“—onto a bed of feathers,”he finished and for the first time, smiled.
If she hadn’t felt so pissed off at having been tested and tricked again, Helen would have taken the time to admire that glorious mouth.“You could have done that the first time,”she accused, trying to gather her scattered breath and wits together.
“What would that do?”
She didn’t have an answer. Well, she did, but it had nothing to do with feeling safe.
“Would your mind have accepted the sudden change?”Hades continued.“You aren’t that used to VR games yet, my sweet Elena.”
The endearment rolled off his tongue like hot honey. Helen was suddenly very aware of the softness of the bed below her. And the hardness of the body on hers. He was telling her that he was the expert in virtual reality and this game was under his control.
She met his dark gaze defiantly.“Okay, I got the lesson. I’m to depend on you to keep me safe. Now let’s change scenery.”
Oh, man. She was beginning to think creating her dream man was really a bad idea. Well, not bad, not with that slow smile he was giving her. But definitely not to her advantage. It suddenly dawned on her that he was quite comfortable using her creation to manipulate her.
“Who said the lesson is over?”he asked in a low voice.
A naked man. Correction, a very hot-looking naked man. In bed with her. This was one lesson Helen didn’t need to understand.“Look, Hades,”she began, batting her eyes innocently at him as she pushed at his chest,“I really think you’re really sexy but it’s too soon in our relationship to really do anything about it. You have to give me time to get to know you better.”
His amusement crinkled the corner of his eyes.“Which brings us back to the beginning. What’s your RV trigger, Elena?”
Her eyes rounded.“Oho, seduction now, Hades? Surely your knowledge of all things NOPAIN tells you about that, too? It didn’t work the first time.”
“That wasn’t seduction. We’re done with the nonpersuasive portion; we’re now into the innovative negotiation part.”He shifted, putting more weight on her.“Didn’t Hades do that with Persephone?”
He was trying NOPAIN on her? Hell narrowed her eyes.“I’m not negotiating anything with you. For one thing, I’m not your captive.”
“But think of the rest of the myth, Elena. It fits, doesn’t it?”
Helen was familiar with the story. In Greek mythology, Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her to the Underworld as his bride. While her mother, Demeter, the earth goddess, looked for her daughter, she ignored her duties and everything started to die. Hades made a bargain with Zeus. He would allow his bride to visit her mother every six months but she must return to the Underworld to stay with him for the remaining six. And that was how the world had its seasons. When Persephone came home, Mother Earth was happy and everything flourished; when she was in the Underworld, everything went into hibernation or died.
“In other words, if I don’t negotiate with you, the real world is going to dry out and die without me? Haha, Hades, you’re putting too much importance in my role. And umm, do you mind getting up? It’s very hard to have a conversation with a naked man lying on top of you.”
Now why did she have to pun about the hard part? He mocked her with that smile again and still didn’t move. She was going to lose her temper soon. Great, next she would be fighting and wrestling with a hard naked man. This wasn’t quite how she thought she would experience VR. Well, not right now, anyway.
“We don’t have much time, Elena. The coming test depends solely on your success, and your success is my interest, my job. Without the trigger, I can’t help you if you should have any problems.”His head dropped lower. His breath warmed her cheek.“Without the trigger, I can’t talk to you when you’re remote viewing.”
Helen refused to move her head those few inches to the left. He didn’t seem to even realize that he was lying naked on a woman. That was because he wasn’t really some Greek god hottie, you idiot. He wasn’t real, and so her state of turned-on-ness wasn’t either.“You’re in my head talking to me now so why not when I’m remote viewing?”
His hand cupped her jaw, tilting her face toward his.“The theory is that you would be in an alternate state of mind. The function of this virtual reality training is to get your mind used to having me in it while thinking and knowing everything is virtual. But even with that, my participation isn’t guaranteed because I don’t have your talent. When you’re remote viewing, it’s basically a personal VR experience. You’re alone, seeing and accessing information with your senses. But with TIVRRV, we’re going beyond that in this experiment. We’ve prepared every way we could—brain wave synchronization, mental prep, physical compatibility. I’ll be there with you, seeing what you see, and with your remote trigger, I can…”he leaned even closer, his lips inches from hers“…communicate with you, be your second pair of eyes, and pull you out if there are any problems.”
Helen looked into those dark eyes and instantly regretted it. The man was pure temptation. She had been craving chocolate for days and those sinful chocolate eyes were going to be her downfall. She grasped for a lifeline.“Theory,”she said, and there was that stupid husky frog in her throat again.“That doesn’t sound promising.”
Her senses vibrated with need as his lips came even closer. She struggled to pay attention to his words, not to the heat rising between her legs.
“Every theory has a promise,”he whispered.“Theoretically, I’m not real, you thought so yourself, but…”
She swallowed the rest of his words as he kissed her. Gently, as if he wasn’t sure whether she was real himself. Tenderly, as if she was really Persephone being seduced. Her lips parted involuntarily and she felt his tongue delve in, slow and deliberate in its search for hers. Oh. My. God. The man could kiss. Or it could. Her virtual-made man. Whatever.
Stop thinking. Close your eyes.
She closed her eyes.That was him ordering you to close your eyes, Helen.
His tongue tangled sensuously with hers. She responded hungrily. This was something dark and forbidden, something that had been missing in her life for two years. Temptation to give in to feelings beckoned like some siren.
Open your legs wider.
Her limbs slid open without a second thought.Helen Roston! You’re not going to f—Every protest melted instantaneously as his heat dug heavily against hers. It didn’t help thatshehad enhanced that part of him a bit bigger than normal.
