Interlocking Hearts (13 page)

Quinn grabbed the jacket Jon had discarded. A slow steady beep came from his hand as he passed it over the fabric.

“Not here. Hand me your next piece of clothing. If you know what pieces of clothing would have been out of your hands for a significant period of time, I could start with those.”

Jon worked his arms out of his suspenders. He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. His shirt went over his head and he kicked off his shoes to pull his feet from the legs of his pants.

Coral leaned in and whispered, “Are you sure you no longer have interest in sex with him? It looks like he has excellent equipment, and with his experience seducing women, I would wager he is quite skilled in orgasm production.”

When Coral whispered in a normal setting it was subtle. When Coral whispered among mechanically enhanced ears, everyone turned to look.

“Coral.” Quinn sighed. “Talking about another man’s dick doesn’t do great things for my ego.”

“Why? I didn’t say I wanted to have sex with him. Paisley deserves to have good sex. And from what she told me, Jon owes her penetration.” She tilted her head and did her triple blink. “He’d be able to adequately manipulate a g-spot with his girth.”

Ben cleared his throat. Jon just put his hands on his hips and stood thoroughly enjoying being on display.

Then they all turned as Quinn began beeping again. The beeps never changed in length or frequency. Quinn pointed to the underwear.

Paisley forgot about the popcorn and blinked a few times to make sure her eyes wouldn’t dry out at a crucial moment.

Sure enough, even when it wasn’t happy to see her, Jon’s cock was an impressive sight. Paisley caught herself licking her lips, remembering the feel of the ridge of his cockhead up against the roof of her mouth. He filled her mouth almost to the point of depriving her of oxygen. She’d loved every stolen breath around him, and even though she shouldn’t, she wanted to do it again.

Just not with him. Not really. It was hard to deny that she wanted a man who was naked and gorgeous in front of her. So, so hard.

Paisley jumped as a finger swiped across her lips.

Ben leaned well inside her bubble. “Stop drooling. He’s only impressive when you haven’t seen mine up next to it.”

Then Paisley really couldn’t breathe.

“It’s in the underwear,” Quinn declared.

He took the garment to the kitchen and dropped it in the sink. He turned on the faucet and let the water push the fabric down a large drain. Paisley was about to ask why he was trying to stop up the plumbing when he flipped the switch and ran the disposal.

It was a mostly quiet sound to start, but then they all heard the grating metal sound that followed.

Noticing Paisley’s look of confusion, Quinn supplied, “It’s an industrial strength model. The bug is crushed and on its way to visit with the fishes.”

Quinn frowned at the attention his visitor’s penis was getting and threw clothes at the mildly excited Jon Bond.

“Am I allowed to get dressed again?” Jon asked.

“I don’t mind if he remains without clothing,” Coral provided and stood to unbutton the top of her shirt. “I could take off my clothing too. I wouldn’t want our guest to be uncomfortable.” She leaned toward him, which did nothing but flash a ton of cleavage his way. “I prefer to be without clothing myself.”

Paisley nearly fell out of the chair laughing. She loved Coral. If only humans would be as comfortable in their skin.

“I want to be the only one who sees you naked,” Quinn said as he got himself close enough to rebutton Coral’s shirt.

“That sounds like you are being possessive. But I don’t recall you two discussing exclusivity or…” Paisley paused for dramatic effect. “Marriage.”

“Why would we have to be married for Quinn to see me naked?” Coral turned in Quinn’s grip, but she didn’t try to take her clothes off anymore.

Quinn moved to place himself between the still-not-dressed Jon and Coral’s peripheral vision.

“He doesn’t,” Paisley said as she tried to lean around Quinn for a better look. “But if he wants a serious commitment, a proposal is a good way to express that.”

“Hmm,” was all Coral said.

She didn’t mention it as they stopped talking about commitments, but Paisley was pretty sure she’d hear her own voice in a recording later.

Sure enough, the guys distracted themselves with talk about where the security at the DMA would have failed. Coral took the opportunity and pulled Paisley aside. She told the men they needed to go to the bathroom together.

Paisley kicked off her heels and went with her friend. “Coral, when you are in your own house, saying you’re going to the bathroom with another girl in tow is not normal—it’s strange.”

“Then how am I supposed to get you alone to talk?” she asked.

“You tell them you need help with something in the kitchen, or that you wanted to show me a piece of clothing you bought recently.” Paisley realized she needed to work with Coral on more than bar etiquette. It had been way too long since the two had hung out anywhere else. And Coral was great bar bait.

“But we only have one room in the cabin.”

“Then you go outside to discuss my penis,” Jon called out.

Paisley didn’t turn when Jon grunted. She knew Quinn would hit the guy for that.

Coral didn’t miss a beat. “Paisley would you come outside to see the skillful way that Quinn stacked the firewood?”

“I’d love to.”

“I could also tell you how lovely his muscles looked when he chopped the firewood without his shirt on.”

The door shut and Coral shivered as they went outside.

“The scramblers and transmission blockers really bother you, don’t they?”

Coral was made of metal on the inside and stronger than pretty much any human being that ever existed. It always bothered Paisley to see her friend get hurt. It was like seeing Thor get a black eye.

“It’s slightly uncomfortable, but it doesn’t activate my pain sensors. It creates static noise in my systems when I pass the barrier Quinn set up.”

“Can’t say I can relate.” Not even close. Maybe it would be similar to chewing on tin foil with metal fillings. Either way… “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I got a lot more information than I told the men.”

“Like what?”

“The bug was planted by the Anti-Mech protesters. And they did so from inside the DMA.”

“So that means that Jon was without his underwear at the DMA?” That was definitely not part of the protocol for assessment. So unless the man took off his boxers to pee and tossed them into a corner, he’d been doing something very naughty with someone other than her at the DMA.

Coral nodded. “We already presumed it was a group acting with someone at the department of mechanical affairs, but I know that you wanted to have more sex with Jon, or Ben, or both. And I wanted to make sure you were aware that they were naked in a government building the day you processed Jon’s file.”

“Why should that bother me?” Paisley was going for aloof. She could fool Coral when it came to emotions. Paisley never really liked talking about her emotions, so she was good at putting a mask on her face. As long as she wasn’t covering up annoyance. For some reason, she possessed an epic resting bitch face that gave away her hatred of stupidity like nothing else.

“You want to have more sex with them.”

“That would imply I’ve
had
some sex with them.”

“Oral sex is sex. You said any contact with genitalia and orifices counts as sex.”

“Point, Coral. Get to one.”

Coral gave her head a fast twitch. She pushed herself back. Coral would often disguise her quirks when she was still pretending to be human or had to act more human to please her owner. Now that she had a certificate of humanity, she was her own owner. Giving someone freedom usually gave them the innate desire to raise their finger in the face of what they couldn’t do before.

Coral used certain body movements to help restart or reprioritize her programming commands. She was reorganizing her intended conversation to get to her main point quicker.

“I only want to have sex with Quinn, and if I found out he had sex with someone else it would make me…” She struggled with expressing emotions too. Coral didn’t talk about feelings because she was still learning how to classify them.

Paisley was more in the camp that she wanted to ignore the bad ones in hopes they would go away.

“It would make you mad. Or sad. Or frustrated.”

Coral nodded. “Yes. All of those, but to a higher level of upset.”

“I thought you wanted to talk about Mr. Hottie and Robohippie and sex?”

“It would be inappropriate for me to refer to them by your nicknames, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. So save it for a time when you really want to tick me off. Coral, you are getting off track. You’re becoming a little too human right now. It’s getting cold out here. Get to the point.”

Normally having your friend press as much skin to yours as possible would be weird. But this was Coral, and Paisley hugged back to enjoy the heaters inside Coral’s body warm them up.

“If you do want to have sex with them, I think you should do so without expectations of emotions and use your skills to get information from them about why Jon’s underwear was out of his sight at the DMA.”

Paisley pulled back. “You want me to screw them to get information?”

“Did I insult you? I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t stay mad. “Apology accepted. I’m not going to have sex with them to loosen them up for information. I’m not opposed to planting a bug, but gaining someone’s confidence in such an intimate way to coerce them into a confession seems skeevy.”

“
After
sex would be the perfect time to gather information. Both of these men have blood vessels in charge of their penile swelling upon arousal. Jon’s pleasure bot status means he has more control over it and some random upgrades that I wasn’t privy to in the file I hacked about him, but they would be distracted once you get them to an orgasmic state.”

“I mean because it’s wrong. Sex should be about fun and pleasure. I don’t want to make sex about work. I have sex to get lost.”

Coral’s head cocked again. “Interesting data. I felt like I found a part of myself when I had sex with Quinn. His data became the most important. I wouldn’t like to be lost. I prefer to be found.”

Paisley went back inside with Coral, wondering what it would be like to find something instead of losing herself in sex.

Chapter Eleven

The car came to pick them all up, and this time Paisley sat next to the door. She didn’t care that she was the smallest. She even took a bit of pleasure when Ben’s head knocked the roof as the car hit a bump.

“We pay for a bigger car next time,” Ben mumbled.

“What?” Paisley had thought that Coral was using a government vehicle to cart them around. It hadn’t occurred to her that the guys were footing the bill.

“Or we could just not bring a passenger with us,” Jon replied.

Rude, but it was an obvious solution to a robot.

“Don’t worry. Coral and I can communicate at work or meeting outside the office on our own.”

The suggestion that Coral had made to sleep with these guys to figure out what they knew was on her mind. Paisley crossed her legs away from them and toward the door. Maybe if she could keep her legs closed and her body language shouting out a big
Stay Away
, she’d be able to remember that they had just done something involving getting naked at the DMA offices.

It didn’t matter that her body was intrigued by the thought of a threesome with a pleasure bot—she wasn’t the type to have sex for information. She eyed Jon. Unlike some people.

“It is very possible I picked up the bug at the DMA offices,” Jon told her. “I don’t think you should converse about any meetings regarding ulterior motives at the offices.”

Paisley snorted. “Coral already told me about the bug. She picked up way more transmissions than she let on, guys.”

Their raised eyebrows let her know that they really hadn’t overheard the conversation outside the cabin.

“If you want to get busy at a government office, you might want to keep your underwear within eyesight.”

“What did she pick up? The signals that were submitted could tell us a more specific timeline for when the device was implanted.” Jon didn’t seem at all concerned about having sex for reconnaissance with people other than Paisley.

“She didn’t go into much detail. But it makes more sense as to why Ben wasn’t interested when he walked in on your mission with me. Being human, he probably needed more time to refill his tank.”

Ben leaned forward and tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Please pull over.”

The blinker clicked to Paisley’s right, and she wanted to kick herself. It was still a hell of a hike back to the hotel, and they weren’t on the busy streets of the city yet. Getting a cab to drive all the way out here would be expensive, and it was still a week and a half before her first paycheck hit her account.

The car stopped.

“Would you mind excusing us for a moment?”

The driver shrugged. “The meter is still running, so I don’t mind sucking down a vapor cig while you pay me.”

“It’s appreciated. Thank you.”

The door opened and closed, and Paisley heard the locks engage. Jon leaned forward and raised the divider, surrounding them in the blackened windows.

“Why did you do that?” she asked as Jon pulled his torso back into the rear seat.

“I’d prefer privacy, and I’d prefer you not to get out and endanger yourself.”

“Locking me in a car doesn’t make me feel safe.”

“It should. We are stronger than all humans and many mechanics. Being with us should make you feel safe.” Jon took a deep breath. “And being that you are aroused, I don’t see the issue.”

“I saw you naked. Of course I’m aroused.”

Then Ben turned on her. He was the closest. Just a tiny bit of a lean in and he was very, very close.

Her personal bubble popped, and his scent filled her nostrils. He smelled like one of those woodsy colognes, and something else that Paisley couldn’t put her finger on. She did enjoy the occasional hate fuck. Maybe that was the flavor she was hungry for.

“Are you only aroused by Jon? Or do I do something for you as well?”

Paisley bit her lip to keep from licking it.

“She did call you Mr. Hottie,” Jon helpfully provided.

“It
is
much more flattering than your nickname.”

“You talked about that?” she squeaked.

Paisley hit her head against the window as Ben leaned closer. She couldn’t back up any farther and she felt goosebumps run down every inch of her skin. His breath was warm as he spoke.

“I saw
you
naked too. It’s not something a man easily forgets.”

Paisley’s heart began to pound at his words, and she was rethinking Coral’s suggestion. She could get a lot more answers from these men if she was in their company for a longer period of time. Her moral code wasn’t etched in stone or anything.

Something told her she wouldn’t be disappointed with how they would end up spending their evening. That only left the problem of justifying her libido’s ideas to her brain’s inability to rationalize using sex for something other than pleasure.

This would be making sex part of her job. Something about that would not work out for her in the morning.

Her libido kept trying, but she had it under control now. Unfortunately.

“Well, you’re going to have to put it out of your mind. I don’t sleep with men who are looking to gather intel from me which would cause harm to me or someone I care about.”

“We could share information, Paisley. It would be the most pleasurable research either of us have done.”

Paisley lowered the window and tapped the driver on his hip.

“We can go now.”

He nodded and expelled the vapor from his cigarette.

They made it back to the hotel, and Paisley wanted to do anything but sit in her room. So she didn’t.