Touch Me Not (Manwhore, #1)(56)
Nikoli stared at the woman staring at him and took a deep breath. Her honesty always shocked him. It was something he valued, though. Most women, while not dishonest, tended to stretch or avoid the truth. It was one of the reasons he never bothered to get to know many of them. Oh, he had a few friends who were girls, but only a few, and he never talked to them for hours like he did Lily Bells.
“So, did you ever have virtual sex?” he asked, the devil in him wanting to make her blush.
“That’s really none of your business,” she replied, picking at her food, the blush blooming on her cheeks.
“Come on, Milaya,” he wheedled. “You can tell me. It is VSL after all.” He watched her duck her head, and he smiled in response. She was nervous. The one thing she didn’t need to be with him.
“Really, Mr. Kincaid, it’s none of your business.”
“Oh, but I beg to differ, Miss Holmes,” he said, his voice soft. “You are my business, and now that I know you’re on VSL, you’ll be my business there too.”
“Well, no, I don’t think so,” she replied, finally looking up, and his breath caught at the devilment in her blue eyes. They were shining with laughter. “I may already be someone else’s business on there.”
Anger and jealousy swelled up within him. The thought of her being with anyone else, even some virtual boyfriend she’d never meet, had him seeing red. She was his. In the real world or in the virtual world.
“Do you have a boyfriend on there, Milaya?” His voice came out whisper soft, but the steel in it was impossible to mistake, and Lily’s eyes flared in response. When she didn’t answer, he let out a low growl. “Answer the damn question, Lily.”
“No,” she said. “I haven’t had a boyfriend on there for months. The guys on that game are bloody cheating bastards.”
Relief swept through him at those words. She would have broken up with the guy if she’d had one. “Well, it is a sex game, Milaya. They are there for one reason, and one reason only. If you aren’t giving them what they want, they move on.”
“I don’t do voice or video,” she said. “I think that is part of it.”
He nodded. He’d never thought of that, but then again, his same rule applied online as much as it did in real life. He never dated girls online either. He had lots of friends on there, but the girls he had sex with in-game stayed off his friends list.
“You shouldn’t,” he said. “They aren’t just cheaters, Lily. Some of them are downright stalkers.”
“Creepers.” She smiled. “That’s what I call them. The ones who creep me out.”
He shook his head. Leave it to Lily to come up with a cute name for the weirdos who liked to stalk girls online. “Now, next question. I’m assuming you’ve had virtual sex on there?”
“Yes.” The one word sounded low and almost torn from her. She was so embarrassed, and it was adorable.
“How long have you been a member?” he asked.
“Since our sophomore year.”
He sat back and stared. Two years on a sex game. She wasn’t as innocent as he’d thought at first. Then again, virtual sex wasn’t the same. “Do you touch yourself, Lily? When you’re in the moment, do you touch yourself for them?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve never felt the need to do that with anyone. I just lie and say I do.”
Again her honesty shocked him. So she’d been playing this game for two years and never so much as stroked herself? He shook his head this time. Time for his girl to understand the beauty of being touched. She’d been depriving herself for far too long.
“Well, Lily Bells, that is all about to change,” he said, the grin on his face causing her eyes to widen. She knew him well. She knew he was up to something. “I have something planned for you.”
“Look, you have a reputation to uphold on VSL.” Nerves made her voice crack just a bit. “Won’t chasing me there ruin that rep?”
“Have I ever cared what anyone thought of me, Lily? Why would it be any different there than here? Besides, you don’t need to worry about that right now. I have other plans for you tonight.”
She let out a low strangled sound, like that of a trapped animal, and his grin widened. The waiter came, and he said no, they’d be skipping dessert. He asked for the check and just watched her.
Lily fidgeted in her seat. What was he up to? What plans? The look in his eyes made her want to run and never look back, but at the same time, she wanted to lean forward and demand to know what he was going to do to her. She waited while he paid the bill, then collected her purse and let him usher her out to the car.
He never said a word while he drove, didn’t even look at her, and it made Lily that much more nervous. What was he going to do? He’d been watching her for days, his eyes broody and heavy. She knew he wanted her badly. The truth was she wanted him just as much, but she wasn’t going to give in. She wanted that car. Then again, it might be moot. If he touched her like that, she might end up screaming her head off, her body’s instinctive learned fear taking over. She hoped to God she wouldn’t, but she simply didn’t know.
They drove to the apartment complex she’d only been to once before. The penthouse. Her breath came out in a low, ragged sound when she realized where they were. There was no one to interrupt them here. No Luther or Mike or Adam. No residents knocking on her door. No one. She would be all alone with Nikoli Kincaid.