Excerpt of Short Circuit Time by Diane Saxon

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.

“You bloody pervert.”