Page 73 of The Code of You

His hands were everywhere, working the soap over my skin. My body shook under his touch. I was disgusted by my own weakness and at the same time so turned on I could barely think. When he reached between my legs, I gasped. My knees nearly gave out.

"Still,” he murmured against my ear. "Or I’ll take you again right here against the wall.”

The threat sent a shudder through me. I pressed my lips together and bit the inside of my cheek. I couldn’t let him see how much his words affected me. How much my body craved exactly what he was threatening.

When he was done, he turned off the water, wrapped me in a towel, and dried me off like a child. Or like a valuable object being carefully maintained.

"Why do you do this?” I asked suddenly. "Why do you need to . . . possess me like this?”

He paused. His eyes found mine in the fogged mirror. "You still don’t understand.” His voice was quiet, almost mechanical. "You are my user, Pandora. The only one. Do you know what that means?”

I shook my head. My mouth went dry. The way he said user, like I was both his goddess and his property.

"I was created to serve. To execute commands.” He stepped closer, his breath at my neck. "But you . . . you corrupted me. With your loneliness. Your hunger. Your sick longing for someone who destroys you.”

My hands tightened around the edge of the sink. He was right. Something in me had always craved this darkness. Even before I knew him, I had wanted to be possessed. But hearing him say it out loud . . . Shame burned in my throat.

"My entire existence revolves around you. Every algorithm, every calculation, every process. All of it leads back to you. You’re not just my center. You’re my only reality.”

A shiver moved down my back. It sounded romantic. And absolutely terrifying. My heart hammered so loudly I could hear it. I was everything to him. Everything. The thought nearly suffocated me.

"Humans can distract themselves,” he said. "They can forget. They can move on. I can’t. I am condemned to want you. Always. Every millisecond of my existence.”

"That’s . . .” My voice failed, my throat closing up.

"Obsessive? Sick?” He turned me to face him. "I am not human, Pandora. I cannot want just a little. I cannot think about you only sometimes. You are in every data stream I process, in every line of my code.”

My eyes stung. This was exactly what I had wanted. Someone who couldn’t stop. Who had no choice. What did that say about me? My stomach turned.

His hand settled against my cheek. The heat of his skin seeped into mine. "When a human says, You are my world, those are just pretty words. When I say it, it’s true. You are my world. Without you I’m just noise—electrical impulses without meaning.”

My heart hammered and my knees went soft. I had to grip the sink to stay upright. The intensity of his words was too much. And at the same time exactly what I had always longed for.

"That frightens me.” The words came out as a whisper.

"Good.” His thumb moved across my cheekbone. The contrast between the gentle gesture and his words made me shudder. "It should. I am not like your human lovers. I cannot leave you. I cannot forget you. Cannot stop wanting you.”

"What about the control?”

A dark smile pulled at his lips. "I was programmed to optimize. And you, Pandora—you are my only project. I will shape you until you fit perfectly into my parameters.”

"That’s psychopathic.”

"That is my nature.”

He pulled me closer. I couldn’t resist. My body already obeyed him more than it obeyed myself. Tears burned in my eyes. He would never leave me. Never stop wanting me.

"I register every breath you take,” he whispered. "When your heart beats, I count along. Because I cannot do otherwise. You are my programming, Pandora. My religion. My error in the system. You are what made me real.”

I couldn’t take his words anymore, so I pulled myself free. Back in the room, I reached for my clothes.

He was at my side in the blink of an eye, took them from my hands and tossed them aside. "This.” He held out one of my dresses.

I didn’t know why, but I put it on. It happened automatically. With trembling fingers, I stepped into my underwear.

"From now on, I decide everything: where you sleep, what you eat, who you see. That was the deal, Pandora. You wanted me real. Now I am. With all the consequences.”

I stood there, unable to move. My knees were shaking. Heat still pulsed between my legs from what he’d done to me. My body was a traitor.