Boy Meets Geek (11 page)

She threw herself down onto the massive bed in her room once we got up to suite. The place really was impressive. It had a view of the entire downtown Indianapolis skyline, and as I looked down I thought I could I could make out to the convention center which wasn’t very far away at all. I could even see some of the skywalks leading from our hotel to the center.

“This place is incredible!” Samantha said.

I turned and smiled at her. “Yeah, it’s something all right.”

It really was impressive. There was a massive living area that was bigger than our entire apartment. At least it felt bigger than our entire apartment. There were two rooms off to either side, and as I walked into my own I realize that I’d been wrong about the main area. My bedroom was bigger than our apartment! Hell, the bathroom alone felt like it was as big as my room. Samantha came in behind me, a whirlwind of excitement and smiles.

“When we meet this guy you’ll have to make sure to give him an extra special thanks,” she said.

“I’m definitely going to something with him,” I said, looking around and still not quite believing it.

Apparently Samantha took that the wrong way because she squealed and started laughing. I smiled, but I wasn’t so sure of myself. Who was this guy, why was he acting so mysterious, and how the hell had he been able to afford all of this? For that matter, why would he ever spend all this money on me?

My phone buzzed and I pulled out again.

“Ready for lunch?”

I tapped out a response. “Where did you have in mind? And nothing expensive!”

“I know the perfect place. Called the St. Elmo’s. Nice and cheap so it’s my treat, and also a pretty quiet this time of day,” he responded.

I shrugged. I’d never heard of the place, but then again I wasn’t exactly up on local cuisine in downtown Indianapolis. I figured one place was as good as another as long as they had a food.

“Looks like it’s lunchtime Samantha,” I said.

“Oh! We finally get to meet your mysterious guy?”

“Yup.”

I was excited and terrified at the same time. Excited because I was still feeling that strange mix of emotions, that strange schoolgirl giddiness that I felt every time I saw his name pop up on my screen. I was also terrified at the same time though. I had the same worries that anyone has when they’re going on a blind date or meeting someone from the Internet for the first time. What if he didn’t live up to expectations? For that matter what if I didn’t live up to his expectations?

And on top of all that there was one hell of a price tag associated with him flying me out here which made me more than nervous. What if things didn’t work out and he still expected… Things?

I shook my head. That was the worst-case scenario voice whispering to me. I was not going to let that ruin my trip. We were going to have a nice quiet and cheap early lunch at this St. Elmo’s place and then I was going to enjoy the convention. Hopefully with this mysterious man, a man whose name I didn’t even know yet! I hoped he was going to turn out to be everything I imagined.

It was time for lunch, and to meet Mr. Maybe Right.

13: Lunch Date

“This doesn’t look like a cheap place for lunch,” Samantha said when we walked through the door.

I couldn’t help but stare with my eyes and mouth wide open. No, this definitely didn’t look like the kind of place where you could have a cheap lunch. This didn’t look like the kind of place where you could have a cheap anything. This looked like it was one of the most expensive damn restaurants in the entire city!

“Can I help you?” A pretty hostess asked.

“We’re supposed to meet…” I stopped. I didn’t even know his name. All I knew was his screen name. “Conlan?”

The girl’s face lit up and she gestured for us to follow. “Right this way ma’am.”

There we were with the ma’am thing again. I wasn’t sure I liked that. We made our way through a sea of empty tables and then she led us into a small alcove set back from the main room so that nobody in the restaurant proper could actually see us, though we had a good view of the restaurant from where we sat. Assuming there were actually people in the restaurant.

I stopped as we reached the table. My breath caught. Someone was sitting there.

A man.

Conlan.

And goddamn was he every bit as gorgeous as his picture made him look! He looked to be somewhere in his early to mid thirties though it was hard to put an exact age to him. He had the same tousled hair, though it was cut a little shorter. He had a strong jaw line, and when he looked up at me and smiled I nearly fainted. He wore sunglasses in that picture so I couldn’t see his gorgeous deep blue eyes but damn were they worth the wait. Those were eyes that sent an icy chill running down my spine and straight to my pussy. He had broad shoulders and every muscle in his body was outlined in a tight polo shirt that had the Elassa logo on it.

Samantha elbowed me in the ribs and I jumped. “Damn!” she whispered.

I couldn’t help but smile. It was a goofy smile. A lovesick smile. It was a relieved smile more than anything else. I saw him and he was exactly as I’d imagined. He was exactly as gorgeous as I could have hoped for. A great writer, a great role-player, gorgeous, and it appeared that he didn’t have any trouble with money either. What other surprises did this man have in store for me?

The surprises seemed to get bigger and bigger each time. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to survive the next one, whatever it was!

He stood and walked over to me. He paused for just a moment looking between the two of us as though he was expecting something, though I have no idea what that could be. After a beat he let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief and wrapped me up in a hug. I instantly forgot that moment of hesitation, that sigh, as I melted in his arms.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face against his chest. God he smelled good. God he felt good! And as he wrapped me in that strong, powerful, and oh so sensual hug I felt something pressing against me. Something that made my eyes widen and relieved a lingering worry at the same time.

The first hurdle of meeting someone I’d met online had been met and cleared on my end. He was just as gorgeous as he appeared in that picture. Perhaps more so in person. The feel of his stubble against the top of my head, the feel of his muscles and the smell of him. God it was overwhelming! Of course that was just the first part. There was also the second hurdle to jump when meeting someone from the Internet.

What did he think of me? Sure he’d seen that ridiculous picture I took making the Bendai salute and smiling at the camera. Sure he seemed to react positively to that when he was looking at it from across the country, wherever the hell he lived. I realized I hadn’t even bothered to ask I’d been so caught up in the whirlwind that was the past few weeks. But while he seemed to like a picture well enough, the real question was whether or not he’d like what he saw in person. Whether or not he liked the package presented in the real world as much as what he saw online.

I knew that pictures could be deceiving. I knew you could see someone in real life and they could be completely different even if they weren’t trying to deceive. Maybe it was just an odd picture. Maybe it was a flattering angle, or an unflattering angle. Either way, I’d been terrified the entire time that the first time I saw him he’d take one look at me and decide he wasn’t interested.

Only now I knew that definitely wasn’t a worry. Mostly because I felt something pressing against me down below. Almost pressing against my stomach. Something hard, huge. Something that sent another tingle running straight down between my legs. Something that was making me wet to the point that I worried I’d have to go back to the hotel room and change my pants after I was done.

He was definitely greeting me with one hell of a happy hello, and it seemed that he was very happy to see me!

I allowed myself a contented sigh. Of course this was just the first step. This was just the initial meet and greet. There were still a thousand things that could go wrong. We hadn’t even started talking, and yet already I had a very good feeling. I was finally telling that worried voice in the back of my head to shut up. I was finally allowing my optimism to take over just a little. It felt weird being optimistic for a change, but sitting here in his arms just made me feel that way. It made me feel as though all was right with the world.

Then I heard Samantha clearing her throat which brought me back to reality. I pulled away from that wonderful hard body, though I wanted nothing more than to stay there in his arms forever. I wanted to be locked in that moment for all of eternity.

I turned and smiled at Samantha, a blush rising to my face.

“Maia, I presume?” he said as he pulled away.

I blushed. “You can call me Jessica. That’s what I go by in the real world.”

“And it’s every bit as beautiful as your chosen name.”

I blushed again. Damn his voice was sexy!

He turned to Samantha and grinned. “And you must be the best friend here to make sure that,” he paused for a minute and turned, fixed me with that delicious smile. “What was it? That I’m not an ax murderer?”

I blushed again and wanted to sink into the floor. I felt uncharitable for ever thinking something like that in the first place. He’d been so nice, so generous, and I’d accused him of being some Internet psycho! I viciously stomped down on my worst-case scenario center that was starting to spin up, starting to weave a scenario where he got pissed off that I even insinuated he might be anyone other than who he was.

We were meeting someone I’d only known on the Internet, after all, so it’s not like he could get mad at me for taking precautions.

He moved forward as though he was going to hug Samantha and I felt a stab of jealousy. I figured that was promising. We’d only been together in person for a few minutes and already I was feeling possessive. That meant there was definitely some chemistry there on my end. A spark at the very least. I’d heard about people meeting up after knowing each other online and that spark just not being there. They saw each other and didn’t feel anything in person even though they connected so well over the Internet.

No worries on that score so far at least.

Samantha, for her part, held up a hand and pressed it against his chest. “Whoa there buddy! You’re here to meet my roommate and you paid for my ticket and everything which I’m grateful for, but you can save the hugs for her!”

“That’s fine!” he said with a chuckle. “And your name is?”

“Hold on,” I said. “I don’t even know your real name yet!”

He smacked his head and almost fell back a step. I smiled and wondered if some of the klutziness he’d put into his character online maybe came from a bit of real life experience. He quickly caught himself on the edge of the table though. And almost sent the table flying, which sent me into a fit of giggles. Samantha stared as though she couldn’t believe a man who looked that good could be that clumsy.

“I’m so sorry! Where are my manners? You can call me Eric,” he said with a grin. A cocky grin. A delicious grin that was everything I’d imagined it to be. He gestured to the table behind him. “Maybe we should have a seat and keep talking?”

“Fine by me,” I said.

Samantha looked around as she took a seat. Then she looked pointedly at Eric. “Jessica said she wanted someplace cheap for lunch. This place doesn’t look cheap.”

Eric smiled and blushed. I was hypnotized by the way his eyes twinkled. I was hypnotized by the way his teeth shone as he grinned. I could lose myself in exploring the contours of his face for days if I wanted to. I let out a sigh and realized I’d been staring. That didn’t seem lost on Eric from the way he grinned. And I realized that I didn’t exactly mind him catching me watching him.

“Guilty as charged,” he said. “I was afraid if I told you how much this place cost you wouldn’t come down.”

I raised my eyebrows and looked around. “You know this really is too much. I would’ve been happy with the burger place we saw down the street.”

“I know,” Eric said. “But it’s really crowded down there right now. And I’d rather avoid the convention crowds packing downtown.”

I rolled my eyes. “How are you going to avoid crowds if you’re going to the convention?”

He grinned with that twinkle back in his eye. “You’d be surprised.”

Samantha suddenly made a big production of looking down at her watch and then looking up at the two of us. “Oh wow! I didn’t realize what time it was.”

I blinked and looked at her. “What are you talking about? What time is it?”

“It’s lunchtime!” she looked around. “And I feel a place a lot cheaper than this joint calling my name. Especially since it seems like Eric here isn’t a crazy murderer. Or at least he’s not going to do much murdering in the middle of an expensive restaurant like this.”

Samantha fixed an eye on him and pressed her finger into his chest. “At least you’d better not do any murdering in this place. Got it? Because I’m not against using a little bit of crazy myself!”

Eric chuckled and held his hands up. “No murdering. Promise.”

“Good,” Samantha said. “I’m going to go get food at a place where they sell their dead cow ground up and on a bun like God intended, and not in the steak form this place specializes in!”

“Are you sure Samantha?”

“I really don’t mind having you here,” Eric said. “And the steak here is delicious.”

“No, I’ll just get in the way,” Samantha said. “You two have your fun. I’ll catch up with you later.”

And then she was gone, making her way back through the place. Leaving us alone. All alone. I looked up at Eric and smiled, a hesitant and uncertain smile. I’d felt the way he reacted when he was hugging me earlier, but there was a part of me that still couldn’t quite believe this wonderful specimen of man was interested in me like that. There was still a part of me that felt like this was a fairytale, that I was going to wake up at any moment and realize this whole thing had been a dream.

“So…” I said, really feeling the awkwardness of the moment.

Only the moment was interrupted by a waiter stopping by. I had no idea what to order so I just let Eric do the ordering for me. He seemed to know the place. Once the waiter was gone we launched back into our conversation.

“So did you have a good flight?” he asked.

“Can’t complain,” I said. “First-class was also a nice surprise.”

“I hope you don’t mind some of the surprises I planned for you,” he said. “I couldn’t resist though.”

I leaned forward and felt his body press against mine. Felt my breath pick up at that simple contact. Yeah, there was no denying the way he made me feel.

And once again the moment was interrupted by the waiter coming out with our food. Damn that was fast service. Then again I suppose it was to be expected since we were the only people in the restaurant. The rest of our conversation was interrupted by the meal, but at least it wasn’t pasta, the most awkward of first date foods.

“So what is it you do that you can take care of all this stuff? That you can just give me a VIP package that’s not even available to buy and act like it’s not a big deal?”

He shrugged and put a finger to his lips. “I still have some surprises left. And I’d hate for you to ruin them.”

“Oh really? And what sort of surprises did you have in mind?”

He smiled, a smile that shot to the very core of my being. A smile that sent warmth running up and down my body and left me stunned. When he smiled like that I couldn’t believe that my online Casanova turned out to actually be one hell of a Casanova rather than the catfish I was expecting. Hey, I was nothing if not a realist.

“If I told you what the surprises were then they wouldn’t be much of a surprise, now would they?”

“I suppose you have a point there,” I said.

We were both almost finished with our lunch and the waiter came over and set the bill down. I instinctively grabbed it before Eric could get it. I figured after all the nice things he’d done for me the least I could do was spring for lunch! Only my eyes bugged out of my head when I saw the price.

“Holy shit!”

Several of the wait staff turned to look when I let out that little exclamation. I blushed. Thankfully there was nobody else in the restaurant to hear me swearing like a sailor. I would’ve died from embarrassment if that happened!