Passion Model Read online

  Eddie’s fingers closed convulsively on mine. “Shit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Rando is going to shit bricks, G.”

  I let go of Eddie’s hand and turned back to my computer. “I’m not going to tell her.”

  “And that guy isn’t going to tell anyone either, right?” Eddie snorted. “He bangs an Op and makes her cream, and he’s not going to brag about it?”

  “It’s a federal offense for him too, and he knows it.” I tapped some more keys and spewed more gibberish onto the screen. “He won’t tell.”

  “How’d it happen?” Eddie’s voice was quiet. “You’ve been working too hard lately. You need a break.”

  “That’s no excuse.”

  “Rando will suspend you. Dock your pay. Maybe even—”

  “Don’t say it, Eddie. I know.”

  Eddie let out low whistle. “Damn, G.”

  I turned back to give him a smile I didn’t feel. “I’ll be all right. Rando will never find out, and it won’t happen again.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  “Give me your stim-time. You can have my extra dining credits.” I wouldn’t need them. I hate eating in restaurants alone.

  Eddie reached over and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Thanks, G.”

  He smelled so good that all at once I leaned forward to kiss him. His lips parted beneath mine in automatic response, and I felt the dart of his tongue in my mouth. He tasted like mint. Delicious.

  Eddie reached up to cup my breast through the silk of my uniform. His thumb rubbed across my nipple, making it iron hard in seconds. I sighed and broke the kiss before the ache in my crotch could get any deeper.

  “You still got it.” Eddie shifted so I could see the bulge of his erection.

  “Yeah, I know.” We grinned at each other, two old friends. “Get out of here.”

  I tilted my head to watch his ass work as he walked away, then turned back to my computer. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t concentrate any longer. The kiss I’d given Eddie had my system revved up, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Declan fucking me to orgasm. I needed some stim-time after all.

  With the extra stim-time credits from Eddie on my account, I could spend as much time as I wanted in the room. I punched in forty-five on the keypad, and the door hissed shut behind me. I slid out of my uniform and hung it on the hook. I set my boots and belt on the shelf. Naked, I sat on the edge of the cushioned cot that was the room’s only furniture.

  “Holo on.” The white walls and floor shimmered around me. “Activate program thirty-one.”

  “Records show program customization. Proceed?” The modulated computer voice asked.

  I nodded, as I invariably did, even though I knew I was talking to a machine, not a person. “Fine.”

  “Customization beginning.”

  In another moment the shimmering walls and floor solidified. I was in a café. I wore a light dress of some summery fabric that didn’t really solidify unless I looked directly at it. I sat at a small table on a balcony overlooking the ocean, a blue ocean, which never failed to make me smile. Earth’s one remaining ocean varies in color from red to brown because of the algae farms that provide ninety percent of the world’s food. The blue ocean was a touch of whimsy I’d added after seeing a picture in a history holo.

  My mind told me none of this was real, but it was easy enough to believe my eyes, my nose, my ears, my sense of touch. My mind could tell me I sat naked, alone in a white room on a padded platform, but my body told me a different and more interesting story.

  “I’m glad you came today.” The man who sat down across from me gave me a smile that seemed genuine enough—if you didn’t know he wasn’t real. “I’ve missed you.”

  Holograms can’t be glad, and they can’t miss people. All the same, I returned his smile. “Thanks, Nigel.”

  “No tea today?”

  I looked down at my empty cup, faintly surprised. Usually the program took care of things like that. “I guess not. Maybe it’s a glitch.”

  Nigel stood, his handsome face pulled into a gesture of concern. “I’ll check it out for you.”

  I reached for his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want tea today, anyway.”

  He felt solid beneath my fingers. Real. I turned his palm over to stroke the back of his hand, marveling as always at the feeling of hair tickling my fingers.

  “I think I know what you do want.” Nigel tugged my hand hard enough to urge me to stand. Without my boots on, my head came only to his chin. I liked that. I liked him, even if he was only a computer-generated fantasy.

  “You always do.”

  Nigel’s mouth closed on mine. In this program, he always took the lead. It was nice to not have to be the one in charge. He put his arms around me, and his fingers stroked my skin through the wispy dress. I opened my mouth to him, and his tongue darted between my lips.

  “The ocean looks so blue today,” he murmured. “Like your eyes.”

  I stopped, again faintly surprised. “You never noticed my eyes before.”

  “Maybe you never wanted me to notice them before.” Nigel stroked the hair away from my forehead and ran a finger down my cheek. “I like your hair this color.”

  I stepped out of his embrace, startled. “It’s violet. The same color it’s been for months.”

  He nodded and grinned. “I like it.”

  “Halt program!”

  “Is something wrong?” asked the computer.

  I looked around the white room. Nigel, the café, the ocean, all had vanished at my command. “Run diagnostics.”

  A faint whirring sound whispered around me, and the computer spoke again. “Diagnostics complete. What is your malfunction?”

  “My holo partner is acting strangely.”

  “Essex Corporation cannot be responsible for customized programs. All customized program actions are triggered by subconscious commands linked directly to your specific brain wave function, as it is recorded in our files. Should you believe your program to be malfunctioning, please contact—”

  “I know all that.” I ran my hands over my breasts and shivered at the way touching my nipples reverberated in between my legs. I was horny as hell and had to do something about it.

  Declan’s face flashed in my mind, and I muttered a curse.

  “Command not recognized,” said the computer. “Proceed with program?”

  “Yes. Go ahead.”

  The wall shimmered again, and Nigel’s face appeared before mine. The balcony, the face, the ocean all appeared too, exactly where they’d been when I’d halted the program.

  “I’m glad you came today,” Nigel said. “I missed you.”

  I didn’t bother with preliminaries this time. “Kiss me.”

  Nigel was always happy to oblige. Frankly, he wasn’t programmed to refuse. He dipped his head to mine and captured my mouth again. He put his hands on my hips, then slid them up to cup my breasts. He ran his thumb across my nipples, all the while kissing me. Kissing me.

  His tongue felt so good in my mouth, loving my mouth the way he’d soon love the rest of me. Kissing was a treat, a pleasure, something special and usually forbidden. I might fuck a dozen men or women in one shift’s time, I might have every orifice filled over and over, but I never, ever kissed them. Kissing Nigel got me so hot, so fast.

  He pushed me against the waist-high stone wall and ran his tongue along the curve of my jaw, down my neck. He took one nipple in his mouth and suckled it until I cried out. Then he took the other one.

  The dress was gone, no longer needed and definitely not wanted. I was naked, exposed to the wind and the sun and the scent of the long dead sea. A breeze, triggered by my subconscious command, blew over the wet spot his mouth left.

  I supported myself against the wall with nothing but air behind me, yet I had no fear of falling. I closed my eyes to open myself to the sensations. A gull cried. The waves pounded. Nigel kissed his way down my body until he found my cunt.