Virtually Lace

by Uvi Poznansky

  He stroked her temples, her cheeks, her chin. His fingers stopped short of her lips. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  Tears welled in her eyes.

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “Want to stop?”

  “Yes,” she said. “No. I don’t know.”

  “Just tell me.”

  Ash closed her eyes, shook her head in despair. “For months, any thought about love making brought back the horror of what was done to me. It’s just... I just don’t know how to get past it.”

  Michael combed her short hair with his fingers, hoping that will comfort her, somehow. “We’ll wait it out,” he said, “until the moment passes. Until the bad memories subside. Until you’re back here, at the present, with me.”

  She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  For a while, Ash stared at the ceiling. Then, she snuggled up to him. “Oh, Michael. I love you for being patient.”

  “Not patient at all. It’s just, I don’t want to take anything you can’t give.”

  “I want to give you all of me, but every time you come close, something in me screams, run away.”

  “Then, the next move is yours. It has to be.”

  Deferring to her was the hardest thing he had ever done, especially now that his blood was pulsating with desire. He rolled over on his back, putting some distance between them so as to restrain himself, even as his body ached for her to come, to explore him.

  Ash rose on her left elbow and slipped her right hand under his shirt, stopping at the waistline just long enough to unbuckle him. With one sleek move, she unzipped his pants and removed them.

  Now in his boxer shorts, he rose to his knees and hovered over her. With the tip of a strawberry, he drew circles around her navel, till her belly glistened, till the smell of their sweat mixed in with the fruity fragrance.

  For a moment, Michael thought of stopping. At this point, he could still do it, still control himself, somehow. “Is this too much, sweetie?”

  Ash arched her back, clinging to him. “No,” she murmured. “No, no!”

  Afraid that he would hold himself back, she kissed him hard on his mouth, her hands raking his back all the way down, which made him utter a groan. It vibrated through both their bodies.

  “I need you so,” she said, her breath tickling his ear.

  Ash wrapped her palm around his shaft, first gently, just to caress its hardness, to marvel in it. Then, becoming bolder, she let her fingers travel the whole length of him, all the way to the tip, her pressure thrilling him, giving him pleasure. She rubbed herself against him till he sucked in his breath, doing his damnedest not to come, not to lose himself outside of her.

  “I need you,” she repeated, now utterly in heat. “I need you now.”

  With that, all fears melted away, all inhibitions gone. Their breath mixing into the same rhythm, Michael and Ash found themselves catapulted to a new peak.

  And while there, the last thought flitting across his mind before ecstasy came was that he had to give her all of him, had to make her forget who she was, who he was, so they could forge themselves anew, as one.

  ❋

  Later, when she began to doze off, Michael got up from the bed. This whole week, ever since finding the body, he had been having trouble falling asleep. Even the act of keeping his eyes closed was an effort, somehow.

  He thought of telling her that the president, Mr. Armstrong, was now on an indefinite leave. A new president would soon be named, one with no motives to give her job to a nephew. So, if Ash wanted to join the company as an industrial designer, the job was hers, after all.

  But now, none of that seemed important. Michael knew that she would be right to reject such an offer, because that company was no good for either of them. It was a death trap for their creativity.

  He could not bear the thought of going back to work in that place, where each employee looked out for his own advantage, neglecting the overall mission, which in his mind, was this: to bring into being a new, better universe, if only a virtual one.

  Michael tried to imagine himself heading to the executive office for this or that corporate meeting. The thought of it made him shudder. Fluorescent lamps would turn on automatically, sensing his motion along the corridors. There would be no point in looking back, for the lamps behind him would have dimmed out already.

  Restless, he headed over to the sink. His virtual reality headset lay next to his toothbrush. He reached for it.

  Meanwhile, Ash turned over, her hand sliding across his side of the bed, searching for the last of his warmth.

  “Michael?” she called. “Where are you going?”

  “To the garage,” he said, all naked but for his headset.

  “Why?”

  He wrapped a bath towel around his waist and went out the bedroom door. “Sweetheart, there’s one last thing I must do.”

  ❋

  Here was the scene he had come to know so well, the scene of the murder. Virtually like a wave it came, with digitized droplets washing down over him, settling into place amidst the blue walls of the garage, with the jagged rock formation in the center of it all, framed by papery waves.

  The mist cleared, only to reveal the familiar characters waiting there, each in its own position, in suspended animation.

  “Delete Gull,” he commanded. “Delete Fish.”

  Gull took a sharp turn and soared over the reddened clouds. Its shadow fluttered a moment longer on the garage floor, where the ripples around the eye of Fish closed in, erasing it.

  “Delete First Diver. Delete Second Diver.”

  The two wire figures clambering up to reach the restaurant gate exchanged blank looks. In a blink, their snorkeled faces crumbled away, and so did their limbs. The traces of their fins remained there for a little while, glistening in the moonlit sand.

  “Delete Boy. Delete Brother.”

  Boy flashed a smile. With a sharp metallic clink, Brother kicked him and hopped back, narrowly escaping a kick in return. Then both of them melted away.

  “Delete Freckles.”

  The dimpled smile separated from her face and flew away along with a swarm of freckles, until vanishing into the simulated wind. Only her wire basket remained behind.

  “Delete Mr. Strong.”

  Mr. Strong pleated his papery forehead, and at the end of a full second of contemplation, stepped off the boat and sank by her side, never to climb back on deck again.

  The sails wiggled for a while, then settled into a steady blur, as the sailboat started gliding away across the blue surface.

  “Delete Fool.”

  His papery beard aflutter, Fool flew off the bluff. His fall, down to the rocks below, had no impact. He simply evaporated into thin air.

  Michael reached for his wooden stake, reveling in its ripped fibers. Their touch was familiar. It might have been delivered to him by his virtual reality glove, or else by the muscle memory of his hand, from the time he had destroyed Bull by destroying his art. Either way, it was his stake now, virtually so, just as if it were handed down from the old man to him.

  Finally, without waiting for an explicit command, Mysterious collapsed onto the dark rock. The stump of its neck became one with the jagged outline.

  At long last, the virtual landscape looked serene—no wire figures to disrupt its beauty. No one left, not a soul but Lace.

  And that, in a perfect world, that was the way it should have been.

  Balancing herself on the tips of her toes, all alone on the hillside, the dancer flew over the trail, with the veil of evening shadow lingering behind her. Through her fingers, a glitter of some kind spread in the wind, swirling down the rib of the rocks and over the sea.

  Michael was sleepy, but could not let his eyes fall shut. If he would do it—even for a heartbeat—the nightmare might start all over again. Ribbons of silvery water would start wrinkling slowly over her temple and down into the crown of algae. A drip would start trickling through
the braid, right down to the blood at its tip.

  He bowed his head, praying that now, with the mystery solved at last, the fate of the dancer would stop haunting him and at the same time, stop reminding Ash of the incident. The rape. That, he thought, was the one topic that from now on, should never again come up between them. It should be forgotten. Buried.

  For his sweetheart, would the past continue to be present? Would she ever be free of it?

  It was time to turn off the simulation, but Michael waited a moment longer. He wondered, how would the scene look from a boat sailing off toward the fleeing horizon, one day when he and Ash are headed for a new voyage, a new adventure?

  The white tail of Pacific Coast Highway would shrink into the distance. So would the cliffs, kneeling to kiss the silvery surf. And deep underwater, from the disappearing shore, would it still come—rippling faster and faster toward them—that whispering silence of Lace?

  About this Book

  From USA Today bestselling author, Uvi Poznansky, comes a gripping techno-thriller, part of a multi-author series tied together by an interlocking cast of characters, all centered around the fantastic new promise of high technology and the endless possibilities for crime that technology offers, in a world where getting away with murder can be not only plausible, but easy…if you just know how.

  Haunted by discovering the body of a beautiful dancer, Michael recreates the murder scene in a virtual reality simulation. Can he solve the mystery, before the man who killed Lace turns on the woman he loves?

  Suffering some memory loss due to a violent incident in her own past, Ash is unable to identify her attacker. Despite the persistent fear, she puts her life in danger to draw out the man she suspects of killing Lace, so as to avenge her murder.

  Meanwhile, the cops treat Michael as their prime suspect. The only reason they haven’t arrested him yet is an urgent rescue mission, as Laguna Beach is engulfed in flames. Will Michael manage to slip away from them and save his sweetheart before it’s too late? Will he catch the murderer?

  ★★★★★ "I started reading the book and couldn't put it down, so I finished it in one day."

  About High-Tech Crime Solvers

  High-Tech Crime Solvers includes:

  Virtually Lace by Uvi Poznansky:

  Michael Morse, an expert in VR simulation, stumbles on a dead body on the beach. A suspect himself, can Michael stay free for long enough to identify the real culprit?

  Virtually Undead by Robert I. Katz:

  Neurosurgeon Michael Foreman is drawn into a twisted conspiracy when his best friend is murdered playing a new video game, Virtually Undead.

  Virtually Harmless by P. D. Workman:

  Private consultant Micah Miller’s involvement in law enforcement is limited to the composite pictures that she produces with her computer and colored pencils. But everything is turned upside down when she involves herself in the case of an infant found abandoned in the Sweetgrass Hills.

  Virtually Dead by Edwin Dasso:

  When multiple executives in Vancouver begin disappearing and are then found dead with no signs of trauma, private investigator and former FBI agent Wes Watley is asked by a friend of a friend to investigate.

  Virtually Timeless by Casi McLean:

  Twins Sydney and Noah Monaco become involved in a conspiracy involving attempted rape, kidnapping, assault and an ancient artifact that isn’t supposed to exist.

  Virtually Gone by Jacquie Biggar:

  When Detective Matthew Roy and reporter Julie Crenshaw are called on to investigate a string of sexual abuse cases, they don’t expect Julie to land in the crosshairs of a serial killer.

  Virtually Undetectable by Libby Fischer Hellmann:

  Fired Bank Manager Rachel Foreman and her mother, renowned investigator Ellie Foreman, track through the lawless corners of the web to find out who is targeting the female CEO of a Fortune 500 company who is accused of murdering a disgruntled former employee.

  Virtually Impossible by Barbara Ebel:

  Dr. Hook Hookie extrapolates genetic information that informs patients of their hereditary health risks. But he isn't the only one with a use for the high-tech genetic machinery—a villainess with ill purposes stalks the Medical Center.

  In addition, the authors compiled this cookbook with recipes cooked by their characters:

  Virtually Yummy: Recipes that Inspire

  The recipes in this book come from different sources: some of them are family recipes, some were garnered from our travels around the world, and others—inspired by our research, which enables us to write about the adventures of our characters and their culinary feats. But no matter where these recipes come from, we find them not only delicious but also inspiring. We hope you will too.

  About the Author

  Uvi Poznansky is a USA TODAY bestselling, award-winning author, poet and artist. “I paint with my pen,” she says, “and write with my paintbrush.”

  Uvi earned her B. A. in Architecture and Town Planning from the Technion in Haifa, Israel. During her studies and in the years immediately following her graduation, she practiced with an innovative Architectural firm, taking part in the design of a large-scale project, Home for the Soldier.

  Having moved to Troy, N.Y. with her husband and two children, Uvi received a Fellowship grant and a Teaching Assistantship from the Architecture department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. There, she guided teams in a variety of design projects and earned her M.A. in Architecture. Then, taking a sharp turn in her education, she earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.

  During the years she spent in advancing her career—first as an architect, and later as a software engineer, software team leader, software manager and a software consultant (with an emphasis on user interface for medical instruments devices)—she wrote and painted constantly. In addition, she taught art appreciation classes.

  Her versatile body of work can be seen on her blog, which includes thoughts about the creative process, reader reviews, author interviews, excerpts from her novels, voice clips from her audiobooks, poems and short stories, and on her art site, which includes bronze and ceramic sculptures, paper engineering projects, oil and watercolor paintings, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings, and mixed media.

  Coma Confidential, Overkill, and Overdose are volume I, II and III of Ash Suspense Thrillers with a Dash of Romance. With each new case, Ash uses her spark of intuition to solve the crime.

  Virtually Lace is the first volume in a multi-author thriller series, High-Tech Crime Solvers, where the authors bring each other’s characters into their books.

  My Own Voice, The White Piano, The Music of Us, Dancing with Air, and Marriage before Death are volume I, II, III, IV and V of Still Life with Memories, a family saga with a love story that develops in the face of hardship and illness over two generations, starting at the 1980’s, then harkening back to WWII when Lenny, a soldier, and Natasha, a rising star, first met. These books are also offered in two bundles: Apart from Love and Apart from War.

  Rise to Power, A Peek at Bathsheba, and The Edge of Revolt are volume I, II, and III of The David Chronicles, telling the story of David as you have never heard it before: from the king himself, telling the unofficial version, the one he never allowed his court scribes to recount. In his mind, history is written to praise the victorious—but at the last stretch of his illustrious life, he feels an irresistible urge to tell the truth. These books are also offered in a trilogy.

  In addition, The David Chronicles includes six art collections: Inspired by Art: Fighting Goliath, Inspired by Art: Fall of a Giant, Inspired by Art: Rise to Power, Inspired by Art: A Peek at Bathsheba, Inspired by Art: The Edge of Revolt, and Inspired by Art: The Last Concubine.

  A Favorite Son, a new-age twist on an old yarn, is inspired by the biblical story of Jacob and his mother Rebecca, plotting together against the elderly father Isaac, who is lying on his deathbed. This is no old fairy tale. Its power is here and now, in each o
ne of us.

  Twisted is a unique collection, bringing together tales laden with shades of horror and mystery. Here, you will come into a dark, strange world, a hyper-reality where nearly everything is firmly rooted in the familiar—except for some quirky detail that twists the yarn, and takes it for a spin in an unexpected direction.

  Home, Uvi’s deeply moving poetry book in tribute of her father, includes her poetry and prose, as well as translated poems from the pen of her father, the poet and author Zeev Kachel.

  Uvi wrote and illustrated two children’s books, Jess and Wiggle and Now I Am Paper. Watch the beautiful animations she created for these books on YouTube: Jess and Wiggle and Now I Am Paper.

  Find her Books and subscribe to her Newsletter. And follow her on these sites:

  Amazon

  Website

  BookBub

  Twitter

  Facebook

  iTunes

  Pinterest

  Goodreads

  About the Cover

  In my design for the cover, I wanted to bring together the virtual universe, as signified by the 0's and 1's in the top half of the cover, and the natural world, as signified by the ebbing of water in the bottom half. This way, the cover reflects the thoughts of my protagonist:

  Even before Michael spotted the body, the idea of creating a simulation of the scene occurred to him. At sunset, the panoramic view of Laguna Beach was awe-inspiring. He wondered if he could render it convincingly in his model, the virtual reality model which he had been developing in the back of his garage for months, until the recent acquisition of his software by a military ops company.