“Do I have a choice?”
His breath sifted the fine hairs at her temple. Their bodies were pressed close together, the proximity bringing forth a knowing heat. It was totally inappropriate and yet there was nothing Dharma could do about her response. Her reluctant attraction wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“On three,” she told Reika, who met her gaze and offered a shaky nod.
Dharma didn’t blame her. Bane’s body practically vibrated with the intent to shove them both off at any moment. That would be disastrous.
Sweat dampened her forehead as her nerves rose in counterpoint. Working hand in hand with Reika, she helped heft and adjusted Bane into position.
“Ready?” Dharma tipped her head up, getting a close up view of a very angry male. Her pulse kicked up a notch and her throat tightened.
“Yes,” he gritted, a muscle ticking in his clenched jaw.
“Alright. My count. One, two, three.”
In a testament to his upper body strength, Bane surged up and back. The move allowed him to slide into place until he was sitting on the four-foot-high cushioned table. They’d probably started there before Reika attempted to get him to utilize the enhancements in his legs.
Stepping back but remaining close enough in case Bane needed assistance, she faced the rehab specialist. “Reika, I think Jutak Hardusho and I can take it from here.”
It shouldn’t be an issue. Dharma’s documentation showed she was certified to work with Bane’s specific type of cybernetic enhancements. Relief eased the creases about Reika’s mouth and she didn’t waste a moment leaving. “Good luck, Jutak Hardusho.”
He acknowledged her with a grunt, the weight of his stare burning a hole into the side of Dharma’s face. Once the door closed, she turned toward him, fully prepared for the blast of anger. She wasn’t disappointed. A sneer twisted his otherwise attractive face.
“Do you think you can succeed where others have failed, Dharma?” Frustration and glowing hot rage speared her from midnight eyes.
With his arms folded over his massive chest, he practically dared her to continue.
Chapter 4
Dharma took a deep breath and let it out slowly now that they were alone. As a Jutak warrior, she should have expected his obstinacy. He was proving to be a challenging patient. Mostly because she was having a hard time battling the unwanted attraction she had toward him.
Bane Hardusho’s rugged appeal had drawn her from the beginning. When he first arrived Tao had him sedated for the initial scan to check for errors in his implanted biotronics and she’d found herself admiring his sleeping form. Awake, the desire was full-blown with an uncontrollable edge that frightened Dharma.
The first thing he’d done when his eyes opened was to meet her stare. When he tossed a careless grin her way, Dharma’s heart had skipped a beat. Curse him and his desirability. He wasn’t the first soldier she’d helped at CV-8. Some far more beautiful in their appearance.
But none caused her nipples to tighten and her sex to swell. And definitely, none had a body that dared her to break every rule she had in place against touching when she shouldn’t.
Job. She had a job to do.
“Well. Let’s see what’s going on.” Dharma set her data pad down on the table beside Bane’s left thigh, hating the rush of excitement because she could touch him without suspicion for this part.
She placed a hand on his wrist, the light dusting of blond hair tickling her palms. Bane tensed. Dharma eyed him until the muscles in his forearm went lax. She moved his crossed arms out of the way, pushing steadily downward until they dropped. He snorted but kept them down.
With the way cleared, she leaned over to reach both sides of the braces he wore on the outside of his legs.
Gray matte brackets encased his powerful limbs under the skin-tight black shorts he often wore to therapy. Those brackets should aide his attempts to walk, though so far they hadn’t been very successful.
Studying the brackets put her face in close proximity to his bottom half. There was a noticeable fullness at his crotch—more than a handful. Her gaze snagged on the bulge, unable to glance away. It twitched the longer she stared.
Embarrassment set Dharma’s cheeks on fire. It wasn’t a big deal. Arousal often occurred with her patients and was a fairly normal response in these circumstances for most males who still had full function in that area. If she ignored it, so would the patient.
The self admonishment didn’t ease her dry mouth. Determined to get through this, Dharma reset the parameters on the rounded knobs, noting with some anger he’d dialed them up to the higher range again.
Battling a growl, she completed the manual reset and straightened. Bane inhaled sharply when her breasts brushed over his upper thighs.
Hiding a flush, Dharma took a step back and turned to the walking bars. She pressed the buttons on the side until the horizontal rods expanded and enclosed Bane in the middle with her in front of him. The short runway was the perfect length for practice steps.
“See if this helps,” she muttered, her mind already flipping through various options and means of testing his performance.
Doubt was there then gone in the next moment, making Dharma question if she’d see the unguarded emotion. Bane cursed her under his breath but shifted his hips forward to the very edge. She watched carefully for how he positioned himself, ready in case he fell or tumbled forward off balance. The indicators on the cylinders running parallel down the outside of the braces glowed yellow signaling safe mode.
So far, so good.
Bane braced a hand on the top of each bar as he pushed up. Strain flickered over his face but he was upright. Veins popped and pulsed in his forearms, once more sending flames of lust flickering through her senses. He arched a brow in a now what gesture.
“Good. Now ease to the floor and take a step. Slow!”
The command snapped his spine straight but her gaze remained focused on his legs. The muscles in his left leg closest to her ticked and jumped as his thigh bunched. The braces hummed and whined as he dragged the foot. Then the right. He shuffled one step but it was clear his balance was off and the way his lower legs trembled revealed how hard this was. The brackets were doing all of the work.
Without disturbing his efforts, she came closer and reached down, making an adjustment to the settings on his brackets. She paced back once done.
“Again,” she told him.
Her forehead creased as she waited for him to move but he’d stopped and remained in the same spot. Dharma raised her gaze and met the wry amusement lurking in his black eyes.
“It’s hard to be mad when you’re watching me as if you can fix my legs by will alone.”
Dharma’s face heated as she cleared her throat. “It’s not just physical. Are you accessing the chip in your brain?”
“I’ve tried but nothing happens.” His evident confusion softened the anger of earlier. Brows dipped low as he continued. “Medic Tao said I’m supposed to sense it and the biotronics in my legs should react. Seamless with practice.”
He was right. That was how it was supposed to happen.
Guilt ate at her. She could only imagine what this meant for his career in the military. “Try once more. Think about each individual action. Walking is natural to us once you develop the skill but break it all down and think of moving as a process with individual components.”