Studenstein (Love-Bots, Book Two) by Daisy Harris Page B

bare skin. His touch was firm and cool.
    “But I know some of the people around here are doing illegal stuff. Maybe Frank didn’t hear about this one. My God, the girls could have been here for ages. It’s been ten years since we uncovered the last one.”
    He grabbed her face between his hands, forced her to look him in the eyes. “Look at me!”
    She pressed her eyes closed, her breaths rushing in and out so fast she thought she might faint. But Shani forced her gaze to his. “I…” Her voice shook when she tried to talk, so Shani swallowed and forced a slower breath through her nose.
    Royce stroked a thumb across her cheekbone, and then her jaw. “You’re okay.” When she shook her head, he brushed a thumb across her lips. “You’re fine. And you’re with me,” he breathed right before slanting his lips across hers. She would have thought it would make her frightened, being held and kissed. But instead, the taste of him grounded her.
    Royce wasn’t hard or rough, he neither struggled nor pushed. Instead, he brushed his lips across hers. His mouth felt soft, and moved slow and sweet as molasses on her lips.
    “I’m okay.” She pulled back a fraction, trying to catch her breath.
    Royce wove his fingers with hers. “Yeah…” Shani could have sworn he was blushing. “This area’s infamous for drugs, and I wouldn’t put it past anyone around here to turn a blind eye on certain things. But the Department of Heath scared the bejeezus out of those lifers—telling them unregistered steins carried syphilis.” His lip twitched. “And corpse-herpes.”
    She snorted, a damp laugh she couldn’t control shooting out her nose. The syphilis part was true. The 2042 outbreak alone had been enough to scare most people off having sex with illegal love-bots. “Yeah, I know I wouldn’t want to catch corpse-herpes.” Not that steins could catch herpes, or anything else. The problem wasn’t the steins, it was the lifers. Steins didn’t get sick unless they were programmed to, but they could pass diseases between humans.
    “Corpse-herpes is almost as bad as corpse-cooties.” Royce was grinning now, though she saw the lines of tension around his mouth.
    She did her best to smile back. “Well, as long as you don’t give me your corpse-cooties…” Shani unlocked her door. “Let’s get you taken care of.”
    He hopped out his side of the van. Shani reached for her door, but found him opening it, a pale hand lifted to catch her dark one. She felt like a princess descending her throne. A zombie princess, getting ready to fuck a guy in the ass in the kingdom of a crappy motel room. Oh well, Shani thought, she’d take what she could get.
    “Check-in’s over there.” Royce led the way across the cracked and weed-infested parking lot until they reached the office. Wood panel lined the room. Behind the plywood counter, a man with thin blond hair typed on an outdated keyboard. A threadbare orange curtain hung behind him, obscuring the view to a darker space beyond.
    Royce entered ahead of Shani, carefully blocking her from view.
    “Can I help—” The motel owner lifted his head and did a double take. “I’m sorry. We don’t…” He shuffled some papers nervously, determined not to really see them. “We don’t do that kind of thing anymore.”
    Royce approached the desk with a calm smile on his face. Shani knew she’d never be able to copy that easy manner no matter how many times she practiced.
    “It’s not like that. We’re not working for anyone.” Royce pressed his hands into his sweatpants pockets and rocked backward on his heels like your typical zombie-next-door.
    The hotel guy took a step back and grabbed for the phone.
    “I mean…” Royce spoke again, this time a little more desperate. “We work for someone, but we’re between jobs and they said we could have a day off.”
    Shani closed her eyes in frustration. How could Royce not realize how stupid that sounded?
    “So, folks like you get