“You’re here,” Katie said, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden change in light.

Tossing the visor onto a nearby table, Aaron reached for the belts at her waist and unfastened the rig harness. Her legs went to jelly and she nearly fell into his arms. From lust, or disorientation?

Oh, who was she kidding?

It was Aaron. Here. In front of her. All muscly and sexy in his skintight S-suit, looking at her like he was starving to death and she was Thanksgiving dinner.

Lust. Definitely lust. Mutual crazy lust–

He pulled her close, caressed her cheek with his knuckles, and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I couldn’t wait one more minute…” he murmured. “To do….this.” He breathed the last word, let it ghost over her skin before his lips followed, kissing where his words had fallen, along her jaw, her cheek, the edge of her smile and finally…he claimed her mouth.

Oh god.

Katie’s hands had a mind of their own, they circled his neck, dove into his hair and fisted, holding him tightly even as her lips yielded, opening to Aaron’s as his tongue swept in to taste her. He stroked deep, moaning into her mouth when she returned his passion and sucked on his tongue. He pulled back then and caught her bottom lip, dragging it between his teeth as he thrust one hand between their bodies.

He found the zipper of her S-suit, pulled it down, and with two hands, he began to peel the top away from her shoulders. He stilled, just as the fabric began to reveal her and looked up, catching her gaze.

“I want to see you,” he said. “The real you. Please?”

Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded, and Aaron’s jaw clenched tight with desire as he yanked the S-suit down to her waist, exposing her to his eyes.

“Katie,” he breathed her name, as his gaze roamed greedily over her bare breasts. Her nipples pebbled in the cool air, and when she shivered Aaron made a low gravely sound in his throat that sounded like half hunger, half impatience. “Still cold?” he said, laughter rumbling in his chest. “I’ll warm you up.” He cupped one breast and lowered his head, capturing the sensitive pink tip in his hot mouth.

His hands caressed her, cool against her fevered skin, they stroked lower, over her belly and down. Aaron’s mouth found hers again, his tongue licking at the seam of her lips as his fingers reached her center and slicked through her folds.

Katie melted.

Aaron’s fingertips traced her entrance, slipping inside, shallowly at first, and then deeper as Katie gripped his shoulders and shuddered.

“Please,” she whispered against his ear.

One finger. Two. Deeper now, in and out. She shook in his arms as Aaron’s thumb circled her clit, firm, steady unrelenting pressure. His tongue thrust into her mouth as his fingers fucked her and she felt her legs turn to jelly again. She came apart in his arms, her knuckles turning white as she clutched his shoulders, moaning her release against his lips.

* * *

Aaron pulled the top of her S-suit back up, stopping to let his fingertips trace gently over Katie’s scars. He leaned down and grazed his lips over the gnarled skin. She tensed, and he stopped. Moving his hands back to her waist, he squeezed a little, like he was apologizing with a hug.

“Sorry,” he began, but Katie shushed him.

“No…it’s okay,” she whispered. “Just gimme a second.”

When Aaron’s fingers had touched her scars, she’d reacted like she always did. Tense and braced for trauma. But that reaction felt like a habit now. She wasn’t in distress. The truth was, his hands felt good on her. All of her. Even her scars.

Aaron’s palms coasted over her back and up her neck, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her sweetly. They stood there, entwined in the dark, Aaron’s strong hands cradling her face.

What was this she was feeling? It was so strange. Like every raw nerve and sprained muscle in her body suddenly healed, unclenched, and ceased to cause her pain.

She felt…good.

Katie’s forehead fell against Aaron’s and she inhaled deeply, finding the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. For years.

God this felt right, being here with him. They’d known each other a handful of days and yet she felt like she could trust him, like she could tell him anything…the thing.

“It’s okay,” she said again. “I’ll tell you how it… I was in an accident.”

“Katie, you don’t have to–”

“No, I want to. Just…let me get it out,” she said. “Because there’s slightly more than just the accident.”

Aaron nuzzled her temple and nodded.

“I created Quest of the Crystal Knight in college,” she said. “It was my senior project. I wrote the story, designed all the characters, built the environment, but it was just a tabletop game at that point. Some 3-D printed pieces made from my models and some pretty art. My boyfriend at the time, Steven, he was in gaming, on the code side of things. He loved the game and wanted to bring it to life as a multiplayer, online, 3-D game. I said yes, and we formed a company together.”

“Galaxus Games” said Aaron. “I recognized your name from the game credits. But when I went to their website the other day, your name doesn’t come up on their company profile page. No mention of you as a founder–”

“No. There wouldn’t be now. Steven made sure of that after…well after everything. But even when I was there my name didn’t appear on any letterhead. I owned half the company and hardly anyone knew.”

“That’s horrible.”

Katie shrugged. “I didn’t mind at the time. I didn’t want any of the stuff that goes along with running a company. I love what I do, but I wasn’t interested in awards or going to conferences or talking to the media. I just wanted to make beautiful things, write stories, and create worlds where people can play in those stories.”

“Still, you deserve credit for your work.”

“I agree.” She took a deep breath and glanced up at him. “But, I was in love, and I trusted my boyfriend to have my best interest at heart. He didn’t.”

“The accident? Was that Steven’s fault?”

“It wasn’t.” Katie shook her head. “That was a fluke. I used to bike to work. One day a parked car opened its door in front of me, I went flying and got clipped by a delivery truck. After two surgeries, six titanium pins, and a year of physical therapy, I’m relatively okay. Except for the scars.”

Aaron leaned down and pressed a solemn kiss to her shoulder. “Wabi-sabi,” he whispered.

She lifted her hand, brushed her fingertips over his cheek and Aaron sighed, closed his eyes and leaned into her palm. “You’re no less beautiful to me because of the scars Katie,” he said. “Maybe more.”

She felt her heart stutter.

“What a thing to say,” she said. “What an impossibly beautiful, ridiculous, thing to say.”

Aaron’s eyes flew open. “I mean it,” he said and the set of his jaw was hard. “But I’m guessing from your reaction, Steven didn’t feel that way.”

Katie let her hand fall away, averted her gaze. “No, he definitely didn’t. For him, well, he saw my accident as an opportunity.”

“What do you mean?”

“To leave me,” Katie said.

She took a step back, needing the space, needing to break contact with Aaron’s skin. It was too distracting. She needed to focus if she was going to be able to power through the end of the story without crying.

“He never visited me in the hospital,” she said. “Instead, Steven broke up with me via text, moved my things into storage, and essentially forced me out of the company I’d co-founded. I had medical bills to pay. I was in no position to fight him. So I let him buy me out, and that was that.”

“Jesus.”

“He told our staff we’d broken up months prior. In his mind, it was true, because that also happened to be how long he’d been fucking our new head of HR. So you see to him, it was about as serious as a missed memo. He’d meant to tell me he didn’t love me anymore, he just forgot.”

Aaron closed the space between them before she’d finished speaking. Wrapping those strong arms around her, he held her so tightly she could barely expand her chest to breathe.

“What an ass.” The words came out in a growl. Threading his hands through her hair he lifted her face to his and pinned her in his dark gaze. “Anybody that doesn’t completely love the hell out of you is just…broken.”

Katie’s eyes went wide.

What the hell did he just say?

It wasn’t like he’d said he loved her…but it was kind of definitely a super crazy thing to say after two virtual dates and a quick finger fuck in the dark.

She swallowed, closed her gaping mouth and forced herself to smile, trying to meet Aaron’s intense gaze steadily and maturely when all she wanted to do was squirm out of his arms and freak the fuck out. Because holy crap she was right there with him, she felt exactly the same way, so she was crazy too and–

“Oh man.” Aaron’s gaze searched hers and he blew his cheeks out. “I just said one of those awkward gulpy things that you are absolutely not supposed to say so soon in a relationship.”

“Relationship?” Katie squeaked, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

Aaron let her go and took a step back, running both hands through his hair and down over his face with a groan. He let his hands rest there for a moment, kind of a long moment actually, and Katie wracked her brain for something to say, anything to ease the tension.

Anything at all.

Her brain did not rise to the challenge. Nothing.

Silence.

Just…lots and lots of quiet.

Finally, Aaron let his hands fall from his face, and she saw with relief that he was grinning.

“So this was fun,” he said. His expression was boyish, and still awkward, but completely open and unguarded, and it calmed her that he didn’t seem inclined to take back what he’d said.

“Sorry for getting all heavy on you,” he said.

“Technically I got heavy on you first,” she said. “The whole accident saga and everything. So, I’m the one that should be sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” He stepped forward and took her hands in his. “I’m honored that you shared that with me.”

Katie nodded and lowered her chin to hide her smile.

“Hey,” he said, tipping her chin up so that she was forced to look at him. “Katie, I really like you.” He sighed heavily and pulled her hands up to his lips, brushing a kiss over her knuckles. “I haven’t felt this way about anyone in a long time. The timing of this…us…is a little complicated, but I think we have a pretty cool connection.”

“I think so, too.”

“So I guess I’m asking if you’d like to keep seeing me? See where this is going?”

He caught her gaze, raised his eyebrows, and grinned.

“Yes,” she said, laughing at his expression. “Yeah I’d like that too.”

“Awesome. So what do you say we get out of this office, before we both die of embarrassment, and go get something to eat?”

“More virtual pizza?” Katie said, tilting her head.

“Oh, I think I can do better than that this time.”

* * *

Aaron hadn’t thought this through. Taking a woman on a date when you’re a tech celebrity dominating all the news cycles and gossip blogs because of your former super model girlfriend that everyone thinks you’re still dating is…problematic at best.

They’d managed to get out of the E.I. building without being seen. The paparazzi didn’t have access to the underground garage and his car had tinted windows, but still, there were countless opportunities for photographs to be taken if they spent a night on the town.

So they needed to stay in. He figured Katie would be cool with just hanging at his place, but there was no food at his place. Unless you counted a jar of mayonnaise and stale, leftover pizza. Shit, this was going to be a challenge–

“Oh wow.” Katie had as they pulled around the side of Calvert Tower and past the discreet entrance to Lux. “What’s all that?”

Aaron glanced out the driver side window. A small group of elegantly dressed people in masks were slipping past the velvet rope into Lux.

“Masquerade night,” he said, pulling into the underground garage to the private parking spot area for the penthouse. “Lux does it once a month. Adds a layer of intrigue to the sex-play that some people enjoy.”

“What do they do?”

“The usual stuff. But there’s a different vibe on masquerade night for sure. Everyone wears masks all night, no exceptions. There’s no photography or video ever at Lux of course, but with the masks, it’s even more anonymous. So it’s, well it’s liberating.”

“You can be whoever you want.”

“Yeah that’s certainly one way to look at it.” Aaron nodded. “I’d forgotten it was tonight. I’ve been a few times. It’s a nice event. Great food and–” He stopped talking when he heard her inhale sharply. Aaron turned the car off and turned to Katie. “Everything okay?”

“Can we go?” she asked, her voice breathless and her eyes shining with excitement. “I really want to go.”