Her Alpha Lover: A Draken and Charli Boxed Set (19 page)

"Children, children," said Draken. "Ms. Fontina, are you excited about trying out the Robasm?"

Just like that, the table went silent and everyone was looking at Charli. She nibbled at her dessert, glancing uneasily at Elizabeth, who had gone pale at the mention of the machine that had forced her first ever orgasm from her. From the moment she'd staggered back into the auditorium, looking a lot less tidy than when she'd left, she'd kept mum about the whole experience.

"I'm, ah, trying not to think about it," Charli admitted. "It looks pretty intense."

"I believe it is. What did you think of the robot, Eliza?" Draken asked guilelessly. His eyes sparkled, and Charli thought,
If Matthew was the practical joker in the family, you were the mastermind who egged him on.

"It was very interesting," the woman responded cautiously, maintaining the social pretense of being unaware that she'd been observed having several cataclysmic and life-altering orgasms just a few minutes ago. In her situation, Charli would have surely been blushing.

"So if you get offered the job..." Draken left the statement as a question.

Elizabeth shrugged while Matthew said, "She'll take it," ignoring the frigid look the woman gave him. "She needs the cash."

Charli broke in to rescue Elizabeth. "Will, ah, will I be next?"

It was Draken's turn to shrug. "Do you want to be? Are you panting for your turn, darling? I know watching Eliza got you hot and bothered."

Charli blushed, looking meaningfully at Elizabeth.

"Eliza's seen your pic on my phone," Draken said casually. "She knows all about you."

Charli's face was now beet red. Oh, God, had they told Elizabeth about Charli's sexual performances at the last two meetings?

"―And she doesn't approve," Draken continued. "She thinks it's wrong to stalk a woman I don't know."

But does Elizabeth know about my being the ATS meeting mascot? That I got naked in front of all those executives and―

"But I told her we're not strangers anymore, so I'm absolved of blame," Draken continued.

Elizabeth gave Draken a chilly look. "Does this mean you are dating Charli?"

"Not at all," Draken said musingly. "We have a...let's call it an intimate business relationship. Isn't that right, Ms. Fontina?"

Charli couldn't stop blushing now. "That's right, Draken."

"That's right
who
?"

She gritted her teeth. "Mr. Almatto." As the words escaped her lips, she felt her nipples peak.

"See?" Draken said huskily, his gaze lowering to her chest. "Business."

"Up yours, Mr. Almatto," Charli muttered, and surprised a smothered laugh out of Elizabeth, who, ignoring Draken, said to Charli, "I like your comic strip."

Charli smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks."

"One thing you should know, Eliza," Draken teased. "Charli's highly ambitious. She's desperate for this job. She'll do anything to land it."

"I am not!" Charli glared at him. "And I will not!"

"Luckily, you and she aren't in competition," Draken went on heedlessly. "Charli's problem is a little different from yours. She could have orgasms continuously all day and still not get enough. Hopefully, the Robasm will control her tendency to nymphom―"

"Bastard! That's. Not. True." Hastily she covered her mouth and looked around. "Don't believe him," she hissed. "The man's insane."

"Like I didn't already know that," Elizabeth sniffed. "Don't worry. I'm used to them. Plus I have two brothers."

"Well, I don't have any brothers," Charli muttered. "And I'm not used to them."

"Let me guess," Draken said. "You're an only child."

"Is that a problem?" Charli sat up straighter and squared her shoulders. "Is there some law that says a person has to be hounded by sibling pests before one is fully actualized as a person? How many brothers and sisters do
you
have?"

Draken opened his mouth to retort, then stopped and frowned at her almost broodingly. That's when Charli realized―they were actually having a conversation. Not an intimate one, but it was public and flirtatious, and it must rankle to the man who claimed she was nothing but a fuck toy.

"Time to get back to work," Draken said tersely. "Ms. Fontina, thanks for joining us. You were a charming lunch guest."

If he'd actually said,
It was a mistake to invite you
, he couldn't have said it better.

"My pleasure," she gritted.

"Do I need to stick around, or can I go home?" Elizabeth asked.

"You only need to stay if you want the job," Matthew murmured.

Elizabeth lifted her chin but accompanied them all in the elevator. Charli tried not to care that Draken was ignoring her. But when they were back in the ATJ auditorium and Draken walked away from her, she was tempted to stick out her tongue at his sexy back. "Sometimes adulting is hard," she told Elizabeth.

"Adulting I can handle," Elizabeth said. "It's immaturity I have a hard time with."

Except adult toys. The ultimate adult toy handled you, not the other way around!
But she refrained from pointing this out, since Elizabeth seemed to want to forget the whole thing.

"Attention!" Gordon Howing's voice boomed in the room. "Hope everyone had a great lunch. We're moving on to our third candidate now, but we're having to wait a bit as it's taking a little longer than expected to reset the programming. So far today, we've seen two candidates who have a hard time reaching orgasm. The next three candidates are a different animal―women who self-identify as easily achieving orgasm."

Wait, what? I didn't self-identify with anything.
But it was obvious that Draken was the one who'd "self-identified" Charli. What he didn't know, and what she'd never tell him, was that she'd never have thought of herself as somebody who easily climaxed before meeting him.

"Charli Fontina, you'll be up next," Gordon announced. "Are we set yet? No? Ms. Fontina, while we have some time, why don't you come up here and tell us a little about why you decided to apply for this position?"

Charli gaped at Gordon in abject horror. She looked wildly around for Draken, finally finding him standing among a circle of people. He lifted one brow and shrugged as if he hadn't known anything about this. And maybe he hadn't.

Her heartbeat was suddenly thundering in her ears, which felt bright red. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and walked up onto the stage, all too aware of everyone's eyes.

"Ah, hi," she said when Gordon shoved the microphone under her chin. "I, uh..."

Gordon winked at her conspiratorially. "Relax, Ms. Fontina. This is just to keep them from falling asleep. Half of them aren't even listening. Say whatever you want."

She gulped. "Okay." She jumped, hearing her voice booming to the rafters. "I, uh, I'm applying to this position because I, I guess I'm, uh, curious. Yes, curious about the Robasm. I mean, I heard about it―"
a few hours ago, anyway
―"and my―an
acquaintance
―" she shot Draken a glare―"said it might be a good match for me. So I, uh―"

The microphone was removed and Gordon's voice was projecting, "Tell us, as someone who's always found it easy to achieve orgasm, what kind of assists do you hope to find in the Robasm?"

Oh, dear lord.

"I guess..um...I'm not sure," she said blankly.

"We're hoping women like you will find their pleasure maximized by prolonging the period of sexual stimulation," Gordon said, stroking his beard. "Do you think that might happen?"

Charli's eyes aimlessly sweeping the audience lit on her coworker, Nancy. The woman was avidly listening and holding up her phone. Oh, hell. Was she recording this? Mentally Charli cringed.

"Y
―
yes, maybe," she said into the microphone.

"How do you feel about the prospect of using the machine for nearly an hour without having even one little orgasm?"

Charli's appalled gaze shot to Gordon. "N
―
not that fabulous, really."

Gordon took a few steps away from Charli and spoke to the audience in his "research scientist" voice. "Thanks, Ms. Fontina. Now, as you can imagine, getting the Robasm to prevent what we at ATJ call 'hasty' orgasm has been a fascinating challenge. Some of you may wonder how an AI machine can sense what human individuals often fail to―the impending orgasm of a woman. Special sensors take care of this. Ms. Fontina and the next two candidates will have four sensors placed strategically for this purpose―one in front of their mouths that measures audio wavelengths, humidity and temperatures, one over their hearts to monitor pulse rate, one on their feet, believe it or not, and the last, of course, attached to the dildo inside them. These sensors then send messages to the brain of the computer, which calculates how close the user is to culmination. The Robasm is thus empowered to stimulate the user to virtually the second before climax, and then cease its stimulation and prevent the user's orgasm. Once it subsides, the Robasm starts up again. Normally a series of near-climaxes ends in an explosive orgasm for the lucky user, but today we'll just bring each candidate close a few times and save the really dramatic climax for the official demonstration, which we hope to broadcast in a few weeks as part of our first market reach."

"Isn't repeated delayed orgasm a strain on a person's heart?" somebody called out.

"Certainly could be," Gordon said. "Which is why we required doctors' reports from each candidate. There are also various safety precautions built into the Robasm..."

Doctor's reports?
Charli's gaze flew to Draken. She was too shaken to do more than look vaguely at her phone when it buzzed. Her mind was filling with visions painted by Gordon's impersonal monologue. God. If Gordon was telling the truth, then the next hour could be nightmarish for Charli, who was already so aroused her inner thighs were sticky. If the machine could truly prevent her from having an orgasm when she needed one so badly...

Draken Almatto: Did I forget to tell you I had your doctor's office fax us some documents?

Charli Fontina: How could you do that? Ever heard of HIPPA? Privacy violations?

Draken Almatto: Sorry, darling. Matthew handled it.

Charli Fontina: I'll bet you and he used each other as convenient excuses all the time as kids.

Draken Almatto: Taking the fifth on that.

Charli Fontina: Hey, wait. My doctor recommended getting a routine fitness check by a cardio last week.

Charli Fontina: Did you happen to have anything to do with that, MR ALMATTO?

Draken: Again, sorry. When one has contacts in the medical field, it's hard for one not to use them when one finds it convenient.

Charli Fontina: Did one ever think about consulting me instead of using UNETHICAL MANIPULATION?

Before she had a chance to check her phone for his response, though, there was suddenly a flurry of activity. Then Charli was being led by Gordon and accompanied off the stage by a woman and a man dressed in lab coats, with Draken strolling along behind. While Gordon made mindless chit-chat, they went down some stairs, down a narrow hallway, and through a pair of double doors. Charli hardly listened. Her pulse was thundering through her body. She was uncomfortably aware of Draken trailing her.

She spotted a restroom off to the side of the spacious, fluorescent room they entered and said with sudden urgency, "I need to visit the ladies' room."

When she came out, everyone was standing around waiting for her, which only increased her nervousness. Gordon placed his hand on her back. "Ms. Fontina, I'd like you to meet Doctors Melissa Smith and Ted Jannis, two members of the research team who'll be working with you today. And you know Draken, of course."

"Of course," Charli said stiffly.

"Melissa's role here is to assure your safety and to provide gender-based reassurance. Ted's role is to guide you through the process. My role is to be a backup for Melissa and Ted. Draken's here mostly as interested observer and of course to assess all the candidates' performances for the audition."

Charli looked at the middle-aged woman who smiled warmly at her.
Gender-based reassurance?
What the fuck was that? As for Ted, the young, cheerful male scientist shook her hand enthusiastically. Draken she did not look at.

"Love your comic, Ms. Fontina," Melissa Smith said.

Charli's gaze widened. A lot of people seemed to have read her webcomic lately. "Thanks," she managed.

Melissa went on, "Ms. Fontina, we understand Draken briefed you and you're not wearing underpants, correct?"

"Y
―
yes," Charli said, flushing. "That's right." She looked away―and froze. There in the middle of the lab was the Robasm, looking like a strange torture device from a bad B-movie.

"You can put your purse here and take your shoes off," Ted said.

"O
―
okay."

Draken walked over to the wall and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. Charli kicked off her shoes and refused to look at him. If he was smirking now, she didn't think she could handle it.

"W
―
what do I..."

"First, relax." Ted grinned. "There's nothing to fear. We've had literally hundreds of people trial the latest version of the Robasm and not one of them has been disappointed, injured, or had any adverse event occur at all. It's completely safe. In the event something happens that you're uncomfortable with, there are multiple ways the machine can be shut off and you can safely dismount..."

Charli paid close attention as he went through the safety features. Then she sat down as Ted directed her, right on the edge of what he called the user's seat. Her skirt rode up a bit and the plastic sheeting on the cushioned seat stuck to her bare legs.