Free Emma: Part One (Outpost Nine Book 1) by Lolita Lopez Page A

regained the ability to move. She stirred beneath Jack, prompting him to slide off to her right. He rolled onto his side and draped his arm over her waist. Max curled up her to her left and let his arm fall just below Jack's.
    For a long time, both men played with her hair and peppered tender kisses along the curve of her neck and her jaw. They rubbed her stomach and swept their rough palms up and down her thighs. Both of them studied her as if she were some otherworldly creature they couldn’t quite figure out.
    Finally, Max broke the spell of lust-induced haze. “I’m sorry, Emma.”
    “For what?” she asked, her voice soft but husky.
    “I lost control with you at the end. I shouldn’t have done that. It was selfish of me to put you at risk.”
    Like Max, Jack had a hard time meeting her eyes as he said, “We both failed in that respect.” Guilt darkened his handsome face. “I don’t know what came over me. You felt so good and it’s been so long…” He buried his face in the crook of her neck. “I’m sorry.”
    She hated that they both felt so guilty when she shared the same responsibility for what had happened. Though slightly upset with herself for being so reckless, she didn’t regret her first experience at all.
    "It's all right." Emma touched their chests. "I think we all got wrapped up in the moment. I know it was nothing like I expected. It was so intense."
    Max's hand flattened over her belly in a protective way. "If you get pregnant, we'll take care of you, Emma."
    "We take the responsibility of fatherhood very seriously," Jack added, his hand settling over Max's.
    Emma's heart swelled at their response to the possibility of a child. They could have just as easily shirked the responsibility. "Thank you, but I don't think we need to worry. I'm not sure I can get pregnant," she admitted quietly.
    "You're sterile?" Jack's surprise tightened his voice. "You know this for sure?"
    She shook her head. "I'm not sterile. I have cycles." Her face flushed at the awkwardness of discussing her menstrual cycle with the two cyborgs. "They're just not regular. I've only had two this year."
    "Oh," Max said, seemingly relieved. "That's fairly common with Original women living outside the wire. It's your lack of food and stress. Human women inside the protected sectors have normal fertility."
    Emma wondered at their strange response to the possibility of her being sterile. Avery's voice echoed in her head. What had she said? That cyborgs were facing the same population problems? And what was it Jack had mentioned? They were out doing a census and other recon.
    What if they really were looking for young, healthy, human women of childbearing age?
    A cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. The sticky wetness between her thighs only enhanced her agitation. Was this just part of some bigger plan? What if the cyborgs really were running some sort of twisted breeding program? Had she just walked right into a trap?
    Bolting up right, she hugged her knees to her chest and glared at the men lounging on either side of her. "Is that why you two were so intent on seducing me?"
    Both men frowned. Jack touched her arm. "What are you talking about, Emma?"
    "Is it because you want to breed me? Is that all I am to you? Just an empty womb for your seed?" She hated the shrill tone to her voice but it couldn’t be helped. Only moments earlier, she had been awash in the afterglow of her first sexual experience. Now she was awash in panic.
    "Emma," Jack said firmly, “this was nothing like that. Our attraction to you has nothing to do with the state of your uterus. It’s you we want. But," he added carefully, "there are certain laws concerning unions between humans and cyborgs. We have to—"
    The light in her bedroom flickered twice before going dark. The entire house went silent for two seconds before the power popped on again. A loud, clanging alarm ripped through the house just as the home was illuminated with the dim backup