by Box Set
“Any chance you’d change back into your Katie face for me?” he said with a smirk. “You’re Rainbow Angel get-up is super cute but you know how fond I am of–”
Before he could finish, Katie morphed into her Scottish Highlands avatar and smoothed her hands over her hips.
“Better?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, much.” Aaron pulled her in close and brushed a kiss over her nose. “I really like the freckles.”
“I don’t have freckles!” Katie gasped and slapped a hand to her cheeks. “You take that back! I do not have freckles!”
“Yes you do. Pixel you, and in-the-flesh you, too. And they’re adorable. Now stop blushing and give me a tour of this place would ya? We’ve got another thirty minutes to kill before I can get out of here and take you on a real date.”
She gave him the full geek tour. With other visitors to her Celestia home, Katie just focused on the aesthetics. “Here’s the waterfall, there’s the garden”, etc. But with Aaron she could really dive into the details. She talked about polygon geometry, topology, vertices and texture mapping. It was exhilarating, this feeling of sharing your deepest passion with someone who not only understood what you were talking about, but really got it, down to the marrow. When Aaron walked away from her to marvel at the foam that sprayed from the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall, she watched him, her smile growing wider as he studied her work, complimenting her on the realism and the artistry. He turned back to face her and a stray splash from the falls soaked his avatar unexpectedly.
Aaron’s mouth gaped.
“You coded that into it didn’t you?” He looked at her in shock and then began laughing.
“Well not me, I don’t code, I hired somebody to do that part but yeah it was–”
“It was your idea,” he said. “Your vision.” Stalking towards her, he picked her up in a bear hug and Katie felt all the wet and cold transfer to her avatar’s clothing, soaking her front. “It’s fucking marvelous Katie. Just brilliant.”
He set her down and Katie looked up at him, his eyes twinkling, that candid smile drawing her in, making her melt, making her fall….her throat felt raw and her gut clenched up. Katie laid her hand on his cheek and let her eyes flutter closed for a moment. She just needed to collect herself, just needed to catch her breath.
“Hey let’s dance,” said Aaron suddenly, and her eyes flew open.
“We did dance, at the Crystal Dome–”
“Nah, that was space disco. We were ten feet apart in a crowd of people.” Aaron set her feet down on the grass and took her by the hand. “Let’s slow dance, all alone, under your waterfall.”
Her led her across the stones to the whirling pool at the base of the waterfall.
“It’s cold,” she said, shivering as she stepped down into the water. “Can we get hypothermia from this?” She was laughing, but Aaron looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Excellent point. I mean no, we can’t actually get injured, but it’ll be damn uncomfortable.” He tipped his chin up and spoke into the air. “Command: Regulate S-suit temperature for Catalina Celestina and Aaron Eldridge. One hundred degrees Fahrenheit.” He glanced at Katie. “There, that’s a bit above body temperature, should feel warmer to us in just a second.”
Katie held her hand under the waterfall and laughed as the now-warm water flowed between her fingers. “Oh wow. Yeah, I can feel it.”
“Now,” Aaron said, pulling her close against him. “I want to feel you. Dance with me.” Strong arms circled her waist and Katie rested her head against Aaron’s chest. He sighed, and Katie could feel the rumble from his chest against her cheek. “Still something missing,” he said as his broad hands slipped to the small of her back. “Command: Play something romantic. How about Rachmaninoff?”
Music filled the air and Aaron began to sway. Dancing in lazy circles around the whirlpool, stepping carefully to avoid large rocks, he spun them slowly, his hands roaming over her back, tightening around her waist, dragging her hips into his own. He bent his head, and warm lips pressed to her collarbone, his tongue snaking out to collect the mist that had drifted from the falls and settled on her skin.
“Katie,” he breathed her name, and the sound sent a rush of shivers up her spine. “Still cold?” he asked, glancing up at her with a smirk on his lips.
“No,” she whispered. “Not a bit.”
She shivered again.
Aaron’s hands glided up her corseted waist and cupped her breasts. “I think you are,” he said, his gaze dark and serious. “I think I need to warm you up some more.”
“Yes, actually,” she said, matching his gaze with her own. “On second thought I think you’re ri–”
Aaron’s hands went to work, one at her breast, kneading, searching out the hard nipple underneath. His other hand skated down her hip, over the curve of her ass to paw at her skirt. The fabric was heavier now, sopping wet from the whirlpool. He bunched the draped tartan in his hand and pulled it up. Pushing his knee between her legs, he trapped the fabric at her waist. His fingers sought her heat, caressing over soft bare skin of her avatar’s inner thigh, stroking closer to her core as his lips pressed hot kisses across her cleavage.
“Fuck Katie,” he moaned. “You’re so sweet, so soft and….god yes.”
“Yes,” she echoed, threading her fingers in his hair she clutched him to her, reveling in the feel of his skin against hers.
“God Katie,” he breathed the words again, his lips trailing over her neck up her jaw, as he–
He was gone.
Suddenly, the space between her legs was cold and empty, his head was gone from her breasts, his lips no longer kissing her. She clenched and unclenched empty hands in the air, and looked around.
“Aaron?” she whispered.
Nothing.
“Aaron?” she said again, a little louder this time.
“Right here beauty.” It was Aaron’s voice, at her ear. Her real ear. “Technically I still had six more minutes on my VR clock for today,” he said.
The HL visor lifted from her head and Aaron’s face came into focus in the dimly lit reality of the E.I. demo-bay. “But what’s the point of owning the company if you can’t knock off early?” he said.
His gaze met hers. It was heated. Dark. Needy. His smile was twitchy and impatient.
“I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”
Chapter Thirteen
“You’re here,” Katie said, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden change in light.
Tossing the visor onto a nearby table, Aaron reached for the belts at her waist and unfastened the rig harness. Her legs went to jelly and she nearly fell into his arms. From lust, or disorientation?
Oh, who was she kidding?
It was Aaron. Here. In front of her. All muscly and sexy in his skintight S-suit, looking at her like he was starving to death and she was Thanksgiving dinner.
Lust. Definitely lust. Mutual crazy lust–
He pulled her close, caressed her cheek with his knuckles, and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I couldn’t wait one more minute…” he murmured. “To do….this.” He breathed the last word, let it ghost over her skin before his lips followed, kissing where his words had fallen, along her jaw, her cheek, the edge of her smile and finally…he claimed her mouth.
Oh god.
Katie’s hands had a mind of their own, they circled his neck, dove into his hair and fisted, holding him tightly even as her lips yielded, opening to Aaron’s as his tongue swept in to taste her. He stroked deep, moaning into her mouth when she returned his passion and sucked on his tongue. He pulled back then and caught her bottom lip, dragging it between his teeth as he thrust one hand between their bodies.
He found the zipper of her S-suit, pulled it down, and with two hands, he began to peel the top away from her shoulders. He stilled, just as the fabric began to reveal her and looked up, catching her gaze
.
“I want to see you,” he said. “The real you. Please?”
Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded, and Aaron’s jaw clenched tight with desire as he yanked the S-suit down to her waist, exposing her to his eyes.
“Katie,” he breathed her name, as his gaze roamed greedily over her bare breasts. Her nipples pebbled in the cool air, and when she shivered Aaron made a low gravely sound in his throat that sounded like half hunger, half impatience. “Still cold?” he said, laughter rumbling in his chest. “I’ll warm you up.” He cupped one breast and lowered his head, capturing the sensitive pink tip in his hot mouth.
His hands caressed her, cool against her fevered skin, they stroked lower, over her belly and down. Aaron’s mouth found hers again, his tongue licking at the seam of her lips as his fingers reached her center and slicked through her folds.
Katie melted.
Aaron’s fingertips traced her entrance, slipping inside, shallowly at first, and then deeper as Katie gripped his shoulders and shuddered.
“Please,” she whispered against his ear.
One finger. Two. Deeper now, in and out. She shook in his arms as Aaron’s thumb circled her clit, firm, steady unrelenting pressure. His tongue thrust into her mouth as his fingers fucked her and she felt her legs turn to jelly again. She came apart in his arms, her knuckles turning white as she clutched his shoulders, moaning her release against his lips.
Aaron pulled the top of her S-suit back up, stopping to let his fingertips trace gently over Katie’s scars. He leaned down and grazed his lips over the gnarled skin. She tensed, and he stopped. Moving his hands back to her waist, he squeezed a little, like he was apologizing with a hug.
“Sorry,” he began, but Katie shushed him.
“No…it’s okay,” she whispered. “Just gimme a second.”
When Aaron’s fingers had touched her scars, she’d reacted like she always did. Tense and braced for trauma. But that reaction felt like a habit now. She wasn’t in distress. The truth was, his hands felt good on her. All of her. Even her scars.
Aaron’s palms coasted over her back and up her neck, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her sweetly. They stood there, entwined in the dark, Aaron’s strong hands cradling her face.
What was this she was feeling? It was so strange. Like every raw nerve and sprained muscle in her body suddenly healed, unclenched, and ceased to cause her pain.
She felt…good.
Katie’s forehead fell against Aaron’s and she inhaled deeply, finding the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. For years.
God this felt right, being here with him. They’d known each other a handful of days and yet she felt like she could trust him, like she could tell him anything…the thing.
“It’s okay,” she said again. “I’ll tell you how it… I was in an accident.”
“Katie, you don’t have to–”
“No, I want to. Just…let me get it out,” she said. “Because there’s slightly more than just the accident.”
Aaron nuzzled her temple and nodded.
“I created Quest of the Crystal Knight in college,” she said. “It was my senior project. I wrote the story, designed all the characters, built the environment, but it was just a tabletop game at that point. Some 3-D printed pieces made from my models and some pretty art. My boyfriend at the time, Steven, he was in gaming, on the code side of things. He loved the game and wanted to bring it to life as a multiplayer, online, 3-D game. I said yes, and we formed a company together.”
“Galaxus Games” said Aaron. “I recognized your name from the game credits. But when I went to their website the other day, your name doesn’t come up on their company profile page. No mention of you as a founder–”
“No. There wouldn’t be now. Steven made sure of that after…well after everything. But even when I was there my name didn’t appear on any letterhead. I owned half the company and hardly anyone knew.”
“That’s horrible.”
Katie shrugged. “I didn’t mind at the time. I didn’t want any of the stuff that goes along with running a company. I love what I do, but I wasn’t interested in awards or going to conferences or talking to the media. I just wanted to make beautiful things, write stories, and create worlds where people can play in those stories.”
“Still, you deserve credit for your work.”
“I agree.” She took a deep breath and glanced up at him. “But, I was in love, and I trusted my boyfriend to have my best interest at heart. He didn’t.”
“The accident? Was that Steven’s fault?”
“It wasn’t.” Katie shook her head. “That was a fluke. I used to bike to work. One day a parked car opened its door in front of me, I went flying and got clipped by a delivery truck. After two surgeries, six titanium pins, and a year of physical therapy, I’m relatively okay. Except for the scars.”
Aaron leaned down and pressed a solemn kiss to her shoulder. “Wabi-sabi,” he whispered.
She lifted her hand, brushed her fingertips over his cheek and Aaron sighed, closed his eyes and leaned into her palm. “You’re no less beautiful to me because of the scars Katie,” he said. “Maybe more.”
She felt her heart stutter.
“What a thing to say,” she said. “What an impossibly beautiful, ridiculous, thing to say.”
Aaron’s eyes flew open. “I mean it,” he said and the set of his jaw was hard. “But I’m guessing from your reaction, Steven didn’t feel that way.”
Katie let her hand fall away, averted her gaze. “No, he definitely didn’t. For him, well, he saw my accident as an opportunity.”
“What do you mean?”
“To leave me,” Katie said.
She took a step back, needing the space, needing to break contact with Aaron’s skin. It was too distracting. She needed to focus if she was going to be able to power through the end of the story without crying.
“He never visited me in the hospital,” she said. “Instead, Steven broke up with me via text, moved my things into storage, and essentially forced me out of the company I’d co-founded. I had medical bills to pay. I was in no position to fight him. So I let him buy me out, and that was that.”
“Jesus.”
“He told our staff we’d broken up months prior. In his mind, it was true, because that also happened to be how long he’d been fucking our new head of HR. So you see to him, it was about as serious as a missed memo. He’d meant to tell me he didn’t love me anymore, he just forgot.”
Aaron closed the space between them before she’d finished speaking. Wrapping those strong arms around her, he held her so tightly she could barely expand her chest to breathe.
“What an ass.” The words came out in a growl. Threading his hands through her hair he lifted her face to his and pinned her in his dark gaze. “Anybody that doesn’t completely love the hell out of you is just…broken.”
Katie’s eyes went wide.
What the hell did he just say?
It wasn’t like he’d said he loved her…but it was kind of definitely a super crazy thing to say after two virtual dates and a quick finger fuck in the dark.
She swallowed, closed her gaping mouth and forced herself to smile, trying to meet Aaron’s intense gaze steadily and maturely when all she wanted to do was squirm out of his arms and freak the fuck out. Because holy crap she was right there with him, she felt exactly the same way, so she was crazy too and–
“Oh man.” Aaron’s gaze searched hers and he blew his cheeks out. “I just said one of those awkward gulpy things that you are absolutely not supposed to say so soon in a relationship.”
“Relationship?” Katie squeaked, then clapped a hand over her mouth.
Aaron let her go and took a step back, running both hands through his hair and down over his face with a groan. He let his hands rest there for a moment, kind of a long moment actually, and Katie wracked her brain for something to say, anything to ease the tension.
Anything at all.
&nbs
p; Her brain did not rise to the challenge. Nothing.
Silence.
Just…lots and lots of quiet.
Finally, Aaron let his hands fall from his face, and she saw with relief that he was grinning.
“So this was fun,” he said. His expression was boyish, and still awkward, but completely open and unguarded, and it calmed her that he didn’t seem inclined to take back what he’d said.
“Sorry for getting all heavy on you,” he said.
“Technically I got heavy on you first,” she said. “The whole accident saga and everything. So, I’m the one that should be sorry.”
“No, don’t be.” He stepped forward and took her hands in his. “I’m honored that you shared that with me.”
Katie nodded and lowered her chin to hide her smile.
“Hey,” he said, tipping her chin up so that she was forced to look at him. “Katie, I really like you.” He sighed heavily and pulled her hands up to his lips, brushing a kiss over her knuckles. “I haven’t felt this way about anyone in a long time. The timing of this…us…is a little complicated, but I think we have a pretty cool connection.”
“I think so, too.”
“So I guess I’m asking if you’d like to keep seeing me? See where this is going?”
He caught her gaze, raised his eyebrows, and grinned.
“Yes,” she said, laughing at his expression. “Yeah I’d like that too.”
“Awesome. So what do you say we get out of this office, before we both die of embarrassment, and go get something to eat?”
“More virtual pizza?” Katie said, tilting her head.
“Oh, I think I can do better than that this time.”
Aaron hadn’t thought this through. Taking a woman on a date when you’re a tech celebrity dominating all the news cycles and gossip blogs because of your former super model girlfriend that everyone thinks you’re still dating is…problematic at best.
They’d managed to get out of the E.I. building without being seen. The paparazzi didn’t have access to the underground garage and his car had tinted windows, but still, there were countless opportunities for photographs to be taken if they spent a night on the town.
