“Yes, how did you know?”
Braden tapped his nose. “I smell you all wet, and I smell Shareem on you too. What happened?”
Katarina told him a heartbreaking story of Calder visiting, pleasuring her and then abruptly leaving. She wasn’t specific about the pleasuring, but Braden had a good imagination.
“Want me to talk to him?” Braden offered.
He knew he could never understand all that Calder had gone through, but Braden grew suddenly angry with him. The man tried too hard to push everyone away. He continually tried to push Braden away, and Braden would laugh but give him space for a while. Calder needed friends.
“No,” Katarina answered. “What I want is to forget about him.”
Braden reached for her hand. “I’ve offered to help you do that.”
She shook her head. “As mad as I am at Calder, he’s right about a couple of things.
One, I have no business wanting to have intercourse with a Shareem, and two, you flit from woman to woman without thought.”
“He said that?” Braden asked, stung, then he had to swallow his pride. “It’s true that I don’t have a history of being a one-woman guy. And if you’re still a virgin, I
might hurt you without meaning to. Level threes get rough. We don’t know how
not
to be.”
Her blush told him she didn’t find that as frightening as she should. “I never even wanted intercourse with a human. I never wanted to marry.”
“Never? Highborn women are supposed to pick out men with good genetic histories and make more highborn babies.”
Pain entered her eyes. “Maybe I mean I never met a man I
wanted
to marry. I want more than what I see my friends have. Their husbands spend all their money and hang around like lap dogs.”
Braden had a swift vision of pale, wimpy highborn men in collars curled up on cushions, whining. He burst out laughing.
“You’d rather have a Shareem on your leash, would you, sweetie?”
“I shouldn’t have anyone at all. The only reason I’m interested in Shareem is to make sure they’re treated well at the clinic.” Her eyes widened and she glanced at the digital readout on the wall. “Oh crud, I’m supposed to be at the clinic in ten minutes.”
She jumped to her feet and rushed to her room for her robes.
“It’s the middle of the night,” Braden pointed out when she emerged.
“I have the night shift this week. People get sick around the clock.” She threw on the robes and veil, masking her pretty body and face. “I’ll try not to make too much noise when I come back.”
Braden got himself out of the chair. “You’re not walking to the clinic by yourself,”
he said. “This isn’t the safest neighborhood.”
She gave him a startled look over her veil but didn’t argue.
They didn’t speak much as they walked the few blocks to the clinic. Braden gave her a tight hug before he left her at the door then made his way back to Judith’s bar.
“Rees,” he sang out as he moved through the crowd. “Just the Shareem I want to see.” He slid into the seat opposite Rees and winked at Talan. “You still good at messing up computers, my friend?”
Rees gave him a nod. “I keep my hand in.”
At DNAmo, Rees had driven his creators crazy by futzing computers and frying door locks and surveillance equipment, turning the tables on the researchers who tried to contain and monitor him. Sometimes the researchers would find themselves at his mercy, and didn’t that scare the shit out of them?
“Calder has a pretty sophisticated system,” Braden said. “I want to break into it.”
He winked. “I want to do a friend a favor.”
Rees said nothing, but Talan gave him a big smile. She was beautiful, and Rees was one lucky bastard.
“Yes,” Talan said. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Chapter Nine
Katarina yawned, her shift almost over. She started sterilizing and stowing her equipment to be ready for the next medic and the next patient.
She heard the night receptionist say in panic, “You can’t go in there,” right before the door to the exam room slammed open and Calder stormed inside.
Katarina masked her gladness to see him. “You know she can call the patrollers and have you arrested.”
“Tell her not to.”
He was muffled to his eyeballs as before, the facecloth cutting out everything but his hard blue eyes. No wonder the receptionist sounded terrified.
Katarina ducked past him. “It’s all right. He’s here for me.”
The receptionist gave her a startled look. “Are you sure, my lady? The patrollers can be here in a few minutes.”
Katarina knew there was a button under the receptionist’s desk that rang the patrol station at the end of the block. Because the clinic was open all night and dealt with the lowest of the low, sometimes it was necessary.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry.” Katarina went back into the exam room, closed the door and glared at Calder. “It is fine, right? What are you doing here?”
“Whose idea was it? Yours or Braden’s?”
“Since I don’t know what you’re talking about, I can’t tell you.”
Her heart beat swiftly, adrenaline mixed with need. She was thrilled that Calder had come to her, angry that he shouted at her, worried about what was wrong.
Calder’s eyes blazed. “The entire database. Wiped. Clients past and future. Gone.”
Katarina’s mouth dropped open. “Database?”
“My client database,” Calder said, annunciating every word. “It’s been sabotaged.
Every name gone, and all the backups conveniently erased.”
Katarina fought the impulse to smile in joy. “You mean the list of women who like to be pleasured by you?”
“Yes. Did you do it? Don’t lie to me.”
Katarina placed her sterilized hypos carefully back into their slots. “I’m good with the human body and how to fix it, very bad with computers. I can use them, but I can’t change them or tamper with them. I don’t know how.”
“You could always find someone to do it for you.”
“I could have, but it never occurred to me.” She pushed the tray of hypos back into the wall. “I wish it had.”
“Why? So you could screw me over?”
“Because you were right. I
am
jealous of those women who come to you, and I
do
want to scratch their eyes out.”
“So you did it by erasing the database.”
“I didn’t. I’m happy someone else did, but I didn’t ask them to. I’ve been here all night, examining patients.”
Calder eased back from her. His huge fists were clenched, his eyes filled with fury.
Katarina had the feeling that if the scientists who thought they’d programmed all emotion out of Shareem could see Calder now, they’d be hiding under the nearest table.
“Braden did this,” he said.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen Braden since I got here tonight. He didn’t mention running off to wipe your database.”
“Why did you move in with him?”
Katarina went to the sterilizer and let its warm beam flow over her hands. “I felt safer living down here with him. Plus I wanted to see if you’d be jealous.”
When she turned around, Calder was still staring at her, but now he looked more stunned than angry.
“Shareem don’t get jealous,” he said.
“Or angry or hurt or depressed. Sorry, I’ve seen all those emotions in Shareem since I started working here. Try another tactic.”
“Shareem don’t get jealous,” he repeated in a stubborn voice. “We don’t because we don’t care about sex. We need sex to survive. We don’t much care what woman we have it with or whether we share her with others.”
Katarina looked into the small mirror to straighten her veil. “Sure, Calder. What about Brianne and Aiden and Ky? They care deeply for each other. And Talan and Rees?” She cocked her head. “Do Brianne and Aiden and Ky have sex together at the same time? Or do they take turns or…”
Calder seized her wrist. “Come home with me.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“If you want me so much, come home with me now. I’ll show you why you don’t want to be with me.”
Katarina was glad of her veil because it hid the way her lips trembled. “If you drag me out of here, the receptionist really will call the patrollers.”
Calder let her go. She almost whimpered at the loss of his strength.
“It’s your choice. Come with me now and you’ll learn everything. Or stay and never seek me again.”
Heat flared through her. She wasn’t certain exactly what he meant to teach her and how, but she knew she’d hate herself forever if she didn’t accept his offer.
“All right,” she said softly. “Just let me sign out.”
*
She was too damn trusting. Calder would have to cure her of that too.
He took her back to his compound—to his apartment, not the lair. This time it wouldn’t be a fantasy in his exotic playground. This would be real. She’d learn the reality of Calder.
Calder towed her into his small bedroom and slid open the panels to reveal the mirrors. “Strip. Let’s get this over with.”
Katarina paused in the act of unwrapping her veils. “
Get this over with
? Don’t stint with the flattery, Calder.”
“I have a hard-on bigger than a tent pole from watching your sweet ass swaying through the streets. I want to fuck you now. So strip.”
Her hand trembled as she reached for the veils again. “You couldn’t have seen my backside through my sun robes, you know.”
“I remember it, all round and pert and begging for my hand. Strip now.”
Her mouth set. “You are the most arrogant male I’ve ever met.”
“And you are the most stubborn female. You want me. Here we are in my bedroom.
Decide what you’re going to do.”
Katarina pulled off her robes then stopped at the clasp of her tunic. “Why aren’t you stripping?”
“I will, if you hurry. Or I might just get bored and leave.” He turned around.
“All right,” she said hastily.
Katarina yanked open her tunic and let it drop to the floor. She wore plainer clothes now, and fewer of them, having settled into her role as medic in a backstreet clinic. No need for elaborate garb in the slums of Pas City.
Katarina’s leggings followed, then her thin underwear. At last she stood before him, lovely and naked.
Dear gods.
He could stand here all night and drink her in, if his body would let him. Katarina was simply beautiful, her beauty like a lance straight through his heart. She was an artwork but a hundred times better, because she was real.
Katarina hadn’t tried to make herself artificially slim like some highborn women, thank the gods. She was a small woman, but her breasts hung firm and round under strong shoulders, her waist a smooth curve above her hips. Calder had seen her naked in the lair, but that had been under muted lighting and deep shadows. Here his harsh, utilitarian lights showed every curve, every line, every soft crease.
The rosy tips of her breasts tightened to dark points under his scrutiny. He’d seen the areolas through her drenched undertunic in his lair, the nipples firmly poking the fabric. At the time, Calder had wanted to take a bud between his teeth, feeling the little point through the silk.
Her legs weren’t long, but they were shapely, strong. He imagined them wrapped around his neck.
Calder resisted the urge to go down on one knee and lick her from thigh to abdomen, stopping at the beautiful pussy in between. The beautiful
bare
pussy in between.
“You shaved,” Calder said, putting one finger on it. “You’d better not tell me Braden did it for you.”
She shook her head. “I went to a highborn ladies’ clinic and had them use a depilatory. I told them I needed it done for health reasons.”
“Health reasons?”
“Because I work in a slum clinic. They bought it.”
Calder stroked again, loving the bare, pink clit and lips. He leaned down and pressed a brief kiss to them. Her scent was heady, making his cock rise even more.
“Why did you really do it?”
She shrugged. “Brianne told me that Aiden and Ky like her bare. She suggested the clinic—if I couldn’t get you to do it for me.”
“You didn’t ask me.”
“When did I have the chance?”
She had a point. His lady was getting used to Shareem, not afraid to take advice from their ladies, not afraid of her own body.
“Do you shave yourself?” she asked.
“No.” But then he didn’t need to. His hair had never grown back after the accident.
The fact that he had hair on his head had been due to Dr. Laas’ miraculous techniques.
She’d apparently seen no reason to put it back on his scrotum. Calder supposed she liked her men bare too.
“Show me?” Katarina lay down on his bed. The plain sheets looked so much better with her on them. Her honey brown hair trickled across his pillows and her dark nipples beckoned him.
Katarina parted her legs and slid her hand down to cup her bare pussy. “Please,”
she whispered.
Calder hesitated then he drew on his anger to see him through.
She asked for it.
Now
she’ll get it. Be careful what you wish for, sweetie.
He unfastened his leather tunic and leggings, pulling them off before he could think about what he was doing. Katarina’s eyes stilled as Calder’s clothes came off, until he stood naked before her.
Nothing between himself and her. No barrier, no shield. Calder—what he truly looked like.
He spread his arms. “Behold The Beast.”
“Calder.” The word was soft. It didn’t throb with disgust, but he did hear the pity.
“Oh Calder, what happened to you?”
“Plasma fire. Not pretty.”
“How?” Katarina sat up and clasped her arms around her knees, shutting herself off from him again. “None of your friends will tell me what happened.”
Damn them.
Calder didn’t like them talking about it but now he wished they’d spilled the tale, because he didn’t want to. It hurt too much to remember, and he didn’t want to see Katarina’s face when she heard the story.
“I’d rather fuck,” he said.
“I want to know.”
Damn her, damn his friends, damn the whole rack of scientists at DNAmo. They’d not only burned him—the entire stupid fire accident had been their fault—but now he had to stand here and relate his pain to this woman instead of burying himself in her and forgetting. His hatred of DNAmo moved up a notch.