands. He didn’t move, not an inch, as she rubbed her fingertips along the line of his spine and stepped back.

  She moved in front of him to study his face, noting the brightness of his eyes, the moistness of his lips…and something else. The faint lines of weariness around his bright eyes and moist lips. He hid it well, but he was tired. Pleasurebots didn’t tire.

  “You’re not a COK,” she said.

  He shook his head. “No, miss. I’m sorry, but all of the COKs were in use. I can provide all the same functions, though. And give you an additional hour of credit to your account for the inconvenience.”

  “Two credit hours?” Milla crossed her arms, still staring at him. “What’s your name?”

  “Jarden.”

  His voice, low and sexy, peaked her nipples beneath the sheer toss-away. Did it matter he wasn’t exactly what she’d ordered? Milla shifted her weight from foot to foot. Her thighs rubbed together. The Arous-All lotion had seeped into her pores and gone straight to the pleasure center of her brain. She was ready to fuck and come. Did it matter if he wasn’t a COK?

  “You’re not a ’bot,” she said in a low voice.

  Jarden’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t blink, didn’t lick his mouth, didn’t even let out a sigh. “No, ma’am. I’m not.”

  Milla had expected him to lie, and it impressed her that he didn’t. She studied him. “Isn’t that…illegal?”

  Jarden shook his head. “The Pleasure Princess qualifies for entertainment exemptions under the Interstellar Transport Act.”

  “Oh.” Milla had an idea of what that meant. Something to do with slaves. She felt suddenly ridiculous in her flimsy toss-away in front of a real man. “I was expecting a ’bot.”

  Jarden took her in his arms before she had time to squeak. “I promise you, I can make you just as happy as any ’bot can.”

  Pressed up against him that way, Milla had to tip her head back extra far to see his face. He was still smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Not the way it would have on a COK or a DIK, whose emotional triggers were genuine and unfakeable. The fullness in his briefs, however, felt real and substantial. She ran her hands up his bulging biceps to rest on his shoulders.

  “I have to be honest with you,” she said. “I really wanted a ’bot.”

  She waited for his answer. Jarden pulled her slowly closer, his big hands resting on her rear. “I promise you, I can do anything you want.”

  He bent to nuzzle her neck, and Milla closed her eyes as she let him. His mouth and tongue felt no different on her skin than a ’bot’s would have. His hands were rougher, but that wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, those rough hands excited her. Maybe it was because of the Arous-All, but the more he kissed and sucked and nibbled at her neck, the hotter Milla got.

  “All right,” she breathed, voice hoarse, when he slid a hand beneath the hem of her toss-away. “But I’m warning, you, I expect to be completely satisfied, and I’m not interested in working too hard for it.”

  Jarden pulled away to look at her face, and something in his gaze made Milla wish she’d been a little kinder. “It’s what I’m here for, miss.”

  A ’bot wouldn’t have said even that. A ’bot wouldn’t have looked at her like that, as if she were not the first horny, arrogant woman to demand service with nothing in return. It was the reason she wanted a Pleasurebot and not a man, so she didn’t have to feel guilty about being selfish. Pleasurebots got off as a matter of course and didn’t need emotional connection.

  Both of Jarden’s big hands had slipped beneath the toss-away now. His fingertips skimmed the curve of her waist and dipped low in the back to cover her bare flesh with his palms. His fingers curved around her buttocks to stroke the ticklish crease, and Milla parted her legs. Jarden teased her ready pussy from behind, with just a whisper of a touch.

  Her nipples poked the sheer fabric of her gown. When Jarden bent to take first one and then the other into his mouth, her lips parted in a silent gasp. He mouthed her breasts, wetting her toss-away, while his hands kept up their tour of her body.

  He murmured against her breasts, “I’m here for your pleasure, miss. Anything you want.”

  God-of-choice, his simple statement weakened her knees so much she had to clutch his shoulder to keep from sagging. That was what she wanted. Someone to give her pleasure, whatever she wanted. However she wanted it.

  “Get on your knees for me,” she whispered. She’d never said such a thing before, though she’d thought it many times.

  Jarden did at once. His mouth traveled her body as he lowered himself to the floor in front of her. Even on his knees he was tall. His face was level now with her belly, but she wanted it lower.

  “Push up
my gown.” The words came with effort, from a mouth so dry she had to swallow hard to speak.

  Slowly, slowly, Jarden put a hand on each of Milla’s thighs and slid them upward, pushing the toss-away up as he did. The cabin’s climate was automatically regulated based on the body temperature, and now a cool gust of air breezed across her bared, heated skin.

  Milla had fully depilated in the bath, every hair on her body from the neck down. The smoothness of her skin without hair had made it even easier for the aphrodisiac lotion to infiltrate her blood and turn her on, but even if she hadn’t rubbed herself with it, she’d have been aroused.

  “Lick me,” she said, then louder. “Lick my pussy, Jarden.”

  Jarden put his mouth on her immediately. His tongue slipped along the seam of her cunt and lapped the bead of her clit. He circled it gently before using the flat of his tongue to stroke. His hands held her steady. Milla put her hand on top of his head, her fingers twining in the silk of his hair.

  She muttered something incoherent. Her crotch pushed forward, seeking the further heat of Jarden’s lips and tongue. He held tight to her ass and kept her still while he licked and sucked gently on her clit.

  It felt so good she wanted to come right then. Hard. She wanted him to keep fucking her with his tongue until she exploded. Instead, she tightened her fingers in his hair and tugged, not terribly gently, until Jarden left off feasting on her pussy and looked up at her.

  His eyes gleamed and he swiped his tongue along glistening lips. “Tell me what you want.”

  The hitch in his voice and the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed hard made her want to believe that eating her cunt had turned him on. Without question it would have aroused a COK or a DIK, but despite Jarden’s expert prowess between her legs, she couldn’t manage to forget he was a man who might not even find her attractive. One who might be faking because it was his job.