Her mind skipped ahead to her plans for an afternoon and possibly even an evening in front of the computer, digging herself a little further into her insane virtual relationship with Seth.
“A lot of people are in the game on Sundays, so it’s a good time to do some research.” It was the truth. She herself didn’t intend to do any research, but Sunday certainly was a good time for that sort of thing if she had been planning on it.
“Have fun,” Lindy said. If Allison hadn’t known her cousin better, she would have sworn she caught a slightly arch expression flit over her normally reserved face.
“Thanks. Uh, you too.”
And then Allison caught it—a tiny chink in Lindy’s armor of shyness, a brief glimpse of her eyes sliding to the side to avoid contact, an almost imperceptible flexing of the upper lip… And then Lindy actually bit her lower lip, something Allison couldn’t recall ever seeing her do.
“I intend to.”
Then they were distracted by a discussion of the check, which they ended up splitting evenly three ways, as always. Allison was in her car and on the road before she thought back to Lindy’s expression and the recent changes in her demeanor. What was going on there?
“Is Lindy actually seeing somebody?” she asked herself. As far as she knew, Lindy had never even had a serious boyfriend. She might even still be a virgin. The situation bore some thinking about.
But that thinking would have to wait. As soon as Allison got home, changed into more comfortable clothes and logged in to the game, she saw Notmyrealname in the “friends online now” window. He was waiting for her. She finished preparing her cup of tea, settled herself in front of the computer and lifted her hands to the keyboard to dive into the little separate virtual reality she and Seth seemed to be creating together.
Chapter Five
They were both tired of doing the same daily quests, both in the mood for blowing off some steam by doing something more fun than challenging. At Seth’s suggestion, they both started new alternate characters and had grand fun together racing through the first ten game levels and marveling at how easy it was to do these early starter quests after spending so much time in the higher levels of the game.
After a few hours of flirtatious chat and serious questing, Allison finally begged off. Her legs were falling asleep and she was hungry again. She wasn’t surprised, though, when the phone rang just as she was finishing her BLT and trying to think of an excuse to put off washing the dishes.
She picked up, glancing at the caller ID from habit but already knowing it would be Seth.
“I missed you.”
She laughed, but was glad he couldn’t see the warm blush she could feel sweeping over her cheeks.
“You just chatted with me for almost three hours. We killed about a hundred treemonsters and a giant bat together, remember?”
“Well, but that didn’t really count. That was just in the game. It’s not really quality time. So what did you have to eat?”
“BLT.”
“Sounds yummy. I had some soup I got at the grocery store the other day. And now I’m trying to be productive and do some proofreading.”
The few dishes in the sink weren’t worth running the dishwasher for. A plate, a few utensils and the skillet she had used to fry bacon for her sandwich. Allison hated washing dishes by hand, but resigned herself to the task. She let the water run over her hand as it warmed up. Even in the hottest weather, the water in her apartment took a ridiculously long time to reach a reasonable temperature for dishwashing or baths. Now, with the autumn chill starting to set in, Allison knew she was in for at least a five-minute wait before the water would be hot enough to wash dishes.
“Proofreading? So how are you going to do that and talk to me at the same time?”
“Practice. So you know, this paper has a lot to do with something we were talking about the other day at breakfast, about Adelston. I’m citing him in the section where I describe methodology, because we’re having to control to some degree for addictive tendencies and the whole gambling aspect of the auction system.”
“Fascinating.”
“Isn’t it, though? Are you falling asleep yet?”
“No, it’s okay. Go ahead. I’ll let you know if it gets too dull.”
The phone was wedged between her shoulder and ear, and she let the dual influences of the water and Seth’s voice lull her into a sense of calm. He described the opening of his study, then some amusing anecdotes from the game that quickly had Allison giggling.
“Okay, but enough of that,” he finally said. “Enough serious talk about peer-reviewed research and spells that turn your enemies into zombie slaves. So, what are you doing now?”
“Washing dishes. Vegging out in front of the sink, really. Thinking about these dishes I should be washing, but really just playing with the water.”
“Are you actually sleepy?”
“A little. Tired, more than sleepy. I’ll probably get a second wind in another few hours and stay up too late reading.” She felt like she was giving too much away, and needed something in return. “Are you still proofreading?”
“Yes. I hate it.”
“I still don’t get how you can do that and talk on the phone at the same time.”
“I read it backwards. If I think about the content I miss the errors.” A typing sound came through, muffled clacking of keys. “There, see, I just noticed a typo. And fixed it. How are the dishes coming?”
“The water’s still not warm enough. Plus I’m procrastinating, because I hate doing dishes.”
“Do you like proofreading?”
She saw the offer coming a mile away, but lacked the energy to take evasive maneuvers. “Yeah, I do. As much as anybody does, I suppose.”
“I do not. However, I don’t mind—”
“Doing the dishes.”
“You read my mind.”
“It wasn’t exactly a closed book. Did you really think I’d fall for that one? You’re going to have to work harder than that.”
“I could stalk you. I do know where you live, you know. I didn’t find out on purpose, somebody mentioned it in passing. Not your apartment number or anything, but the building. Big divided Victorian fourplex on Madison, there’s only one of those. And it’s a fourplex, so how long could it take to figure out which one is yours?”
The water went from lukewarm to scalding without warning and Allison snatched her hand back with a hiss. “Damn it. Hang on. I burned my hand.” She put the phone down on the counter and flipped the faucet handle to cold, letting the sting subside before she picked the handset up again. “Sorry. You were saying something about stalking me?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, the water just has a mind of its own when it comes to temperature. It’s fine. It happens all the time. I should’ve been paying attention.”
“I distracted you.”
“You have a tendency to do that.” She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, dreading what she knew she had to say next.
“I like that,” Seth said with a smile she could hear through the phone line.
“I don’t. I don’t like being distracted. I have important things to pay attention to. I get distracted and I get burned. I need to go, Seth.”
“Wait. Allison, wait.”
“No.” But she didn’t hang up. She wanted to but she couldn’t. Tears started welling up behind her eyes, making them ache, making her throat tighten.
“Allison. I wasn’t trying to distract you. I wasn’t trying to play games. Yeah, I was angling to come over, but it’s not like I was being all that subtle. Did you ever stop to consider that maybe you’re distracted because you’re working so hard to ignore the obvious?” It was the first time she had heard him sound even remotely annoyed.
“Excuse me?”
“I want you. Not just on the computer. I was full of shit the other night, and I take it all back. I never lie and I shouldn’t have lied then. I think continuing to confine our rel
ationship to cybering is a stupid idea. I want to do in person what we’ve been doing over the computer. A lot. I want that a lot. And I think probably I want more than that, but right now I’m mainly going crazy because I can’t think about anything else but coming over there and dragging you to bed and making love to you until neither one of us can walk. And you feel the same way.”
She had to give him credit; the whole honesty thing worked quite well for him. She licked her lips, trying to think of an adequate retort but coming up dry. Possibly because all the fluid in her body had raced downward to ruin her panties.
“Allison?”
“Apartment four.”
“Apart…oh. Oh.”
“What the fuck am I even thinking? This is crazy. Top floor, it’s the door to the left of the stairs. This is probably the biggest mistake of my life.” There was no response. “Seth? Hello?”
The line went dead, and Allison listened to the dial tone for a few seconds in disbelief before turning the phone off and reaching for a dishtowel. She dried her hands and then leaned against the counter, trying to take stock of things.
He would be there within a short time. She wasn’t sure how far away he lived, but it was a fairly small town and he would likely drive quickly. Twenty minutes? The apartment was sort of a mess but she didn’t have time to clean. Did she have time for a shower? A bath? The water was already warm.
Was she out of her damn mind? James had left her a mess and she had just gotten things reasonably back together. Now she was flinging that stability out the window because she was horny for some guy she met on the internet? True, he wasn’t really just a random guy from the internet, and he was the polar opposite of James in just about every way. But she barely knew him.
She barely knew him—and she had engaged in both cyber and phone sex with him on the evening of the day they had met. At least, the day they had met in person. How was that wise? How was that even something she would have ever done? She hardly knew herself anymore. This man was simply not safe.
There was definitely not time for a shower. For all she knew, he lived down the street and would be there any second. The bedroom. She could make sure the bed was made, at least. Resolved to do that much, Allison launched herself from the counter and raced through the living room to the bedroom.
A few quick tugs were all it took to tidy the bed, which she had half-made that morning. Allison looked at the quilted red velvet coverlet blankly, trying to figure out what to do next. She looked down at her clothes. Baggy gray sweatpants, cinched and rolled over at the waist because she had borrowed them from Lindy and never given them back, and Lindy was a size larger than she was. A tiny, tummy-baring t-shirt that Tess had given her, in theory for working out. Allison only wore it to sleep in or when she was lounging around. A good four inches of midriff were displayed between the t-shirt’s hem and the low-slung waistband of the sweats.
No time to change. She ran back toward the living room and looked around frantically, trying to decide which part of the disaster to attack first. Finally deciding to reach for the closest thing, Allison gathered the laundry back into the basket and hauled the whole thing into her room. The bedroom closet was just large enough to hold it. She had to lean on the door to make it close.
A few minutes later the knock came. Allison was halfway back through another trek to the living room, this time with an armload of two coats and a backpack. She stopped mid-stride and stared at the door as the sound repeated. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear the swishing thump in her ears.
“Just a minute,” she squeaked out, and opened the miniscule coat closet just far enough to fling the items inside and close the door again in one swift move. With the next step she was at the door, unlocking it and turning the knob with the same frantic haste.
Seth was on the other side, looking bemused to find her so frazzled. He ducked his head and looked at her over the rims of his glasses, perhaps hoping the change of focus would present a more coherent picture.
“Are you coming in or not?” Allison knew she sounded defensive, almost belligerent, but she no longer cared. The thing was as good as done, or it would be. She would deal with the aftermath in the morning.
“That was my plan, yes.” He looked a little irritated with himself, a little embarrassed, more than a little determined. “Are you all right with that?”
She knew she was giving herself away even as she claimed she was fine. Her nose itched, she was blinking far too much and the urge to rub the back of her neck was almost overpowering. She stepped back, leaving enough room for Seth to come through the doorway, and then closed the door behind with exaggerated precision, using two fingers to turn the deadbolt.
“Do you want this?” Now that he was inside, he seemed reticent to press his case. Allison thought it was possible she looked a bit scary.
“No. This is the last thing I want. I think this is crazy and stupid. Kiss me.”
He smiled, an open grin that made Allison feel melty and warm inside. “Are you going to kill me and eat my head in the middle of this?”
“I’d say it’s a possibility you shouldn’t rule out. But right now your best bet is to distract me from myself. Okay? Please? Do you think you can just do that for me?”
“I can certainly give it the old college try.”
“Just shut up and—”
He had crossed the narrow entryway with two strides and backed her into the nearest wall, attacking her mouth with a ferocity she should have expected but somehow didn’t. If distraction was the goal, he succeeded brilliantly. For an indefinite stretch of time, Allison’s world was reduced to the elements of Seth’s lips and tongue, none too gently demanding admission, and his hands seeking and finding hers as if to keep her from escaping.
She wasn’t trying to escape. She was too enthralled by the swirl of his tongue around hers, the way he coaxed her to reciprocate. When he finally let her hands go and wrapped his fingers around her bare waist, she arched even closer and wound her arms around his neck. It was distraction. It was bliss. It was only what it was and nothing else, just mouths and bodies and tacit mutual agreement that the outcome would be sex, and that it would happen soon. The only real question was the route they would take to get there. Consequences flew out the window.
Allison was far gone enough that it took her a moment to realize Seth was whispering in her ear.
“What?”
“I said ‘which way is the bedroom?’ This wood floor doesn’t…seem like…it would be too comfortable.” He kissed her in between each phrase, as if he couldn’t bring himself to draw away long enough for a full sentence. She found herself inordinately pleased at that.
“It’s through there. Oh…”
He had pulled back just far enough to tug her shirt up and out of the way, and then without preamble wrapped his lips around one of her nipples, sucking firmly and flicking his tongue over the plump nub until Allison thought she might climax from that contact alone. She wrapped a leg around his hips and squeezed him closer, and was treated to the feel of the large bulge in his jeans pressing against her core. She worked her hips shamelessly against him until he drew back with a moan and stood looking down at her, eyes heavy, lips darkened from their efforts. He seemed undecided about whether to look at Allison’s face or down to where his own hand was still wrapped around her breast, thumbing her nipple in a rhythm that matched the pace of her hips.
“Through there?” He pointed down the short hallway and Allison managed to nod. She didn’t expect him to linger in the entryway any longer, but he did. Patiently, and with something like tenderness, he pulled her shirt off and took it from her hands when she seemed inclined to hold onto it. He stood for longer than she would have liked, weighing her breasts in his hands—large hands, she noticed, and strong looking, with long and agile fingers—and occasionally bending to kiss one nipple or brush his tongue against the other. Then he suckled more deliberately at one tight pink knot until Allison whimpered and flexed again
st him again. Her fingers were wrapped in his hair, her head flung back, lost in the sensations his mouth was evoking.
“So responsive,” he whispered against her flesh. “Could you come just from this?” He licked a lazy circle around her areola with just the tip of his tongue and spiraled inward, making her strain to get closer in anticipation of feeling his mouth on her nipple again.
“I don’t know…I never did before,” she said breathlessly. If computer time counted then Seth had already spent more time on foreplay than a year’s encounters with James might have yielded, and she thought she might have to make some fundamental changes in her previous assumptions about things like whether she could climax just from having someone play with her breasts. “I thought we were going to bed.” She tugged at his shoulders, but he had shifted a hand to hold her leg up at his hip, so she was unable to get very far.
“We’ll get there. I just think you should be naked and incoherent with lust when we do.”
She was unable to think of a good argument against that plan. Seth dropped her leg and, with a few swift motions, had her sweatpants untied and down around her ankles, leaving Allison standing in only a sheer pink mesh and lace thong. It hid nothing, and it earned an appreciative lift of the eyebrows from Seth in the instant before he dropped to his knees and pressed his mouth to the tiny triangle of fabric. He worked his lips down to the point of the vee and breathed hotly through the diaphanous silk. Allison’s legs were spread just enough that her clit and pussy were both warmed by the rush of air, and without thinking about it, she pulled one foot loose from her sweats and lifted it to Seth’s shoulder, trying to get even closer to his mouth.
It felt too good to be believed. The silk was so thin that she felt his breath keenly, the faint stubble on his chin and insistent press of his nose above where his lips were busy driving her insane.
How to Tell a Lie Page 8
