Chapter Twenty

When Natasha finally dragged herself to bed, throat sore and eyes aching, she collapsed onto the mattress without even washing off her makeup. She didn’t have the strength to do anything more than put her head on the pillow and slide under the blanket.

Her alarm went off like a blaring horn, startling her out from under the covers. She had forgotten that it was her day off. The commotion the night before had disrupted her schedule. The sun was beginning to peek through her curtains, casting a dim gray light into the room and reminding her that life went on. The frequent and unwelcome visits from Nick made her want to shove her head back under the pillow and forget about the world. Natasha’s concerns were compounded by the nebulous relationship with Fury.

She didn’t regret her decision to get the update and focus on his rehabilitation, but she wished it hadn’t happened at such a vulnerable point in her life. Fury always seemed to be in control, and Natasha liked that. But when she felt herself wanting to surrender herself to him, it made her worry. She had let Nick have the upper hand in their marriage, and that had led to disaster. Would Fury, who was a human at his core, be any different than Nick? Wouldn’t he eventually turn into a bully too? Time was the only way to answer her questions. The redhead didn’t feel patient enough to wait.

The scent of breakfast cooking wafted under the door, making her inhale deeply. Natasha recognized the seductive smell of coffee brewing, her favorite thing in the morning. There was also the alluring bouquet of melting butter, frying eggs, and melted cheese. Without bothering to get dressed, Natasha raced down the stairs in her pajamas.

Fury stood in front of the stove with a pan on the burner in front of him. He was carefully folding an omelet into thirds, patting it down with the spatula to ensure that it stayed in place. Behind him, the coffee pot gurgled to itself. The cutting board showed signs of chopped onion and pepper.

She stood in the doorway, flabbergasted. When it came to breakfast, Fury’s culinary skills so far had amounted to pouring a bowl of cereal or putting a couple of pastries in the toaster. What he had created in the kitchen was nothing short of a miracle. He had only had the software upgrade for two weeks.

The cyborg looked up at her. “Sit down. Food will be ready soon.”

With no choice but to comply, Natasha took a seat at the table. She hadn’t put on a bra yet, but maybe he wouldn’t notice. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“I did.” Fury scooped the egg concoction out of the pan and onto a plate, setting a toasted English muffin and a slice of avocado next to it. “You don’t want me to take care of you with fists or weapons. You can’t stop me from cooking for you.”

“How do you know how to use the stove?” Natasha marveled. The meal in front of her was a thing of such beauty that she hardly wanted to sink her fork into it. Her mouth, however, had other plans. It began to water. “Were you a cook before the operation?”

The cyborg shrugged. It was a gesture Natasha hadn’t seen before. It made his shoulders look too large for his body. “I don’t know. But there are other ways to learn than Cyborg Sector. There are videos and books.”

“I see.” So that was what he had been doing while she was away at work. She knew about his workouts but didn’t know he had been studying. Natasha wanted to ask him what other things he had learned. She had a feeling he wouldn’t tell her. Apparently, the soldier liked surprises.

Fury sat down on the other side of the table. As she looked up, she noticed a vase of freshly cut flowers. The big bunches of hydrangeas in variations of purple and blue filled the jar. Someone had cut each stem so its flowers didn’t interfere with the next one. Bits of greenery appeared among the flowers.

“Where did these come from?” If Fury had learned how to call a florist, she thought she might fall right out of her chair.

Her companion did not look up from his meal. “Outside the house. It was dark.”

Natasha’s stomach trembled, and it wasn’t from hunger. “Someone might have seen you.”

The cyborg shook his head. “I know how to stay hidden.”

“I think we need to talk about what happened last night,” she began. The nurse lifted a forkful of egg and avocado to her mouth. The smooth, nutty flavor went perfectly with the omelet, and it was almost enough to distract Natasha from what she was about to say. “Nick is a dangerous person for you to be around. I don’t trust him, and I think you should stay out of the way if he returns.” She knew it was more a matter of when Nick returned. He was not the type to give up easily. He was more like a dog with a bone, gnawing until there was nothing left and then prepared to steal from someone else.

“We don’t have anything to discuss,” Fury replied. He was calm but pensive, and Natasha knew the cyborg wouldn’t accept her reasoning. “I will deal with him. He’s not good for you.”

Natasha would have been grateful if she hadn’t been worried about someone discovering Fury’s existence. Nick was not the smartest man on the planet, but it would be just her luck for him to unravel the cyborg’s story. “He is bad,” she agreed readily, “but he might start wondering who you are. Nick thinks he should be able to control me, and he might try to do it through you.”

A rumbling noise shook the dining table, and Natasha realized it was coming from the cyborg. Fury growled as he scarfed down his meal. He didn’t look at Natasha or his plate but stared off into space somewhere into a corner of the room. “You do not belong to him,” Fury said slowly. “He can’t control what is mine.”

Natasha felt a clenching between her legs when she heard the cyborg be possessive. The notion didn’t match with her feminist values, but she couldn’t deny that it was sexy. Deep down, she wanted to belong to Fury. Natasha wanted to do as he asked and use his desires as a convenient excuse.

She could easily imagine the reactions of her friends and coworkers. The girls at the office, Brittney included, would have no problem saying that she shouldn’t do anything a man says, let alone a cyborg. Modern thought dictated that women weren’t property, and men did not have to be dominant in the relationship. There was a secret part inside Natasha that felt like a man could be in charge of her as long as he was the right man. She had never verbalized her thoughts out loud.

“He can control me, in a sense. He hasn’t signed our divorce papers yet.” Natasha decided to take a different approach and hope she could convince the cyborg. “I know Nick. He’ll do whatever it takes to make me suffer as much as possible until he’s tired of playing around.” She had seen Nick do it to his friends, family, and employees. It was no surprise that he was trying to manipulate her now.

“No!” Fury’s fist slammed down on the table, making the dishes jump. “If he doesn’t leave you alone, he can deal with me.”

Natasha slid her chair back in surprise, wondering if one of the table legs had cracked. Fury was not in the mood to argue with anyone. “I think I’m done eating for now,” Natasha mumbled as she stood and headed for the sink.

Fury caught her elbow as she walked past. She flinched automatically even though his grip was gentle. He pulled her down into his lap and looked her in the eyes. Some anger was still visible on his face, but a different emotion was becoming dominant. Concern. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. But you belong to me, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

The redhead’s eyes teared up immediately. Fury’s words had moved her and made her feel...something, but she hesitated to name it. Natasha knew she needed to talk to the cyborg about his memories and analyze his progress from a clinical perspective. The problem was that he was no longer just a cyborg or a patient to her. He was something else.

“Thank you.” Natasha knew he wanted to say more, but she wasn’t ready to hear it. Even though Fury’s lap was warm and inviting, she pushed herself up and started rinsing off the dishes. Nick had only been out of her life for a short time. She’d thought about leaving her husband before and had always pictured herself as staying single for a while before looking for a new partner. Maybe she wanted different things in life now and needed to plan how to get them.

Natasha had never imagined she would meet the right person too soon or that the right person might be a cyborg. She contemplated a potential future with Fury. Cyborgs could live relatively healthy lives. Many had jobs, and some were in relationships. If it was okay for other women to fuck cyborgs, why couldn’t she?

As she climbed the stairs to her room, intending to get dressed, Natasha realized that she knew exactly why. Fury was not an anonymous man she had met on the street, in a bar, or through an online dating site. He was not a man who would eventually tell her some secrets after they had been on a few dates. Instead, she knew the intimate details of his rehabilitation process. He was unstable and prone to violent outbursts. Even more importantly, Fury was just as likely to be terminated as live a successful life.

She couldn’t put her heart through that torture.