Page 97 of Dustwalker

She looked into his eye, her eyebrows falling. He still had to ask that? “What do you fucking mean, why?” The bed creaked as she scrubbed his torso, careful to avoid the holes where the shrapnel had penetrated.

“I’m a bot.”

Throwing the cloth aside, Lara hit him. Her fist connected with one of his chest plates, and she hissed, knuckles throbbing.

Ronin gently took her hand in his and turned it to see the drop of blood welling on her middle knuckle. His lip-plates drooped.

“Because of this!” She pulled her hand from his, leaned forward, and cradled his face. “Because you care, Ronin. You care for me, and I wouldn’t have waited here if I didn’t care for you, too.”

“After all the things my kind has done to you…to all humans…”

“You aren’t your kind, Ronin.” Sitting back on his thighs, Lara slid her hands down to the center of his chest. “You’re unique. I’m almost convinced you have a heart in there. But you prove feelings don’t come from there, anyway. I’ve known plenty of people who have hearts and don’t feel anything half as strongly as you do.”

He placed his hands over hers. “I feel.”

“So do I. For you.” She slipped one hand free and trailed it lower, over the ridges of his abdomen. “Whether you’re metal”—her fingertips teased the edges of his skin at his pelvis—“or flesh.”

She dropped her gaze. His cock was swelling in his pants. It was amazing to her how similar that part of his anatomy was to a human’s, how it responded so naturally to her touch.

Taking hold of the hem of her shirt, she drew it up and over herhead, tossing it aside. Cool air touched her bare skin, and she caught the look of desire in Ronin’s eye as he looked upon her naked body.

She grasped the top button of his pants, but he quickly stopped her with his hand.

There was hesitance in his expression. Insecurity. But he said nothing, and he didn’t resist when she moved his arm aside.

“Let me.” Unfastening his pants, she drew them down. His cock sprang free, thick and long. She wrapped her fingers around it. “Do you feelthis?”

Ronin’s lip plates parted, and his brow fell. He nodded and ran his warm, solid metal palms over her knees.

Without breaking eye contact, she stroked her fist along his length, and he hardened further within the cage of her fingers. That deep ache blossomed low in her belly. It was different than the ache in her heart—it was needy, pulsing, hungry. But the cure for both was the same.

Ronin. He could fill that space perfectly, could soothe all her pain and discomfort, ease her sorrow. And she would do the same for him.

If he wouldn’t listen to her, if hecouldn’t, she would show him.

They belonged to each other. That was all that mattered. It wasn’t about their parts, it was about what they chose to do with the lives they had. How they chose to live…how they chose to love. And even in his darkest moments, even when he most doubted himself, she would be here for him. That was her choice. That was what she wanted.

Him.

Lara rose on her knees, positioning herself over him, and guided the head of his cock to her center. Slowly, she lowered herself, taking him into her body inch by delicious inch, loving the way he stretched her and filled that gnawing ache.

His hands moved to her ass, fingers digging into her flesh. “Lara…”

“Do you feel this?” she repeated breathlessly, leaning forward to press her palms to the warm plates of his chest. Her hair cascaded around her head.

“I feelyou.” Ronin’s voice was gravelly and whisper soft.

His touch and the huskiness of his words coaxed moisture from her, easing his entry as she lifted and dropped her hips, taking his cock deeper. Lara pressed her fingertips against his chest. The slide of his shaft sent ripples of pleasure through her that lashed her core with sweet, tantalizing heat, feeding the flames there. That fire licked at her every nerve, stoking her pleasure higher and higher.

She resisted the urge to close her eyes and kept her gaze locked with his, dipping her head until their lips were a breath apart. “Do you really feel me?”

Ronin cupped the nape of her neck. “All of you, Lara.”

“Do you feel how hot I am? How wet I am, for you?”

“I do” he said, moving his pelvis in time with hers.

“I see this. I see you.” She brushed her lips over his. “And I want you.”