Her fighting spirit, evident in her brown eyes, tugged at his heart. Her stubbornness reminded him of Mona. He just had to tell himself over and over again that she wasn't his deceased wife.
"If I tell a superior officer who you are and what we've done, they'll shuttle you off someplace where you couldn't tell your story to anyone for several years, probably to Mars." He pulled her close. He didn't know if she had always been shaking or if it was the mention of Mars, but now Vivian trembled. "I'm ashamed to say it, but they'll probably commission me to create some drug to make you forget this all happened. I've done it before." Noah took off his jacket. "Let me help you. Please."
The desperation she'd had in her voice now resonated in his.
"I'm not mad at you for all of this. You're just doing your job. But I want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore."
"Please come home with me until we can figure out our next step."
The alarm stopped and the silence accelerated his heart.
Noah shook his head. "We don't have that much time."
"What are you talking about?"
"The guards will be back to check on us. You'll either have to go to one of three places: the immobilization room, the reprogramming room, or back to the cell. Come with me." He covered her body with his coat, hoping to hide her smock.
Noah glanced down at her feet. He didn't have time to do anything for her footwear. He had to get her out now.
He opened the door. "Keep your head down." With his arm around her waist, Noah scurried down the hallway. This time he heard every word the jailed cyborgs screamed.
"Going to fuck a cyborg? I'll do you!" one female cyborg screamed.
"How does she get so lucky? Take me!" another female cyborg said.
"Guards! Guards! One of the scientists is taking a cyborg to fuck!" a male cyborg exclaimed. "Give it to her right up the ass! I'm sure she'll love that!"
The statement was enough to turn Noah's trot into a full-on run. This would be another time he would have to cover for the government. He thought after the last time that he wouldn't have to do it again.
* * * *
Vivian took tentative steps into her new surroundings. After being in that cell, anything was better than that.
"Home sweet home." Noah turned on the light inside of his tiny living quarters on the base station.
Vivian glanced around. Like the doctor, the place looked messy. Papers were strewn all over tables and on the floor. Clothes littered the floor and his unmade bed. Dirty dishes lined the counter and table in his small kitchen.
"I guess you work a lot." She continued scanning the space.
"Sorry. I've been so used to living on my own, I don't keep this place as neat as I should." Dr. Wiit attempted to straighten up, but the damage had already been done.
"Don't worry about cleaning up." She touched his arm.
The way he looked at her, it was as though that was the first touch he'd felt in eons. She removed her hand from him and took off his jacket that he threw over her shoulders when he brought her here.
"Just show me the places I'll need and I'll be fine." She smiled as a way to calm him.
"Okay." He threw his jacket onto his desk, something he must have done before. "This is the kitchen."
"I kind of gathered that."
He released a nervous chuckle. "Right." He continued to a doorway on the other side of the wall behind the kitchen. "This is the bathroom." He clicked on the light. Before Vivian could see inside, he darkened the room and blocked her path. "You may have been better off in the cell."
Vivian's heart raced until Dr. Wiit laughed.
"Over here," he ran to the center of the room, "is my bed, um, the bed, uh, your bed. You can sleep here for as long as you need." He removed the clothes and tossed them on the floor. Then, after staring at the rumpled linens on it, he stripped them off the bed, too, and put them on a pile on the floor. "As a scientist, I have my own washer and dryer."
"Nice for you." Vivian knew that not everyone on the moon had luxuries like washers.
"You can make yourself at home."
Vivian nodded. "Dr. Wiit—"
"Please, Noah. Call me Noah." He extended his hand to her.
She shook it. The warmth of his hand sent a shiver up her spine. "Okay, Noah, I don't have much for clothes." She tugged on the tan smock.
"Oh, yeah." He went to a closet and peered around inside of it. "I have, um, these." He pulled out a couple of large green bags and set them at her feet.
Vivian reached down and opened one, finding women's clothing. So was the good doctor a cross-dresser? She'd seen stranger.
"I'm going to go out and get some food. I'll be gone for about an hour if you want to get cleaned up and changed without me being here. Just make yourself comfortable and I'll be back."
Before Vivian could respond, Noah ran out the door. She could have used this opportunity to run. But where would she go? Noah was right. Undocumented people wandering around weren't given stellar treatment. She cringed at just the thought of the Federation doing something to her to keep her quiet.
Besides, being with Dr. Noah could be a good thing. He seemed to have connections that could help her.
The first thing Vivian wanted to do was take a quick shower. As soon as she turned on the light to the bathroom, she saw why Noah didn't want her to see it. The bathroom looked worse than the rest of the place, if that was possible.
Globs of toothpaste covered the sink. She found long hairs, probably from his beard, all over the floor, sink, and tub. The mirror was dotted with water spots. She avoided looking at the toilet.
If Vivian was going to spend any time in here, she had to scour the place. She found unopened but old cleaning products under the sink. Before taking a shower, she gave the bathroom a good scrub down.
With that room clean, and while she was still dirty, she tackled the kitchen. It was a good thing Noah went out for food. He had nothing in his fridge.
She straightened the main part of the home and even managed to find new, clean linens to put on the bed. As nice as Noah was to let her have his bed, she couldn't take it from him. She didn't mind sleeping on the couch. Plus, being away from the bed would help keep thoughts off of sex…and him.
Even though he started off rough with her, his tenderness pulled at her heart. There was a reason every time she saw him walking down the hallway that she felt the need to appeal to him and not the other scientists. She knew under that hard countenance, under that grizzly beard and behind those cold, hard eyes, contained a man full of heart and kindness.
As she tucked his clothes back into his drawer, her hand brushed against something hard. She pulled out the flat, square item and saw it was a picture of a man and woman standing in front of a mountainous backdrop, another luxury considering not a lot of places like that still existed on Earth.
She had the same skin tone as Vivian, which heightened the paleness of the man in the picture. The woman either had short hair or tied her long hair in a ponytail. The sight of the woman's hair pulled away from her face made Vivian smooth her hand over her own wild mop. Until she knew Dr. Noah a little better, she would continue hiding.
The man in the picture had very short hair and was clean-shaven. Staring at him, she saw he had the same blue eyes like Noah, only these were brighter, clearer. And he smiled like he couldn't be any happier. That definitely wasn't Noah.
Vivian didn't really know Noah. What she saw of him so far, he was not in high spirits about his work or his life. Anyone who lived like this couldn't be.
So who were the people in the picture? The woman, Vivian had never seen before. But the man looked familiar. With longer hair and a beard, maybe it could have been Noah. Maybe it was a picture of Noah's brother and his brother's wife. Or maybe with that background, they were Noah's parents.
Vivian stared at the woman. Her sandy-brown skin tone matched Vivian's. When she stared at the woman's nose, Vivian ran her fingers over her own. Then she
moved her hand down to her mouth, outlining her lips with her fingertips and comparing her fullness with the woman in the picture.
"What are you doing?"
So entranced by the picture, Vivian didn't hear Noah come back.
She jumped at the sound of his voice. "I didn't even hear you come in."
He snatched the picture from her hands. "What makes you think you have the right to go through my things?"
Vivian looked at her empty hands, then back at him. Gone was that nervous, sweet man who had left just an hour before. Standing in front of her now was a man guarding the small bit he cherished, his privacy.
"I wasn't going through your things. I was cleaning up and I found this."
"Oh, at the bottom of my drawer?" He shoved the item back into its resting place and slammed the drawer. "You have no right to snoop through my things."
"Just like you have no right to be judge, jury, and executioner for all of the cyborgs you send to slaughter."
Noah shook his head and stormed to the kitchen. "It's not the same thing. You don't understand."
"No, you don't. I wish for one moment you could go through what you put these people through, what you just put me through."
"I didn't put you through anything. I didn't capture you. I just interrogated you. And I said I was sorry."
"And I guess that's enough, huh?" She followed him to the kitchen while he put away the food he'd purchased. "So, who are the people in the picture?"
Noah glared at her.
"Are they related to you?"
"Drop it."
"Was that your brother? Parents?" At the mention of parents, his look softened.
Noah must have remembered about Vivian's own parents. "Look, I don't want to talk about the picture."
"She has a lot of my features. Was she a cyborg?"
"Are you?" Noah planted his fists on the counter in front of him.
"You saw I'm not." Vivian backed toward the bathroom.
"Then why did you ask?"
"Because I wanted to know how you felt about them. I just don't see you associating with cyborgs outside of work."
"She wasn't a cyborg. She's nothing to you so just drop it."
Vivian shook her head. "So you're the only one who gets to delve into lives. I can't ask you anything. My family gets taken away from me and—"
"Okay, that's the last time you can throw that up in my face. I'm willing to help you but not at the expense of my personal life."
"So was that you in the picture?"
Noah glared at her. "When you're done with your shower, I'll have dinner ready."
This time Vivian put her hands on the counter. No matter how Noah felt about this conversation, she wasn't done yet.
"Why won't you tell me something about yourself? Is that you in the picture? If it is, without your beard and long hair, you look really handsome."
"This from a woman with a shroud of hair in front of her face," Noah continued, putting away his empty bags.
"Are you married? Is she your wife?"
Noah shut the cabinet door underneath the sink so hard that the force shook contents on the counter above it. "You are tenacious, aren't you? Just like—" He stopped before mentioning any names. "Take your shower. Come eat dinner. Tomorrow I'll find you another place to stay where you'll be safe."
When he turned away from her, Noah made it obvious that he was done with this conversation. Vivian wasn't ready to let the topic drop.
She wasn't trying to drive him crazy. Certainly her instincts were right about him helping her. Deep down in her core, she wanted to know more about his reclusive man. Besides science and destroying cyborgs, what else did he like? Did he like her? Did he want her?
Vivian ducked into the bathroom and closed the door. When she felt her body shaking, the telltale sign of her becoming aroused, she braced her hands on the counter. A mirror sat over the sink, but she could barely lift her head to stare at her reflection.
Thoughts of a clean-shaven Noah entered her mind again. This time she felt herself get wet. Vivian reached between her legs and slid her first two fingers over her nether lips. Staring at her fingers, newly adorned with her juices, she marveled at how her body reacted from just thinking about Noah.
She'd never gotten wet from thinking about a man. Vivian never let a man get that close to her. Her parents did the same, protecting her from all men—especially Lars Urlean, who wouldn't stop staring at her every time he came over to the house.
Thinking of him made Vivian shudder. She had to get cleaned up so as not to hold up Noah from dinner. In the wake of their heated discussion, she wondered if he would wait for her.
Vivian ran a bath, then stripped out of her smock. Ducking in the balmy water, she closed her eyes to relax. Again, she thought of Noah. Again, her body reacted. Peering down, she noticed how hard her nipples got from just a mental picture of him. She brushed her fingertips over the hardened peaks.
The touch sent a sensation like an electrical surge through her body. She wanted more of that feeling. With one hand on her breast and the other on her clit, Vivian made slow massaging motions on both. She'd never felt this good before. Her heart pounded so hard she thought it would explode soon. Even with that thought, Vivian didn't stop.
She kneaded her breast while her thumb circled her nipple. Her other hand slid her clitoris in between her first two fingers. Her speed increased until a moan escaped her mouth.
Vivian opened her eyes and sat up in the tub. By gods, she sounded like the people who frequented her parents' establishment. She didn't want to be anything like them, no matter how good touching herself felt.
She had to get her mind straight. Her goal was to get her life back. She would have to start over without her parents. Vivian curled her legs up to her chest and she hugged the duo. As silently as she could, she wept while resting her forehead on her knees.
She would have to start over without them. A small part of herself wished she could have died when they did.
Chapter Four
Vivian dried herself but realized very quickly that all of the new clothes Noah had offered her sat outside of the bathroom door. She wrapped the towel around her body as tightly as she could before opening the door.
As she remembered, the large green bag sat in front of her. When she went toward it, Noah came around the corner and blocked her. Thankfully her wet hair covered her face so that he couldn't see her surprised expression.
"Dinner is—" He stopped and stared at her.
The look almost made her want to drop her towel and jump right into Noah's arms, a strange reaction considering she didn't know the man and she'd never had sex before, not that she could remember.
"Um, I forgot to take some clothes in with me." Instead of diving through the bag to find a suitable selection, Vivian grabbed the first garment that sat on top of the pile. "I'll be out in a minute." She closed the door behind herself and exhaled.
Yes, after tonight, she would need to find another place to stay. Cohabitating with the quiet doctor made everything inside of her body scream.
Vivian held up the dark piece of clothing that she grabbed. "Oh, no."
She had picked up a dress. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the dress had a low-cut front to offer lots of cleavage, and was short. Staring at the risqué clothing had Vivian questioning why Dr. Noah would have this. Was it his or did it belong to someone else?
"Vivian?" he called through the door.
She dropped her towel and slipped on the dress. "Coming." She tried tugging the top portion together as much as she could, pulling down the hemline as far as it would go. Neither tactic helped.
When she opened the door again, she didn't see Noah, which relieved her. Vivian padded to the kitchen where she found him sitting at the table. When he saw her wearing the item she likened to the workers at her parents' business, Noah did something she didn't think he would do: he stood.
The gentlemanly gesture pulled a smile at the corner of her
mouth. Vivian sat down and hoped dinner would go quickly.
* * * *
It had been years since Noah had seen Mona's old dress. He remembered vividly the first time Mona wore it. She had had it on the night he proposed to her. They were supposed to have a long, happy life together until the war happened.
Between Vivian digging up Noah's picture of him and Mona, and now seeing her in Mona's old dress, he knew this would be the roughest night of his life. He would need a double dose of Kicker just to get through.
"Dig in. Help yourself." Noah grabbed a bowl of rice and scooped out a mound.
Vivian scanned the selection and smiled. "You have so much. And you have meat." She stared at him. "You're very important, aren't you?"
Noah shook his head. "I'm just a government worker."
"No, you're more than that. You have your own apartment on the moon. The washer and dryer. Now all of this food. I don't know a lot, but I do know that most moon inhabitants don't get luxuries like these."
Noah shrugged.
Vivian leaned forward. "Thank you."
Noah glanced up. The only thing he managed to catch behind her hair was a smile. He sighed in relief knowing that he had pleased her.
"Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm a High Commander or anything. I'm sure if you had been interviewed by any of the other scientists in my group, they would have done the same thing." He scooped some food into his mouth. "By the way, thank you for cleaning my place. It's been a long time since I've seen the floor."
They both laughed.
"I could tell." Vivian took a bite of food and moaned. "So good. It's nice to eat real food instead of that processed mess that they've been giving to me and the cyborgs in the cells."
"I'm sure." Noah wanted to say something else but the only thing that crossed his mind was about Vivian in that dress. "You look nice in what you're wearing."
Vivian smoothed her hand down her curvy body. Just seeing the motion started Noah's penis pulsating. He hadn't felt that sensation in a long time. He moved closer to the table as though Vivian could see his burgeoning erection.
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