If I make you anticipate this every time we end—
She was helpless against his manipulation. Imagining what he was doing to her was sucking her into his game. Yet, she couldn’t help herself. She was back in that chair in VR. She could taste his flesh as she strained against his hand. Needing him to go faster…
Then you’ll link back here to me in VR. At least, that’s what my theory is.
Theory? She was part of a theory. She choked half in exasperation and half in need.
Engine off.Her eyes flew open. She was back in the VR.
Hades was holding her, his brown eyes so close she could see the black rings around his irises. She blinked, trying to adjust to the sudden return.
He straightened.“Are you all right?”
His hands—she glanced down at them, then looked up heatedly at him. Did he—
His expression was unreadable as he studied her.
“It was all in my head, wasn’t it?”she asked.“The second time, I mean.”
“All this is all in our heads, Elena,”he replied gently.
Frustration rose. She had a hundred questions and knew there wasn’t any time right now.“How is it possible you can make me feel like that?”
With words. From someone whose face she didn’t even know. Somehow he’d made himself her fantasy. No, wait, she had started it by making him a fantasy. Fuck.
“We can analyze this later when we get back.”
He was so cool about it, as if seducing women was second nature to him. And she was suddenly angry.
“You’re damn right we’re going to have some discussion when we get back,”she told him shortly.“Stay out of my pants from now on.”
“It’s too late for that.”
She undid the straps.“We’ll see about that,”she muttered. He was right, of course it was too late. If she was successful with this test of her abilities, she would be remote viewing through VR again and he’d already proven that he could bring her back here with him. She should be disgusted. Furious.
Her knees buckled and he gathered her close to support her weight. She laid her head against his chest and was surprised to hear a heartbeat. This program was too damn real.
“We don’t have much time,”he said.“We need to conserve your energy for what’s to come. Take a deep breath. Let what happened between us go for now. Exhale. That’s right. We’ll talk about it later, I promise, but we’ve got to finish this operation.”
He sounded incredibly gentle. How dare he comfort her after what he’d done? Yet Helen couldn’t summon up any anger. She released another breath. Having a tantrum in VR wasn’t going to accomplish anything. She needed time to think. Later. When her brain waves were just hers again, dammit.
Secret test facility, Virginia
Liquid sunshine. That was what it felt like to him. Everything in the room looked brighter and cleaner. He felt warm and safe; the stifling fear that had followed him around was a shadow of itself. And that little sneak of cigarette helped calm the excitement. He needed to show them what he could do so they would keep him.
“Ready, Agent 51?”
Agent 51. It’d been a while since they’d activated him this way. He’d tried to tell the doctors in the beginning that it was Five-One and not Fifty-One, but no one here paid attention to him. Until now.
He nodded eagerly. “Yes, where’s my monitor?”
“I’ll be your monitor today. Go strap yourself in.”
He approached the work station with the RV chair. “It’s been a while,” he murmured. “Let’s see. This strap goes to my pulse. This one wraps around my chest. Okay, ready.”
He looked expectantly as his monitor placed a sealed envelope on the podium next to the RV chair. “Use this as your target. It contains the coordinates telling where they’re sending the other remote viewer. It’s imperative we find out what the target is.”
This should be a piece of cake. He had done this during training for the special programs even before they had introduced him to the marvels of the drug. He was going into this without a practice run but he was determined to get the results they wanted. That envelope was just for his focal point, though. There was really nothing inside. He needed a bit more information.
