Adonis 5000

  ADONIS 5000

  An Ellora’s Cave Publication, December 2004

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  1337 Commerce Drive, #13

  Stow, OH 44224

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0091-9

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

  ADONIS 5000 © 2004 ANN VREMONT

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Edited by Mary Moran.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Adonis 5000 has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Adonis 5000

  Ann Vremont

  Chapter One

  Cody Talaveras breezed into the lab, grabbing his lab coat from the hook and randomly picking up a research folder from the pile on Arlissa Spence’s desk. He smiled and one brow, an intriguing arch of dark mahogany, shot up. “Code Red, boss!”

  He had uncapped a pen and had its point hovering over one of the test result sheets in the folder. Arlissa pulled the folder and pen from his hands. “Don’t mess with these!” she snapped the words out before carefully replacing the folder on her desk and rearranging the pile that had slid to one side. “And what do you mean by ‘Code Red’?”

  “Cayce is on his way,” Cody answered, and pulled another folder from her desktop.

  Arlissa shot what she hoped was a dark look at Cody, and smiled when he primly returned the folder to the top of the stack. “Ha, ha, very funny,” she said, and turned to the inert form on the gurney in the middle of the room. “You know as well as I do, Cayce never visits the lab.”

  A voice from the doorway argued otherwise. “I do when the project that’s taking up over half of my company’s R&D budget is behind schedule.”

  The rough silk of Cayce’s voice caused Arlissa’s hands to shake as she pulled a sheet up over the figure on the gurney. With both hands in her lab coat, she turned to him. She tried to find a spot to focus on before she addressed him. Certainly not, she told herself, the chocolate-brown eyes or the sun-streaked hair that covered his head in loose waves. Her gaze dropped to the dark-maize linen shirt. The top two buttons were undone in a very non-CEO manner and revealed a deep tan kissed by a thin matting of golden hair on his chest. No, not there, either, she thought and focused her gaze on a spot just over his left shoulder.

  “We are not behind schedule,” she said. Her lab key was in the pocket of her coat, and she ran a finger along its edge. She counted the saddles and valleys, and then multiplied them as she spoke to the man who was the head of Cayce Industries. “We gave you a project window. We are well within that window.”

  “Then why did you send the email canceling the demonstration for the board?” Cayce asked. He stepped to his left to peek around her at the gurney. The movement re-centered her gaze on the tease of chest hair. “Mason says it’s because you’re behind schedule,” he paused, and his gaze flicked from the gurney to Arlissa. “But Dautrich thinks you’re just not willing to give up your…toy.”

  The mention of both Mason, one of the lead researchers at Cayce, and Dautrich, head of security, combined with the slow manner in which Cayce had played over the final word caused Arlissa to spin on her heels and jerk the cover from the gurney. She stepped back from the gurney and folded her arms across her chest. “You can judge our progress for yourself.”

  Cayce stepped forward and looked at the man on the table. A second covering shielded the lower half of the body and Cayce lifted it. He turned to Arlissa and flashed her his magazine-cover smile. “By God, woman, you’ve emasculated the poor man.”

  “Funny, I thought you’d be more serious about ‘over half’ of your R&D budget,” Arlissa answered, and turned to where Cody was standing next to her desk. She held her arm out impatiently and clamped down on the desire to snap her fingers at her assistant. “Bottom folder of the middle stack, please.”

  “He looks like me,” Cayce suggested, as Arlissa handed the folder to him. He opened the folder and began to thumb through the sheets.

  “His face is a composite of over a thousand male photos,” Arlissa answered. She felt her voice begin to warble and shoved her hands back in her pockets, where she found and fingered the lab key again. “You just must have a very common face.”

  Cayce’s lips pressed into a thin line and he returned his attention to the folder. “The recognition scores are too high,” he challenged.

  “Which is why I canceled the demonstration,” Arlissa explained. She felt a smile spread across her face as she watched the tension build at his jawline. Vain about his looks, is he?

  “Because they’re wrong?”

  Her smile vanished, and she pulled the folder from his hands. “No, they are accurate,” she answered. “But I thought running the tests again would put the board’s mind at ease.”

  “Turn him on,” Cayce ordered Arlissa.

  “I’m sorry.” Her face flushed a bright red as she stumbled over the words. “Do what?”

  “Power him up, you heard me,” Cayce repeated his command. “I want a demonstration before the rest of the board.”

  Regaining her composure, Arlissa nodded at Cody for his assistance. Together, they raised the robot into a sitting position. A small, latex-covered panel was visible between his shoulder blades and she popped it open. Her fingers danced over a miniature keypad as she punched in the security code. She carefully replaced the panel and could feel the gears and hydraulics of the machine begin to work beneath her fingertips. She knew that if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she would be able to feel the slightest vibration of the unit’s electrical system.

  It turned its head to look at her, the dark pupils expanding against the brown irises in recognition. It smiled as it greeted her, “Merry Monday, Lissa.”

  “Good morning, Five Thousand,” Arlissa answered, and then gestured to Cayce. “This is Segrin Cayce, head of Cayce Industries.”

  “Yes,” the machine answered. “Segrin Cayce, only surviving son of Jonathan Cayce, founder of Cayce Industries in 1937. The company was founded after—”

  “That’s sufficient, Five Thousand,” Arlissa said, and raised her hand to quiet the machine.

  “Why do you call him Five Thousand?” Cayce asked.

  Although Cayce asked the question in the same silken voice that always marked his words, there was a hard edge to them, and Arlissa stumbled over her answer. “It’s his processor speed.”

  “Why does he call you Lissa?”

&
nbsp; Arlissa looked at Cayce. Her gaze narrowed as she searched his face. There was definitely a new edge to his voice. It wasn’t her imagination; she could feel Five Thousand tensing beside her as his security features kicked into high gear. “Down, Five Thousand,” she ordered in a crisp tone.

  On the other side of the gurney, Cody jumped forward to catch the machine as it powered off and slowly began to slump backwards.

  Cayce’s gaze briefly lighted on the machine before his eyes locked with Arlissa’s. “Well trained, I see,” he joked, but the smile didn’t quite manage to reach his eyes. “The perfect man, perhaps?” Another brief flick in the direction of the smooth sheet that covered the lower half of the machine’s body. “Or not.”

  Cayce turned and walked to the lab’s door, his body rigid as he delivered his parting orders without looking back. “You’ll rerun the tests, Dr. Spence, and have the results ready for the board meeting this Friday, as scheduled.”

  Chapter Two

  Arlissa entered the research complex at 6:02 a.m. the following morning. The hem on the cyan skirt that fell mid-calf was ripped, and one stocking bore a run and a grease smear down its side. Dropping her gym bag on the x-ray machine’s conveyor belt, she caught the morning guard, Jimmy, examining her disheveled state while he ran her security card through the reader.

  “Flat tire,” she explained. Her voice was tight, like the knot between her shoulder blades, and she tried to soften her statement with a smile. “I think I need a different jack.”

  The guard nodded and handed her card back to her. “I was beginning to worry; it’s not like you to arrive later than five-thirty.”

  The knot tightened, forcing her shoulders back in a pinched spasm. She started to sling her gym bag over her right shoulder and then shifted it to her left. “It was a particularly unaccommodating jack.”

  “Well, you call the gatehouse next time,” he offered, and began to search the night janitor’s trash buggy. “I’ll send one of the guards down to change it for you.”

  Arlissa smiled her thanks and started down the long main corridor, but he called her back.

  “One thing, Dr. Spence.” He wore a sheepish, almost guilty, look on his face.

  “Yes, Jimmy?”

  “I went ahead and let your visitors in, Mr. Cayce—”

  Arlissa didn’t wait for Jimmy to finish his sentence. Her crisp walk broke into a graceful run. The pain centered in her back traveled down to squeeze at her hip as her running shoes bounced around in the gym bag. Her heart constricted as she saw that the door to the lab was open. Thoughts of who had conned their way into her lab ran through her head—Mason? He was furious that she had gotten the grant. Dautrich? That sneaky bastard always seemed to be up to something.

  The flash of light in her face as she stepped into the lab told her the intruder was far worse than she had anticipated.

  “Oh, Clark, get another picture of Dr. Spence,” Faye Keller, the marketing director for Cayce Industries, cooed as she took the gym bag from Arlissa’s shoulder and tucked a loose strand of Arlissa’s hair into the tight bun at the base of her neck. “This time when she doesn’t look so untidy.”

  Arlissa, stunned, stood like a deer caught in a trucker’s headlights, as a second photo was taken. The flash jolted her back to reality and she snatched the camera from the photographer’s hands.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing here, Faye?” Arlissa asked. Her fingers curled around the camera’s lens and the photographer’s gaze widened.

  “Hey, lady, that’s a $3,000 camera!” he yelled, and made a grab for it.

  Arlissa spun out of his reach, plopped the camera down on a rolling cart and shoved the cart through the door to the lab. “It’s about to be a $3,000 pile of rubbish if you don’t catch that cart,” she said.

  The photographer pushed past her, swearing. Arlissa brushed her palms against one another and turned to Faye. One down, one to go.

  “Again, Faye, what are you doing in my…” Arlissa stopped, the question stalling mid-speech as she noticed the Five Thousand on the gurney behind Faye. Instead of being safely tucked away in the room’s built-in security vault, it was clothed in a blue policeman’s uniform, with the jacket flung open to reveal the shirtless chest. “Please tell me you didn’t…” Her throat swelled in anger, left her unable to finish her sentence. She gripped Faye by the elbow and steered her toward the lab door.

  “But Mr. Cayce—” Faye protested. Her free arm was across her chest and she gestured wildly at the table.

  “I don’t care what that idiot Cayce says, this is my lab!” Arlissa yelled, and pushed Faye over the threshold. She seized the edge of the door and sent it swinging closed until the astonished face of Faye Keller disappeared behind a loud slam.

  Arlissa locked the door before quickly crossing over to the gurney. Her gaze swept over the Five Thousand, stopping abruptly when she came to its chest.

  “Damnit, Cody,” she groaned under her breath. She had left him working on the skin last night. As she had prepared to leave for the night, after long hours spent crunching numbers, she had told him to make it realistic. Pulling the jacket sides together, she buttoned the top button. On the second button, she felt the soft whisper of hair along the edge of her palm and her hand started to shake. With the third button, she stopped and placed her hands flat against the unit’s hard stomach. The unexpected warmth of the machine caused an equally warm dampness to spread between her thighs. Her nipples peaked and a slight shudder passed over her body. “Not this realistic,” she moaned appreciatively.

  “Do you really think I’m an idiot, Lissa?”

  Arlissa jumped back. Her hip caught the instrument cart beside the gurney, sent it and its contents crashing to the floor. “Mr. Cayce!”

  “Do you?” The chocolate-brown gaze held her, demanded that she answer him.

  “Mr. Cayce, I thought you let marketing in here for a photo shoot of the Five Thousand,” Arlissa explained. Her hands, seeking the comfort of the lab coat that still hung on a hook by the door, brushed against the front panel of her skirt. She turned and quickly pulled the white coat over her. The stroke of the heavy cotton against her already hardened nipples elicited an agonized gasp of pleasure from her. “That would have been idiotic,” she finished, and slipped her hands into the lab coat’s pockets.

  “He’s my toy, too, Lissa.” Cayce swung his legs over the edge of the gurney and sat up. He looked down at the buttons, saw that she had mismatched them, and slowly undid them. He stepped onto the floor, his toes pointing toward the ceiling as the bare soles touched the cool tile. “If I want to bring marketing in to play with him, I can.”

  “It’s not a toy,” Arlissa snapped, and tried to keep her eyes on his face.

  “If he isn’t a toy,” Cayce teased, “then how do you explain your attachment to him?” Yesterday’s edge was back to Cayce’s otherwise smooth voice. He took a step toward her and then another until less than a foot of air separated them. “Dautrich says you’re too fond of your toys, Lissa. Is that true?”

  “Dautrich is an asshole,” Arlissa bit out.

  “Yes, but an accurate asshole.” His lips curled around a devastating smile and Arlissa felt her knees begin to give.

  She looked around the room for some diversion to his question, but he was the only thing in the room her mind could focus on. The contrast of the dark blue of the policeman’s uniform against his tan skin sent a warm flush racing over her body and she had to clamp down on the urge to fan herself.

  “Why are you wearing that?” she asked, jabbing the air in front of him.

  “Its purpose is security,” he reminded her.

  “But why are you wearing that?” she repeated.

  “I thought I’d stand in until you or your assistant arrived and hauled out the real thing,” he explained. “After all, you did make him look like me.”

  Arlissa shook her head and pointed at the door, all but commanding him to leave. “I did no such thing,” sh
e answered. “Now if you’ll let me get to work.”

  His gaze brushed over her breasts and caressed the long line of her neck before he nodded at the locked lab door she was pointing to. “Do you usually lock yourself in the room with the Adonis?”

  “I wasn’t locking myself in, I was locking Kel…” Arlissa snapped her head up. “What did you call it?”

  “ADNS, the Advanced Defense Neuro System,” Cayce answered.

  Arlissa’s mouth was open in a shocked “O” and he ran a fingertip along the full lower lip. Her body swayed into contact with his, and he cupped one hand along the curve of her bottom. He felt her lip trembling beneath his touch. Her dark, sapphire-blue gaze became liquid, like the core of a glacier exposed to the sun. Her breathing deepened, became more rapid, until the heavy pants brought the covered tips of her breasts to rhythmically brush against his exposed chest.

  He brought his lips to her ear, brushed them against the edges before biting at the lobe. When she didn’t pull away from him, he pressed her closer to him, felt the heat of her body begin to pool between her legs. “Tell me, Lissa,” Cayce said, while one hand reached up to pinch the hardened nipple beneath her blouse. “Why did you make a man that looks like me?”

  “I didn’t,” Arlissa protested even as her mouth sought his. She could feel the hard press of his cock against her stomach and involuntarily ground against it. An electric shock of pleasure left her gasping for air even as she continued to plead her innocence. “Cody does the hair and skin texture.”

  Cayce caught her lower lip between his teeth. He released it, only to draw Arlissa’s upper lip into his mouth with a soft sucking. His tongue grazed her inner lip and she curled her arms around his neck, pulled herself higher until his erection was pressed against her sex. Cupping her ass, Cayce lifted Arlissa from the floor and placed her on the gurney. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck, and he pushed the long skirt up over her thighs to reveal silk panties that matched the sparkling sapphire of her eyes.