Rebel (Renegades 2)

“There’s a lot of untapped potential here,” she said, slowing her hands to appreciate the hard muscle of his thigh beneath his pants. His thighs were rock hard and thickly muscled. Same with his calves. He had great legs—all three of them.

“To make the hinges stronger and allow more control over their movement, I’d suggest adding the computer chip I mentioned. You can use a software program to collect data from the muscle through electrical sensors on the skin. Then write another program to instruct the motors in the hinges to deliver two or four or a thousand times the energy the program collects and rotate the hinges. ”

Fastening the last strap, she inspected the rig, her mind unfolding connection ideas. A spark of excitement grew as she took a closer look at the canvas straps he’d used. “You could use the same elastic belts they use in polar transmission to—”

“Hold on,” Wes said. “Polar transmission?”

“You know the way those heart monitors work, the ones runners strap to their chest to determine heart rate?” She waited for a nod, then said, “That’s polar technology. It simply uses an elastic band to hold the imbedded chip that collects heart-rate data against the skin and transmits back to the main unit. ”

His gaze cleared, and a hot smile curved his mouth. “If I said your ingenuity was making me hot, that would be weird, right?”

She laughed and sat back on her heels, imagining the setup. “Wow. Now that would be slick. If you imbedded the force sensors into the band, you wouldn’t have to worry about wires or—”

“Force sensors?” His eyes were wide, a little overwhelmed but intent.

“Force sensors will give you more specific pressure measurements than regular ones, allowing for more complicated and precise programming. ”

“Oh, man,?

? he breathed. “Say polar transmission and force sensors again. That fucking turns me on. ”

She laughed, pushed to her feet, and crossed her arms.

“Move in it,” she said, stepping to the side to watch the action of the uncovered hinge.

Wes crouched slowly, then straightened and bent at the waist.

“Okay,” she said when the mechanism moved as she’d expected. “But that’s not how you’re going to be using it, right?”

“No. Melissa’s given me a list of exercises he’ll be doing. ”

“Melissa?”

“His physical therapist. And for the first week or two, he’ll only be walking when she does home visits. ”

“Okay, then, walk into the living room, lie on the couch, and show me a couple of the exercises. ”

He took a step toward the kitchen’s exit. Rubi reached out and stopped him by the arm with a laugh. “Slow down. Walk like he’s going to walk. ”

“Picky, picky,” he teased, but slowed and shortened his step on the path to the living room. Rubi watched how the metal moved with Wes’s body, watched how the straps interacted with his thighs and calves. So she didn’t understand what Wes meant when he said, “This is an even more incredible view than Jax’s. ”

She looked up and followed Wes’s gaze to the wall of windows that faced the ocean. Only one light shone in the living room, so the darkness outside wasn’t completely masked by the internal glow. The ocean beyond and the developing white caps were fully visible through the dark windows.

“It’s a beautiful location,” she said. “And the ocean calms me in a way I’ve never found with anything else. I love this house. ” She pointed to the sofa. “Lie down. ”

Wes turned a salacious grin toward her. “I love the way you think. ”

“Shut up and lie down. ”

“Damn, I think I love it when you get bossy too. ” Wes glanced at the crimson velour and hesitated. “I’m sandy and wet… And just looking at that…makes me want to test this rig out in all kinds of unintended ways. ”

“Just do it. ”

“Yes, ma’am. ” Wes stretched out, his long body swallowing the length. With a dramatic sigh, he clasped his fingers behind his head. The rig held tight to his pants, and they pulled lower on his hips, exposing that delicious area way below his flat belly button. Yes, definitely commando under there. Not a hint of boxer waistband anywhere.

“Like what you see, precious?”

She sighed, but it came out as a groan. “That body should be a registered weapon, Lawson. ”