Page 92 of The Mech Who Loved Me
Kincaid released a heavy breath and lethergo.
"I'm fine," she said, frowning in confusion, as though she'd sensed some part of his inner turmoil. "My chest still aches a little, but every hour I can feel the weight in my lungs easing. At least there's one good thing about the craving virus... it heals veryquickly."
One good thing....He'd have never even thought it before, but he could admit it now. And he knew she was making a point to him, one he couldn'taccept.
Can't you?He'd deliberately not vaccinated himself, after all, and though he'd told her it had to do with a fear of needles, he'd beenlying.
"What have you been doing down here? What are you making?" Ava stepped around him, gaping at the steel mech-suit. "Is it aCyclops?"
The enormous Cyclops had been used to thwart the mechanical army the prince consort used to protect himself during therevolution.
"Not a Cyclops," Kincaid muttered, swinging under the arm of the suit and prying open the electrical panel on the back. "Though it's inspired by one of them." He tugged a few wires loose, examining the circuit board. Something still wasn't right in the boiler, and he set his mind to the problem of working out what. "I call it the Achilles, an invincible exosuit I can fit inside. It's smaller than a Cyclops, and designed to protect a human's vulnerable points, while also packing power behind any movements. The idea is that wearing this means I can jump off a building and land without busting a kneecap, or punch my way through a brick wall. Jack's been working on it with me in hissparetime."
There was a moment ofsilence.
He turned to find Ava peering at him with big eyes. "You'd be as strong as a blue blood," she said softly, seeing straight to the heart of thematter.
"Not as fast though," he muttered, finding the loose wire in the circuit that was currently thwarting him. Aha. "Not until I can get the pistons in the leg armor workingbetter."
"You do realize Achilles had one majorvulnerability?"
Kincaid knelt and patted the steel boots he'd fit his foot inside. "As you can see, no issues with theheelhere."
"I didn't know you had an interest in mechanical... creations." Ava knelt beside him, stroking a curious finger down the slick spar that bound the thigh armor to the shinguard.
"I spent ten years in the enclaves," he replied, looking down at her gilded blonde curls. Jaysus. If she turned her head, she'd catch an eyeful of his hardening cock. "That's what my sentence was to repay the cost ofmyhand."
"How'd youloseit?"
Ava looked up, and Kincaid had the sudden urge to grab a fistful of her hair and haul her toward his aching cock. He could suddenly picture her on her knees, her hands on his thighs as he undid his belt, her lips parting to swallow his cockwhole....
Not going there. Not at this moment. Gemma's words had undone him. Kincaid scowled, and slammed the electrical panel shut, pinching his finger in the process. Thinking about his hand deflated his cock. He could almost feel his nonexistent fingers tingling. "I was an apprentice mech-maker when I was fifteen. The older lads thought it'd be funny to hold my hand close to a threshing machine and turniton."
Her face drained of color. "Itdidn't—"
"It did." He stepped back from the mech-suit, wiping his hands clean on a rag. "Nearly killed me, what with the shock and blood loss, and then the surgeon removing what was left. My brother nursed me through the fever, then went to the enclaves to barter for a replacement." Kincaid looked down, clenching the rag in his fist. Bloody William. Always trying to play the knight in shining armor. "He served two years in that hellhole while I recovered and learned to use the bloody thing. Then I took over the debt, and took his place. His health wasn't.... He should never have beenthere."
"I'm so sorry. They say they were horribleplaces."
"Aye." No denying that. "But I'll be honest and admit I made something of myself there. I've got a gift for mechanics. Wires, and steel and cogs... it all makes a certain sort of sense to me. I've always been good with my hands and I worked my way up to overseer. Gave me a chance to get in on the action when the humanist cause first started rearing its head among the downtrodden classes. The Duchess of Casavian gave me the designs for the Cyclops, and the mechs in my enclave created them, right beneath the noses of the blue blood lords who owned shares in theplace."
"What do you intend to do with the Achilles?" she murmured, glancing up at him from beneath herlashes.
"Punch adhampirin the teeth," he told her, "and hopefully survive. I haven't tested it yet, but it's better thannothing."
"You think we're going to come face-to-face with thedhampiragain?"
He exhaled slowly. "One of them tried to kill you. It happened for a reason, and I think that reason is because we've discovered their precious poison. So yes. I expect we'll see themagain."
Ava shifted, and he realized she meant to stand. Reaching down, he caught her bare fingers and hauled her to her feet. Ava balanced on the tips of her toes, trying not to fall against him, but to no avail. When she tried to take her fingers back from him, heresisted.
Hewantedher.
And shewantedhim.
It was painted across her face, displayed in the slight catch of breath that swelled her breasts. Ava was a picture of restraint, as hesitant as a hunted doe, and yet the look she gave him betrayed hercuriosity.
And fuck the future. Fuck, Gemma. Fuck allofthem.
