Programmed To Please (The Tau Cetus Chronicles) (2 page)

Carron seemed surprised by her answer, but he fought to keep his face impassive.

Bastard pervert. My sex life is my own affair. How the hell was she going to work with this guy?

“All right, then,” Carron replied. “You should be tight enough to fool him. No need for a little nip and tuck down there.”

A nip and tuck? Down there? No fucking way…

Carron’s pen scribbled something on the pad. “Next. Pubic hair.”

Jai’s eyebrow arched. “What?”

“Mr. Callex didn’t specify a preference, even though we gave him a choice of natural, bikini wax, landing strip or sphinx. Our trademark at Beautiful Dolls is an inverted triangular shape just above the genital area, which we like to say ‘points the way to pleasure!’ So that’s what you’ll get. We’ll wax you into the perfect design and dye you blonde to match your new hair color.” Carron paused, eyeing her groin curiously. “Unless, of course, you’re currently hairless?”

Jai slouched in her chair. “The triangle will be fine.”

Carron made a note on his pad. “Next. Anal sex?”

“What?”

“Are you an anal virgin?”

She threw a desperate glance at Rainey. “Commander…”

He sighed. “Just answer the question, Turner.”

 Jai slouched further down into her chair, her scowl deepening. “Yes.”

“Well, we offer our clients anything they want. So you can’t balk if he prefers a little anal play.”

“Fucking hell,” she mumbled under her breath.

“And how are you at fellatio? All our models are experts.”

“Oh, for the love of—”

“Not to worry,” Carron assured her quickly. “We can teach you everything you’ll need to know.”

An uncomfortable thought occurred to Jai. “Wait a minute. What if he prefers serious…
kink
? As in…hurting me? He’ll be under the impression I’m a machine.”

Carron shook his head. “Not allowed. He can’t damage the merchandise. That will be made clear to him. But we do provide a wide range of sex toys, so things could get a little… interesting.”

Jai swallowed hard.

Commander Rainey shoved a hand through his hair. “Turner, let’s be clear. This is what you’re agreeing to. You know what Marque Callex is. What he’s capable of. What he did to a fellow agent.”

“But commander—”

“How many times in the past three months since Joran Breaux’s death have you asked me to be part of the team to take Callex down? Well, now you
are
the team.”

Jai froze, the enormity of this assignment finally sinking in. Marque Callex was a powerful man. Guarded. Protected. Tau Cetus’s finest hadn’t been able to get near him. But now
she was the team?
For a moment, she couldn’t move.

“You’re creeping me out, Turner,” Rainey said. “Move. Blink. Do something. I hate when you freeze up like that. It’s unnatural.” 

Frankly, it’s no wonder she froze. This whole scenario was enough to send
anyone
into shock. “Bad habit,” she mumbled. “Wyatt hates it, too.”

“No,” said Carron, looking at her thoughtfully. “Actually, it’s good. We can use that. It makes you seem almost…robotic.” He scribbled another note on his pad. “One last thing. Any surgeries, incisions, birth marks, visible scars?”

Jai shook her head. She’d been lucky; five years on the force and not an injury yet.

Carron flipped his notebook closed. “It doesn’t really matter. We’ll be coating you in a thin layer of polymer before each session, to cover your skin. We want you to look human, but not
too
human. You’re supposed to be a robot, after all.”

“Yeah, about that,” Jai said wryly. “How the hell do you seriously expect me to pull this off?”

Carron smiled complacently. “Just give me this weekend, and you’ll be ready for your assignment on Monday.”

As it turned out, he wasn’t kidding.

Jai barely had time to come to terms with this plan to bring down Marque Callex before her life spiraled into the Twilight Zone. She spent all Friday morning at a hair salon with Carron, getting her no-nonsense shoulder-length brown hair dyed blonde, then cut and styled under his guidance into a straight, razor-cut bob that looked chic and sophisticated. Friday afternoon, her other hair was dyed to match.

Saturday was endured with an aesthetician who diligently worked under Carron’s direction to wax her into the Beautiful Dolls trademark inverted ‘triangle’ shape, while expertly – if painfully –  removing all other hair from her body, including her arms and leg hair. Carron also insisted injections of Botox were necessary in her armpits to prevent her from sweating, since sweating and body odor were two very human attributes his sexbots would never exhibit. While he was at it, he ordered additional Botox to take care of what he called her ‘too expressive’ forehead.

And as if all that weren’t difficult enough, on Sunday the sex lessons began.

Despite her distaste at this assignment, Jai couldn’t help but be impressed by what she saw when she arrived at the Beautiful Dolls factory.

Carron led her through the production room floor, where robot models of every height and body shape stood in various stages of readiness. Male. Female. Blondes, brunettes, redheads. Thin, voluptuous, athletic. Females with a range of breast shapes, and males with every size penis imaginable.
Erect
penises, of course. And the eeriest part was that the Dolls were more lifelike – even in their immobility – than Jai would have thought possible.

Stopping to touch one as they passed by, Jai would have been hard pressed to say the thin membrane covering the machinery wasn’t actually
skin.
Except, maybe, for the slightly luminous sheen of it.

“Every sexual fantasy can be fulfilled by a Beautiful Doll,” Carron informed her as they walked, obviously mistaking her interest in the Dolls. “For a price.”

Next it was on to the programming lab, where a man in a blue polo shirt and khaki pants typed feverishly at a keyboard. Next to him stood a naked Doll, connected by a single cable leading from the side of her head to his computer.

Jai stopped in her tracks and stared at the Doll. Now
this
was what Marque Callex should have ordered. The Doll had gorgeous, flowing red hair. Easily double-D breasts. Curvy hips that would cradle a man while he sank himself deep inside her. Hell, even the Doll’s lips were full and pouty, an unspoken invitation if ever Jai saw one. The robot screamed
sex;
it was the embodiment of sin. Jai could imagine a man wanting to fuck a woman like this in every way possible.

She’s not a woman. She’s a freaking robot!

Still, she –
it
– was absolutely gorgeous.

Carron made the introduction. “This is Titus Veraine, my chief programmer.”

The man at the keyboard absently nodded in her direction, then went back to his typing.

“And
this
,” Carron continued, with a wave of his hand, “is Ginger, our most popular model.”

Jai turned her attention back to the Doll. Gorgeous Ginger was Beautiful Dolls’ most popular sexbot? Jai could certainly believe it.

“Ginger is here to…
help out
… today.” Carron smiled a salacious smile that twisted Jai’s stomach into a small knot. He glanced at the programmer. “Titus, are you ready with the instructions?”

Veraine leaned back from his console and nodded. He reached over to a nearby printer and grabbed a handful of papers. Swiveling in his chair toward Jai, he took his first real look at her, his eyes blatantly assessing her body like Carron’s had done in Commander Rainey’s office. “Not bad,” he said to Carron. “We can work with this.”

“Watch it, asshole,” Jai warned. “I’m human. And I’m standing right here. Don’t talk about me like I’m one of your Dolls.”

Veraine shrugged. “Whatever. But I’d recommend you check the attitude, lady. No one’s going to want sex with a sharp-tongued bitch.”

Jai swallowed uncomfortably. Veraine was right. She’d have to change her behavior from sour to sweet if she was going to successfully seduce Marque Callex. Dear God. This case was going to be the toughest assignment of her career.

Veraine waved the sheaf of papers toward her. “I’ve printed out everything we’ll be doing today, so you can review them later. Right now, we’ll start at the beginning. With fellatio.” 

Fellatio?
Damn.
Jai was far from a virgin, but she had a feeling that what she was about to learn under the tutelage of Carron’s sex expert today would be eye-opening.

“I’ll explain things first, and then we’ll do a demonstration.” Veraine leaned toward the Doll and carefully unhooked the cable from her head. “Ginger? Say hello to Jai.”

The Doll slowly opened her eyes.

Jai blinked in surprise. The sexbot’s eyes were a deep, emerald green, and had an almost starburst quality to them. Ginger’s eyes were downright beautiful, so beautiful that Jai imagined a man could easily drown in them.

“Hello, Jai,” Ginger purred.

Jai’s eyes opened even wider. The sexbot’s voice was a verbal caress, smooth as silk. Those two simple words were an erotic come-on in themselves.
Good lord.
Did men regularly fall in love with these Dolls?

No knowing whether she was supposed to answer the sexbot, Jai threw a questioning glance at Veraine, who nodded.  Jai cleared her throat. “Hello, Ginger.” 

The Doll actually smiled.

Too freaky.

“She’s programmed to respond to verbal commands,” Veraine explained. “And to pick up on verbal or physical cues.” He spoke as if having an artificial naked women standing next to him was nothing out of the ordinary.

It’s not. It’s his job. And she’s a machine. Get a grip, Jai.

“Now,” Veraine said. “First lesson. Fellatio. The secret to amazing fellatio is for the woman to suck the man’s penis like a baby would suck its thumb – hard, fast and strong. None of this slow licking up one side and down the other, or sliding it in and out of your mouth.” He gestured to Jai’s hand. “Try it. Stick your thumb in your mouth and suck.”

Jai raised a dubious eyebrow, but she was here to lose the attitude and learn the lessons – as Veraine had pointed out – so she did as he suggested. But she nearly choked when Veraine reached between his legs and started stroking himself while watching her.

Veraine shook his head. “Ignore me. It’s just part of the job.”

Ignore his penis, which was visibly stiffening?
If he thinks I’m going to practice on him, he’s got another thing coming. Job or no job.
Luckily, Jai’s training in Zavian street fighting combat – among other martial arts – guaranteed Veraine wouldn’t stand a chance if he tried anything with her.

“Suck,” he ordered. “Suck as hard and as fast as you can. Think of a vacuum cleaner.”

Veraine’s voice was detached, matter-of-fact, not sexually excited in the least. Jai tried to frown, but yesterday’s Botox injection had successfully frozen her forehead.

How the hell was she was supposed to suck her thumb with the strength of a vacuum cleaner? Still, she practiced as best she could, settling into a rhythm while Veraine continued to stroke himself

“Good. Keep going.” He turned to the Doll. “Ginger? Come here. Demonstrate fellatio.”

Veraine quickly unbuttoned his trousers and pushed them down to his knees. Jai’s thumb stilled in her mouth as she watched, wide-eyed, while the high-end Doll complacently knelt in front of Veraine and demonstrated her perfect technique on his now-erect penis. Despite herself, Jai watched in fascination as the Doll’s checks sucked in and puffed out at a remarkable pace, over and over. Jai would never be able to perform at the speed Ginger did, but then, Veraine only lasted about fifteen seconds before he groaned loudly and exploded in the Doll’s mouth. Hopefully, Marque Callex would still be satisfied if Jai took thirty seconds to achieve the same effect.

Veraine zipped himself up as he struggled to catch his breath. “
Mmm
. One of the perks of the job,” he admitted with a too-satisfied grin.

Jai’s eyes narrowed.

Veraine ignored the look of disapproval. “Now. Obviously you won’t be able to perform at the 19-mile-per-hour rate Ginger does, but that’s fine. Callex thinks he’s getting the most lifelike, realistic Doll to roll off our assembly line. Real women don’t perform at inhuman speeds. This fellatio technique is failsafe, trust me, but if you happen to need an extra push to send him over the edge…”

Jai waited.

“There’s a spot at the base of a man’s cock where if you apply pressure with one or two fingers – especially when he’s almost at the edge of his control – it’ll result in an orgasm that’ll blow his mind.” Veraine looked down at the Doll, who was still on her knees in front of him. “Ginger? Demonstrate fellatio 2 on Mr. Carron.”

Jai glanced next to her. She’d completely forgotten about the oily Anson Carron, who’d apparently enjoyed the recent Veraine/Ginger blow show immensely, and was now standing with his pants around his ankles, stroking his own erect penis.

Ugh.
Men.
They could be so disgusting.

Ginger took two short steps on her knees over to the Beautiful Dolls owner, and took him into her mouth. Ten seconds of high-powered sucking, accompanied by her two-fingered pressure at the base of Carron’s cock, and the show was over.

Watching it, Jai felt sick. Prostitution was the world’s oldest profession, true, but could it really be passed off – and
accepted
– as everyday commerce just because the prostitutes these days were robots?

Obviously, Anson Carron thought so. According to Commander Rainey, it was a highly profitable business.

“Next lesson. Anal sex.”

You need to treat this assignment like a job, Jai. It’s the only way you’ll get through it unscathed.

Right. It was just another case. One that would save the world and avenge the death of a fellow Tau Cetus agent, as long as she could sexually satisfy the world’s most powerful arms dealer and get him to spill top secret information. No pressure there.

“Ginger?” Veraine called to the Doll. “Get ready for anal sex.”

Still on her knees, Ginger dutifully dropped onto her hands, giving both men and Jai a view of her perfect backside.