No, Payal had put herself there, after outperforming Lalit in every way. “Of course, Father. I won’t be able to report in regularly, due to my heavy schedule, but I’ll give you a full debrief when I can return home.”

“Understood.” Pranath Rao was nothing if not practical when it came to matters of power. “Do you need us to teleport across your clothing and personal items?”

“There’s no need.” And no reason for Pranath’s people to enter her apartment. “I’ll make local purchases. A small way to get my face and name out among Psy businesses once the news hits the public channels.”

“You’ve always been a clever child.” Pranath smiled that cold, false smile. “Do the family proud, Payal.”

After signing off, Payal glanced at her timepiece. Hmm …

Exiting the tech room, she went to head upstairs but heard a sound to the left and went that way instead. She found Canto stripped to the waist, his lower body clad only in black exercise shorts. His upper body gleamed with sweat, but he was currently exercising his legs using robotic braces that had him gritting his teeth as he lifted his legs up and down.

The brace was a webwork carapace of gleaming black that went over his legs, up his arms, and partially along his spine. Payal knew the devices were designed to function even on a fully passive patient, but it appeared Canto had set it so he had to use his ab and arm muscles to power the device.

That took brutal strength—his legs would’ve become dead weights multiplied by the weight force he’d programmed on the device the instant he turned off the robotic lift assist. From the lights along one side of his thigh, she could see that he’d left on the muscle-stimulation function that kept his muscles from atrophying.

But it was the teeth-gritted grimace on his face that held her attention. “This is not comfortable for you.”

He grunted, clearly unsurprised by her presence. “Fucking thing feels like biting ants across my spine.” He lifted up again, his shoulder muscles defined as he curled up his arms to lift his legs as the brace pulsed his leg muscles to keep them strong and active. “But it’s the best way to keep my legs from turning into twigs.”

Perspiration gleamed on his skin. His hair was damp at the temples, the scent of him a mix of fresh sweat and Canto. The primal nature of the scene spoke to the wild part of her she’d so long locked away.

Walking closer, she waited until he’d lowered his legs.

Then she leaned down and pressed a kiss to an exposed section of his shoulder. He groaned as the taste of salt and him entered her mouth. “That is doing nothing for my concentration, 3K.”

3K.

What had once been a dehumanizing label now felt like a kiss. “You look like you’ve worked hard enough.”

A glance up. “I need to do ten more minutes. Stay?”

Payal ran her hand through his hair, feeling a sense of ownership that was as primal as how he looked right now. Then she moved to take a seat on an exercise machine across from the one he was using. It had weights; Canto probably used it for his upper body. Which she admired openly while he finished up his routine.

“Baby,” he said five minutes later, “you can’t keep looking at me like that.” A harsh order, but there was nothing angry about it. “My damn erection is like a steel pole right now.”

Baby.

A term of affection when used as he used it with her. For Payal Rao, the robot. “Can I touch it after you’re done?”

He dropped his legs so fast the machine screamed an alarm. He slammed it off with his palm. “Yeah,” he rasped. “You can touch anything on me you want. Full, no-holds-barred skin privileges.”

She’d heard that term from one of the Delhi tigers at some point during negotiations, when they’d spoken about handshakes. This, however, was nothing so mundane. “You had five minutes to go.” Her skin was hot, her pulse a rocket. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

His eyes glittered. “I’ll do another session later. Come ’ere.”

CANTO’S mind blanked as Payal walked to him. As he watched, she kicked off her heels, her feet soundless on the special matting of the gym.

He went to tell her to wait while he removed the robotic brace, so she could sit on his lap, but she hitched up her fitted dress to straddle one side of the bench seat on which he sat. “Hell.” Those legs, the creamy brown of her upper thighs …

He wanted to goddamn bite into her.

But Payal had other priorities, her eyes on the jut of his erection.

His chest heaved.

And she wrapped her fingers around his rigid length, over the top of the thin fabric of his shorts. He bit back a shout, the tendons on his neck feeling like they’d burst out of his skin.

“It’s so hot and hard.”

Canto’s brain blazed a dangerous red. Shifting his hand to her wrist, he squeezed. “I think we should stop.”

She released him at once but didn’t tug her wrist free. “You didn’t like it?”

“Hell yes, I liked it.” So much that it hurt. “But I don’t want to lose control.”

Terrible darkness eclipsed the stars in her eyes.

Chapter 34

The child displays significant ongoing trauma.

—Therapeutic notes on Canto Mercant (age 14)

REALIZING WHAT HE’D said, Canto let go of Payal’s hand before he squeezed it too hard. “Shit. Shit.” Leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs, he shoved his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry. I’m screwing this up.”

He’d spent all this time trying to teach her that she could trust him with everything, and here he was, stumbling at the first step. “It’s not about trust, Payal. I—”

A gentle hand on his shoulder, stroking slowly down his back. “I understand.” Soft words that held no anger or confusion. “It’s why I have such rigid shields. Control.” Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. “We had it stolen from us, and now we can’t let go.”

Had anyone else said they understood, he would’ve ignored them. But this was Payal. His 3K. Dropping his hands to his thighs, he looked at her … and spoke about a part of his life that he spoke of to no one else. “I was all but immobile in a hospital bed for months.”