Susan shrugged. “He’s a hot one, what can I say?”
“Aren’t you married to Thom Davies from Brighton?”
“Technically. For the last eleven years. We have four children. So, yes. But...it’s Conn Milidonis we’re talking about.”
“You know about him?”
“Doesn’t everyone? His family owns a bottled water empire, the one that almost went defunct and then developed those non-toxic heat-resistant bottles. He and his sister are going to inherit it all one day. And have you heard his voice? Liquid sex,” she enunciated with raised brows. “Word on the eighth floor is he’s a hobby triathlete. He’s what my mother-in-law would call a proper gent but without the hoity-toity. All that and he’s supposedly straight and never married. I mean...whew.” She fanned herself.
Wendy snorted and neatly opened the envelope.
Conn’s scrawl was small, slashy, and barely legible. It said:
Virginity-phobic Paul is one of your coworkers? You didn’t mention this. Also, why won’t you see me? Not that I would resort to anything underhanded, but if you keep ignoring me, I’ll be forced to effect an “accidental” meeting such as our first one. It might or might not involve sex toys. Your defiler-to-be, Conn
Red-faced, she told Susan, “No, sorry, this one’s confidential. Work-related, of course.”
Susan rolled her eyes, clearly not believing a word of it.
Yes, definitely childish. Such as our first one, indeed. Implying she’d set the whole first meeting up.
She knew he was trying to get a rise from her. He liked teasing her, for reasons unknown. But she would be strong. He’d be leaving soon, anyway.
The idea of going home to an empty apartment where she would be forced to relive the most exciting and erotic hours of her life did not appeal. She headed for one of the labs. Might as well see what people were working on. There was always someone hanging about working on something.
Opening the door proved a fatal error. The sight that greeted her would probably stay with her forever—scar her not only with trauma, but envy.
She took everything in in a flash.
Charli Almatto was sitting on a low countertop surrounded by hexapods, gimbals, motors, and other robotic miscellany. She was completely naked. Her very round, very pregnant belly was prominent. So were her very round, very magnificent breasts.
CHAPTER 9
Wendy
FOR A COUPLE OF seconds, staring at those amazing nipples, Wendy couldn’t tear her eyes away and seriously considered exploring lesbianism.
But then she saw Charli’s husband.
Draken Almatto, wearing a cream colored suit impeccably tailored to his muscular form, was kneeling comfortably between Charli’s legs. His position placed him right at the perfect position to angle his face between her legs.
Her naked legs. Wendy could see her knees. But she couldn’t see anything else in Charli’s lower region. Draken was blocking her view.
Charli had her head flung back and was moaning, “Nooooo, not like this…”
Draken was murmuring something in his deep voice. But Wendy couldn’t distinguish the words. Because, cunnilingus.
And Charli began screaming. “You fiend, this is not what I meant at all and you know it. When she’s born…”
Draken interrupted with something Wendy again couldn’t distinguish, said with a low, rumbling laugh that, if she hadn’t heard Conn Milidonis laugh, she would have considered the sexiest sound ever made on this earth. His big hand swallowed Charli’s knee caressingly as he changed the angle of his head. There were slurping sounds.
The whole scene—her stunned horror, Charli’s belly button, all of it—lasted less than a few seconds before Wendy found the presence of mind to retreat. Right before she whirled around, she saw Draken Almatto turn his head to glance her way. He must have heard the door open. He gave her a wave that somehow conveyed casual apology.
Charli, however, was too busy whimpering to notice her.
With the door shutting behind her, Wendy shrank back and turned, hand to her heart—only to bump into a steel-hard chest. She gave a screamlet, then looked up to see Conn Milidonis standing there. Since her eyes were still glazed over with the disturbing vision of her boss and her friend, she made herself blink to see if she were imagining things.
No. It was Conn Milidonis, all right. He looked irritated but delicious, and he smelled scrumptious.
He caught her by the arms. “Something wrong?”
“What are you doing here?” she said through numb lips.
“I followed you when you got off the elevator...what’s going on?”
“In there.” She pointed. “I saw. I saw...I can never unsee.”
Conn’s eyes slitted. “What did you see?”
“Something too bizarre...no don’t!” as Conn’s hand landed on the entry bar. “No! It’s the boss. The big boss. And his wife. They were...they had…together they were...”
His posture seemed to change, to relax. A sparkle came into his eyes. “Ah. I see.”
“You do?”
“Mm, you ran into Draken and Charli having a moment. Don’t worry, Two Shoes. It’s no big deal. I am surprised this is the first time you’ve encountered them. Rumor has it they do their thing at least once a month at Seven Tech Tower.”
“Their thing?” She knew her eyes were wide. “Their thing is performing sex acts in research laboratories? Why don’t I know this?”
“Because you’re a virgin and they’re protecting the purity of your soul?”
“But why? Why not his executive office?” she cried. “He has a whole private suite!”
He opened his mouth, closed it, and began again. “Charli is…she’s...how do I put this...”
“Charli!” Wendy hissed. “I saw her! She’s...oh, my god, Conn, I saw her breasts! I saw them! They’re...”
“Exquisite? Yes, I know.” She barely noticed him guiding her away.
“You know? How could you know about Charli’s breasts?”
“I’ll tell you one day.” He stopped and turned. She became aware that he was holding her hand. She found herself planted against the cool wall. His laser eyes were affixed to her mouth. “Why are you avoiding me?”
“Because. Now what were you saying about Charli?”
He sighed. “Nothing. I don’t want to talk about Charli.”
“But her breasts.”
“I’d rather talk about your breasts. They’re darling.”
“Puhlease, you never even looked at them when you had the chance. What about Charli? You’re saying you’ve been with her? But that doesn’t make…”
He cut her off.
“Naturally I looked at them. I still have their image burned into my brain, Wen...those sweet little brown nipples...water coursing down them...” His voice had thickened, lowered. “I wanted you all over again in that shower. You’re dangerous to my self-control, virgin. I was this close to fucking your brains out. You should thank me for leaving or I would have popped your cherry while we both slept.”
Her jaw dropped.
Well, when he put it that way...
No. It changes nothing. She continued firmly, “You were saying about my boss’s wife.”
“Look, it’s a long story. Suffice it to say Draken’s woman is special. She’s the sweetest girl alive in some ways, but she’s what you’d call particular in her tastes. Draken panders to them, because he’s beyond rationality when it comes to her. Occasionally this involves other people. It’s harmless, and looking at Charli while she’s turned on is a chore for nobody ever, so no worries.”
“I don’t understand.” Or did she?
Before her brain could wrap fully around what Conn was so unconcernedly implying, he kissed the corner of her mouth. “You said you’re avoiding me ‘because.’ Why because?”
Wendy was transfixed. Her skin was tingling where his lips hovered. She could see each individual hair follicle on his face. They were all infuriatingly perfect.
/>
Perfect? What do you call that little mole? That’s right! Conn Milidonis has a mole on his jaw. Ha! What a toad!
“Wendy? Because…?”
“Because you can take or leave me, it’s all the same to you, whereas I like you too much, I even like the way you pester me, case in point this very conversation we’re having now, so I have to leave you while I still can,” she said frankly. “I don’t want to see you or talk to you ever again because there’s no point.”
“Well, fuck.” He stared down at her. Those gray eyes seemed to have gone smoky. “I like your hair down. That’s an interesting outfit.”
She glanced down. “This old thing?”
“You make pilgrims look sexy.” He ran his hands through the thick waves of brown hair, down her arms, and then abruptly the hallway turned upside down. Oops, no. That was her. She was hanging over Conn’s shoulder.
“This is...not in line with my preference. Put me down, Conn.” Her hair trailed on the floor. Ew.
“When we get to the elevator.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Ever been to the restaurant at the top of the tower?”
“You mean the one taking up the 41st through the 43rd floor? I haven’t, no. It’s too rich for my blood. Is that where you’re kidnapping me to?” It was strange having a perfectly civil conversation while a man strode down the hall treating you like a duffel bag.
He smacked her lightly on the butt. “I hope you like sushi.”
“Only California rolls. I don’t want to get anisakiasis. But my understanding is they feature a variety of cuisines.” She fluttered her fingers at a crowd of technicians, who gaped at them.
When they stopped, Conn was as good as his word, sliding her down his body slowly in front of the elevator concourse.
She broke out in goose pimples. The feel of his long, hard body enthralled her, no lie. She felt a powerful urge to press herself against him. She did manage to take a step back, but not to reverse her course.
She peered up at the indicator lights, mostly to take her mind off how pathetically weak she was being. “I’m kind of sad about the elevators.”
He looked down at her.
“Last year, Draken almost installed an intelligent control system in the whole tower,” she told him. It was part of her effort to treat this encounter like it was no big deal. “It would have matched cab availability to user load and destination frequency for maximum efficiency. He was hoping to speed up travel time. Unfortunately, after polling people, he learned that many of the users in the building would try to game the system and commandeer the elevators. He wanted to force all visitors to wear RFID cards as a workaround, but people rebelled against being tracked wherever they went.” She shot him a challenging look. “What’s your opinion?”
She noted Conn was wearing a bemused expression such as she had seen before, many times. “Of what?”
“Of the elevator situation.” She clasped her hands together, aware that the small congregation around them was gawking. But she didn’t let the people distract her. Her thoughts had turned crafty. Conn Milidonis wanted to take her to dinner...he might as well learn now exactly what dinner with her was like.
“In what sense?” he asked.
“In the sense of your partisanship. Which side are you on? Team fast-elevator-that-freakishly-knows-your-every-move or team slow-but-reassuringly-dumb-elevator?”
“Ah.” His face was inscrutable. “I am firmly indifferent to all things elevator.”
Wendy bit her lip. “I can understand that. I appreciate your honesty.”
He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “But it makes me hard to hear your take on the subject.”
“I haven’t told you my take.” She tried to match his poker face, not very successfully.
“Oh, but you have. It’s completely obvious. You just don’t know how transparent you are. Your real feelings on the subject come through loud and clear.”
The man was messing with her. She had to respect him for that. At least he wasn’t backing away slowly. She felt him guide her and realized, startled, that she hadn’t even noticed the up elevator arrive. As it was evening, only a few people loitering joined them; most were headed down. So the voice from the crowd shouting “You bastard!” made her jump.
Wendy looked around to see a familiar blonde glaring at Conn from the other side of the elevator.
“Now I see why you blocked me! And you had the gall to deny everything! Who’s that, then, your sister, maybe? Your personal assistant?”
Abruptly Wendy’s whole front was crushed against Conn’s body, hiding her face. “How are you, Cheryl?” came his smooth voice.
“Much better now that a cheater is out of my life, you slimeball.”
“I’m relieved to hear it.”
Wendy snorted at his imperturbable tone. She could just see the cool, android smile on his face. Not literally, of course. Her eyelids were smashed shut against his chest. The rest of the people in the elevator were dead silent. Wendy had to admit that if she must be part of a scene, she could do worse than being tucked against Conn Milidonis’s torso for the duration.
“You’re lucky I forgot my phone in the office or I’d be pinning this,” Cheryl snapped. “I’ll be tweeting about it, don’t doubt it for a minute. The whole world needs to know how you sleep around on women. I knew you were too good to be true, you fucker!”
The elevator stopped, and the chest against her cheek vibrated with his words. “Isn’t this your floor? Nice to see you again, Cheryl. Bye.” He lowered his voice to a murmur for Wendy’s benefit. “How did I do?”
She pushed against his chest to free herself, then sank back into the corner. “You mean in the sense that you restrained yourself from calling her demented?”
“In the sense of being a gentleman.” The elevator stopped and he took her hand. “I figured you wouldn’t like coming face to face with the woman who considers herself my ex or dealing with any resultant drama.”
“Why?”
“Because manners matter.”
She stopped short. The restaurant was way spiffier than she’d expected. She wasn’t sure pilgrim-wear was appropriate dress in this slowly revolving, weirdly palatial place.
“Manners matter.” The words stuck in her mind. “Where have I heard that?”
“They’re your words. I found your profile on the DraftInHere forums. You’re fairly outspoken there, I noticed. You hate laziness, people with bad manners, and mushy vegetables. You feel there’s no justification for untied shoelaces on individuals of any age.”
“You’ve been stalking me?”
“And you haven’t been stalking me? I think it’s endearing that the smell of bleach reminds you of your grandmother, by the way. Mine is a bleach fanatic, too.” He took her elbow. “Two. Somewhere quiet, please.”
“Of course, Mr. Milidonis.”
Eating dinner with Conn was...strange.
Usually her dates were filled with awkward pauses, self-consciousness, and strategic maneuvers in the game of Seduce the Virgin.
Conn allowed no awkward pauses. He teased, he queried, he argued, he made idle but never-trite comments. For an android, he was an amazing conversationalist.
She was aware of herself, but “self-conscious” didn’t cover it. Wendy felt eaten alive by his stares. They made her nipples tighten and her pussy pinch.
As for strategies...she sensed he was up to something, but had no idea what. So she was completely unprepared when he said around a bite of sashimi, “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
She gripped her fork tightly. “You are?”
“Yes. I’m finished here. I’m going back to Portland.” He held out his chopsticks to her lips, nudging them. “It’s just pickled ginger. Try it.”
She opened her mouth and the sweet, hot flavor exploded on her tongue. “Yum.” And her heart was sinking. He was leaving. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
He dabbed a piece of sushi in some wasabi sauce and held
it out to her. “Try it, Two Shoes. If you get sick, I’ll pump your stomach myself.”
She frowned.
He rubbed her lips until she opened and ate the darn thing. To her surprise, it didn’t taste slimy at all. In fact, concerns with intestinal parasites aside, she regretted ordering the chicken scaloppini.
Not as much as she regretted his future leaving, though.
“Come with me.”
She jerked her eyes up. Conn was looking at her with an intent gaze, all teasing gone.
“Pardon?”
“You heard me. Come home with me. Quit your job, leave here, and come live with me.”
A roaring filled her ears. She spat raw tuna onto the table and didn’t even notice when Conn waved his chopsticks and a server appeared to clean it up.
“Live with you. Quit. Are you completely insane?”
“Not completely, no.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Why would you even think I’d believe you’re serious. Or...wait...are you laughing at me again?”
He smiled. “A little. But I’m not joking. I want to fuck you. I want your virginity. I want to teach you the joys of being an ex-virgin. I can’t do that here. I’ve spent the last few days learning everything I can about you. It’s not enough. You’re pure fascination to me. Here.” He leaned forward to place a thumb drive in her hand. “It’s my dossier. I had myself profiled, at my expense, so you could read it. Fair’s fair.”
He’d had himself investigated?
Fair’s fair.
He sat there looking calm and acting like he hadn’t just asked her to change genders, move to Mars, and set up shop as a Renaissance painter.
Or the general equivalent.
Move to another state...she’d only ever lived in Kent before Seattle.
Move in with a man…no words. She had no words.
Quit her job. Sure, she could find another job within a week or two, and she could always freelance till then...but still. Leave ATJ?
For a man?
Had she entered the twilight zone?
Because it sounded damn good to her.
The leap of hope in her heart quickly plunged as reality set in.
Try Me (Seven Tech Tower Book 1) Page 7