Roxy was dumbfounded.
The sleek android hadn't made a single sound approaching her, and now he stood blocking her only escape route, casually suggesting they spectate a public indecency as if he were asking to share a bucket of popcorn.
"Are you insane?!" Roxy hissed, her face burning hotter than a smuggled plasma torch.
She scrambled backward, desperate to put distance between herself and the towering machine. But her sudden movement destroyed their cover.
Behind the glowing topiary, the rhythmic slapping noise abruptly ceased.
"Hello?" a panicked, breathless male voice called out. "Is someone there?"
Roxy froze like a deer in headlights. If she was caught creeping in the bushes while the Sector 1 elite were getting intimate.
Before she could even panic, a massive hand clamped around her waist.
With a fluid, effortless motion, he yanked Roxy forward, dragging her flush against his chest, and stepped seamlessly into the deep, inky shadow of a towering hedge.
