MaleAndroidCompanion (14 page)

Playfully, she slapped him on the shoulder.
“What am I going to do with you?”

“I have a few suggestions, all which involve
us being naked—maybe ropes, blindfolds and whips. You enjoyed last night,
didn’t you?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t live that lifestyle.
The whirlwind of sensations BDSM offers is like fire and ice, so intense.” She
caressed his rough cheek with her palm. “Sometimes I prefer the softer side of
sex.”

“You mean those quiet moments when I can
hear your heart start to race.” He brushed his hand up her arm and chills
followed in its wake. “Your sharp intake of air—” His lips smoothed up her neck
until he nibbled at her earlobe. “That tells me I touched you in just,” his
tongue traced the shell of her ear, “the right spot?”

His softened voice slid across her skin
like two sticks rubbing together creating heat and sparks and fire. Her pulse
sped. Even her breathing picked up the pace.

Dangerous
,
rang through her mind just before she heard herself say, “Yes.”

Without a second thought, she reached for
him, her fingers working at the knot in his sash. Their lips touched and
electricity splintered between her thighs. She lost all control, common sense,
when it came to Marc. They should be discussing their plans for this weekend.
Instead the urge to feel him took over as she pressed her palms against his
chest, stroking. His taut abdominal muscles quivered beneath her touch as she
slipped lower to wrap her hand around his rigid erection.

God. This man was too good to be true.

His hips came forward, his cock sliding in
and out of her grasp while he cupped her cheeks in his palms and kissed her so
tenderly that for a moment she thought her heart would stop.

“Marc?”

“Hmmm…” he hummed against her mouth.

“We really need to—”

He deepened the kiss and Gia melted into
his caress. He tasted of coffee and something darker and seductive. With each
thrust of his cock, he mimicked the action with his tongue.

When they paused between kisses to breathe,
it took all her willpower to unfurl her fingers and release him.

“Talk,” Gia murmured, even though her heart
wasn’t in it.

Still, she braced her palms against his
chest and gazed into his sultry eyes. Talking—no kissing, that’s what they
needed to do. Without another word, she stepped reluctantly away from him,
turned and sashayed through the open doors into her bedroom.

As she walked deeper into the room, the
doors shut with a bang. Startled, she pivoted to see Marc standing naked. A
wickedly delicious grin met hers. Like a predator stalking his prey, he moved
toward her.

The heady gleam in his eyes instantly fired
her blood. All of a sudden the room became too hot, her skin too warm. The robe
she wore was oppressive, her hands fell to the sash around her waist, fingers
clawing and loosening the knot.

“We have to talk.” She almost laughed at
the lack of persuasion in her voice. It didn’t help that she wore nothing
beneath the robe that she shrugged off her shoulders. The soft material drifted
to her feet. At least she had the good sense to say, “Promise me. We talk now,
sex later.”

Beneath half-lowered eyelids he mimicked
her. “Talk now. Sex later. Got it.”

His cock arced hard and ready against his
solid abdomen. The impressive length and girth made her mouth water to taste
but she had to stay focused.

Marc climbed up on the king-size bed.
Fluffing the pillows, he leaned against them and the intricately carved
headboard. Spreading his legs wide, he patted the space between his thighs.
“Come here.”

On her hands and knees she crawled across
the bed, stopping before him. “Talk,” she said weakly, when what she really
wanted to do was drop to her belly and take him into her mouth.

“Talk.” He made a circle with his index
finger. “Turn around.” When she did as he requested, he pulled her up against
him. His large palms began to massage her tight shoulders. “So, what is it I
need to know?”

“You mean other than you make me horny?”
She giggled nervously, shifting her thoughts to his large hands doing amazing
things to the tension buried within.

“Mmmm. I like my woman horny. You’re so
tense. Relax, baby.” He found a particularly hard area at the base of her head
and began to rub it with his thumbs.

Inhaling, she attempted to relax and forget
about how good his hands felt on her skin. “I was born Regina Lynn Easton. My
siblings refer to me as Gina. Doug—I mean my ex-agent—suggested I drop the ‘n’,
changing my name to Gia for publicity reasons.”

“Gina.” He paused. “I like that better.”
His fingertips found another hitch in her muscles, this time in the side of her
neck.

“Mmmm. That feels good.” She tilted her
head, closing her eyes as she continued. “My mother’s and father’s names are
Elaine and Paul. I have two older brothers.” She flinched with a sudden spark
of pain that quickly turned to pleasure. “Oh yeah, right there.” His fingers
hurt so good. “Scott is the eldest and then Parker. I also have a younger
sister, Becka. All three are married. Only Scott and Parker have children. One
each, both girls.” Gia shared with him Sylvia’s and Shelley’s ages, then she
went into a little more detail about her siblings’ spouses, Carrie, Faith and
Victor, respectively. “Perfect couples. Perfect marriages. I’m the black sheep
of the family, according to Aunt Clare.”

“I doubt that. You are a strong,
intelligent woman. It’s because of your strength and intellect that you have
avoided making the wrong commitments.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “Do you
really see me like that?”

“I do. You’re more than a pretty façade,
Gina. People only need to really ‘see’ you to realize there is more to you then
what meets the eye. Look what you’ve done on your own—who you’ve become.”

Gina?
She
liked hearing her given name upon his lips. But the most important element of
what he had just said was that he saw her as a person. She faced forward again.
One who had a brain and knew how to use it. He had been the first to see her,
other than her family. Her thoughts went back to the immediate question at
hand. How to fool her family?

Marc smoothed his palms up her rib cage,
his hands cupping her breasts. With a featherlight touch, he began to massage
them.

Again, she looked over her shoulder. “What
are you doing?”

“Distracting you.” He rubbed his thumbs
over her nipples and they hardened beneath his touch. “You’re getting tense
again.”

She couldn’t help it. Going home was a
mixed bag of emotions. Oregon was home. It was where she had grown up. She
loved her family—needed them. But they hated the fact that she lived in
Hollywood. They thought her career was a source of her unhappiness, but her
discontentment had started way before her career had been established. Her
failed relationships with both men and women had always been the crux behind
her sorrow. Of course now her unsuccessful relationships hit the media faster
than she could call her folks with details. The lies were the worst.

Hey wait. The truth sucked too.

“Stop it,” he grumbled.

“Stop what?”

“Biting your bottom lip and thinking too
hard.” He slid a thumb across her abused lip. “It will be fine. I’ll make it
all right.” Something in his tone made her believe he could do just that. He
dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder.

“Fine.” She inhaled a weighted breath. “We
need to come up with a plausible life story for you.”

“I’ve got one,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Leaning on a hip, she met his gaze. “You’ve
got one?”

“All of the models are programmed to have a
past, as well as a present. How else would they—we—fool the public?”

“That makes sense.” Spinning around, Gia
came face-to-face with him. “So, Marc Charleston, tell me about yourself.” She
crossed her legs Indian-style, giving him an eyeful of all that pink delicious
flesh between her thighs. Gaze narrowing in on her, he reached for her, but she
slapped his hands. “Focus.” The temptress flashed him a coy grin.

“Okay. Let’s see.” He pondered what he
would say. Guess there was nothing better than the truth. “Born and raised in
Niagara Falls, New York, I graduated Harvard with a science degree and moved to
California to work for the Institute of Robotics. Both my mother and father
have passed due to an accident. They were both scientists working on a
spaceship bound for the moon when it exploded.”

For a moment, a case of nerves silenced
him. What if she recalled the accident? Maybe the truth wasn’t such a good
idea. It was obvious that Gia still believed she was talking to an android and
not a man who had both his parents ripped from his arms at an early age.

“I was sixteen. My two older brothers raised
me. The three of us are still close.” If not for them, Marc would probably not
have attended college. It was his brothers’ love of science that helped him get
past the loss of their parents. Marc owed his siblings everything.

“Sam and Elliot are both electrical
engineers. Sam and Chelsea have two sons, Nathan is twelve and Brandon is
thirteen. They are responsible for the gray streaks in my brother’s dark hair.”
He laughed before he could stop himself. Clearing his throat, he continued.
“Elliot and Cathy can’t have children. Both my brothers reside in Boston. We
get together on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I try to visit them at least two
more times throughout the year.”

Gia leaned forward as if she were taking in
everything he said.

“I’ve never been married, focusing more on
my career, until lately.” He ran his fingers through her silky hair, bringing
the strands to his nose. She used something fruity, exotic on her hair. Visions
of the ocean and swaying palm trees, their naked bodies lying on the sand, brushed
his mind. “S-something has been missing from my life,” he admitted before he
knew it. Her sculpted lips beckoned to him and he pushed to his knees, taking
her face in his hands. “I want someone in my life. A wife. Children.” Dipping
his head, he captured her mouth.

Someone like you.

“Niagara Falls,” she whispered against his
lips. “I’ve never been there before.”

Showering small kisses across her face, he
muttered, “The economy has taken its toll on the city, but it is still
beautiful and one of the United States’ top ten tourist destinations and, of
course, the honeymoon capital of the world, besides the moon.”

She eased back, sitting on her calves.
“Don’t mention that last detail to Aunt Clare.”

“Moon?”

“No. Honeymoon capital.”

He hauled her back into his arms. “I
won’t.” Her warm body pressed to his felt so soft and pliant. His cock stirred
against her mound. He kissed the tip of her nose. “My brothers are protective
over me, but they would love you.”

“I’d enjoy meeting them someday.” Once
again, color rose in her face. Gia pressed her palms against his chest and gave
a little push. Frustration ran across her face. “I can’t believe I said that.
It’s a good story, Marc. Believable.” Her chest heaved. “Now, where and how did
we meet?”

“M.A.C. You were looking for a sex toy and
I was available.”

With a shove, she pushed him back upon the
bed. Laughter spilled from his mouth. He tried to grab her wrist but she was
crawling away from him too fast.

“That’s not funny,” she whined.

“But true.”

The grin she attempted to hide burst free.
“Yes. But we can’t tell my parents that.”

“So, what will be the sleeping arrangements
at your parents’ home?” Marc didn’t want to spend a minute separated from her
and the thought of tiptoeing to her bedroom sounded a little juvenile, but he’d
do it if he had to.

“Mom and Dad are open-minded.” Gina crawled
out of the bed to stand next to it. “Besides, I’ve got to keep an eye on you. I
wouldn’t want any of my cousins picking up on my boy toy.”

“Boy toy?” Was that how she really thought
of him, even after all that had passed between them? The blow to his ego was
difficult to take, but he had to remember she thought of him as an inanimate
object, something to pleasure her and help her get through this weekend, not
the man he was. He climbed to his feet to stand about three feet away from her.

As she walked toward him, the heat of her
body called to him. He met her halfway. Tipping her chin, she stared up at him,
her mouth pulled into a thin line. Her forehead furrowed. “I envy my brothers
and sister and their spouses.” Her blue eyes turned misty as she breathed a
heavy sigh. “They laugh together. Share their hopes, dreams. Children. A home.
Things that seem so far out of my reach.” Her shoulders sagged. “Sometimes I
wish—”

The pain welling in her eyes tugged at his
heartstrings.

The world saw Gia Easton as a woman who had
it all, beauty, fame and money. What she really wanted was
friendship—companionship—someone to love her.