Play: a virtual reality romance: Manhattan Lux Book 2
Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
Play
a virtual reality romance
Olivia Devon
Copyright © 2017 by Olivia Devon
All rights reserved.
Published by Geek Girl Books
http://www.GeekGirlBooks.com
Cover and Book design by Brigid Ashwood
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Visit my website at http://www.OliviaDevon.com
Contents
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Also by Olivia Devon
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About This Book
Aaron Eldridge has a passion for Virtual Reality. HyperLyfe, his company’s VR innovation, is having it’s launch party at Lux, Manhattan’s hottest nightspot. The kinky sex club is the perfect place for people to try the new game, and play out their most taboo fantasies in a totally immersive, ultra-realistic, 3d environment.
Aaron doesn’t plan on playing himself, that is, until he meets a woman that’s smart, funny, and oh so curvy. Bonus points, she’s a geek girl and game developer too.
Katie Martinez is a HyperLyfe super-fan. The computer simulation is beyond her wildest dreams, and so is HL’s hunky creator. Katie would love a chance to throw off her inhibitions, and play dirty sex games with Aaron Eldridge in his digital dungeon.
When a marketing stunt has Aaron living in virtual reality for a full month, Katie agrees to keep him company, and follows Aaron deeper into the virtual world, where the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur.
What if your secret fantasies could come true?
In HyperLyfe, anything is possible…
MANHATTAN LUX SERIES - SEXY STAND ALONE NOVELS
Follow the steamy exploits of a glamorous group of friends, and the adventures they have at Manhattan’s hottest sex club…LUX.
NOTE: This series doesn’t have to be read in order...however, there are recurring characters and events from previous books that are referred to.
READING ORDER:
Bind - a Navy SEAL romance
Knots - Jinx and Wyatt's wedding
Play - a virtual reality romance
more coming soon...
Chapter One
Curling up on her bed, Katie Martinez propped her laptop on a pillow, woke the machine, and clicked an icon on the desktop.
The HyperLyfe™ login screen glowed bright blue, and a short paragraph of white text scrolled up from the bottom.
What if you could have the life you've always dreamed of? Don’t just wish for it. Create it. In HyperLyfe™ the sky’s not the limit; it’s just the beginning.
The intro appeared whenever a player logged into HyperLyfe, a massively multiplayer virtual reality online world. Katie must have read those words a million times by now, and yet they still gave her a thrill.
She reached across the bed to her desk, and grabbed her mug of tea, taking a sip while she waited for HyperLyfe to log her in. One drawback of living in a cramped New York apartment was that everything was literally within arms reach.
She didn’t have that problem in HyperLyfe. In that world she had all the space she could ever want. A 3D artist and designer, Katie had seen the unlimited potential in HyperLyfe the first time she’d visited. After just a week in-world she’d bought herself a whole planet, named it Celestia, and spent months building countless futuristic cities, mysterious forests, and enchanting vistas on it’s surface. Before long, she was getting visitors to Celestia, people who explored, stayed, formed a community and paid real world money to rent homes to live and play in, in virtual reality.
HyperLyfe was a dream come true for Katie. It was a new path to happiness after the real world had let her down so epically. She both played and worked in HyperLyfe nearly fulltime these days. The money she made in the virtual world paid her real world bills, and the friendships she’d made on Celestia were as authentic to her as any she’d ever had in person.
Every Friday night, the community hosted a planet-wide party. Tonight’s theme was Gods and Monsters, and Katie had only about ten minutes to choose something from her wardrobe. It had to be spectacular. Since, in virtual reality, you could make your avatar look however you wished, players tended to get excessively creative. Angels, demons, superheroes, and glamazons were pretty much standards. But it wasn’t unusual to see players dressed as fairies, flying spaghetti monsters, sentient automobiles, or giant amorphous clouds of fog and glitter.
In real life the closets in Katie’s modest two-bedroom condo in NYC were laughably small. Her virtual closet, however, had infinite capacity. What woman wouldn’t want a closet full of exquisite designer clothing, all guaranteed to fit like a glove? The only problem was she had literally thousands of outfits. Scrolling through thumbnails she huffed in frustration and turned to her cat when he hopped up onto the bed to join her.
“What do you think Rupert?” she said, pulling the purring ball of black fluff into her lap. “The diaphanous Venus toga dress with the sparkling rotating headpiece, or this Sun Goddess outfit with the massive gold wings and glowing eyes?”
Rupert looked up at her and squinted.
“So neither. Right. You’re no help.”
A video-chat notification popped up in a box on her screen, from the real world, not a friend inside HL. She clicked accept and smiled when her friend Aiko Yoshida came into view.
“Egads what is wrong with your face?” Aiko grimaced and raised an eyebrow.
“It’s a mud mask,” Katie said, touching her cheek. “It’s my maintenance night. Don’t make fun.”
“Maintenance night?” Aiko wrinkled her nose.
“Yeah ya know. Nails, facial, landscape the lady-bits.”
“Oh that stuff. Jeez, you�
�re such a girl.” Aiko grinned and stuck out her tongue. “Who you gotta landscape for? You got a boyfriend you’ve been hiding from me?”
“Alright I’m hanging up on you now,” said Katie with a sigh. “I don’t need this abuse, I’ve got shit to do.”
“Yeah you do!” Aiko said, nodding smugly at the camera. “That’s why I’m calling. You’re Cinderella tonight, baby, and I’m gonna take your ass to the ball!”
“Uh, yeah, no.” Katie frowned. “I’ve already got a party to go to. I’m picking out my outfit now, and you’re keeping me from that. I’m gonna be late–”
“No, no, no. This is a real life party dorkus. Tonight. At Lux. You’re going. I’m sending Malcolm for you now.”
“Your sister’s sex club? Tonight? What on earth are you–”
“Hi Katie!” A new face squeezed into the video chat box and waved enthusiastically. Red hair, bright blue eyes, incredibly stylish.
Katie grinned and waved back. “Tessa! Great to see you again. Are you going to this party?”
“She is,” Aiko interjected, leaning into the camera. “And she’s got us all kitted out too. Check out what she’s got for you.”
Tessa shoved back into view and held up a dress. It was a lush red, short, flirty, and strappy in a sex-kitten-meets-bondage-master kind of a way.
Katie’s eyes went wide.
“You want me to wear that? Not that it’s not beautiful Tessa,” she added quickly. “I love all your designs, it’s just very…. It’s just very.”
“I’ve seen you wear stuff way sexier than that in HL,” said Aiko, frowning.
“Oh please, that’s totally different and you know it,” Katie replied. “Everything in HL fits perfectly, and I can change hair, eyes, and skin tone on a whim. Whatever. I can change my boob size if I want.” She grabbed a handful of the moth-eaten sweater she was wearing and shook her sizable chest for emphasis. “I really doubt these monsters are gonna look good in that handkerchief you want me to wear. No offense, Tessa.”
“None taken,” Tessa said smiling. “But…” she turned the dress around and unzipped it to reveal a fully lined interior with a built in underwire bra. “I did design this with chesty girls in mind. You’ll be fine.”
“Ughhh,” Katie groaned. “That is a seriously beautiful dress, and I’d love to hang out, but I really can’t tonight. I’ve got another party to go to, and–” Three messages popped up on her HyperLyfe screen, friends already at the party, wondering where their host was. “And I’m officially late, so I really gotta run.”
“Nope,” Aiko said. “You’re going. I need you. And don’t worry about your Celestia party, I’ve already arranged it.”
“What do you mean you arranged–” A chat request popped up on her HyperLyfe screen. Barbarella69 was messaging her. Katie accepted the request and typed a response.
Catalina_Celestina: Hey Barb! Sorry I’m late!
Barbarella69: No honey, please don’t worry about that. Aiko messaged me. You need to go to that party tonight. I insist. I can play hostess on my own. Everything will be fine.
Catalina_Celestina: One sec Barb.
Katie stared at the message then lifted her gaze back to the video screen that held Aiko and Tessa.
“Why does Barb already know about this party you want me to go to, you bossy, meddling psycho?”
Aiko grinned and stuck out her tongue. “Because I knew you’d argue, and you have to come tonight, so Barb and Tessa and I decided we needed to gang up on you.”
“Why exactly?”
“Okay…” Aiko said, lifting her eyes skyward as if she was gathering her thoughts. “Let me explain. No, there is too much, let me sum up.”
Katie snorted loud enough that Rupert jumped and glared at her. “Points for the Princess Bride reference, geek, but please make it snappy.”
“Okay well, this is a very exclusive, very special event. It’s the release party for HyperLyfe’s new virtual reality upgrade. Aaron is releasing at the club because–”
Katie set her teacup on the desk with a clatter and held her hand up to stop Aiko from talking. She needed a minute to process this. Aaron Eldridge, CEO of Eldridge Innovations, famed video game pioneer and the brains behind HyperLyfe. The guy was a genius. Katie knew Aiko worked with Aaron from time to time, but she’d never been able to get her to discuss her work much. Now, to find out not only that Aiko had an inside track on all the latest VR tech, but that she was going to drag Katie along for the fun? It was too much.
“Shut. The hell. Up,” she said, gaping at the screen. “You’re joking.”
“Dead serious, fangirl.” Aiko shook her head solemnly.
“Is it, is it all the new gear?”
“You betchya.” Aiko nodded. “All the sensory gear is finally ready. The bodysuit, the gloves, the visor. That chair thingy that makes you feel like you’re running and flying and–”
“Holy crap. Okay, I’ll be there. With bells on. Naked, whatever. I’m coming.”
“Good. Because we do genuinely need you. This is a press party. Lots of marketing and promo and shit is counting on this event going well. We had an interpreter for the deaf press, but she’s kind of having a baby right now so, yeah, I repeat, we need you.”
“An interpreter?” Tessa chimed in, her brow furrowed in confusion.
“I’m fluent in American Sign Language,” Katie said. “My mom’s deaf, so I learned when I was young. I’ve done some interpreting. There’s a big deaf community in gaming and virtual reality actually, because with text to speech software and typing as communication, there are fewer barriers online for the deaf when they want to communicate and interact with the hearing.”
“Oh wow.” Tessa grinned. “I had no idea. Makes sense though. Neat!”
“We had a backup interpreter,” Aiko said. “But they’re not as knowledgeable about virtual reality as you are Katie, so I’m really glad you’re able to do this.”
“I’m so stoked you asked me!” Katie grinned. “And more than a little annoyed that you’ve been holding out on me. You’ve been working with Eldridge all this time and you couldn’t slip me even a few details?”
“Nope, on pain of death I could not share. But it’s no matter, all will be revealed tonight at the party of the century.”
“Century?” Katie smirked and cocked one eyebrow skeptically.
“Well at least the best one this month,” Aiko said. “Thank god you landscaped those lady-bits KitKat. Because you’re going to a nerd orgy. Who knows, you might get lucky.”
“Oh please.” Katie blushed and waved at the screen. “Seriously though, why have this party at Lux? I don’t get it. This upgrade is going to revolutionize virtual reality across the board. It has so many useful applications other than just sex.”
“Rule 34 bitch!” Aiko crowed. “It’s all about Rule 34!”
Katie scrubbed both hands over her face and groaned. “Oh please tell me the focus of this party isn’t going to be all about the seedy intersection of sex and virtual reality?”
“Of course it is mamacita! Everything is about sex!”
Katie sighed and turned back to the still open chat window with Barb.
Catalina_Celestina: Barb, I’m being kidnapped to a kinky, high-tech sex party.
Barbarella69: Sounds like a damn good time. We’ll all be fine. Go, have fun and please, promise to do everything I’d never do! ;)
Catalina_Celestina: Good lord. See you later.
Katie clicked the little X button to log off HyperLyfe and turned her attention back to Aiko and Tessa.
“Alright, I’m all yours. Ready for whatever vile and corrupt plans you have for me tonight. I think I’d do nearly anything to get a peek at the new gear.”
“Most excellent!” Aiko threw her head back and cackled wildly while Tessa eyed her with concern. “My faithful servant will be there any moment to collect you for tonight’s festivities!”
There was a knock at Katie’s front door. She pointed off screen. �
��Faithful servant, I presume?”
Aiko cleared her throat. “Oh yeah. It’s just Malcolm. I mentioned I was sending him right?”
“Yeah you did.”
“Well hup-two princess, before all the mice turn back into pumpkins.”
“That’s not how it happened. The mice did not–”
“Who cares!” Aiko yelled at the camera. “See you in twenty.”
Aiko and Tessa disappeared from her computer and Katie stared at her reflection in the now dark screen.
“Oh damn, my mud mask,” she said as Rupert rubbed against her knee.
The knocking started up again.
“Be right there Malcolm!” Katie shouted. Tripping over Rupert, she headed for the bathroom to wash her face. “Cinderella my ass,” she muttered to herself. “Sex club?”
The minute Katie walked through Aiko’s front door, they pounced, wrestling her into that slinky red dress, propping her up in a pair of sky-high heels on a kitchen chair so Tessa could adjust the length. Katie chewed her lip and watched as Tessa fussed with the hem.
“Not too short,” she begged.
“Shush,” Tessa said around the handful of pins sticking out of her mouth. “I know what I’m doing. Obey me, and I won’t poke you with a pin. Tell me about Rule 34. What is that?”
“It’s uh, you ever heard of the Urban Dictionary?” Katie asked, turning slowly as Tessa prodded her around and shook her head. “Nevermind. Okay, so Rule 34 is this internet thing, an adage really, a joke that has a lot of truth in it.”