by Box Set
Katie’s eyelashes fluttered and she licked her lips, parting them slightly as if she too had something she wanted to say.
“I’m pretty sweaty, think I’ll go grab a quick shower.” Aaron said, before she could speak. “Don’t uh, don’t go anywhere.” He beat a hasty retreat to his executive bathroom muttering “coward” to himself the whole way.
But the shower turned out to be a good idea, because under the water, he came up with a plan. He’d take her out to a real dinner tonight. Somewhere nice, Italian or French. Somewhere with private booths and dim lighting. Somewhere he could hold her hand, push her hair back off her shoulder, play footsie under the table and finally…touch her. For real.
They’d gotten so close last night, and so fast. It had shocked him. It had been amazing, a sensory overload. She’d surprised him, delighted him, and flipped the script, tossing him to his back and riding his cock until he’d cum in his S-suit. He’d thrown that suit in the laundry himself, unwilling to have to explain it to his dry-cleaner.
He was eager to get her into bed. To feel her touch against his skin, and not the technical aesthetics of the of the S-suit. They’d take their time, no need to rush. When he finally got the real Katie in his arms, Aaron wanted to linger over every kiss.
When he left the bathroom, hair wet and a fresh shirt on his back, Aiko was with Katie and the flat screen on the far wall was on.
“Susan’s about to be on CNN,” said Aiko, popping her feet up on his coffee table. “I figured you’d want to see it.”
“You could’ve texted and told me that,” said Aaron frowning. He crossed to where she sat and kicked her feet off his coffee table.
“Don’t get pissy,” said Aiko. “You stole my lunch date. I’m the one that should be mad.”
Aaron bit back his retort when Susan’s face appeared on screen and the interview began.
The reporter talked about HyperLyfe, explained virtual reality to the audience and played a promotional clip they’d shared with the press. When the clip was over the camera cut back to Susan and the reporter got right to it, asking in a gossipy, playful tone if she could “get the exclusive on whether Aaron Eldridge and Carly Carpenter were back together?”
Susan smiled and paused, working her lower lip between her teeth for a moment.
Aaron crossed his arms over his chest, and Aiko grabbed his pant leg.
“Uh-oh,” she said.
“Relax,” said Aaron glancing at Katie. She seemed to have felt his eyes on her, because she looked up, caught his gaze and smiled prettily. “Susan knows what to say,” said Aaron, smiling back at Katie. “I told her–”
“Well Erin,” said Susan, her grin broadening. Aaron could see hesitation in her eyes. “They were really hoping to keep it private for a while, but yes, Carly and Mr. Eldridge have recently rekindled their romance, and as you saw today they are just adorable together–”
Aaron picked up the remote and turned off the flat screen.
“Slash her tires?” said Aiko, standing from the sofa. “Or how about we infest her apartment with bed bugs? I know a guy in Queens–”
“Fire her,” said Aaron. Crossing to his desk, he leaned against it and gripped the edge so tightly it bit into his palms. “Fire her and her whole team, and have Jack find me a new firm. We’ll release a statement clarifying the whole thing.”
“Nope.” Aiko crossed to him, shaking her head. “It’s done now. If we contradict this, we look like a fucking mess. We look like a company with drama that can’t control its people and a CEO that takes his personal life more seriously than his product.”
Aaron nodded and stared at his feet. He hadn’t bothered to put on shoes after his shower. He’d thrown on some jeans and a dress shirt and come out of that bathroom hoping to persuade Katie to let him take her on their second date. Now, there was no way they could be seen in public together until this nonsense with Carly died down, and that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
Aaron ran a hand through his wet hair and groaned.
“Alright do me a favor and get out for a minute would ya?”
“What?” Aiko deadpanned and raised an eyebrow.
“Leave me and Katie alone for a sec so I can talk to her.”
“Jeez, fine.” Aiko left, and the second the door shut behind her, Aaron went to sit beside Katie on the sofa.
“I gotta be honest,” he said, meeting her curious gaze steadily. “I’m handling this situation a little differently than I would ordinarily and that’s because of you.”
“Please don’t,” she said, smoothing her hands over her thighs. “You’ve got so much going on right now, and you shouldn’t let personal issues get in the way of running your business.”
“No, but I won’t let my business ruin my personal life either,” he said. Since when, he thought? You’ve always let work ruin your relationships. Aaron groaned and leaned back, stretching his arms up over the back of the sofa.
Katie’s eyes lit up, and a tiny smile danced at the corner of her lips. He followed her gaze. She was looking at his arms. He snapped his gaze back to hers and saw her cheeks had pinked. She was remembering last night.
Aaron grinned slyly and winked at her. “Last night was…” he shook his head and laughed. “Words fail me.”
“Yeah, words have been failing me all day today,” she said, biting her lip. “I’m not the extrovert Aiko is–”
“Nobody on this planet is an extrovert like Aiko is,” said Aaron.
“No, nobody is quite like Aik.” Katie laughed, and he saw her shoulders relax a little. “But what I mean is, I’m not shy either, but…” Her fingers played with the hem of her sweater.
“But?” Aaron prompted.
“But you make me feel shy.” She blushed again and Aaron sat up. Extending one hand, he cupped Katie’s cheek in his palm and rubbed this thumb over soft pink skin.
“Wow.” They both said it at the same time.
Taking his hand from her cheek, Katie held it in her own.
“Cards on the table?” she said.
“Please.”
“I feel nervous and awkward, and it doesn’t make any sense. Last night, I was so comfortable with you. Just totally free and…why–”
“I feel it too,” he said quickly. “I think it’s actually because of last night. I told you I’ve played in HL before, sexually.”
Katie nodded.
“But Carly and I never did. And I didn’t cheat on her,” he clarified quickly. “The times I played were before she and I were together. But when I did play, it was anonymous. Nobody I knew, just complete strangers.”
“And we’re not.”
“No, but we don’t know each other very well, either.”
Not yet, he thought, and from the fresh blush in her cheeks he guessed she was thinking the same. Bolstered, he figured he could go ahead and share the rest of his theory.
“Remember I told you I was looking at this month in VR as sort of an experiment?”
Katie nodded and stared at their joined hands. Her fingers tracing distracting little circles over the back of his hand.
“Well last night,” he said, trying not to think about how soft her skin was, how good she smelled and how tight the crotch of his jeans seemed to be. “You and I collected a huge amount of data from each other, and we kind of skipped some standardized courtship steps in the process. In a way, it was like being drunk. Our inhibitions were lifted because of the environment and now, today, we’re paying for it. Things moved fast and so maybe…we just need to slow it down.”
She looked up.
“Maybe go on that second date?” he said.
“Okay but…” Katie bit her lip and her eyebrows knit like she was worried, or embarrassed, or…Aaron wasn’t entirely sure, but he really didn’t want her abusing her lip like that. He cupped her cheek again, and slid his thumb over to gently pry her bottom lip free.
“There now, don’t do that.” He smiled. “You were saying?”
“We could slow it down,” said Katie smiling around his thumb. “Or we could just speed it all the way up.”
She jumped him, and they both fell back on the sofa. The length of her body molded against him, soft and warm and smelling of vanilla and something else that he couldn’t quite pin down–but it reminded him of chocolate chip cookies–and all he wanted do was eat her up.
Her face was in his hands, her cheeks smushed up between his palms so that her plump lips were pouting above his, just within reach, just begging to be kissed.
“Aaron,” she breathed his name, and her breath was hot against his skin. “I want–”
The office door banged open and Aaron heard a whistle.
“Oh, that is priceless. Sorry to cock-block ya KitKat,” said Aiko. “But they need the bossman downstairs.”
Chapter Twelve
“Damn,” Aiko whispered to Katie as they stood next to each other in E.I.’s demo bay. “You’re my hero. You were getting it.” Aiko grinned. “Or trying to anyway, before I ruined everything.”
They’d followed Aaron back down to the demo bay to watch as he suited up again for his afternoon shift of live streaming. He’d disappeared into one of the dressing rooms located in the corner of the bay, and when he emerged a few minutes later in another S-suit, Katie almost gasped out loud. The S-suit fit his body like a second skin, the dark shimmery fabric skimming tightly over every chiseled muscle, hugging his manly area…Katie gulped. His manly area was rather…prominent, enticing.
Aaron walked to a rig, spoke to his support techs for a moment, then glanced over at Katie, gave a little wave and strapped in.
Katie smirked, waved back, and leaned into Aiko.
“Yeah, about that,” she whispered. “Why the hell do you keep interrupting us? Are you doing it on purpose?”
“No, it’s just my super power this week. Sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
“I seriously doubt it.” Katie scrunched up her nose. “Just knock next time…” she trailed off when a striking white-haired black man strode into the room. “Holy shit!” Katie hissed, grabbing Aiko’s arm in a death-grip. “Aik! That’s Isaac Neil! The guy from the science show!”
“Yes I know.” Aiko grinned and peeled Katie’s fingers off her arm. “He’s Aaron’s guest. They’re doing a tour of the solar system in HyperLyfe for this afternoon’s session. They’re expecting a huge number of people to tune in, a bunch of schools will be showing it–”
“You gotta get me in.” Katie stared at her, wide-eyed. “I want to meet him. I want to go on that tour.”
“Suit up.” Aiko gestured to an empty rig-bay nearby. “You can help host. They’ll be stopping by Celestia at the end of the show. I’m sure Aaron would prefer to have you guide them around.”
“Holy shit. Dr. Isaac Neil is going to visit my world.”
“Told you I’d make it up to you.”
Dr. Neil was not only a knowledgeable host, he was, to Aaron’s great relief, also very chatty. That meant there was very little Aaron had to do for the afternoon presentation. He simply led the navigation for the tour, teleporting Dr. Neil and Katie with him to various picturesque science-related builds around the HyperLyfe grid. At each location Dr. Neil oohed and ahhed, shared interesting factoids, and took questions from the web, interacting with viewers around the world in real time. For the most part, Aaron just hung back and stayed quiet, which was frustrating, because Katie’s enthusiasm, her obvious excitement at meeting Dr. Neil, was infectious, and Aaron wanted to geek out with her. But since everything they said was being broadcast live he had to keep it all professional. There was no opportunity for private conversation, inside jokes or flirting.
At one point though, he forgot himself, and zoned out, daydreaming about Katie’s curves while staring at her avatar’s ass. Since anything that popped up on his visor screen was broadcast to the audience, there was about ten solid seconds of Aaron’s feed that featured nothing but Katie’s pert little ass, bobbing sexily as she walked ahead of him, along Saturn’s rings with Dr. Neil.
Luckily, Aiko had been paying attention, and physically assaulted him in the real world, smacking him on the back of the head while he was suspended in the demo-bay rig. His head jerked in response, jogging his view from Katie’s ass and back to the planet’s surface.
Basically, as far as Aaron was concerned, any time spent with Katie where he couldn’t touch her qualified as cruel and unusual. It was unrelenting torture, so when finally they reached the last stop on the tour, he was grateful.
The futuristic city that was Celestia’s capital floated several miles over the planet’s surface. Gleaming glass and steel skyscrapers soared high above their misty foundations. Transport vehicles and air-cycles zipped through the traffic as Celestia’s devoted residents went about their virtual lives.
At the city’s central hub, Katie gave them each an air-cycle. Throwing one shapely leg over the leather seat, she straddled the machine and roared ahead of them, leading Aaron and Dr. Neil on a scenic route through the chrome jungle. As the sun began to set over the horizon, Celestia City came to life, neon lights and hologram billboards blinking brightly as they flew past, down broadway, toward the Crystal Dome.
“C’mon keep up slowpokes!” Katie shouted over her shoulder as they raced towards the venue. “Don’t want to be late for the party! You’ve never really danced until you’ve danced in zero-g.”
As they parked their air-cycles at one of the domes landing docks they were greeted by Celestia’s social director, Barbarella69. Dressed like her namesake in a silver lamé minidress, she met them in a roped off VIP area at the top of the dome and led them to a balcony that overlooked the whole of the arena.
The Crystal Dome was packed to the gills with every type of avatar one could possibly imagine. Disco lights strobed across the interior as avatars danced, floating around each other with eerie elegance.
“Come with me Dr. Neil,” said Barb. “I’ll teach you how to dance in zero-g.”
“Shall we?” said Aaron, offering his arm to Katie.
“Why thank you sir.”
They danced for a while, and Aaron did his best to not indulge in anymore perving. It was difficult, but not impossible since Katie was wearing her Rainbow Angel avatar again. True, she was sexy in any incarnation, but it was the real Katie that got his pulse racing.
After a few upbeat songs, they stopped dancing so Dr. Neil could judge a science themed avatar costume contest, and to talk with the crowd, answering questions and signing virtual autographs. But as the afternoon wore into evening, Dr. Neil said his goodbyes, and Aaron hopped out of his rig for a few minutes to join the man in the real world, to shake his hand and thank him for coming.
“Really incredible what you’ve done here Aaron,” said Dr. Neil. “Truly impressive.”
“Thank you so much for being a part of it today.”
“My pleasure.”
Aaron walked Dr. Neil to the elevators and then went back into the demo-bay. It had been a trying day, all he wanted to do was relax and spend some quality time with Katie, but he still had another hour to spend inworld before he could call it a night. So maybe he could get some of that quality time inworld? Aaron had his techs turn off the live feeds, and the cameras, and told them to go home. His avatar would still show up on the website as being active in world, but now no one would be watching, and he and Katie could have some small semblance of privacy.
Aaron strapped himself back into the rig, put on his visor, and re-joined Katie and Barb at the Crystal Dome.
Unbelievably, it was even more crowded than it had been when he’d stepped out. Hundreds of avatars poured in, while hundreds more hovered in the airspace outside the dome.
“Word about the party went a little viral,” said Katie. “We’re going to need more space.”
“Maybe move this shindig to the Sapphire Desert?” Barb said. “Okay with you?”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Katie, and as she worked out the details with
Barb, Aaron took the opportunity to write her a private text message.
Let’s get out of here, he wrote. I need to be alone with you.
He hit send.
“Go ahead and–” She stopped short, and Aaron knew his message had popped up on her screen when he saw her avatar’s cheeks turn pink. “Go ahead and party without us Barb,” said Katie. “I’ve got somewhere, uh, somewhere else to–”
“I’d like to steal her Barb,” said Aaron. “If that’s alright?”
Barb’s avatar put her hands on her hips and Aaron could have sworn she was giving him a once-over. Finally, she grinned. “Alright, you two go. I’ll take care of the hordes of party heathens. ”
When the sexy guy you’re hanging out with says he needs to be alone with you, you don’t hesitate right? You just take him to your place. As soon as they cleared the Crystal Dome’s docking bay, Katie pulled a hearth stone out of her inventory, grabbed Aaron’s hand, and teleported both of them directly to her private home on Celestia. Well, on wasn’t exactly accurate, more like…in. In the center of the planet to be exact.
“Wow,” said Aaron, letting go of Katie’s hand to take it all in. “Talk about journey to the center of the earth.”
Katie laughed. “Yeah well, I like to be in the middle of things.”
She’d spent months perfecting her private space in Celestia. The center of the planet was a hollow sphere, a terrarium of sorts, with blue skies, lush gardens, and a waterfall that fed into a beach-lined lagoon. At the edge of the beach sat Katie’s house, a whimsical thatched stone cottage with bright blue shutters and quaint flowerbeds.
Aaron’s avatar spun in place as he looked around. Lifting his arms, he threw his head back, laughed, then breathed in deeply.
“I can almost smell the fresh air. This is charming.” He walked towards the cottage. “My God, this waterfall, all the work you’ve done….it’s just…” He turned back to her, closed the distance between them and took Katie’s hand in his own. “Remarkable.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling up at him.