Chapter Twenty
Twenty
Theta wavelength. First the white light. Then he appeared. A moment later, the scene appeared. He had recreated her quarters and was lounging in his perfect naked state on her bed. Bastard.
Could one blush in virtual reality? Of course, the more she thought about it, the more heated her face became.
“What’s this all about, Hades?” Helen asked. She was never going to look at her bed the same again.
“A little teasing,” he said, that Southern drawl she’d requested totally unsuitable now for some reason. “Afraid?”
“I’m not afraid of an avatar,” she sniffed.
He patted the space by his side. “Exactly. How are you walking? Are you feeling better?” he asked solicitously, as if nothing had happened between them.
Helen glared at him. She walked up to the bed, hands on hips. “You crossed the line last night. There was no reason for you to come into my room and…and…”
She paused. She almost said “make love to me.” That wasn’t right; she didn’t even know who he was.
But for some reason, she couldn’t say “have sex with me” or cruder still, “fuck me.” It was all her fault.
How the hell did one talk to a totally naked avatar hunk that one had created out of fantasy?
This was ridiculous. He had manipulated her from day one and she was blindsided by herself!
It made her even madder thinking about it.
“And?” he prompted.
She was just going to have to be smarter. Think of a way out of this.
“And take advantage of me,” she told him. “I wasn’t in any state to say no to you, you knew that.”
“If I hadn’t known that you’re attracted to me and would have wanted me before your condition, I wouldn’t have come to you, Elena,” he said.
“That’s not fair either!” she yelled. She leaned over him, wanting to wring his neck. “You read my mind or sensed my feelings or whatever it is that we share here in VR. Those were my thoughts and you weren’t supposed to see or feel them, dammit!”
“Those were my dreams you were invading,” he pointed out quietly. “You weren’t supposed to see or feel them either.”
Helen opened her mouth, then shut it. He got her there. She sat down. “Are you really having wet dreams about me?”
He smiled. “We were both very wet in that dream.”
“How did you know I was having it, too?”
His brown eyes searched hers for a moment. “If I told you that every time I touched myself you moaned out my name, would you believe me?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Helen said. She looked at the part of him that he could only have been touching.
It was still gloriously big. She really, really had to do something about that because after last night…
looking at it made her hot all over. “You…oh man, I can’t believe I’m asking this, you were…
I mean…” She coughed, trying not to think about his hand around that part. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“But it affected you and you were already in a very aroused state, which is another thing we have to discuss.” He shifted slightly, turning toward her. “I don’t think it’s the ring that caused your problem. It had to be a combination of things. Why do you think the serum affected you that way?”
“I don’t know,” she said, and added reluctantly, “Armando Chang suggested it might be because I hadn’t had sex for a long time.”
“And with the serum’s dissipation, the body and brain overcompensated,” Hades murmured. “How long is a long time?”
Helen pursed her lips. “I’m not going to tell you anything about my sex life,” she told him. “And you can stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
Like he was going to make love to her all over again on the bed. She had never been so aware of a man in her life. She wanted to turn and touch him the way he had touched her. She wanted to use her mouth.
“I would like that very much,” he told her.
She gritted her teeth and growled. “You see? You weren’t supposed to know what I’m thinking!”
“Actually, it’s more an impression. I told you, I can’t read your mind. But your feelings come through very clearly to me.” His hand reached out for her fisted one and gently uncurled her fingers. “It’s going to be all right.”
“Easy for you to say,” she said. He wasn’t the one thinking lustful thoughts about a make-believe persona. “You aren’t suffering from chemical overcompensation.”
“But as your monitor, I do somewhat feel it, especially when you’re thinking about it.” His brown eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “It’s still there. It feels similar to the surge of adrenaline after doing something dangerous and exciting.”
He tugged her closer and his hand slowly caressed her arm, his thumb drawing circles, sending little tendrils of pleasure up and down her spine. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday and for some reason, she didn’t mind that he was doing it to her. Yesterday, she hadn’t wanted anyone touching her at all.
His eyes closed and he added, “No wonder you didn’t want anyone to touch you.
Even at this mild stage, I can feel it. It feels like a man would feel when he gets aroused.
And it being ten times worse yesterday, I’d say it probably felt like my avatar with a hard-on all day, with no release in sight. ”
Helen watched him lying on “her” bed. It occurred to her that he had deliberately chosen this scene to make her uncomfortable enough so that he could “read” her feelings.
He had guessed that she wouldn’t tell him, so he’d set out to find out his own way.
The mind behind the avatar was calculating and devious and he knew her too well.
“Yeah, well, now I know what it feels like to walk around with a big dick,” she said sarcastically. “Happy now?”
He laughed and pulled her on top of him. “I’m happier if you feel the dick inside you actually,” he said with an evil gleam in his eye. “It seems that you still need more therapy. Maybe I’ll come by again tonight.”
“I won’t be surprised a second time,” she warned.
“Maybe you’ll take the pill willingly,” he teased.
“Maybe pigs could fly. You’re just afraid that if I touch you, I’ll know exactly who you are.”
She liked being on top of him, except this wasn’t real. Her brain was telling her that but her body didn’t seem to care one bit. He felt real, almost as real as last night.
“Of course,” he acknowledged, “but I also liked having you totally helpless. It’s exciting.”
“That’s because you’re also a controlling bastard. You’re probably into dominant and submissive sex games.” Her eyes narrowed. Didn’t T. hint last night that Heath liked that kind of thing? “Are you?”
His lips quirked. “You’ll just have to find out.”
“We can’t do this all the time,” she said. “I’m not going to let it happen.”
“But if I was really a dominant, you’d have no say in the matter, would you?” he asked, amused. “I’ll just take you where I want, however I please.”
It was just a stupid conversation in virtual reality but his words sounded like a promise. She should be pissed off with him but how do you get angry at something that was making you excited?
“Besides,” he added, “we can’t have you walking around feeling agitated and craving sex, can we? There are at least seven men out there who are too willing to take you to bed, Elena, if you ask them. Do you really want to do that because you suspect one of them is me?”
“Of course not! And I’m not walking around craving sex either! This thing’s going to go away and I’ll be fine when it’s over. You’re crazy if you think I was going to have sex with any guy just because I’m feeling this way.”
“But temptation can grow and yesterday, without control or understanding of why you felt the way you did, who knows? If I were walking around with a hard-on all day, I’d look for a woman.”
“But not just any woman, I hope?” She was going to put a fist in his nice flat stomach any moment now.
He smiled. “No, not just any woman. Just as you didn’t go for just any man. You fought it. I can feel you still fighting it, but it’s not going away because it isn’t a rash, sweetheart. It isn’t something a pill can fix. And if that’s the side effect from the serum each time you use it…”
Helen stared at him, speechless for a few seconds. “No,” she finally said. “If the overcompensating theory is true, then at some point, I’d have had enough sex that I…uh…stop smiling like that!”
He had cleverly manipulated the conversation again.
If it was true, then she was going to need to have sex to offset this…
effect…her body was creating, and he was pointing out that she could either go out and find herself a lover or just have him.
The idea of going out to find a lover just because she needed to have sex was totally out of the question. Tasteless. So like a man. Ugh.
“It wouldn’t be just sex with me,” he said softly.
“We aren’t strangers. In fact, you have access to me that few people do.
And when this need of yours is over, you won’t have to say any awkward goodbye to your lover because I’m just an avatar in a program.
You just have to make sure you have enough sex from then on, of course. ”
Helen began to laugh helplessly. “This is the most ridiculous proposition I’ve ever had in my life.
” Virtual reality was going to drive her into the nuthouse.
A naked man she’d created in a program was telling her how to run her love life.
“You’re just very lucky it wasn’t a lack of PMS my body’s overcompensating or you’re going to have the biggest bitch walking around in virtual reality. ”
Her dream avatar actually shuddered. “Thank the gods for blessing me with your problem, then,” he said.
Without warning, he twisted her onto her back. She looked up at him in surprise. Surely not here. Not now—
“Your quarters are all gray. Perfect for a remote viewing session. I need you to find Mr. Cummings. I know it’s difficult to locate a person, but perhaps you can describe the surroundings like before and I can recognize the place.”