After reaching her room in record time, Andrea got out a duffel bag and was filling it as the door of her bedroom opened and closed.

In the stillness that followed, she closed her eyes, dreading what might arise.

"Is it true?" Tanner asked. "Is what he said true?"

Still with her back to him, Andrea nodded. "Yes. I...I couldn't pass the test. But I couldn't afford not to. I had to do something."

Do you know how difficult it is to tamper with Colony files?

Andrea was silent even as she heard the E approach.

There is a program that sweeps through the System and all the Colony files to flags the ones that are inconsistent. The System itself has to approve all files that have been entered. It is virtually impossible to fool the Assembly or the System, so how did you do it?

Andrea shook her head.

"Honestly, I was shocked that I pulled it off. But I did do it. I was desperate," Andrea confessed. "I just knew I couldn't come back home without that license. I made a mistake. I'm...I'm sorry. And now, when they start snooping, even if they don't find anything, audits take at least a month. That means no business for this place for a whole month." She turned finally, her voice raw from fear and fatigue. "Mother'll kill me for this."

Tanner only watched her, searching Andrea's eyes.

"Will you mate with me?"

The room became still and Andrea's brain switched off and on again, trying to get itself to work.

"What?"

Tanner began to wring his hands. "You've done an incredible thing—"

"It's a crime."

"It's an incredible thing. An incredible thing." Tanner's breath hitched, and he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and asked again, "Would you please mate with me?"

That time it was Andrea's heart that stopped. There was a ringing in her ears, her body feeling shattered from the inside out.

"Wh-why would you want to mate with me?" She wanted to kick herself; that wasn't what she'd meant to ask. "That didn't come out right. But let's be honest—you don't want anything from me."

"I want to know you," Tanner insisted, at a loss. But you won't let me in. You won't let anyone in. If we mate.... He paused, struggling to think of something that might be appealing. I'll have enough power to protect you from her. And it will give us a place to start.

They only stared at each other.

Finally, Tanner confessed, I don't know anything about seduction. I've—I've never shared myself physically with anyone, so please don't think that I don't want to make an honest effort to woo you. I just don't know how.

Andrea still stood rigid and speechless.

Tanner's hopeful expression dissolved. "You do not find me attractive then," he said.

Andrea gaped. "Of course I do."

"No." The E watched the ground as he nodded. "You do not. I'm not surprised." He finally met Andrea's gaze. I'm not as breathtaking as Kobal. Or as romantic and loving as Midge. I....When he looked down at himself, he kept his head hung. I don't even have clothes.

Andrea didn't see the large man she'd come to know over this brief period of time. She looked at the disappointment in Tanner's eyes and saw someone she'd never seen, someone vulnerable and trusting.

When Tanner turned to leave, Andrea called out, "Wait. Where are you going?"

The bald E didn't look back. I will keep them from your room so you can prepare yourself and escape.

As soon as the door opened, he was greeted by several men in black shirts and gray pants. They were Colony guards, and they brandished their guns.

A man's voice came from behind them. "Please remain where you are until we've accounted for everyone."

The door closed shortly afterward, and Tanner slid to the floor, his back against it.

Great. Now I can stay here and stew in my humiliation.

Andrea wondered if she was meant to hear Tanner's thoughts because they sounded muffled.

I can't even talk to her. Maybe if I wasn't so bulky, I'd seem a little softer.

Andrea let out a whimpering sound. Her body shook as she wrung her hands. "I've...I've never...never done it. Not really."

Tanner looked up to her from the floor. "Sorry?"

"Sex. I've...I don't...I don't have sex. Not really. I...I mean, I've fooled around. I've coaxed some men, but...I've only had sex once, and...and it was in a pitch-black room because Victor said he didn't want to see me naked."

She took a ragged breath and confessed, "So after that, I never offered, and nobody ever asked, not even Reed, so...I...I don't have sex. At all. And I...I don't get touched. I just...I do whatever they say and I leave. So...it's not like I can take you up on the offer. Un-unless." She shrugged and muttered, "We can put the lights out, maybe."

Tanner lumbered to his feet and said, "Well...I've never done anything, so...." He opened his mouth to speak but gave up. I...I don't know anything about...about it. At all.

Andrea waited for a laugh, but when none came, she was stunned.

"Someone like you? But...but you're so nice. You've got a gorgeous body, and...."

"I do?" Tanner looked down at himself as he extended his arms. "What's gorgeous about any of this?"

With a sense of distrust, Andrea risked approaching, slow and deliberate, waiting for the trance to end. "You're joking."

"I don't know about...about this. Please, don't mock me," Tanner said, his voice cracking. Andrea stroked his face, and the E shivered from the touch. Trembling, he asked, What will you do?

Andrea inched closer. "You've kissed before at least, so—"

"No." Tanner's strangled breaths came shallower. I've never done anything.

Eyes wide, Andrea looked around the room, waiting for anyone to jump out and laugh at her expense.

You think this is a joke? Tanner asked, the hurt in his eyes resonating just as strongly in his shaky voice.

Their bodies close, Andrea opened her mouth to answer but instead let out a soft breath and pressed their lips together. Tanner's mouth was smooth and warm. The E wouldn't move; he stood tensed, and Andrea savored the feel of the full lips. Andrea kissed down the E's cheek and then finally back to his ear.

Tanner pulled away, and Andrea froze as well. "What?"

"That...that...." Tanner closed his eyes. Maybe you shouldn't touch my ear.

Complying, Andrea leaned away. She saw the man shiver, and it made her heart ache.

"You don't have to do this with me," Andrea soothed. "I've noticed you can touch me, but...you can find someone else who can, too. If you really want to now, I...I can just...just do whatever you want and nothing else. You...you don't have to settle for me. You can find someone nicer, someone better."

Tanner wrinkled his brow in confusion, as if Andrea were a puzzle he couldn't solve.

You live through all this. Someone tells me that they'll give me a hand, and I see that as meaning that I'm not good enough, and I can't even think straight. People are in your face every day, and yet you can still get out of bed. I've never met anyone as powerful as you. You are what I want. And anyone, anyone able to trick the System for five years...as dishonest as it was, this is the one I want to share myself with. I'm bad with trust, but you could defeat me. His body shook, and he had to put his right hand on Andrea's shoulder to keep from sinking to the ground. You're who I want.

Andrea relented, her breath quickening as she leaned closer for another soft kiss.

"We can turn the lights off. You don't have to touch me or—"

You'd have to teach me how to touch you. I don't know how.

The prospect was less than appealing, but Andrea thought of something else.

"Well, how do you want to do it?"

Tanner's woeful frown was telling. It made Andrea realized that the more she asked, the more she was bruising the man's ego because the E couldn't answer questions regarding intimacy.

"Do...do you trust me to do it?" Andrea asked.

Finally, Tanner relaxed, closed his eyes, and whispered, "I trust you."

Andrea ran her hands up Tanner's smooth torso, tracing the grooves of the taut muscles. Pulling up the black shirt, she tried to memorize each freckle she saw her digit graze.

The E flinched. "Please...."

"Be careful. I know." Andrea helped him out of his shirt. She received a flinch for each button on the E's trousers she opened. Reaching in lovingly, she grazed the smooth groin and took hold of the throbbing erection.

Tanner let out a shocked cry and gripped Andrea's shoulder tight.

"Easy," Andrea soothed. "Easy. Easy. I just want to get you ready."

Face beet red, Tanner shivered with every long stroke. Each time he did, the room shook. With that, Andrea was convinced that his story of being a virgin was true. She couldn't tease Tanner for long since he'd no doubt cum fast.

Andrea surveyed her room and nodded back to the bed. "Let's go over there."

"I can't move," Tanner lamented, unwilling to break their hold.

"Okay," Andrea soothed. She pulled her hand from the snug trousers but Tanner caught hold of her grip, urging her not to stop, Andrea decided to do something that she thought was unfair but she could think of nothing else.

"If you want us to keep going, we have to go to the bed." As she spoke, she stepped back and was relieved when Tanner shakily complied. "That's it. Come here."

"I—"

"It's okay. Listen to me. Come here. Come to me."

The journey to the bed was a long one, but Andrea took satisfaction that they'd managed. She met a bigger obstacle. She wasn't prepared for sex. She didn't even have information on how to safely bed an E.

Tanner's voice throbbed in her head: I'm an E that can touch you. We don't need anything.

Andrea watched him in doubt. "At least check the archive—"

"No." Tanner swallowed hard as his body twitched. No, I...I won't hurt you. We're unable to give off pain during times of heightened pleasure. We don't need anything, I promise.

Though not well versed in all aspects of sex, Andrea did know a bit about it and wasn't convinced. "But we—"

"Do you trust me?" When Tanner said it instead, it held a challenge—one that Andrea found herself stepping up to.

"Yes." Andrea thought about their time together, and she realized something she hadn't before: she did trust Tanner, wholeheartedly. "I trust you."

"Then believe me. Any injury I make to you should heal almost instantly. You'll be fine."

Andrea meant to guide him to the bed, but Tanner began to sink lower until he sat on the floor. Their posture was awkward—Andrea's right hand still holding Tanner's erection in his pants. Tanner kept that hand from leaving his arousal, so Andrea was forced to kneel beside him.

"Naked." Tanner whispered. His brown eyes faded to white and brown again. "You must be naked."

Well aware of her own body, Andrea wet her lips, trying to think up an excuse. "I—we—There's no way around that?"

Eyes wide, Tanner gaped and thought, You are about to have sex with an E for the first time. If you want your clothes to melt and solidify around your neck and strangle you, then fine, let's leave the clothes on.

When you put it like that. Andrea groaned. It took some effort for her to pull her hands away, but she did so to help Tanner out of his clothes. The E's body was a thing of beauty. Andrea wondered if it was possible to have zero percent body fat because if it was, that was what she was looking at. She could see every muscle, and it wasn't in a starved-looking way. They were full and strong.

And then Andrea saw the erection, and she was both thrilled and cautious all at once.

Tanner looked from Andrea down to his own hard-on and back again.

"Does it look bad?" he asked.

Tanner's penis was uncut, thick and full. The sight of it reminded Andrea of the risk she was about to take—trying to bed an E. The realization made Andrea more resistant to undress, and if not for Tanner's thoughts, she might never have.

Maybe she doesn't like the size of it. She wants to stop. I shouldn't have let her see me. I should have put the lights off and made her more comfortable. Dammit.

Thoughts focused directly at Andrea were different from the others, she was noticing. The ones Tanner kept to himself were distant and muffled; he was making an effort to hide them.

We...we can put the lights out...if that's more appealing to you. These thoughts came out clear, and a deep emotion of need filled Andrea's body. She found the courage to take off her shirt and pants.

"No." Andrea couldn't meet his gaze. "But...I'll be heavy for you. Let's...let's do it on all fours or...or on my side or—"

Not acceptable. Are my eyes turning white? Tanner asked.

"Not entirely, but they did a little."

When that happens, I'll lose myself, lose all reason. I won't be able to communicate. It's really important that you have free range to move when that happens. So...please sit on my lap. And...and please trust me.

Tanner turned until his back rested against the bed and he waited.

The E wouldn't look at her, hesitant to acknowledge what they were about to do, and Andrea studied his crimson face. The results were shocking. He's embarrassed. Andrea couldn't believe her eyes, so she touched Tanner's cheeks to find them warm from the blush.

Andrea wondered just what was embarrassing about it all.

She took the E's pulsating hard-on in hand, satisfied beyond belief, when the man twisted his body in reaction. Tanner was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. The E's face was turned away, even though his eyes were closed, and he whimpered with every touch. He was sensitive to touch, any touch. Acting on a hunch, Andrea leaned in and kissed the E's left ear.

Tanner let out an earth-shattering moan. "No."

The cock stiffened more in Andrea's grip, so she took the advice and leaned away.

"Please," Tanner whispered, eyes shut tight. "Please."

By then Andrea found her confidence and was happy she hadn't turned the lights out because she'd never seen something as beautiful as the quivering body below her.

She wasn't sure if it was true that trying to sleep with an E wouldn't be dangerous, but with how fast Tanner's heart was beating and how quickly his breaths came, Andrea didn't care. If this was the reaction she got with just a few touches, she wanted to see what would happen to the man when they joined.

Each breath that Tanner drew was deeper and deeper until the bed vibrated, then the chairs, and then the room itself.

Andrea lowered herself without thinking of her own preparation. At first worried, Andrea thought to stop, but she cried out when Tanner grabbed her waist and pulled her down onto his lap.

Internally Andrea wailed, but she swallowed down her panic when she realized the E had been right; she felt nothing. She had to look at Tanner's lap to be sure she wasn't imagining things. They were joined, yet there was no sensation.

Still breathing quicker from the initial fear, Andrea willed herself to relax. Tanner sat back with a look of satisfaction.

A low growl rumbled in the back of the E's throat. Then his eyes opened, white and devoid of pupils, and he stared into oblivion. The growl grew stronger until Tanner's voice boomed as he said, "Trust me."

Andrea's entire body went limp. She lost all feeling in her limbs, but it came back fast, and when it did, the world began to fade.

She felt as if she was literally being split in two, so she opened her mouth to shout. The last thing she saw as she involuntarily tilted her head back was a bright light that shot from her parted lips and into the ceiling.