I said nothing, just nodded.

  A growl emerged from the back of his throat, and he kissed me. His fingers found my entrance, pressed gently. Instinctively, I tensed, resisting the invasion, but the same way his lips and tongue encouraged my mouth to open for him, his touch encouraged me to relax. A fingertip pushed in. Slowly, in absolutely no rush at all, he eased it farther in. The stretch was strange, the burn intense, but his languid kiss was gentle, soft, and kept me relaxed as he slipped in a second finger. Though the stretching sensation burned more now, it wasn’t as unpleasant as I expected. And as long as he kept kissing me this way, I didn’t even care if the slow, careful penetration did turn unpleasant.

  His lips left mine. Before I could protest, he whispered, “I’ve been wanting to do this since the first night you came here.” He kissed me gently again. “I can’t even put it into words.”

  “Anything…anything you want.” I wrapped my arms around him.

  “What I want is you.” He leaned down to kiss my neck. “And I want you to feel all the things I’ve felt.”

  I bit my lip and moaned, arching into him as he explored my neck and fucked me slowly with his fingers.

  “Jerking off in a machine is fine and good,” he murmured against my throat. “But there’s just something amazing about letting a man fuck you. Or being fucked by him.” He exhaled. “Nothing compares to it, Keith.” He slid his fingers deeper. “Nothing.”

  “I want…”

  “Do you want me to fuck you? Right now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you—”

  “Please.”

  “Then get on your hands and knees.” He kissed just under my jaw. “It’ll give me more leverage.”

  I shivered as much from excitement as nerves and obeyed him. While I did that, he unzipped a pocket on the thigh of his discarded suit and withdrew a small plastic tube.

  “What’s that?”

  “Lubricant.” He glanced at me and smiled. “Trust me on this.”

  “Okay…”

  He stroked some of the liquid onto his cock, and my heart quickened. This was real. The intent was there, and the act would follow.

  Aiden put the tube aside. He positioned himself behind me. I held my breath. Made myself breathe. Held my breath again.

  “Relax.” He ran a hand up and down my back. “I won’t hurt you.”

  I closed my eyes and exhaled.

  Aiden pressed against me. Good thing his fingers had stretched me a little already. His cock was thick, and the burn was intense, but I took him without much difficulty. The more he moved, taking gradually deeper strokes, the easier it was for him to slide in and out.

  His weight shifted, and he leaned down enough to kiss the back of my shoulder.

  “You should be aware,” he growled in my ear, “of a massive design flaw in the sims.”

  I screwed my eyes shut. “I don’t care about the sims right now.”

  “I know.” He kissed the side of my neck as he withdrew slowly. “But if you’ve ever wondered why I think a sim just isn’t the same after wireless…” He trailed off, sank just a little deeper, and this time the most amazing, electric feeling radiated from inside me, curling my toes and forcing the breath from my lungs.

  “What…in the…”

  “Like that?” He nipped my shoulder and slid across that spot again.

  “Oh God.” I was almost in tears now. Overwhelmed. Shaking.

  Aiden didn’t let me adapt before he picked up speed, and my vision turned white as every thrust released sensations I’d never imagined, let alone experienced. It wasn’t pain, but it was so intense it might as well have hurt, and I rocked back against him in search of more. More. More.

  “You feel amazing,” he slurred. “Absolutely amazing.”

  I just moaned. My arms shook under me, and then my elbows buckled, and I dropped onto my forearms. He didn’t miss a beat. Just kept right on fucking me. Deep. Hard. God.

  I managed to shift my weight onto one arm and then reached back to stroke my own cock. My strokes made his thrusts even more intense; his thrusts made my strokes more intense. There was no end, no ceiling at which the sensations leveled out. More. More. More.

  “Ooh, yeah,” Aiden whispered. “Fuck, you feel…”

  I didn’t know if he trailed off or if I just couldn’t make sense of sounds anymore. Maybe both. He fucked me, though, deep and hard, and I stroked my cock, and nothing had ever been so intense, so overwhelming, so beautifully painful and painfully beautiful. And the intensity just kept growing, swelling, threatening to explode but still growing until I hit the most spectacular breaking point.

  I shuddered.

  I was still.

  I didn’t know if I’d come apart or come back together. I didn’t know if I was flying or falling.

  I just…was.

  And I’d never felt so incredible in my life.

  Chapter 11

  The air was pleasantly cool against my bare skin. I was on my stomach, and he was next to me, and for ages, we just lay there in silence. Drifting in and out, I basked in not only the afterglow, but simply being naked beside Aiden.

  After a while, his hand drifted over my back. “I’m glad you came back.”

  “I think we both knew that was inevitable.” I lifted my head and grinned. “You don’t give up easily, do you?”

  Aiden trailed his fingertips up and down my spine. “Not when I see something I want, no.”

  “Seemed like you were doing fine without me tonight.”

  “I didn’t think you were coming.” His hand moved into my hair, and he stroked it gently. “But as long as I was here . . .”

  “I suppose I can understand that.” I turned onto my side. “Have there been others?”

  “Lovers, you mean?”

  I nodded.

  “A few.” He shrugged. “Not many.” Gesturing over his shoulder, he added, “I mean, out there, anything goes. But it’s unusual for me to bring anyone back here.” He looked right in my eyes. “It’s rare as hell for me to come here hoping to see anyone in particular.”

  “But why me?”

  “Why not?” He smiled. “You came looking for me, didn’t you?”

  “I did. And now that you mention it…” I sat up a bit, propping myself on my elbow. “Outside of what we do in here, I know nothing about you.”

  “You’ve read my file, haven’t you?”

  “Sure, but there’s got to be more to you than what you tell the government. I mean, it says you work in construction. Where? What kind? Why that and not something else?”

  He laughed quietly. “Well, it wasn’t my first choice.”

  “What was?”

  “I wanted to go into the medical field, believe it or not, but you have to know someone to be placed there. Too many applicants, not nearly enough spaces. So I decided construction would work. Anything to stay out of maintaining electric or sewer infrastructure.”

  We both shuddered.

  Aiden continued. “I almost got in as a mech escort.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yeah.” He laughed dryly. “I didn’t do too hot in the hand-to-hand combat training.”

  “I think we all flunk out of that at least once.”

  “When did you do it?”

  “It was still a requirement for simtechs. From when they used to let prisoners do sims, we had to be able to protect ourselves.”

  “I suspect you would, wouldn’t you?” He paused. “Is it really true that they don’t let prison inmates do sims anymore?”

  “It’s true. The program was cut a few years back.”

  “Budget cuts?”

  “Yep.”

  Aiden sighed. “And I’ll bet they’re mystified by how much prison violence has increased.”

  “Not really. They’d have to care to be mystified.”

  “Good point.”

  Silence fell between us, and reality slowly crept in—we’d been here for a long time. How long, I couldn’t say, but a while.

  I trailed my fingers up his arm. “I don’t want to, but we should probably go.”

  Lips taut, Aiden nodded. “As much as I hate to leave when I’m this comfortable…”

  “Me too.” I kissed him lightly. “But I’ll be looking forward to doing this again soon.”

  He smiled and smoothed my hair. “I will definitely be looking forward to it.”

  After a few more long kisses, we separated, dressed, and made our way back to the lounge so we could return to the New City. On our way across the lounge, though, I glanced at the mob of people still dancing to the music, and did a double take. A familiar set of features came into focus. My stomach dropped into my feet.

  “Shit!” I turned my back and gestured for Aiden to follow me into the back again.

  Hot on my heels, he shouted over the music, “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone I know.” When we were around a corner, safely out of sight and away from the noise, I added, “One of the other simtechs is here.”

  Aiden’s eyebrows jumped.

  I shook my head. “Fucking hypocrite. Graeme is easily one of the loudest anti-wireless people I’ve ever met, and he’s here?”

  Aiden gave a sharp sniff of amusement. “Those are the ones who always wind up coming in here. They make sure everyone knows how much they hate wireless lounges and how people like us should be strung up by our ballsacks.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Is that why you brought me yourself? To delay the inevitable?”

  “Hardly.” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. “I suspect you’d have made it here on your own eventually, but my motives for bringing you here? Entirely selfish, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh were they?”

  “Mmhmm.” He pulled me closer. “You know, with your colleague out there, we shouldn’t risk being seen.”

  Panic tightened my chest, but then I realized he was grinning. Arching my eyebrow, I asked, “What should we do instead?”

  The grin broadened. He didn’t have to say another word.

  * * * *

  The next morning, I watched Graeme over my coffee cup. He scrolled through something on his tablet, but I doubted he was actually reading the words—his eyes kept darting at the other simtechs, and his shaking hand was making the text go by much too fast.

  “Rough night?” I asked.

  He jumped, and then laughed nervously. “Yeah. You know how it is. Kids can’t sleep, Mom and Dad can’t sleep.”

  “Sounds brutal.”

  “It is. Enjoy what you’ve got while it lasts.”

  “Yeah. Uh. Duly noted.”

  I let the subject drop, but the truth kept nagging at me. I didn’t want to say anything. Even hinting about what I knew could tip my hand.

  But as near as I could tell, Graeme was going to the lounge alone. That was too dangerous. What if there was a raid? I didn’t know what to do besides stick close to Aiden—Graeme didn’t appear to have anyone to make sure he got out safely. I needed to confront him and make sure he didn’t go back, but how? And when? The walls had ears around here, and I didn’t want to be the reason he was suddenly hauled out of here in handcuffs. I didn’t particularly want to be hauled out with him.

  The opportunity finally came when Graeme went into the deserted break room to get coffee. I waited a moment, then followed, ostensibly to fill my own empty cup. No one else was in the room. Perfect.

  “Hey, Graeme.” I swallowed. “Is, uh, is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, of course,” he answered over his shoulder. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “You tell me.”

  He slowly turned, and his eyes narrowed. “Something you want to say, Borden?”

  “I don’t know. You’ve just been acting a bit… off.”

  “Off? How?”

  I shrugged. “Nervous, I guess?”

  He set his jaw. “What the fuck are you getting at? You accusing me of something?”

  “Of course not. But you seem kind of—”

  “Kind of what?” He came toward me and got right in my face. “Kind of what, Keith?”

  “Whoa, easy.” I put up my hands, drawing back from him slightly. “I’m just concerned about you. Relax.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t need your concern.”

  “You sure?”

  He met my gaze, and I expected more defensiveness, but then he covered his eyes and sighed. “Shit…”

  “Graeme? What’s?”

  “Fuck.” He deflated, sagging against the wall. “I’m losing it.”

  “What? Why?” I swallowed. “Talk to me, man. What’s going on?”

  He lowered his hand and searched my eyes.

  “Whatever it is,” I said, “it stays between us. I promise.”

  His eyebrows pulled together. “You sure about that?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.”

  For a long moment, he looked in my eyes, as if trying to call my bluff. Then his shoulders dropped a little more, and he spoke so softly I could barely hear him: “I went there. To… you know…”

  “You went—”

  “You know exactly what I’m saying,” he snapped. He rubbed a hand over his face, glove creaking softly. “Fuck. Fuck. I am so… what did I do? I can’t even look at my wife now.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Nothing.” He dropped his hand and faced me. “I mean, I was there. I saw… but I… I didn’t. I couldn’t!”

  “You didn’t do anything?”

  His face reddened. Tears welled up in his eyes. “Shit…”

  My heart sank. “You did, didn’t you?”

  “I did. Fuck. What do I do? If Mary finds out… if the government finds out, they’ll—”

  “They won’t.”

  “How the hell do you know that?”

  I grabbed the back of his neck. “Graeme. Look at me.”

  He met my eyes, tears gleaming in his.

  “Nobody has to know. Nobody. Get yourself some suppressors, keep doing your sims, and you’ll be fine.”

  “It’s not that easy,” he whispered. “I…”

  My chest ached. There was no way I could tell him that I knew. That I understood how addictive it was. What one taste could do to your head. How “don’t go back” wasn’t nearly as simple as it sounded.

  I let go of his neck, but didn’t step back. “No one has to know, Graeme.”

  “I’m scared to death they’re going to find out.”

  “They won’t, as long as you don’t go back.” I looked straight into his eyes. “And you’re not going back, right?”

  “N-no. I won’t. I… God, I can’t believe I went in the first place.”

  “What’s done is done. But you—”

  “You swear you won’t talk.”

  “You have my word. As long as you swear you’re not going back.”

  He nodded vigorously.

  “Good.” I resisted the urge to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Now let’s get back to work, okay?”

  Another nod. “Thanks, Keith.”

  “Any time.” I wrinkled my nose. “And you’re done with all that, right? You’re not—”

  He waved a hand. “Absolutely done.”

  “Good. Good.”

  He met my gaze once more, and then turned and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and guilty conscience. After parroting all the anti-wireless propaganda and talking someone out of returning to that world, I felt disgusting.

  But there was no other choice. Graeme had more to lose than I did. He had a family. And he was going in alone. He didn’t have the anchor that I did.

  The question was, did the anchor keep me grounded?

  Or was it pulling me under?

  * * * *

  Hours after I talked Graeme out of returning to the wireless lounge, I rested my head on Aiden’s chest while we caught our breath. We clung loosely to each other, arms and legs draped over one another just like the sheet lazily draped over our sweaty bodies.

  A low rumble rattled the building. The ground shuddered under us, shifting back and forth, and the walls creaked. I shifted my gaze up to the I-beams and concrete above the swaying light bulb, and prayed this wouldn’t be the tremor that brought this building to the ground.

  It was just a low-grade quake, though, and when it stopped, the building hadn’t crumbled and the world was again still and silent.

  Almost silent.

  After a while, I whispered, “I can hear your heart beat.”

  Aiden stroked my hair. “I can feel yours.”

  We didn’t move. We didn’t speak. Our hearts beat, and we breathed, and the universe spun around us, but we were completely still and silent and warm against each other.

  Guilt gnawed at me. Had I really sent Graeme away from this? Hypocritically condemned it while I’d been counting down the hours until I could indulge myself?

  “You okay?” Aiden asked. “You’ve been a little distant.”

  “Yeah. Sorry.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “My, uh, co-worker admitted he came here.”

  “To you?”

  I nodded. “I don’t think he suspects a thing about me, though. He was freaking out, sure his wife and the government were going to find out, so I told him in no uncertain terms not to come back.”

  “Good idea. People who commit adultery here almost invariably get caught.”

  “They do?”

  “Yeah.” He turned on his side, facing me. “Either their conscience catches up with them, or their spouse realizes something is up. You just can’t sneak under the radar when you live with someone else.”

  “Good point.”

  “Things like that honestly make me glad I was never approved for marriage.” He half-shrugged. “I appealed it once, but then decided it wasn’t worth pursuing.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I think going wireless ruined me for marriage. What are the odds of the government pairing me with a woman who’s also gone wireless? Chances are, whoever they eventually approved for me would be someone I’d never touch outside of a simulation.” He sighed. “And quite honestly, I’m not sure I want to raise children in a world where they can never legally know what it’s like to touch or be touched.” He paused, then quickly added. “I don’t mean sexually. I mean at all.”