Page 12 of A Mate For Matrix (Cyborg Protection Unit #1)

Chapter Nine

F rom the shadows of the screen door, Matrix watched Jana move—easy, natural, confident. A crooked smile tugged at his lips as she sang—slightly off-key and utterly enchanting.

He didn’t know what she was preparing for their meal, but it made his mouth water. He drew in a deep appreciative breath.

He reached down and pulled the door open. Jana turned the moment she heard him. Her lips parted, and her eyes widened. He wasn’t sure if her wide-eyed look was surprise at seeing him dirt-free—or just surprise that he came back at all.

“Do you need assistance?” he asked, his voice rougher than he intended.

“What? Oh… Um, not really,” she replied with a bemused smile. “The kitchen isn’t all that big, and more than one person makes it hard to maneuver. It’s perfect for just the kittens and me. You can have a seat at the table. Just need to grab drinks—choices are limited, sorry!”

Matrix’s fingers curled into fists as he forced himself to stay put when her voice grew muffled as she bent to look in the box set against the wall. His gaze remained fixed on her rounded ass. Swallowing, he fought the urge to groan and step up behind her.

“I don’t require a drink,” he finally said.

“Oh, I have a beer! Christel brought some over the last time she came to visit so we could make some bratwurst. They taste even better if you cook them in beer. We didn’t use it all. I… Would you like it? I don’t drink. Cheap drunk, you know. One beer and I would do a face plant into my plate.”

Matrix’s lips twitched at the hopeful, yet uncertain expression in Jana’s eyes. He nodded. Her expression changed almost immediately to joy. The second thing about Jana Dixon—she wore her heart on her sleeve.

“I will remember that in the future,” Matrix stated, almost biting his tongue when the words slipped out. “I’m hungry.”

“Have a seat,” Jana said, waving her hand at the table.

“I’ll just open this for you. Where is Linguine—I mean K-Nine?

It will take me a couple of days to get his name down.

I had already started thinking of him as Linguine.

I still can’t get over him being able to talk!

I mean, how cool is that? What’s it like to travel in space?

I’ve watched the Discovery Channel. They have programs about space on it all the time.

” She paused as she slipped onto the chair across from him.

She placed a clear glass with the golden liquid in front of him before sitting back.

“I talk too much, especially when I’m nervous,” she admitted in a quiet voice.

“You have no reason to be nervous. We are not here for you,” Matrix replied, almost wincing when he realized that statement wasn’t quite true anymore. “What is this name—Linguine?”

Jana began filling her plate after offering him some of the chicken and pasta dish.

“I love to eat and have a tendency to name things after the foods I like the most,” she explained with a grin, handing Matrix the fresh steamed broccoli.

“I was having the worst craving for biscuits with butter and hot honey buns fresh from the bakery downtown the morning I found the kittens. It broke my heart to know that someone had ripped them away from their mother like that. They had tied them up in a pillowcase and left them on the steps of Doc Wilson’s office where I work.

Only my three survived. No one wanted them, and the nearest humane society is over an hour away.

I had the room and the experience to care for them, so I adopted them. ”

Matrix spooned a small portion of the green plant onto his plate. He picked it up and sniffed it before he bit into the soft texture. His eyes widened with surprise at the taste, and he quickly added more to his plate.

“K-Nine is securing the area,” Matrix said between mouthfuls of the delicious food.

“Sometimes it is very annoying that he can talk, but it is necessary. All Cyborg Protection Unit team members have that capability. We need to communicate with each other. Their advanced system gives us valuable data. It was more cost-effective to combine the natural talents of the animals with the technology of cybernetics. To answer your other question, I have not thought much about traveling through space. It has always been a part of my life. It can become very cool if the environmental system is not functioning correctly.”

Jana laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t mean cool as in being cold. It is a slang term for being neat, awesome, different, fun,” she explained. “You really are an alien, aren’t you?” she asked in a somber tone.

The fork in Matrix’s hand paused near his mouth. He slowly lowered it to his plate and stared at Jana. Once again, he could feel the pull of his attraction to her. There was something about her that affected him on a primitive level.

“Yes, Jana Dixon, I am an alien,” Matrix replied, studying her face carefully for her reaction.

“That’s pretty cool,” she murmured, flushing and lowering her head. “I’m glad you didn’t kill me.”

Matrix chuckled softly and picked up his fork again. “I am, too. I have never eaten anything that tastes this delicious before,” he replied, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “I would have hated to miss it.”

Jana’s head jerked up, one eyebrow arched in playful warning. “Yeah, well, wait until you try the dessert I made,” she retorted with a grin of her own.

“I look forward to trying it,” Matrix stated, eyeing her as if she was the dessert.

“Oh!” Jana murmured, her eyes widening.

Jana wiped down the last of the counter in the kitchen before drying her hands on the dish towel hanging from the handle of the oven.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she walked through the living room and opened the front door.

She stepped out onto the porch. Her gaze ran lovingly over the assortment of colorful pots she had painted and filled with a wide variety of annuals.

She frowned when she saw that the one at the far end was missing.

Walking over to the end of the covered porch, she saw that the banister was cracked clean through.

She glanced over the edge. She sighed when she saw the remains of the pot and the flowers lying on the ground.

It took a minute before the pieces of the puzzle came together.

“Oh, my,” Jana whispered. “That’s why you were covered in potting soil.”

“Yes. I thought you had purposely constructed this hazard,” Matrix stated, walking up the front steps. “I thought it was an ambush.”

“Only if you count the petunias as weapons.”

“They were extremely hazardous—especially the worm you had hidden in the soil,” he teased.

Jana lips parted with longing when he stepped closer. She started to push her hair away from her eyes when the breeze blew it, but Matrix was already doing it for her. Her breath hiccupped as she stared up at him.

“This is…” Matrix started to say when he stopped.

“Just like in my books,” Jana finished in a barely audible whisper. “I thought it was all made up.”

“What was made up?” Matrix asked in a deep voice, running his fingers down along her cheek.

Jana’s lips twitched. “ ’The heat was pooling down low between her legs, and her pulse raced as he stepped closer.’ That she would want him to kiss her, even though they had just met,” she murmured, thinking of some lines from the books she’d read.

“I think I can make it come true,” he muttered, taking a step closer and threading his fingers through her shoulder-length hair. “I will have to do more than just kiss you to relieve the heat that is pooling low between your legs, though.”

“Holy—” Jana’s shocked exclamation was cut off when he pulled her forward and covered her lips with his.

Fireworks exploded in her brain, and she clung to his broad shoulders when he deepened the kiss. The books she’d read might have talked about this, but it was nothing compared to what it felt like. Her body was on fire!

Jana’s lips parted, and she eagerly wrapped her arms around Matrix’s neck.

A sense of excitement burst through her when he released a soft moan and ran his hands down her side and over her hips.

A responding whimper escaped her, and she pressed against him.

There were some things a guy couldn’t fake, and Matrix was definitely not immune to her either, going by the state of his cock pressed against her.

She gasped when his hands slid a little lower and he cupped the rounded curve of her ass. For a moment, all of her self-consciousness flooded her. Would he think her fat? Was he one of those stupid guys who didn’t appreciate a woman with some curves? Her fear rose when he broke their kiss.

“I swear, Jana, I could never get enough of holding you,” Matrix muttered as he brushed a line of kisses along the curve of her jaw before returning to capture her lips again.

Joy and a sense of triumph coursed through Jana. Finally, a guy who understood that a woman with some extra curves was a good thing. Her fingers tangled in his hair, and she deepened the kiss that he had started.

His kiss wasn’t hesitant—it was claiming, fierce, a promise wrapped in heat. Her knees nearly buckled, and for once, she didn’t care if she fell… as long as he was the one catching her.

This is way better than any book boyfriend dream, she thought as she lost herself to the heat.