Chapter Ten #2
“Every one of us is tested in different ways.”
“Yeah, you guys get into pissing contests, get to see whose dick is bigger, but when a woman comes along, all of you get together to trick her so she’s in the dark.”
“So, you want to compare dicks?” Flyboy asked with a straight face. “We can compare dicks. You whip yours out and I’ll do the same.”
She tried to stop it but found herself grinning back at that infectious dimple. “I’m very good at enlarging dicks,” she reminded him, airily.
“Oh, I know. I saw you giving your Hades a particularly ridiculous embellishment.”
It was just too darn easy to banter with this man.
In spite of his incredibly good looks, he had a boyishness about him that was very appealing.
Helen narrowed her eyes. “That’s your job within the ranks, isn’t it?
You’re the one who gets to play the guy next door.
That’s why you’re the one friendly with me. ”
His eyes rounded innocently, but there was a tiny twinkle in one of them. “Heath’s friendly too. And from what I can tell, Jed and Armando are friendly with you.”
“Ha. No, let me rephrase that. Ha, ha, ha,” Helen mocked disbelievingly.
“Can you see Jed playing the boy next door in an assignment? People volunteering information to him without him either threatening or seducing them? No, he’s Number Nine because he’s scary and can kill someone in a hundred ways.
Armando’s idea of friendliness is behaving like the cryptic Yoda.
All that gothy gloom and doom. Then there’s Heath, the one who interrogates and retrieves, remember? That’s little Jed McNeil there.”
She had to stop there because Flyboy was laughing so hard, he was making her join in.
“Oh my God, Hell. Yoda,” he chuckled. “Little Jed McNeil.”
He broke out laughing again, a sexy male sound that hit her gut, reminding her she wasn’t exactly immune to charming men at the moment. And this particular commando had charm dripping like chocolate syrup on ice cream. She sighed. She wished she had that for dinner instead.
Flyboy wiped his tears from his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve had such a good laugh for a while,” he told her, still smiling. “Look, yeah, you have your teammates pinned down with your description of our...skills, shall we call it...but it’s all part of the outfit. We are Viruses.”
“And you’re trained to be insidious, like one. But not to one of your teammates, right?” she pressed on.
“You’re wrong there. We challenge ourselves constantly, but that’s beside the point.
Back when it became obvious that we were going to gain a new member, someone who has a different kind of insidious talent, it became our immediate problem to protect you while you were still learning the program.
I admit it, I’m attracted to you.” His blue eyes turned bluer.
“I’m a man and you’re one hell of a challenge and a beautiful woman to boot.
I flirted with you not because I had to, but because I like you.
Was it that bad, going out with me, and having a nice chat or two?
I answered the questions that worried you as best as I could and if you had asked the right question, who knows, I might even have told you.
But you didn’t. You wanted to test all of us back.
Admit it, Hell. You’re all ‘I’m woman, hear me roar’ sometimes. ”
Helen stared back at him. His male logic was amazingly crazy, yet he somehow managed to hit a few home truths her way. She had dug around on her own. Had kept her suspicions to herself.
“I didn’t trust most of you,” she finally admitted grudgingly, but quickly added, “and rightly so! You knew what Hades was meant to be to me.”
Flyboy would be smart enough to know that anything with Jed would mean more than just trainer. Intimacy and more would be part of their “partnership”.
He shrugged in reply. “I don’t know what to say to that, Hell. I don’t know anything about RV. Just the virtual reality part. You’ll have to talk to Jed.”
“And you claim that you’re attracted to me?” she scolded him softly. “What kind of man lets another man seduce his girl?”
He shook his head, a small smile forming.
“I tried my damnedest, girl, but you were already into your trainer like white on rice. Sorry, you aren’t going to blame me for that.
” He lowered his voice. “But I’m here. Not just for friendship.
When you’re over with him, I’d like more.
But most important, I’m here if you need someone to talk to.
He isn’t the easiest man to communicate with. ”
“But?”
“I’d trust him with my life,” Flyboy said simply. He stood. “I’ve to go to Armando before he decides to disappear. Are we cool?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. He dimpled at her. Damn that smile. A girl would forgive murder with that smile.
“You’re on probation,” she told him. “Maybe after you’ve shown me your collection of Carol Burnett Show episodes.”
He looked momentarily surprised that she remembered he was an avid Carol Burnett fan. Her heart did a slow flip at the boyish delight in his face.
“You’re on,” he said and touched her shoulder briefly, hesitated, then appeared to change his mind. His blue eyes, though, held hers for a few seconds, telling her what he’d wanted to do. He winked at her before opening the connecting door to the next room.
Helen smiled and stretched on her bed. Viruses, if handled properly, could be controlled.
THE PORTAL IN HIS QUARTERS was similar to the one Elena would be using, except that the controls were on his side. He could change the preprogrammed scenery within the virtual reality program with a voice command or a tap of his finger.
It was good he had most of the commands memorized because once their brainwaves were in sync, he usually found himself so immersed with Elena that he’d forget he wasn’t in a virtual bodysuit.
He could sense her thoughts. It was amazing. They hadn’t anticipated that when they’d planned to add the synchronized brainwave experiment as part of TIVRRV.
Totally immersive indeed. He still couldn’t decide whether it was a fair exchange, that he was able to remote view through her, sense her experience through her, and she, on the other hand, was able to move into his subconscious and participate in his dreams. And he was aware that his dreams betrayed his feelings more than anything else, because every dream he had when he sensed her presence was about his desire for her.
It was not enough, though. He didn’t want just the virtual part of her, or dream-fucking her, or watching her romp around the pool naked. He wanted to be alone with her—man and woman—in a bedroom, all to himself, with no technology or serum enhancing the experience.
His lips twisted. Too late for that, McNeil. Everything, as usual, was ass backwards.
One day he would get back to normal.
Jed looked at the control panels in front of him and a rueful smile crept onto his lips.
Getting back to normal? With a woman who could spy with her mind?
With a woman who joined in his sexual fantasies when they were asleep?
He shook his head, slightly bemused by his own thoughts. What was he thinking?
He had been having some strange ideas lately. When emotions got in the way, he did what he did best—compartmentalize.
If he stopped viewing his assignment as part of his job, there would be more complications than it would be worth. Lives could be put at risk. He’d learned that lesson a few times in this lifetime.
In comparison, in many ways, Elena was a fledgling in the cloak-and-dagger world. Her two years away from field experience had also made her vulnerable emotionally. Killer instinct was usually the first to go. He had to be careful and not give her too many choices, especially in the beginning.
Sexual desire was an important part of an intimate bond, but so was trust. It surprised him that she wasn’t fighting him as hard as he’d thought she would. One punch. Probably more coming later. But there was no deep hatred or hysteria, powerful emotions that could weaken any imprinting process.
Elena definitely wasn’t acting revolted or disgusted. That meant what they’d intimately shared didn’t revolt or disgust her. He found that oddly pleasing.
“Activate program,” he instructed softly.