Virtually Perfect. Samantha Hunter

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      The decision to meet Rider was becoming a vague possibility in her mind. She kept trying to push down the sense of anticipation, of hope that this time—this man—could be different, but it kept emerging, especially after talking to Gwen. How could she use this as research when she was so obviously losing her objectivity? What if he was just the way he was online? Could she do this? Should she? Her stomach fluttered thinking of it.

      What if meeting him turned out to be a total bomb? What if he was crazy, or even worse, married? But in her gut she knew neither one would be true. He would be great. And she would be…well, she wasn’t exactly chopped liver, but she also wasn’t the adventure girl that she had come across as online. In fact, far from it.

      But she had always thought, with the right man, someone whom she could open up with, someone who would care, maybe things could be different. Maybe she could be different. At the worst, the spark would fizzle when they actually met, and that would not be a tragedy.

      All in all, she led a pretty normal, sane and sometimes boring life. Could she live up to the sexual fantasies they had shared online? Her sex life had ranged from mildly interesting to nonexistent.

      But maybe it wouldn’t even come to that. All she had to do was meet him. That was all.

      Her readers had been sending her tons of similar questions and stories about their Internet romances and how to handle them. And now here she was, like so many of her readers, wondering what to do. Take the chance? What was life without a little risk, right? How could she ever really know unless she took the leap? She would just control the risk, make sure things didn’t go any direction she didn’t want them to go. Maybe. Maybe she could risk it. One more time.

      JACK SHOOK OFF his aggravation, catching a coffee at the cafeteria and heading back downstairs to the Batcave, as they affectionately referred to the subterranean floor of the office building.

      He tried to ignore the anxiety of wondering what Nilla was doing at this very second, what she was wearing, if she was thinking of him, if she was considering making them a reality.

      The incident with Raine only had his body more fired up, and he hoped something would happen soon, or he was either going to have to dig into his address book, which he was loath to do. They were women he had dated, and whom he liked. He wouldn’t feel right using one of them to work off the hots he had gotten from someone else. It was more likely he was facing several weeks of cold showers until he got over this.

      Never again would he get involved in an online love affair. It was just too hard on the body. He slid a furtive glance at his e-mail. He couldn’t believe it, but his heart actually flipped when he saw an e-mail from her. Sent only moments ago.

      He stared at it for a few moments, then opened it. One word.

      Okay.

      Hot damn! He thought his face would split from grinning, and all of his aggravation was lost in a consuming sense of anticipation. He was caught unawares by the person standing behind him.

      “Uh, sir? Sir?”

      Jack spun around in his chair, realizing he probably looked as if he had won the lottery, and not really caring. One of his guys, Neal Scott, was standing in the doorway behind him. Taking a breath, he got his excitement under control and put his professional face on, though he couldn’t quell the buzz of anticipation that was running through his blood.

      “What’s up, Neal? Sorry, I just, um, just got some good news.”

      “Oh, that’s good, sir.”

      “Please don’t call me sir, Neal. Jack is fine.”

      “Okay, um, sir, Jack. You asked me to stop by to look at the security bug you were dealing with.”

      Jack watched the young man in the office. Neal was a great worker, and a nice kid, if a little shy. Jack knew he was in his twenties, but there was just something about him that made him seem much younger. Neal kept to himself a lot, but Jack had been including him more, trying to draw him out a little, and it was working. Neal was loosening up a lot, and had even gone out with a bunch of them a few times.

      Jack liked the kid and thought he could really be an asset to the company. Hell, Neal seemed to do nothing but work—he had been in his office most of the weekend, which Jack had seen when reviewing the security logs.

      He was smarter than hell, too, but he didn’t have much confidence, and was generally overlooked by management. So, Jack had been giving him some more challenging jobs, bringing him along slowly. He pulled a chair up and gestured for Neal to sit down.

      “Yeah, take a look at this. It’s been giving me a headache all day.”

      Neal squinted behind the thick, black-framed glasses he always wore and read the screen full of numbers and symbols quickly and with interest.

      “Yeah. There. I see it. Might be a worm.”

      “I’ve tried to close it down about ten times, but it keeps popping open. You are a much slicker programmer than I am, can you work on it?”

      “Yeah, sure.”

      Neal got up to leave and Jack shook his head.

      “Hey, Neal. I see you were here all weekend?”

      “Um, yeah.” Neal creased his forehead and then pushed his glasses up.

      “I appreciate initiative, and you’re doing a great job—but don’t get burnt out—there’s more to life than work.”

      Neal nodded, and headed to the door.

      Jack sat back and flipped the e-mail from Nilla back on screen, smiling broadly again. He knew he wouldn’t be spending his weekend at work. With any luck, he would be spending it making a fantasy come true.

      3

      RAINE DASHED THROUGH her apartment door and almost dropped the pizza she’d grabbed on the way home. She was giddy with nerves. She didn’t want to think about why the change in her decision to talk to Rider tonight had such an effect on her mood. After all, she was just going to talk to him. If anything didn’t hit her right, she would call it quits and that would be that. She would remain in control of the situation.

      Forgetting the pizza on the entry table, she made a beeline to her computer and logged on. Connection time was slow, and she jittered on the sofa, wiggling her fingers in the air over the keys, going crazy waiting for the screen to tell her she was ready to go. “C’mon, c’mon!… There, good!”

      A few quick keystrokes and she was in. She looked at the list of players logged in, and his name was not there. Damn!

      She fell back against the cushions, closed her eyes, and let out a frustrated breath. It was only seven; it was early yet. She thought about the pizza, but wasn’t hungry now. She put a hand over her eyes. Was she crazy? Maybe it was better this way; maybe she had made the wrong decision. This could be her reprieve. Then she peeked through two fingers and sneaked a look at the screen, smiling widely.

      “Wake up, hot stuff. You beat me here. Your e-mail made my day.” I kiss you warmly.

      Raine СКАЧАТЬ