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especially now that I don’t have a man bitching at me until I
    give in just to shut him up so he doesn’t get mad. Sex is for men, not women. Only guys
    get pleasure from it.”
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    His stunned expression was easy for her to read.
    Embarrassment had her clearing her throat. “What?”
    “Sex is very pleasurable for women as well as men.”
    “Not in my experience.”
    “You stated you once had a male.”
    “Ex-husband. Yeah. He happened to be an asshole and it only became worse when
    he was in the mood to touch me. I grew up in a remote area where I never got to be
    around men. When I turned twenty-five my father sent some men to my aunt’s place,
    ones he approved of, and told me to pick one. I chose my ex because he seemed the
    nicest out of the bunch. That was a big mistake on my part. I should have picked the
    scarred freak who resembled a serial killer. I bet he’d have been nicer to me.”
    “Your male didn’t attempt to make sex pleasurable for you when he touched you?”
    Jill looked away from his curious, intense gaze. “No. He turned out to be a real
    bastard. He laughed at me for all those stories I had read about sex. He said I had to be
    the biggest idiot he’d ever met right before he spun me around, shoved me over the
    bed, and hurt me the first time we had sex. It was all downhill from there. I was stuck
    with him for three years until my father realized how bad it had become for me. He
    saved my ass and got me away from my ex-husband. I never left my aunt’s farm again
    until last year. My aunt swore sex wasn’t all about pain and humiliation but no thanks
    on ever allowing a guy to touch me after what I survived. The only men I meet are
    assholes. Would you want the captain of that freighter touching you?” She didn’t wait
    for a response. “Me neither.”
    “It’s a human father’s job to protect you. That’s what fathers do for their children.
    He allowed a male to abuse you for that length of time?”
    Jill walked forward and dropped the large rag over his lap to cover him from ribs to
    thigh. She refused to look at his face when she shook her head. “We rarely spoke. Every
    communication he sent put me in danger. My father wasn’t well liked and if anyone
    had known he had a daughter then his enemies would have come after me to get back
    at him. The first time we spoke, and I told him how miserable it had gotten, he sent men
    to get me off my ex’s ship to return me to my aunt.”
    “Are you afraid of sex?” His voice softened.
    She glanced at his face. “Let’s just say you’re totally safe from me molesting you,
    okay? Ready? I’m going to reach up the sides of your legs and tug down your shorts but
    you’ll remain covered.”
    He frowned but nodded sharply.
    Jill hesitated. She really didn’t want to get that close to the intimidating cyborg. She
    had to lean over him. Her hands shook when she reached under the rag and gripped
    the bottom of his shorts. Her wrists brushed against hot skin that she tried to ignore.
    The cyborg helped her by lifting his hips slightly as she slowly tugged the shorts
    down. She kept her attention on the line of the rag that dragged down from his ribs to
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    his lower hip region, only stopping when his groin area nearly became exposed. The
    shorts ended up near his knees and definitely safe from getting wet. She released the
    material and backed up.
    “Okay. That wasn’t so hard.”
    He watched her as she bent and grabbed the foaming-cleanser canister. She checked
    the nozzle, turned it for use, and then met his gaze.
    “Close your eyes and hold your breath. It tingles a bit but in about thirty seconds it
    will melt into water. Just don’t open your eyes. I’m going to get you from head to waist,
    okay?”
    He didn’t answer her but he closed his eyes and pulled a deep breath into his lungs.
    Jill took that for agreement and started to spray him down. White foam coated his head,
    his face, neck, and