by Pearl Foxx
He shook his head and looked down at her with softening eyes. “And you, so pretty and innocent, you're exactly the kind of girl he uses for trade. You understand what I'm saying?”
Verity tried to pull out of Chance’s hold, but his metallic fingers were immovable. “Let me go.” Her voice shook more than she wanted.
“I'm not going to hurt you. I would never—” His fingers released her with a clicking sound, and he stepped back. “I'm sorry if I scared you, but you should be scared. Garvan is never going to let go of you now that he has his claws in. However much money you got, I hope it was enough to cover the cost of your soul.”
Tears came to Verity’s eyes, and she sniffed trying to fight them back. “What are you saying?”
“Garvan doesn't just let the girls in the bar make a little extra money by getting paid for services rendered. The prostitution is a cover. He sells women. Don't you get it? He sells them. Women and little girls, sometimes boys depending on how much someone is willing to pay. He’s a trafficker. Most of the women who get run through his office are never seen again. And now he has an advantage over you.”
“No, no, that's not possible. It's just a bar. I serve drinks, and I work hard. Like you're supposed to. Eventually, that's supposed to be enough, I’ll be able to pay him back. I didn't agree to anything like that.”
Chance stepped closer and ran his human hand down the length of her arm until he gripped her fingers with his own. “It doesn't matter what you agreed to.”
She shook her head. "Why do you work for him?"
Chance’s lips turned down, and he gripped her fingers tighter. “We all have our own stories. We all have regrets. I do what I can to try and make things better now.”
“Like the doctor you brought in for that man?”
Chance nodded. “Like that. But don’t misunderstand. I'm under Garvan's thumb just as much of anybody else, and he knows it. Why didn't you just come to me? I would have loaned you the money. Fuck, I would have given it to you if I knew you’d go to him!”
The look of pain in Chance’s eyes surprised her, and the warmth of his fingers wrapped around hers soothed the frantic fluttering of her heart. "I didn't know if I could trust you," she admitted.
“Have I done anything to make you think you couldn't?” His eyes closed slowly, and he took a deep breath. “Besides, being what I am?”
“You mean being one of Garvan's men?”
Chance opened his eyes and looked deep into Verity’s. It was like he was scanning the inside of her brain and seeking information she didn't know how to give him. “No. You really don't see it?”
She stepped back and looked him over. His hair had dried and spiked out in all directions all over his head, his high cheekbones and strong jaw easily made him the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His thick neck and massive shoulders spread down to a broad chest that looked like it could stop a hovercar if he needed to. His stacked abs narrowed down to a tight firm V-shaped waist where a trail of hair led from his belly button down to low-slung shorts. He stood barefoot in front of her, and as she took the sight of him, she saw nothing but glorious masculinity.
“My arm,” he croaked. “You really don't see it?"
Verity's eye's darted toward the cybernetic appendage that hung at his side like an anvil. “Oh, I'd forgotten all about it.”
Without warning, Chance wrapped his arms around her and lifted her against his body. He brought his lips to hers hard, one hand tangled in her shoulder length brown hair, the other holding her against him as if she might run.
His kiss came on like a tidal wave, passion and need washing over her until she trembled in his arms. Her body coiled around him, unable to get close enough. She let her fingers roam across his tattooed flesh as his tongue worked its way down her neck. Tiny kisses and nibbles sent shockwaves through her body, and she couldn't get enough of touching him.
“Please.” The words drifted from her mouth as she submitted to his caress.
His warm hand came up and gripped her breast massaging and stroking her pebbled nipples until she was sure her clothes would set on fire and disintegrate into ash. She wrapped one leg around him, and her arms clung to his neck, pulling him back to her mouth. She could taste the heady sweetness that was Chance.
“We'll fix this,” he whispered against her lips and pressed his forehead against hers. “I promise I'll find a way to fix this.”
“I don't understand why you're so nice to me.”
“I can't imagine anyone being anything but. You’re the most amazing thing I've ever encountered. Strong and sweet. Soft and fierce. Everything I've ever wanted.”
Verity sucked in a breath. No one had ever spoken to her that way. No one ever valued her as an individual, only as a complication. She had been too strong to fit in with the girls and not allowed to be unrestrained enough to be one of the boys. On the compound, her life had always been one of disappointment.
“I need you in my bed,” Chance whispered with a gravelly edge to his voice as he sucked on her earlobe. His voice husky with need.
Verity nodded, melting against his heat.
As his hands worked their way under the hem of her shirt, he hesitated for a moment.
“What's wrong?”
Chance pulled away and eyed her with hesitation. “There are rumors about the ecovangelists, you know. That girls aren't so valued.”
His words were like a bucket of cold water over her head. “That's true. Not so valued at all.”
“There are also rumors that—” Chance hesitated and looked away. “The younger girls are taken against their will. Raped.”
Verity sighed. “That happens. More than it should. Are you asking if it’s happened to me?”
Chances eyes darted up to meet hers. “I wouldn't want to rush you or make you uncomfortable.”
Verity couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up in her throat. “You couldn’t rush me if you wanted to. No one ever hurt me. I wasn't well-liked, and I wasn't much wanted. My life in the compound was miserable. But no, no one ever hurt me like that.”
Chance settled his forehead against hers again and took a shaky breath. “Thank God,” he whispered. “I wouldn't want to have to go on a killing rampage.”
She ran her fingers through his hair. “No killing. More kissing.”
This time Chance laughed, and the sound was full and warm. It filled all of the empty, broken spaces in her heart and brought her a step closer to understanding the man in front of her.
This time when he kissed her, his hands pulled up her shirt and lifted it over her head. He touched her with his human hand, tracing along her thin torso and gripping her side. "Definitely, a lot more kissing."
He picked her up off her feet and carried her out of the living room and back toward what she hoped would be his bedroom.
Chapter 11
Verity
Chance picked Verity up, and she felt like a feather in his arms, a wisp floating in the clouds. His strong hold didn’t grip her hard but cradled her solidly against his body. They never stopped kissing, as he carried her back to his small bedroom. Having a bedroom at all was a luxury, and beyond that, he even had a proper bed.
She couldn’t get enough of his delicious mouth and salty sweet skin. She kissed and stroked every part of him she could reach, squirming in his arms in her desperation to feel more.
Chance set her on her feet walking her backwards without removing his lips from hers.
The edge of his bed hit against the back of her knees. She was in the bedroom of the single most gorgeous man she'd ever seen, about to do the one thing she'd been told to avoid her entire life, and she couldn't be more delighted about it.
Her mother's voice rang in her ears Sex is only for marriage, only for making sure the Ecovangelist population continues to grow.
Verity let out a snort.
Chance pulled back, playfulness glinting in his eye. His face had relaxed, and without the constant scowl line between his eyebrows, h
e had a boyish charm about him. And those dimples!
“Did I do something funny?”
Verity shook her head no. "I was just thinking of something my mother said."
Chance laughed. "I'm definitely doing something wrong if you're thinking about your mother. Let me try again.”
He pushed her back so that she sank on to the bed and crawled over her. His warm, strong body hovered above her, as he kissed his way up her chest to her simple lace bra. Verity held her breath as he licked her nipple through the fabric. Chance ground against her as he lowered his lips to it, gripping the other with hand. His rough palm massaged her through the lace that covered her other breast before unhooking it and throwing it aside. He licked and sucked, taking a nipple between his lips and pulling on it slightly.
Verity arched up against him, the warmth of his touch and wet pull of his kiss overwhelming her senses. As she submitted to his caress, she reached up around his neck and ran her hands along his back, gripping the strong muscles that lined his spine. She grabbed both his shoulders and the man above her froze.
He lifted up staring at her.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, innocence laced through her voice.
Chance looked over to where her hand rested on the hard plesh that connected his shoulder to his body. The dim light from within his arm gave the room a faint glow. “Why are you doing that?” His voice was hard, but his face betrayed no anger.
“I… I wanted to. Is that not okay?”
He stared down at her eyes and lifted his weight so that it rested entirely on his human arm. He held his metal arm over her so she could see the cybernetics clearly.
She took the metal in her hand, and the heat of her desire reflected back.
"I don't disgust you?"
Verity shifted her hips, so they laid side by side and stared deep into his warm caramel eyes. "Nothing about you disgusts me. Why do you keep worrying about that?"
Chance looked away and sighed.
Verity pulled his hand to her chest, placing it on her bare breast. The contrasting temperatures exciting and sexy. "Can you feel it when you touch me?"
He nodded.
She ran her fingers up the woven metal, along the casing that hid the gears and tubing controlling his cybernetics. Her touch was light and playful. She ran her hands over his shoulder across the plesh casing and up to his neck. "You feel when I touch you?"
Chance nodded again. "Built in sensors connect to my nervous system."
“That sounds exactly like what I feel when you touch me.”
“It's not, it's a lie. Data transmitted and converted in my brain to trick me into thinking I feel you.”
“What else are nerves? What else is the feeling of someone fingers against your skin? A message is related to my brain, which I interpret as pleasure or pain. Do you like it when I touch you?”
“I have the sensitivity turned down. I only register enough so I don't accidentally hurt someone else, or myself. I don’t—I don’t usually like to feel much.”
Verity frowned. “Don't you want to feel me touch you?”
“I do.” He stared at her intently. “But I don't want to feel the hesitation when you reach for my arm. I don't want to register your fingers shake at the idea of touching me. It's better not to feel at all.”
Verity brought her hand to his face and swiped her thumbs across his broad cheeks. “But what if I want you to feel me. What if I want to touch you. What if I want to feel all of you.”
Chance shook his head. “I've learned the hard way that such things aren’t possible.”
“Let me try.” Can you change the sensitivity?"
Chance nodded.
“Turn it up. Match it to human sensitivity if you can.” She watched, as he closed his eyes, and the orbs moved behind his eyelids. The blue light in his arm illuminated brighter for a moment, pulsing three times and then returning to normal, as he opened his eyes.
“Okay,” Chance swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. He looked almost nervous.
Verity kissed him, holding his hand against her breast. Soon they moved against each other, moaning like teenagers sneaking out at night and hiding in the barn. She wrapped her arms around him, and he rolled her onto her back, keeping the full press of his weight off her. Her hand explored his face, his neck, his cheeks, his chest. She discovered and tugged slightly on the metallic ring piercing his nipple.
Chance sucked in a breath, and his cybernetic hand squeezed her breast gently.
Verity moaned and arched into the touch. She ground against his thigh, unable to still her hips, as need spread through her body like someone had flipped a switch inside her. She heated up, fire wrapping around her belly and back, flames licking down between her legs.
Chance moaned in her mouth but didn't move. They stayed like that seemingly forever. Verity writhing and practically begging for his attention while he held still except for his lips and tongue.
“Please, Chance. Touch me.”
He began to pull away, and Verity clung to his neck, not wanting even a millimeter of space between where they touched. She grabbed his cybernetic hand and moved it from her breast pushing it lower. Chance shook as it ran across her taut belly, and together, their fingers dipped beneath the waist of her pants.
“You can't want me to…”
Verity bucked her hips up against his thigh, the idea of his cool, precise metallic hand against her core driving her wild. "Please," she begged throwing her head back.
Chance positioned himself so his hard erection pressed against her thigh and his lips had full access to her neck. She shivered as he kissed her throat to the other side of her neck before unhooking the button of her pants.
He slipped his cybernetic digits lower, feeling the small patch of hair above her pulsing desire. Verity pressed her breasts against his chest and wrapped around him with abandon, wanting his flesh against every part of her. Chance thrust his tongue into her mouth, as he slipped a long sleek finger between her lower lips.
They moaned together, their mouths capturing the sound.
“You're so wet for me.” Chance moaned like silk against her lips.
“You can feel it?”
“I can feel everything," he said, as he dipped one finger lower to capture her pooling moisture and pulling it back up to circle the slick finger around her clit. "I can feel the way you pulse under my touch. Your heartbeat pounding against my finger. I feel the way your pussy plumps up, needing more.” He circled her clit one more time brushing a second finger over it and a soft kiss pulled a mewling sound from Verity’s throat.
She’d never heard anyone speak that way. All the forbidden words dripped from his lips like promises, and she wanted more.
He slid one finger inside her. “You are so fucking tight.” He dropped his head to her shoulder and thrust against her hips, as he moved his fingers in and out of her body. For a moment they lay lost in the sensation.
Chance pulled his fingers out and removed his hand from her pants in a quick movement that left Verity shaking with the loss of feeling. He reached for her pants and yanked them down, allowing them to turn inside out, as he ripped off her shoes and pants in one smooth motion.
Verity slid her body up on his bed, so her head lay on his downy pillows. So different from the mildew stained bed she slept on at home. This was a fantasy, a dream come true.
Chance dragged his eyes over her body. "Open your legs for me," he demanded. "I want to see you."
Verity shivered. No one had ever spoken to her that way. No one ever wanted her. The few times she'd come close to finally having sex with one of the boys on the compound, her awareness that it wasn't her they wanted, but just access to her sex had shut down any desire she had. But the way Chance looked at her was nothing like that. He didn’t leave her clothes on and rut against her as fast as possible as if looking her in the eye would ruin the moment. No, he made love to her with every touch, every look, every word. And he had share
d with her his own insecurities about his arm.
She bent her knees and widened her feet.
Chance’s eyes locked on the apex of her sex. “So beautiful and pink. So wet and dripping for me.” He dropped his shorts, and a hard cock bobbed up to smack him in the belly.
Verity gasped. None of the boys she had fooled around with had prepared her for the sight of Chance’s size. It wasn’t just big; it was intimidating, taunting her with its girth.
“"Don't worry, sugar, I’m not going to hurt you. We’ll take it nice and slow. I’m going to make sure you're good and ready before you take this cock.” He climbed onto the bed and rested between her legs so his hard length lay between her inner folds. He kissed her again slow and sweet.
Now that he wasn't concerned with her being afraid of his cybernetic arm, his hands grabbed and pulled her flesh, like he couldn't get enough. He gripped her hips, pulling them up against him as he drew his cock along her slit, slicking himself with her desire.
Verity threw her head back and closed her eyes, losing herself in the ministrations of his touch. Her body was alive with need, frantic to find any way to alleviate the almost painful desire building inside her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and bucked up against him, his hard length pushing down directly on her clit. Her arms wrapped around him and her mouth latched onto any flesh or metal she could reach.
“Fuck baby, you feel so good.” Chance shivered, as he ground against her before lifting his weight up off her body and reaching down between them. He grabbed his cock and rubbed the head against her silky wetness. As he lined up to enter her, she backed away and all of the heat that had been building between them fizzled.
Chance cocked his head. “What just happened?”
