Obsessed (63 page)

“You are a shit.” Natalie laughed and pushed away her half-eaten plate of manicotti. “But that’s why we love you,” she added as the waiter left the dinner bill and cleared the plates.

Kerry dug in her obviously expensive Coach leather purse and pulled out her wallet. “Humph.”

Smells of garlic bread and lasagna permeated the restaurant, along with the hum of voices, clinking of plates and Italian music in the background. Natalie absently rubbed the star tattoo that surrounded her bellybutton and the gold piercing. The tattoo she’d gotten after losing a dare to Miz in college, the piercing just because she’d felt like it. The tattoo was a unique star pattern that matched the birthmark behind her left earlobe.

Natalie shifted in her seat, her jean skirt feeling a bit snug. It was Halloween night, and the three former college roommates had managed to squeeze in time for dinner before the “Out of this World” fantasy and sci-fi convention they were all attending that evening—the stupid convention Miz had coerced Natalie into patronizing. Miz was a cover artist and costume designer, actively involved with the convention. She insisted, on threat of public dildo use, that Nat participate in one of the exhibits Miz’s friend was running.

“So, Nat.” Miz flipped her short dark hair out of her eyes. “Looking forward to tonight’s little experiment?”

It was all Natalie could do to hold back a groan. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into these things.”

“It’ll be a kick-ass night.” Miz grabbed the bottle of merlot and drained what little was left into her own glass. “From what Rod told me, this virtual reality machine is so realistic you’ll feel like you’re actually in a fantasy world. Like being in a fairytale.”

“Fantasy. Riiiiight.” Natalie took a sip of her merlot, enjoying the warmth flowing down her throat. She’d need several bottles of wine before she started believing in fairytales. She returned the glass to the table and trailed her fingers up and down the stem. “The only fantasies I believe in are the ones I have when I’m riding the purple bunny.”

“Bunny?” Kerry paused, a twenty-dollar bill in hand for the waiter, and glanced from Natalie to Miz. “What purple bunny and what does it have to do with fantasy?”

“For writing romantic erotica, you sure are naïve.” Miz leaned forward, her small breasts pressed against the table. In a loud voice she said, “Nat’s talking about a vibrator that has little bunny ears. The ears stimulate the clit.”

Kerry’s face went redder than her auburn hair as she tossed the twenty on the table and pushed out her chair. “It’s time to go.” She grabbed her leather briefcase and purse, stood, and raised her chin in the air. “I need to check in at the convention center and have time to go over my presentation.”

“You know what you need to loosen up, Kerry?” Miz rifled through her backpack, dug out some cash and tossed it on top of the twenty. “You need a good fuck.”

Sucking in her breath, Kerry clutched her briefcase to her chest. Her eyes darted to Natalie in an apparent plea for support.

“She’s right.” Natalie plunked down her share of the bill and grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair. “You need to get laid.”

With a resigned sigh, Kerry patted her severe bun and adjusted her glasses. “You may be right.”

Miz cracked up with laughter and Natalie grinned.

The women headed out of the restaurant to the nearby Williamsburg center that housed the “Out of this World” convention. It was a short walk, and Natalie enjoyed the feel of the crisp fall Virginia air against her cheeks and the cool breeze stirring her wine-red hair around her shoulders. A harvest moon, perfect for Halloween night, was just rising over the Atlantic.

An eerie sensation trailed down Natalie’s spine. She shivered and slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket. If she had been the slightest bit superstitious, she would have turned around and headed straight back to her apartment in New York City and to that purple bunny waiting in her lingerie drawer.

Williamsburg, Virginia, Halloween night

Natalie Capella’s gaze traveled the crowded convention center—big as a football field and packed with attendees dressed as fantasy characters. Lights pulsated, music throbbed, signs glittered and flashed, and there was lots of chatter, shouts, catcalls, and everything in between. The noise level was one thing, but all the people dressed up like gnomes, pixies, giants, and trolls were just plain ridiculous.

Cripes. These people need to get a life.

Miznari had just vanished into the throng on a mission to track down one of her design partners and Kerry had headed off to prepare for her speech, leaving Natalie to search out the damn virtual reality exhibit she had agreed to patronize.

With a resigned sigh, Natalie dropped off her purse and jacket at the convention center’s coat check booth and slipped the receipt into her skirt pocket. She could just make out the Virtual Fantasy World sign in the middle of the room. Nat worked her way past half a dozen dwarves, an assortment of wizards, a few net-winged fairies, and several elves with decidedly un-elvin pimples and leers.

Disgusted by an ogre with a boob-shaped club, Nat slipped to the left and almost smashed into one of the fairies. The gorgeous brunette caught Natalie at her waist and smiled. White teeth flashed against skin so dark and beautiful it seemed to be made out of night sky and priceless ink. The fairy let Nat loose with a, “Be careful, sweetheart.”

Nat’s heart pounded just a little faster. Damn. That dress is so sheer her nipples show, she thought as the woman turned back to her friends, revealing a stunning profile. Yep. Nipples. Dark burgundy, full, and erect.

Forcing her attention back to her purpose, Nat brushed through the crowd without looking back at the brunette. The material of her short denim skirt felt good against her silk panty-covered ass. Her nipples hardened beneath the thin material of her blouse.

She did need a good fuck, desperately. It had been far too long if she was feeling horny while walking through a room filled with people dressed up like they belonged on another world.

Or in St. Jude’s mental ward.

Natalie moved past a tall blonde elf who bore a striking resemblance to Legolas from
Lord of the Rings
. She could have sworn the man palmed her ass, but the elf was the picture of innocence when she tossed him a look over her shoulder.

A smile curved her lips as she thought about grabbing the elf by his obviously fake pointed ears and riding him for all he was worth.

Hell, Kerry might need to get laid to loosen up. Natalie just needed to get laid, period.

Conversation flowed around her while she edged and elbowed the rest of the way through the crowd. An assortment of languages met her ears—French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Navajo, Puerto Rican—all of which she mentally translated with unconscious ease. She’d had a gift for languages as long as she could remember, and within hours of being introduced to a new dialect, she easily mastered it and spoke with the fluency of a native. She’d served as an interpreter for the United Nations since graduating from college in the top one percent of her class, and she loved her job.

Although lately she’d been wondering if there was more to life than work.

As usual, like she had a sixth sense, Natalie was acutely aware of the men and women who watched her move through the room. Throughout Nat’s life, she had become accustomed to attracting attention without even trying. She’d been told that her slender figure, flawless porcelain complexion, forest green eyes, and her unusual shade of wine-red hair made her an uncommon beauty. Natalie disagreed. She simply looked different from everyone else.

When she worked she kept her hair back, wore thick-framed reading glasses to dim the brilliant color of her eyes, and dressed in business suits to camouflage her curvaceous figure. Otherwise no one took her seriously.

But when she went out, she opted for mini-skirts and low cut blouses that showed off her cleavage. Truth be told, she loved the appreciative glances and loved the thought that men found her attractive—as long as it was on her terms, and when she wanted the attention.

Finally, Natalie reached the Virtual Fantasy World exhibit. She broke through the crowd and walked up to the guy Miz had told her to look out for—a dark-haired dork in a Robin Hood costume. Okay, so Miz hadn’t called him a dork, but anyone who dressed up to look like a character from a fantasy story was a dweeb in Nat’s book.

“Miznari sent me,” she said when she reached the man. “I’m Natalie Capella.”

“’Bout time.” The guy picked up a clipboard and nodded. “You’re up next.” His gaze traveled over her figure as he absently gestured toward an arched opening that looked like the mouth of a cave made from carved stone. “Head on into the cave. Once you’ve been through the virtual tour, you’ll come out on the other side. There’ll be a questionnaire for you to complete.”

“That’s it?” Nat smoothed her hands over her jean skirt as she glanced from the cave mouth to the dweeb. “No headgear or special glasses needed?”

“Nope.” Robin Hood grinned. “It’s a totally awesome exhibit. You’ll feel like you’re in a real fantasy.”

“All righty then.” It was all Nat could do not to groan and roll her eyes. Instead she gave the guy a quick smile and strode toward the opening.

Might as well get this over with so that she could get back to the hotel, take a nice relaxing bath, and enjoy the new vibrator she’d packed in her suitcase. The one with the pearl beads and the rabbit ears—it was to die for. Too bad she’d been too busy to date lately. She could use a real man with a nice long, thick cock. But she didn’t fuck just anyone, and lately no man had appealed to her, or met her standards.

At the entrance Nat paused. Odd, but the birthmark behind her earlobe was tingling, and it felt incredibly weird. Raising her chin, she shrugged the feeling off and stepped forward.

The instant Natalie walked into the “cave,” everything dimmed. A wave of dizziness slammed into her and she stumbled. For a moment she held her hand to her head, waiting for the nausea to pass.

What the hell?

When she felt better, she realized the noise of the convention center had faded to nothing…absolute silence reigned. Even the very air changed. Dry and cool—and it smelled of ancient dust and the stench of rotten meat. “That’s just a little too realistic,” she muttered, blinking until her eyes became adjusted to the dim interior.

It was more of a large room or cavern than a cave. The walls were stained and eroded, and apparently designed to appear as if they were thousands, maybe millions of years old. What little light there was came from a lone tunnel on the other side of the room—a passageway that looked large enough for an elephant to walk through.

Debris littered the rough rock strewn floor—leaves, dirt, and dried crap of some sort. And to her left, bones had been stacked in pile after pile after pile. Nat blinked. Did some of those bones in the closest pile have chunks of pinkish flesh hanging from them?

Nat scrunched up her nose. “Oh that is gross. Just plain gross.”

In the distance she heard the steady drip of water…plop…plop…plop, an eerie sound that caused goose bumps to break out upon her skin.

A sudden urgent and overwhelming desire to turn and run flooded through Natalie. She spun back toward the entrance—

It was gone. All she saw was a rock wall.

Panic built up within her and she had to fight to calm her racing heart. “Get a grip, Nat.” She took a deep, cleansing breath, like she always did before an important meeting. “It’s supposed to make you feel like you’re in another world.”

But it was all she could do to maintain her cool. It was almost like she knew there was something waiting for her…something dangerous…

Pushing back the urge to scream, Nat took another deep breath and walked back to the wall where she had supposedly come from, and ran her palm over the rough surface. Amazing. So real and so…dirty. Natalie rubbed her dusty hand on her skirt and turned away from the wall and back to the bone room.

Okay, so it was too late to chicken out. Heck, she’d never backed out on anything before, and she certainly wouldn’t now—even if she could find the exit to the convention center.

She’d just kill Miznari when she got this damn thing over with. That chick was toast.

With renewed determination, Nat started forward and flinched when something crunched underfoot. Pausing in mid-step, she glanced down and her stomach flipped. It was the skeleton of an animal about the same size as a dog.

This is not real, those bones are not real, none of this is real,
she practically shouted in her mind as she raised her chin and marched across the room, and then into the passageway. The confidence in her stride increased the farther she traveled through the tunnel and the brighter the light became.

Natalie rounded a sharp corner and came to an abrupt stop at the mouth of the cave. She’d found an exit—only this one led into a large clearing and then a gloomy and foreboding forest. A forest that appeared so murky that sunlight could barely penetrate its thick canopy.

The need to flee spiked through Nat once more. No way. She couldn’t go into those woods. It was too dangerous…

She clenched her fists at her sides and raised her chin. “It’s a stupid alternate reality machine,” she muttered. “It’s not even real.”

But it sure as hell felt real.

A sharp wind gusted inside the cave, swirling beneath her skirt and brushing her panty-covered pussy and her bare ass cheeks. The chill caused her nipples to tighten against her blouse.

Outside, branches swayed in the wind and leaves stirred across the clearing. Smells of pine and wet earth were strong, and Natalie couldn’t help but feel that she was truly in a forest. Yet that was impossible. Completely impossible. She shook her head. The exhibit was dead center in the middle of the convention hall, and this forest…well, it had to be fake. Not to mention it was actually evening and dark outside the convention center, not daytime like in this pretend forest.

“Get on with it, girl.” Natalie strode out of the cave and walked across the clearing toward the dense forest. “Just get on with it.” The sooner she got through this exhibit, the sooner she could go back to the hotel room.