Free Melting Iron by Laurann Dohner Page A

could grab hold of her. His big body had cushioned her fall so she wasn’t hurt in the least as she rolled off him and got to her feet, spinning to face him as she backed up quickly.
    Iron lay on the floor not moving, his eyes closed. Dawn backed up almost into the foam cleansing room to put as much space between the two of them as possible. Her gaze fixed on the still cyborg , waiting for him to open his eyes and come after her. He stayed down as the seconds passed, his eyes remained closed, and the only movement was the rise and fall of his chest.
    “Damn it, Iron. I’m not stupid. You’re playing possum.”
    She stood there, knowing it was a trick. He’d already proved he wasn’t above screwing with her head to get his way. She bit her lip as seconds passed into a good minute. He was patient, she’d give him that. She didn’t take her attention from him but then something on the floor caught her eye. The red substance that discolored the floor had her alarmed in a heartbeat.
    “Iron?” She moved then, almost diving for him to collapse on her knees next to him. It was definitely blood she saw next to his ear on the hard floor. Her hands shook as she reached for him. “Computer? Emergency Response. I need a medic!” She gripped his face and waited for the computer to respond but it didn’t.
    Frustration welled in her as she stared down at Iron’s face. His skin tone looked a little more on the white side at that moment. Her fingers gently eased into his soft hair and tried to find the wound but with his hair braided it was difficult to do. She wanted to scream for help but she knew how thick the walls were and it would mute out all sounds, which meant no one would hear her.
    “Damn it, Iron. Open those beautiful eyes for me, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Of all the lame-ass things to do, you disabled the computer completely, didn’t you? I can’t get you help.”
    She finally found the wound. It was small, just a gash at the back of his head. She carefully tried to roll him but she couldn’t since he was too heavy to budge. All she could do was carefully turn his head, hoping she wasn’t hurting him more and her fingers were shaking the entire time as she unbraided his hair. He had long, curly, bright red hair and she would have enjoyed seeing all of it as she freed the last of it but she was too worried about the downed man. She didn’t want him to die.
    Very gently, she separated his hair where his scalp was cut to discover it really was small but head wounds bled a lot. She pressed her fingertip to it and held pressure there. Her gaze fixed on his profile with his face turned her way.
    “I’m sorry, Iron. I didn’t think I could really hurt you. You’re like a damn house with legs. If you just open your eyes, I promise I won’t tackle you anymore. I might even let you tap my ass with one of your abnormally large hands once or twice. Just wake up for me, open those beautiful blues and glare at me.”
    She nearly jumped when he opened his eyes as if he’d heard her. She stared into them and relief flooded her. She smiled. “Don’t move. I’m so damn sorry. You’re bleeding. It’s not bad but you scared me.”
    He lay still as he watched her silently and allowed her to keep her finger pressed against his damaged scalp. He didn’t talk so Dawn did.
    “I really didn’t think I could hurt you. Are you okay?” She held up three fingers in front of his face with her free hand. “How many do you see?”
    Alarm was instant on Dawn’s part when he didn’t answer. “Did you scramble something? Look, repeat what I say, okay? Emergency Response, we need a medic. Can you say that for me, baby? Please say it. The damn computer won’t activate for me and you need help.”
    He blinked at her but still said nothing. Alarm turned to fear as she gazed into his eyes, completely worried. “Iron, you have to tell the computer to get help. You disabled the computer from responding to me. Can you