Online Lovers

Online Lovers

By Sheila Rose

Copyrighted Material

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All characters, names, artwork and related materials mentioned herein, whether registered or unregistered are the property and trademarks of Sheila Publishing. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Copyright ©2015 Sheila Publishing

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              "That's it! I'm done!"

              Rachel hadn't meant to proclaim her distaste so loudly and shrank back when a few of her coworkers gave her confused looks. She knew she shouldn't be so vocal about it, but she was still getting text messages from the fool she had attempted to go on a date with the night before. It had taken her ten texts too many before she decided to block his number.

"Done with what?" Justine asked, appearing almost out of nowhere (but probably just heard the commotion from the copy room). The two had worked closely for the past three years and she knew exactly when Rachel needed to vent.

              "I'm just so done with dating," Rachel muttered, settling herself back at her desk, "I mean, the last time I went out on a blind date, he just wanted to put me to bed and he insisted on calling me 'mommy'." She couldn't help but shiver at the memory. It hadn't been a very good date night and she wondered how she could have ever met anyone like that. The creep from the night before was Prince Charming compared to that guy.

              Justine pulled up a chair and sat down next to Rachel's desk. "Maybe you're just looking in all the wrong places."

              "But there's nowhere else I can look! I've tried websites, phone services, everything! I've had a few friends try and set me up, but it ended disastrously. There's just nothing out there that can give me what I'm looking for in a guy." Rachel had been in the dating scene for almost five years and nothing had come out of all the effort she put in to find the person that was her other half. She was past trying to find a nice lay, she wanted commitment and fulfillment. Was that too much for her to ask?

              "There's a website that you probably  haven't tried yet." Justine said, smiling conspiratorially. She inched her chair closer to Rachel and explained what she meant. "It's called 'Love Hookups.' It's mostly for just finding a quick hookup, but you could probably narrow down your search for Mr. Right with it."

              "Justine, I've tried every dating site there is. What could possibly be different about this one?"

              Justine scooted closer, her smile never wavering. "It's all about the connections you make with the people on the site. It's a lot more casual then regular dating and a lot of the men on there are okay with a 'no strings attached' relationship if you're not comfortable with it. Some of them probably wouldn't mind having a more fulfilling relationship either."

              Rachel didn't know what to think at this point. She was desperate for something new and different that would help her find the man of her dreams. Maybe the website would help her narrow her search, maybe not. It wouldn't hurt to give it a shot, would it?

              "I've been on for almost a year and it's been one of the best decisions I made," Justine said, interrupting Rachel's thoughts, "You should give it a shot."

              She sighed, knowing that there was no arguing with Justine when she set her mind to something. "Fine. Give me the website and I'll try it out tonight."

              Rachel tried to sound nonchalant, but there was an anticipation settling in her stomach. She was beginning to feel excited over the prospect of her search for the perfect man finally coming to an end.

***

              When she arrived in her studio apartment after work, Rachel couldn't wait to get on the computer and set up her 'Love Hookup' profile. The site was set up like a regular dating site but tailored to African Americans with a questionnaire about her interests, hobbies, and what she was looking for. Her profile could only be seen by  those who were registered on the site and she could block users and report them for any sort of harassment or spamming.

              That was where the similarities ended. Rachel had to take two more questionnaires about preferences in terms of intimacy, how far she'd go on a first meeting and any interest in  freaky bondage and submissive sex called BDSM.  She could dictate how many people approached her and there was a 'check off' feature for if and when she decided to move on to another partner. There were chat rooms for those that liked to role-play and some of them included webcam features where you could watch your partner act out a scene. There were forums too, each with so many sub-forums that Rachel wondered how much of a domain the website had. It was a treasure trove of every sort of sexual fantasy under the sun and there was a small part of her that wondered if she was doing the right thing. Justine had been so sure about it and she had decided to trust her friend enough to give this thing a try.

              Rachel clicked 'complete' on her profile and it went live a few moments afterward. "I wonder if I'll even get any hits," she said to herself, closing the computer after the screen loaded.  She didn't want to wait in front of the computer for the remaining of the evening in an attempt to see if what Justine said was true. She was excited, yes, but she had more important things to be doing with her time.

              Like taking a bath.

              It had been so long since she had taken a proper bath and allowed herself time to soak in the steaming water. She loved the way the hot water felt on her aching joints; she had found herself hunched over her work in a way that put a bigger strain on her neck and back. As she ran her hands across her body with her lathered loofah sponge, she secretly hoped that she could find someone good on the site. It had been far too long since her last meaningful relationship and maybe this could be the start of something better.

              Rachel submerged herself in the warm water, a smile on her face. She could hardly wait to see what she'd be able to find.

              ***

              When she dried off from her long soak, Rachel headed back into her bedroom, a little bit nervous about what she would find on her computer. Guys wouldn't be trying to flock to her profile right away, would they? She would have to ask Justine about that later. She opened up her laptop , readying herself for the rejection of no responses (even though it had been less than an hour since she had posted her profile, but who was keeping track?).

              Surprisingly, her profile had a few hits, her preferences as to what she was looking for in a man. She sorted through them, another cool feature that the website had divided their messages into what they seemed concerned with. More than half of the messages she got were about how nice she looked in her profile picture and she thought that, although it was a nice thing to start with, these were guys that weren't worth her time. She clearly stated in her profile that she only wanted serious partners to reach out to her and dumped the messages into the virtual trash bin.

              The other half of the messages were about how some of the men wanted to meet up with her, stating their own preferences in  regards to dating and intimacy. She checked every single profile, to make sure that they weren't pulling her leg. For the most part, they weren't, but a few embellished their interests to fit what she was looking for and those were promptly trashed.

              It was like trying to find the right guy in the real world. There was always a catch with going out with them that Rachel never thought to take into account. Instead, she just went with it and paid the price when a guy started calling her 'mommy'...but this time would be different. She was going to screen each and every one of these requests if it killed her, not just because she needed to, but because it's what she owed herself. She wanted to find Mr. Right? She was going to have to work for the chance to meet him.

              It took her a good half an hour before she found three potential candidates. They had similar preferences.

              ***

              The chatting system that 'Love Hookups' had was simplistic and easy to access. Rachel found, after clicking through some of the FAQs, that she could access it through her desktop even if she wasn't on the site. It was a nice feature to have and gave her a tool to help her get to know these men better.

              Rachel hadn't been as careful as she wanted to be about potential dates in the real world. Most of the guys she hooked up with were fine on the surface, but showed their true colors whenever they got into bed with her. She knew that she wasn't going to make the same mistake as before.

              ***

              Her first date was with Richard. From what he wrote on his profile, he had expensive tastes that ranged from going to as many theater productions as he could to sampling some of the rarest cuisine in the world. He was very charming during their chats, teasing her a bit with smart humor and a playfulness that she could have never thought would come from such a serious-looking man.

              Richard's profile picture was enough to keep her interested. He was attractive, no doubt about it, and seemed to know what kind  of effect he had on people. The picture looked like something out of a magazine, his curly hair faded to perfection, edge up crisp, just a bit of stubble on his cheeks, and a smirk on his lips. Richard looked straight into the camera, his eyes a deep hazel that were more intense than anything Rachel had seen before.

              She messaged him first, asking if he wanted to get together one evening after she finished work. He responded almost immediately and said that he'd be honored to take her to dinner. They worked together to come up with the perfect restaurant for their first date. Rachel understood that Richard would lean towards the more pricey and that was okay with her. It would be nice being treated to a fancy dinner for a change.

              ***

              Richard was more attractive in real life. He was taller than Rachel first thought and, when he sat down at their table, he sat up straight in a proper fashion. He wore a simple blue dress shirt and black pants, but he could have been sitting there naked for all of the attention he was getting, not just from Rachel, but a few of the other diners. The restaurant had a subdued atmosphere than what she was used to and she cursed herself for not thinking to wear something a bit less flashy than the bright red strapless dress she had shimmied into an hour before.

              "So," Richard began, his voice deep and soothing against her frazzled nerves, “I like the dress.” She smiled politely, nodding her head in thanks.

              “I think I’m a bit over-dressed for the occasion.” She answered in a shy manner that didn't match the confidence her eye-catching dress portrayed.

              “The location, yes. The occasion, no. A first date is a very important occasion and it deserves flash. Though, from our conversations online I would have expected something else.”

              She blinked at him. She felt herself getting mad
but she tried to appear calmer than she felt. This side of him, blunt and controlling, had not come across in their numerous messages and emails. She had made a mistake. Surely, he’d made a few in his lifetime. And wearing the wrong dress to a dinner was far down her list of first dates-gone-wrong. Hell, this was a minor offense.