In the not too distant future, sixteen year old Zaphira
is suffering the pangs of first love. The object of her
affections is Aiden, the twenty-eight year old assistant
to her father, who's a scientist. When Zaphira can't
hold back any longer, she plants a kiss on Aiden, and
tells him that she loves him. Aiden breaks away, then
runs away, with a look of horror on his face. Zaphira is
crushed, assuming that he finds her totally unattractive,
when the opposite is true. Aiden is fighting his
attraction for this girl who is way too young for him,
and his best friend's daughter to boot. To make things
worse, Zaphira learns that Aiden was killed that same
day.
Now we fast forward eight years to find twenty-four year
old Zaphira all alone in the world, with only her dogs
for companions. Biological warfare has wiped out the
human race, except for a few who have a natural immunity.
Zaphira's father is now gone too, but he promised her
that there were others who survived and that they would
find her. Up to now, there has been no sign of anyone
else, until one day, an android shows up in very bad
shape. The android insists he is Aiden, that he never
died, but was altered and sent through time by Zaphira's
father to her. At first, Zaphira can't believe that
this mangled piece of metal, who has no control over his
own body, is Aiden. Eventually, though, she is
convinced, and reluctantly agrees to help him.
In Aiden's frame of reference, it was only yesterday that
Zaphira was sixteen years old and kissed him, and at
first it's hard for him to accept that eight years have
really passed, and she's now twenty four. Then he's
intrigued, because now there are no obstacles keeping
them apart. That is, if they're able to repair him and
get his human body back, which is questionable. Zaphira
is confused and conflicted. She has already adjusted to
the fact that Aiden was dead, and moved on. Before the
poison killed off the population, she did have other
relationships. Now, however, her feelings for Aiden
start to resurface, but she's not going to give in to
them so easily.
While the subject of biological warfare is indeed a
serious one, there was much humor as Zaphira and Aiden
try to put Humpty Dumpty back together. When he is put
together and turns out to be bigger and better, things
really get interesting. The wiry, nerdy body is now a
hunk, but her beloved Aiden is still inside there.
What's a girl to do? If you like a quick romantic read,
with a little sci-fi thrown in, SHORT CIRCUIT fits the
bill. This quirky and enjoyable novella will leave you
with a smile.
In the year 2086, Zaphira is alone, the last survivor of
biological warfare on Earth. Before he died, her
scientist
father promised other survivors would come. Nobody has.
So
when a horribly mangled android shows up claiming to be
her
father’s assistant, Aiden, who has been sent through time
to
rescue her, she’s both frightened and astounded.
The last time she’d seen Aiden, she’d been sixteen,
head-over-heels in love with him, and had literally
thrown
herself at him, leaving her devastated by his rejection
and
him running for the hills. The following day, she’d been
told of his death.
Eight years later he’s miraculously back, this time
asking
for her help. Without it, he won’t survive. But can she
really put a dead man back together with tweezers?
For Aiden, everything has changed. There are no other
humans, no government, and time travel has left his new
android body unexpectedly weak and suffering from
inexplicable genetic changes in eye and hair color,
brought
about by his molecular shake-up. Unbelievably, the
scientist
who sent him is dead, and he must rely on the scientist’s
daughter to help him. A woman who he’s not so sure has
his
best interests at heart.
The last time he’d seen her, Zaphira had been a sixteen
year
old with a dangerous crush on him and he’d been rocked by
the turmoil of his own feelings. Now she’s twenty-four
and
literally holds his survival in her hands. Too bad
everything he does and says seems to annoy her.
Trusting her might be his undoing. But he is left with no
choice.
For Zaphira, getting used to the transformation of old
Aiden
to android Aiden requires a large mental leap. But when
android Aiden starts to rebuild his human form to a new
and
improved standard, things start to get tricky.
The Aiden she loved as a little girl was her father’s
nerdy
assistant. The new Aiden is hot. But are her feelings as
strong eight years later or are they simply a cherished
memory?
Excerpt
His temperature lowered and he took a moment to thank God
he didn’t have a physical penis, or she may just have
noticed how hard and erect it was. Womanhood certainly
sat comfortably on her now. Unfortunately, that
particular piece of his anatomy had been sacrificed on
the altar of time travel and the sexless piece of robotic
shielding he’d been obliged to employ. Surprised, he
noticed it didn’t seem to affect his sudden surge of
hormones as Zaphira’s soft breast brushed his metallic
cheek. Heated particles dashed to his groin region and he
couldn’t tear his gaze from her lush cleavage.
Breathless, he sucked in, choked on an excess of air and
tried to cough unobtrusively.
“Are you all right?”
Her beautiful face filled his vision, her soft doe eyes
melted his heart for a brief moment, before it gave a
hasty knock as the knowledge hit him like a sledgehammer—
he had felt the stroke of her breast rather than imagined
it. His breath stuttered and trapped in his throat, if he
had skin it would be florid.
“Aiden?”
Zaphira leaned toward him, cradled his head in her arms,
pressed his cold lifeless cheek into her breast and he
sensed the zap of it, the zing. How the hell could it
happen? How could he feel?
Her gentle inquisitive fingers stroked his face, his
temple, his cheek. She lifted her hand from his metal
case and started the skim of her fingertips at his
forehead again. And again. With an almost imperceptible
turn of his head, he allowed his face to nuzzle into her
soft welcoming bosom, and rejoiced in the simple pleasure
of his communication impulses as they reconnected and
allowed the sensation of her silken skin pressed against
his face to radiate until he purred with unexpected
desire and reveled in the sheer humanity of her touch.
“Aiden?”
“Yes.” A breathless rush emerged from his lips.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” He relaxed and luxuriated in the lap of water on
his body, experienced the brush of it as though it was
his skin it rippled over.
“Aiden?”
His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, he struggled
to swallow as he turned his face further into her,
smelled the earthy womanliness of her cleavage and
nuzzled in.
“Your breasts…”
The last discernible sound was her horrified gasp before
he plunged to the depths of the frigid bath water. His
heavy metal head clunked on the bottom and the sound of
turbulent bubbles assaulted his ears as he gulped,
desperate for air. Lust had been washed away with a tidal
wave of water rushing through his armored plating and
filling his brain with slush. With no control over his
own limbs, even a wild thrash to indicate he was drowning
wasn’t an option.
Bitter cold fluid filled his lungs as his mechanical
mouth failed to respond to the command to close, and
allowed the water to gush in and swamp him. His brain
refused to engage. Deprived of oxygen it had no ability
to give his sunken android body the instruction it
required to not drown the human within. A black cloud of
desperation engulfed him.
He stared, eyelids wedged wide open as Zaphira gazed back
at him through the blurred depths of the water. Her deep
brown eyes, hard and angry. She leaned forward and
wrenched his head and shoulders free of his watery grave.
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