“Tell you what”-Gunnar paused and glanced at the tech’s name tag-“Oscar, I’ll do you one better. Can you hook me up with her?” he asked, nodding toward Kili. “But sit me somewhere she can’t see me?”
The technician’s eyes widened. “I don’t know, sir. Co-vacation is supposed to be consensual. She’s already engaged with the computer.”
Gunnar reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Want ringside tickets when the Centurions come to town? I wanna surprise my girlfriend.”
Kili sucked in a deep breath and blinked as her eyes adjusted to white, searing sunlight. Her first glance at her vacation setting sent her stomach plummeting. Where was the desert island with the horseshoe strip of pale sand and navy sea? Sure, heat radiated off the ground in suffocating waves, but where was the cabana boy in the Speedo?
Instead, an endless savannah stretched in front of her with tall, golden grass waving in the hot breeze and gnarled, stunted trees dotting the horizon. “What the hell?”
Stones skittered behind her and she spun to find a large, male figure standing on a rocky knoll. At least the program had gotten that much right. The Ice Man’s incredible, burly physique was nude except for a furry loincloth that draped from a slender cord at his waist, leaving the sides of his tanned hips and his massive, sleek thighs bare.
The breeze ruffled his pale hair as he strode toward her, his sharp gaze sweeping down her body, a predatory gleam in his eyes.
Kili’s heart thudded and her nipples tightened, the sensitive tips pressing into supple fabric. She glanced down and noted she too wore an animal’s skin, tanned and buttery-soft. The miniscule top barely covered her breasts and was knotted between them. Another soft garment draped around her hips, and the breeze licking up her thighs revealed she was totally nude underneath the crude clothing. “Now, that’s attention to detail,” she murmured. But if this was her fantasy, why weren’t her hips slimmer?
When she brought up her head again, Ice Man’s attention was directed behind her and his entire body tensed. He hefted a spear in one hand, holding it above his shoulder.
She followed his gaze and saw an enormous creature crouched low in the grass staring back at them, catlike with long fangs curving like tusks from its gaping mouth.
Before she could gasp a warning, Ice Man let loose his spear and snagged her wrist, dragging her behind him as he ran back up the knoll.
A hideous, snarling scream erupted, and Kili forgot that none of this was real-her heart accelerated and her breath rasped as she ran like the wind, flying up the rocks behind the gladiator, grateful for the fur-lined booties that shielded her feet from the harsh terrain.
Just as they crested the knoll, the sound of heavy paws thundered behind them. She didn’t dare look back, but Ice Man dropped her hand and drew another spear from the leather sheath strapped to his back. With a lithe twist, he turned and launched the spear straight into the large cat’s chest.
The animal dropped like a rock without a sound, dead before it hit the ground.
Kili shivered and reminded herself, This isn’t real. All that blood spurting in a gurgling stream from the creature’s gaping wound was just part of the program hooked up to her brain-waves to deliver a virtual adventure. She’d never really been in danger, but her racing heart didn’t seem to know the difference. The trembling that shook her body felt authentic, as did the excitement that thrummed through her veins.
She drew a deep, steadying breath and lifted her head to find Ice Man’s gaze leveled on her.
His chest gleamed with sweat, his jaw was taut, and hunger glinted in his hard eyes.
“I’m guessing this is where we’re supposed to share celebratory sex, huh?” she quipped, already feeling her body soften and moisten in anticipation.
A slow grin stretched his sexy mouth, revealing a flash of startling white teeth. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her close, his mouth descending toward hers.
Kili let her eyelids droop, shutting out everything but the curve of his firm lips as she tilted back her head to await his kiss.
When his breath brushed her mouth, she shivered and snuggled her aching breasts against his naked, sweaty skin. He smelled earthy-of wood smoke and healthy man!
A masculine growl rumbled from deep inside him, and he paused, opening his mouth to speak.
Kili melted, clinging to his rock-hewn arms, a breath away from heaven.
He inhaled, pressing his brawny chest ever closer, and said, “Ugh!”
Two
Gunnar jerked back his head and tried again. This time, “Urgha!” was all he could manage to cram past vocal chords that had forgotten how to function. Fuck! Now, how was he supposed to convince the woman he was smarter than the average caveman?
Kili’s lips stretched into a grin, and a wicked light danced in her dark eyes. “They must have downloaded my personality profile,” she murmured. “Do they know what I want or what?”
He almost dumped her on the ground, but their bare midriffs were fused by sweat, and his barely clothed cock snuggled in the well of her soft belly-the possibilities were way too tempting for him to overlook for pride’s sake.
Besides, “Little Gunnar” didn’t seem to care that Kili thought he was the brains of the operation and unfurled beneath the loincloth, straining against the contrary woman’s body.
Big Gunnar hoped like hell his southern brain hadn’t forgotten how to function, too, because it sure looked like she was warming up fast to the idea of that celebratory sex.
Her palms molded the contours of his chest, and she rose on her tiptoes to glide her lips along his chin. “Mmmm, I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you clobber the Zoltan Twins in the ‘Rumble in Orion.’” Her arms encircled his shoulders as she strained upwards.
Aware more beasts might be lurking in the grass, Gunnar knew he had to take the party indoors. He silently cursed the idiot who thought a caveman fantasy was the way to turn the tables on the woman. Never mind he’d bribed the tech to place them in the scenario of his choice. At this point, he figured he’d earned a little reward for all the earlier aggravation she’d put him through.
The same program that had robbed him of speech flashed a picture into his mind of a route to his abode. He gripped Kili’s hair to get her attention, and then took advantage of her gasp to kiss her mouth hard, stroking inward for a quick taste of what was to come.
Jesus, she was sweet-and hot! She mewled and rubbed on him like a kitten, until he seriously considered lifting her to fuck her where they stood.
Her mind must have traveled the same sexy path, because she hopped up and wound her legs around his waist before he had a chance to come up for air.
Unable to resist a quick feel, he slipped his hands beneath her suede skirt to clasp both bare cheeks. Her ass filled his palms-soft and round, yet surprisingly muscular. He clutched it tight and ground his cock against her open sex. Now, only the supple hide of his loincloth separated him from heaven.
A distant roar reminded him they needed to find shelter. “Nnnnn,” he protested, as he let her slide down his body.
Swaying, she held onto his arms for a moment then stepped away, her eyes blinking. “All right, I’m thinking they should have given me at least a few verbal commands you would understand. How do I say ‘fuck me’ in cave lingo?”
Gunnar growled his frustration, and then quicker than she could gasp, he bent and shoved his shoulder into her abdomen, forcing her to fold over his shoulder. If he was doomed to play a ravaging caveman…
Kili screeched and scissored her legs. “Put me down, you Neanderthal!”
Grinning, Gunnar reached up to swat her delectable bottom, and took off in the direction of the cave just beyond the next rise. With the sun resting on the horizon, he broke into a lope, not wanting to be caught in the dark with whatever creatures the program had decided should populate their adventure.