“Of course it is, love.”
Declan cursed under his breath. It only took one daft redhead to muck up a perfectly good escape. He loped to her car and grabbed a purple suitcase, a small pink box, and a cushion that looked suspiciously like one from her sofa.
Reiver pulled up the van next to him, and Declan tossed her things through the door to his crew’s waiting hands. When he swung inside, he found Priss perched on Nate’s lap.
“I’ve decided we’re taking all of them with us,” she said, her smile beaming bright as a rainbow.
His crew grinned as he took his seat in front.
“Come here, Priscilla,” he said, through gritted teeth.
He watched her in the mirror. Her eyes widened, and then her brows lowered into a fierce scowl. “I’m perfectly comfortable.”
“Nate, if she’s not off your lap, and your hand’s not removed from her hip in two seconds, I’m going to kill you.”
Nate couldn’t shove her away fast enough.
Priscilla smoothed a hand over the back of her trousers and stepped between the seats. She took her own sweet time settling herself sideways on his lap. By the time she had arranged herself to her liking, his cock was stiff as a poker.
“What the hell are you wearing?” he asked, noticing for the first time the black, skin-tight trousers and high-necked pullover.
“It’s all I had that I could wear to hide in the shadows. We have to sneak aboard the ship when the sun sets.”
“You will on me ballocks!” he bellowed.
Priscilla winced. “Must you shout? I’m right here.”
Declan took a deep breath and started counting.
“Your face is turning red.”
“Ahem.” Reiver cleared his throat. “Now’s the time to keep quiet, Priss.”
She gave him a blistering glare. “I will on me b—”
“Priss!” Declan warned.
“All right.” She huffed out a breath. “I’m saving you from a fate worse than death, and this is all the thanks I get.”
“Saving me? I was saving myself and my crew until you nearly ended my life with your kamikaze driving.”
“But I wasn’t driving,” she said, between tight lips.
“Then who the hell was?”
“Agnes. I had her wired in.”
Declan felt a tic pulse at the corner of his eye.
Priscilla folded her hands in her lap and lifted her chin.
He laid his palm over her clasped hands and squeezed—a not too subtle warning for her to behave. “Now, you’ll tell me what this is all about.”
“I’m not saying another word.” She sniffed and turned her attention to the road in front of them.
“You will, love, or I’ll turn you over my knee.”
Her chin lifted higher, but her chest rose and fell more quickly.
Interesting.
He leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “I’ll spank your bare bottom in front of my whole crew if you don’t start talking now.”
She gave him a sharp glance. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me, sweetheart.” He smiled.
“I need Agnes,” she said.
“We aren’t going back for her.”
She nodded over her shoulder. “She’s right behind us.”
He looked toward the ceiling, praying for patience. “Which bag?”
“Agnes is in a bag?” Reiver asked, his expression aghast. “What did you do, love? Cut her into pieces?”
Declan glowered. “Which bloody bag?”
“The little pink one. It’s her carry case.”
“Nate, give her the damn bag.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Be careful with Agnes!” Priscilla shouted, reaching to accept the case.
Declan eyed the small box that looked like the ones women carried their makeup around in. Priscilla pushed a button on the side and panels lifted.
“Whew!” Agnes’s voice rang from the small speakers beneath the panels. “I see Priscilla caught up to you in time, smuggler.”
“What’s this about my ship?” Declan growled.
“I think I must have been damaged in transit.” She coughed. “I need to shut down temporarily to pull some maintenance.”
“Agnes! Out with it!”
“There’s no need to shout at her,” Priscilla said. “She’s only trying to help. Although now, I’m thinking I made a very big error in judgment. There’s no way I could love anything as stubborn and ornery as you!”
Declan grew still. “You love me, Priss?”
Priscilla’s eyes filled with tears.
“Shit!”
“Captain!” the entire crew shouted.
“Sorry,” he muttered. He cupped her cheek with his palm. “You only think you love me, Priss. I’m not the man for you.”
“I’m a grown woman,” she said, fierce anger in her eyes. “Don’t you dare tell me I don’t know my own mind. I’m sacrificing everything I own—everything I am for you.”
His thumb brushed across her lower lip. “And if I ask you to go home and forget me?”
Her eyes closed, and she kissed the ball of his thumb. “I won’t go,” she said, her voice breaking. She opened her eyes and tears escaped down her cheeks. “I can’t.”
He nodded and pulled her close to his chest. His heart was so full he feared speaking past the lump in his throat—at least while his crew was listening so intently. Best to wait to tell her later how he felt.
“Captain, the ship?” Reiver asked quietly.
Priscilla pushed away from his chest and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She twisted around to Reiver. “Agnes will tell you where to go.”
“I already did, hon,” Agnes said in a small voice.
Reiver’s eyebrows drew together. “That means it’s the same—”
Declan shook his head to silence Reiver. Agnes was up to something. She was taking them to The Maiden, the same ship she’d told Priscilla they were going to steal. He didn’t want Priss further upset by her game.
“What’s a Pleasure Bot?”
If his arms hadn’t been filled with Priss, Declan would have given Reiver a clout.
Priscilla turned rigid as a pillar, and her face drained of color. “I was kind of hoping that went right over your heads.”
“What’s the matter love?”
Priscilla’s eyes filled again. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Declan. You’re not smugglers.”
“We’re not?”
She nodded sadly. “You’re robots. You’ve been programmed with memories and individual personalities, and to think you’re real. I didn’t want you to ever know.”
Declan blinked. “Aa—gnes!” he said, between clenched teeth.
“Now, don’t go getting on your high horse with me, Decky. If you hadn’t broken into her house in the first place—”
“You broke into my house?” Priscilla’s face registered confusion.
Declan shrugged. “Yeah, I was on the run. I told you that.”
“But that was just part of the scenario Playthings built for you.”
“Agnes, what the hell kind of lies have you been feeding this girl?”
“Don’t be angry with her,” Priscilla said, color returning to her face with a vengeance.
“I’m not a bloody robot. Neither are my men. Tell her, Agnes.”
“Priss, hon. He’s telling the truth. Your Pleasure Bot wasn’t returned to the store. When Declan broke in, the situation presented itself…”
“You made up that story to save your own sorry ass!” Priscilla said, feeling like a fool. “You were afraid I’d reformat your hard drive. Agnes, how could you? You gave me to a total stranger!”
“I did what needed doing. I gave you your weekend of pleasure.”
“You manipulated me.” She glared at Declan. “You both did.” She struggled to get to her feet. “Stop this van. Stop it now. I want out!”
Declan tightened his ar
ms around her. “You’re not going anywhere. Reiver, get us to the ship. We’ll settle this once we’re aboard.”
“Aye, Captain! She thought we were Pleasure Bots!” His mouth quirked up at the corners. “I’ve been called a lot of things—”
“Reiver!”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Remind me to keelhaul you later.”
*
Priscilla wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them. She’d been locked in Declan’s cabin for what seemed hours while he and his crew had gone about their business sneaking their cargo aboard and preparing for launch.
Declan hadn’t said a word after he’d dumped her into Reiver’s arms with orders to sit on her if she tried to leave.
She wondered why he bothered. He couldn’t possibly want an idiot like her.
Priscilla heard a muffled shout and looked at the box on the bed beside her. She hadn’t opened Agnes’s panels. The traitor could stew in her own juices for a while. She’d ruined her life.
Agnes shouted again.
Priscilla sighed and reached over to push the button to raise the panels. “What do you want?”
“Plug me in.”
She shook her head, never mind Agnes couldn’t see her without her network of monitors. “You’re staying out of trouble. Haven’t you caused enough?”
“Poor baby. I give you a man you can love, and this is the thanks I get?”
“You tricked me. You were supposed to serve me.” The words sounded wrong. “I thought you were my friend,” she amended.
“I am, hon. Do you think I did it just to avoid a reboot?”
Priscilla didn’t bother answering.
“Look, if Declan had been another sort of man, I would have notified authorities the moment my sensors tripped. But he checked out, and he really did fit your profile.”
Priscilla grunted. “I never thought he fit my profile. But I trusted you to take care of me. Do you think I would have been attracted to him, let him have me so quickly, if I thought he was a real man? It was only because—”
“You thought you had all the control,” Agnes said. “You thought you purchased him—for one weekend only. On Sunday, if he had been the bot, you would have returned him and gone about your life as usual.”
Priscilla felt another frown coming on. “I don’t always have to be in control.”
“You know that now,” Agnes said softly. “And think, if Declan hadn’t been the real thing, you would never have fallen in love.”
Priscilla felt her face tighten. Damn! She was going to cry again. “Because I never intended to open my heart to someone? Is that what you’re saying?”
“You said it. Every time you’ve gotten a little serious, you cover all the bases—signatures on pre-cohabitational agreements, deposits on door keys, birth control—”
Priscilla’s head snapped up.
“You’re awful damn quiet. Tell me, you didn’t let your prescription lapse.”
“I didn’t think I needed it,” she said, already feeling nauseous. “Why didn’t you remind me? It’s your job to nag.” Priscilla banged her forehead on her knees. “Stupid!”
“I did remind you, but I can’t take you to the doctor’s office for your injection. And I hate to tell you this, you’re ovulating…”
Priscilla let go of her knees and scooted off the bed. It was hard to yell sitting down. “You know everything about me,” she railed at Agnes. “How could you not know I didn’t go?”
“You aren’t going to take any responsibility for your actions, are you? Is it my fault you didn’t bother to go to the doctor’s office? Is it my fault you aren’t happy now? Huh?”
“You’re absolutely right!” Priscilla paced in front of the bed. It felt good to shout—to hell with feeling sorry for herself. “I let myself become dependent on you—that’s entirely my fault!”
“That wasn’t exactly where I was going with this,” Agnes replied.
“Tough!” Priscilla strutted. Agnes had thought she could still bend her to her way of thinking. “I’m not going to let you manipulate me into going with another one of your crack-brained ideas.”
“I’m all out of schemes, hon. It’s up to you now. The one thing you have to ask yourself is do you still want Declan?”
“How the hell would I know? You’ve led me down the garden path to thinking I was falling in love.”
“And now you’re having doubts?”
“The man broke into my house!”
“So what’s a little B&E? You loved him when you thought he was bionic.”
“According to you, I loved him because he was bionic—and I was in control.”
“Don’t you owe it to yourself to find out if what you feel is real?”
Priscilla stopped her pacing. “What about him? He’s just found out my personal computer scammed us both. Don’t you think he might have some issues with that?”
“Maybe. But notice it isn’t stopping him from taking you with him.”
“He could just be waiting until the last minute to dump me on the tarmac so I don’t call the authorities.”
“Nope. We’re getting ready for take-off.”
“How can you tell? You’re not plugged in.”
“I can detect a change in vibration. The engines are already engaged.”
Hearing that, Priscilla relaxed a little. He really wasn’t planning to leave her behind. Even if he was still angry, now she had time to spend with him and find out if the love she felt was returned.
He hadn’t said the words. She needed them.
*
Declan paused outside his cabin door.
Remembering what Agnes had said about nudity breaking down barriers, he pulled his shirt over his head, toed off his boots, and shucked his breeches.
“It’s easy to see what’s on your mind,” Reiver said, leaning against the corridor wall, his gaze on Declan’s groin.
“I put you in charge of getting us out of here,” Declan said, narrowing his eyes at his erstwhile friend. “Why aren’t you on deck?”
“I forgot my motion sickness pills. Remember, takeoffs tend to make me vomit.” He waved a hand in his direction. “Is there a reason you’re taking off your clothing in the hallway rather than your cabin? Planning to surprise your girl?”
“Mind your own damn business,” Declan growled.
“If you want some advice—”
“From you? Who made you the expert?”
Reiver raised both hands in surrender. “Just an observation from someone with a little objectivity—she’s a little embarrassed by this whole thing—you know, thinking we were pleasure robots.” His mouth stretched wide, and he chuckled. At Declan’s glower, he put his hand over his face. When he pulled it away his mouth was in a straight line. “Sorry about that.” Then he snorted and turned his back. “Give me a minute,” he said, holding up his hand. His back shook with his laughter.
If Declan still had his clothes on, he would have jumped on him and given him one helluva thumping. But knowing his crew, they’d replay the incident over and over again. They were likely getting a good laugh as it was, watching the feed from the overhead monitors.
Finally, Reiver got himself under control and faced him again. “You have to admit,” he said, wiping tears from the sides of his eyes, “It’s pretty damn funny—anyone mistaking you for something a company would spend a lot of money developing.”
Declan started to think the months of replays might be worth it to wipe the smirk off Reiver’s face.
“Should tell you something about the girl you have in there,” Reiver said, his face growing serious. “She thought you were that special.”
Chapter Eleven
‡
Declan slapped his hand against the Identi-Lock, and his cabin door slid silently open. He stepped inside, his eyes widening at the sight that greeted him. Priscilla sat in the middle of his bed, her arms wrapped around her knees.
She was naked.
He
r mouth curved into a small, shy smile.
“I see Agnes told you a certain theory about nudity, too,” he said, his mouth going dry. He advanced further into his cabin, and the door behind him slid shut.
She set her chin on top of her knees. “You mean about nudity sweeping away barriers?” Her gaze swept over him, lingering over his rapidly rising manhood.
“She’s not completely stupid,” he replied. Not knowing how to proceed, he shifted on his feet. His first instinct was to crawl across his bed and on top of her, but they had a few things to get straight first.
Like whether she wanted to ride or take it from behind. Those were the only options he’d give her now. She’d sealed her fate. His cock wouldn’t let him cut The Maiden’s engines and set her on the ground.
No, his heart wouldn’t let her go.
She rubbed her cheek on her knee. “I’ve decided I’m going to seduce you into loving me.”
He stood still for a moment, relief draining away the tension that had knotted his arms and shoulders.
“I feel like an idiot, thinking you were a robot.” Her gaze locked with his, and her expression grew solemn.
He hoped like hell she wasn’t about to cry again.
He sat on the edge of the bed and laid his palm against her cheek. “It was a natural assumption, love” he said, his tone teasing. “After all, I was made just for you.”
Her face crumpled, and she launched herself against his chest. “I love you, Declan.”
His arms closed around her, and he released a deep sigh of satisfaction. Nothing he’d ever known felt as good as this. He pulled her across his lap and pressed her face against his bare shoulder. While his hands smoothed over her arms and hair, her tears wet his skin.
Eventually, she pulled away to look into his face. “What happens now?”
He raised a single eyebrow.
She slapped his shoulder. “I’m not talking about that.”
“That’s all I can think about for the moment,” he replied dryly. “Your soft bottom’s been rubbing my cock to distraction for the past five minutes.”
He was relieved when her face darkened with rising temper. “But I want to know now.”
The Pleasure Bot (Planet Desire Book 4) Page 11
