Page 37 of Her Cyborg Commander
“Engaged,” the AI stated before lapsing into silence.
“Now, let’s get you off your poor feet,” he said. Before she could protest, he caught her by the hips and lifted her onto a small stretch of counter beside the sink.
“Stay,” he told her, grinning as he leaned in to kiss her lightly on the mouth.
She nodded, faintly amused and somewhat embarrassed by this unexpected treatment. He turned on the shower, fiddlingwith the knobs until he was satisfied with the temperature. Then he pulled a towel from underneath the sink and soaked it in the warm water.
“I could rinse them off in the shower. That should get most of the sand and grit out.”
“We’ll get to that,” he said as he kneeled in front of her. “Let me take care of you.”
“Okay,” she said, aware of the warmth creeping up her cheeks.
He took one foot in his hands and wiped the dirt away with more care than she thought him capable of. Slowly and gently he cleaned each cut and abrasion, muttering darkly as he took in the damage she’d done. Bright spots stained the towel, but not as much as she’d expected.
“The medi-bots did a better job than I expected. I thought the dirt would slow the healing process.”
“It has, but I can clean this up enough the medi-bots can manage the rest.” He looked up at her, his ice-blue eyes filled with concern. “How’s the pain?”
“I haven’t dropped the nerve-block yet,” she admitted. “I got a little distracted by my very sexy nurse.”
“Your sexy nurse says it’s time. If it hurts too much, I’ll get you something to help, but you know we can’t keep those blocks in place for too long.”
“I know.” She braced herself for the discomfort and deactivated the block.
“How is it?”
“Not bad at all.” River wiggled her toes. “At this rate I’ll be healed up by morning. Does this mean I can take that shower now?”
“Not yet. Let me finish up.”
He went back to work, and again she was surprised by his gentleness. Even without the nerve-block, she never felt more than a brief bite of discomfort.
When he finished, he pulled open a small slot and dropped the towel inside. “Laundry chute,” he explained.
“Nice. Sevda put some serious money into upgrading this ship.”
“She did.” He held his arms out to her. “Come here, minx. I’ll carry you to the shower.”
It was less than a meter away, but she knew better than to argue with him right now. Once he had her, he turned and carried her over to the steady flow of gloriously hot water.
“I’d forgotten how nice it feels to have a proper shower. The one back at camp couldn’t manage more than a drizzle of warm water.”
“This is much better,” he agreed. “What about the shower at your place back home? Is it big enough for two?”
She laughed. “It is. Is that your way of asking if I’ll share my shower with you?”
“Maybe. I always liked the idea of having a place with a view of the river.”
“You could have picked one with a view. Why didn’t you?”
As they talked, the water poured over both of them, sluicing away the sand and sweat. The cuts on her feet stung a bit, but the water would finish cleaning the wounds and let them heal properly.
“Because I didn’t care which house I lived in. I didn’t think any of them would ever feel like a proper home. It would just be a safe place for me to rest. Why would I take one of the ones with a pretty view away from someone who would actually appreciate it?”
She cupped his cheek in her hand. “Because you deserve nice things, too. You don’t have to sacrifice everything for us, youknow. We want you to be happy, too. All of us. Not just the cyborgs but everyone who knows you.”
His eyes filled with a mix of confusion and longing. “Yeah?”
