Ellora's Cavemen: Tales from the Temple I Read online

  He sagged weakly against his desk and swallowed roughly.

  Dear Jesus God in heaven.

  Josh let consciousness seep slowly back into his crumpled brain cells. He had a cramp in his left thigh, his foot had gone to sleep, and he was drooling.

  Fucking A, what a mess.

  The computer system hummed on, of course, oblivious to the scene of sexual decadence inches in front of its sensors.

  Oh God. If anyone came in… Josh pulled himself together. So what if the waste paper bin was overflowing with wadded tissues? And that spot on the carpet would probably dry out overnight and match the rest of the coffee/soda/beer stains that spattered the damn thing.

  Awkwardly Josh struggled to his feet and tugged the zip up on his fly. The VR

  sensors were in disarray and he carefully straightened them out, then glanced over at the monitor.

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  Joshua 4.0

  It was blank.

  No Joshua, lying in spent ecstasy. No AJ. Nothing.

  Fuck.

  Suppressing a snarl, Josh grabbed his chair and resumed his seat, ready to reactivate Unit three and Ms Andrea Jane.

  A few clicks brought up the monitoring program. And those few clicks were followed by a knock on the door.

  “Josh? Are you in there?”

  He closed his eyes and prayed for death. Within moments of the best orgasm he could remember, his worst nightmare was outside his door.

  He thanked God for small mercies. Errol “The Squirrel” Prince could have knocked five minutes ago.

  “Yeah.” He kept his voice harsh, not difficult since his throat felt like it had gotten shot out of his cock and sucked back in again.

  “Oh good.” The door opened and a short man tiptoed in. “I need a few words.”

  No you don’t. You have too many as it is.

  “Ah. I see you’re running the monitoring software. Not that it will do much good of course, but we must keep our techs happy, mustn’t we?”

  The Squirrel had earned his nickname. He had tufts of hair that stuck up at odd angles, small beady eyes, and what looked like half a pound of birdseed in each jowl.

  His voice was high, his brow low, and his sense of self-importance was off the scale.

  Josh didn’t even want to think about his nuts. There’d been enough jokes along those lines already. Not in the Squirrel’s presence, of course, since he was the CEO.

  “What did you want, Sq…Errol?”

  Errol Prince puffed out his chest and twitched his nose.

  Lemme guess. You buried something someplace and can’t find it.

  “I really just wanted to stop by and see how the experiment was going, since this is our first night up and running. I probably don’t need to tell you that I was not one hundred percent behind this…um…unlikely notion of yours…”

  Ha. Try “I sabotaged it every chance I could get.” “No, Errol, you don’t need to tell me that.”

  Errol leaned forward over Josh’s shoulder. Josh curled his lip. The man smelled like roses. That was wrong. On so many levels.

  “Oh, well look at that. You are getting actual feedback readings, aren’t you? My, my…”

  You have NO idea. Josh swallowed. “Yes we are. Units one and two are functioning perfectly, Unit three is now offline, probably done for the night…” Damn, if she’s feeling what I’m feeling right now, she’s waaay overdone. “ And Unit four has just logged in.”

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  Sahara Kelly

  Errol shook his head slowly. “Well, I must confess to being slightly surprised. And pleasedof course. But we must give it some more time. No sense in rushing into production until we’ve had several months of beta results. After all, there’s no knowing what might crop up with our users.”

  Or our staff. Things had ‘cropped up’ quite nicely, to say the least.

  “Have you tried the VR connections yet?” He fingered the cables.

  Josh leaned over and firmly removed them from Errol’s pudgy little hands. “Not yet.” His conscience snorted at him. He paid no attention to the little shit. “I thought it would be best to wait until the initial readings leveled off before attempting the VR

  interface.”

  Errol nodded sagely. “Most wise, Josh. Most wise. Of course, I have still to be convinced that this system is workable. In my opinion, the old ways are the best ways.

  To permit that artistic spirit free rein, you know…let the graphics paint the picture that’s in one’s mind…”

  Errol launched into his spiel and Josh tuned him out. He’d heard it all before.

  “Creating art with digital brushes…” and “allowing the spirit free rein to invent the vision” yada, yada, yada.

  Basically, it translated into “I want my name on this graphic arts software, not yours.” With an additional helping of, “And some of your stuff might be better than mine, which is a threat to my miniscule rodent dick.”

  Josh hit a few buttons and reduced the screen to a glow. “Well, Errol, I won’t keep you. I’m sure you’re busy this evening, I’m pretty much done here for the night…” and wasn’t THAT the truth, “…So we’ll see what the readings look like in the morning.”

  “Oh…er…” Errol floundered, having been cut-off mid speech. “Yes. Well. All right then. I shall expect a report, let’s say about four o’clock tomorrow.”

  He frowned at the screen again and turned away. “Have a pleasant evening, Josh.”

  Josh nodded.

  Errol turned back, and wrinkled his furry eyebrows. “Um, Josh, I hate to mention this, but your…er…” He waved his hand towards Josh’s body. “You really should take more care with your personal appearance, you know. We do have a professional reputation to maintain.”

  Josh glanced down. A piece of his shirt was caught in his fly, and was waving proudly like a flag in the breeze.

  He sighed. When he thought of what else might have been caught in that zipper, a small piece of cotton was the least of his worries.

  As the door closed behind the Squirrel, Josh reached for his files. He had plans for this evening. Plans that included a certain woman. One who was now offline, probably still shaking, and maybe staring in awe at Unit three. And him. Fuck the ethics of this situation.

  It was time for Ms. Andrea Jane Thompson to meet the real Joshua 4.0.

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  Joshua 4.0

  Chapter 5

  Andy wrapped a towel around her head and slipped on her robe as she left her steamy bathroom. The shower had invigorated her, she was as hungry as a bear, and now would be a damn good time to order that pizza.

  The phone rang as she reached for it, making her jump. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Ms. Thompson? This is the VRG Concepts’ technical office.”

  Shit. She’d broken something. She just knew it. Well, screw ‘em. The agreement she’d signed had said absolutely nothing about virtual orgasms. “Yes?”

  “We’ve been monitoring your usage, and noticed a couple of external power spikes in your signal.”

  No shit. Although she’d describe them as internal rather than external. “Really?”

  The voice on the other end of the line cleared its throat. It was rather a nice voice.

  “Yes. We were wondering if it would be possible to send over a technician, just to double-check the connections and the wiring? All in the interests of your safety, of course…”

  Andy paused, thinking. If she ordered the pizza now, it would be here in ten minutes or so. That gave her time to wolf it down, throw on some jeans, and play Miss Innocent, I-Haven’t-A-Clue-What-You’re-Talking-About, to whichever dweeb showed up to fix the damn thing.

  “Well, I suppose that’s okay. Were you planning on having someone come over this evening?”

  “Oh yeah,” growled the voice.

  Andy stared at the phone.

  The sound of a cough came through the earpiece. “Sorry…soda went down the wrong way. Um…yes, if it’s convenient. Mr. Miles, one o
f the primary architects, would like to stop by and check you out. Um…” The voice sounded a little strangled.

  God save her from geeks.

  “Check out your equipment.” There was a pause followed by another choked cough.

  Andy was starting to get a serious fit of the giggles. She envisioned some poor little hunch-shouldered guy, glasses like soda bottles, fiddling with his pocket protector and blushing bright red as he tangled himself up in his double entendres.

  “I mean…er…”

  Andy laughed. “No problem. I’m in for the evening. In about half an hour or so, maybe?”

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  Sahara Kelly

  “That would be great, Ms. Thompson. I’ll see you then.”

  The dial tone hummed, and Andy narrowed her eyes. “I’ll see you then?” Mr. Geek had slipped. He was coming over himself. To check her equipment out.

  She snickered. Right. Like she needed checking out by a Bill-Gates-wannabe. After her experience with the 101X, the only person she needed to be checked out by was her gynecologist to make sure her orgasm hadn’t driven her kidneys up into her tonsils.

  She hit the speed-dial for her favorite pizza joint, and threw in an order for a couple of bottles of high-caf soda while she was at it. That was what geeks lived on, wasn’t it?

  The least she could do was offer this poor guy a drink. And God forbid it should be alcoholic. Probably muddle his synapses or something.

  She toweled off her hair and tugged her robe tight. It was good that she wasn’t going anywhere, since the last thing she wanted to do right now was dress. The robe slipped over her skin like a kiss, and she sighed at the sensation.

  Yeah, she had really needed that moment of bliss. Come to think of it, she could use a couple more. Perhaps Joshua 4.0 might be in the mood for some action after dinner.

  And she didn’t even have to feed him. More pizza for her.

  Another advantage to a virtual man.

  The doorbell rang. Aha. Pizza time. Her mouth began to water.

  She reached for her purse and moved to the door, taking a quick peek through her spyhole at the large box the man outside was holding. Damn, she could almost smell the pepperoni.

  She opened the door with a flourish and a grin.

  And froze.

  Holding the pizza box and smiling at her was… Joshua 4.0!

  * * * * *

  Hooookay. The deer-in-the-headlights thing was throwing him for a loop. She was staring at him with a really strange expression in her eyes. Her incredible blue eyes. He hadn’t realized how lovely her eyes were. He’d been too busy staring at other things…like those breasts whose nipples were pebbling right this second under that wispy piece of silk she almost wore.

  Fuck! She was incredible. She had a little beauty mark at the base of her throat. Josh wanted to nibble on it. It moved as she swallowed.

  Josh felt his heart lurch into overdrive. She was all he’d seen, all he’d craved, and then some. It was like he’d walked into someone else’s dream and found it was his own.

  And it was real.

  “You work for Papa Marco’s?”

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  Joshua 4.0

  What the fuck was she talking about? His hands burned as he fought the urge to reach out for those breasts and cradle them. Then he realized it wasn’t the urges that were burning himit was the frickin’ pizza.

  He looked down. “Papa Marco’s Primo Pizzeria”. Duh.

  “Um, no. I met the delivery boy on the way in. I’m sorry…” No I’m not. “I didn’t realize how close you lived to VRG. I’m Josh Miles, by the way. Your technical representative.”

  He juggled the pizza and held out one hand.

  She put twenty dollars into it, never moving her eyes from his.

  “Ms Thompson? You are Ms. Andrea Jane Thompson?”

  “Pepperoni. Yes. Call me Andy.”

  “Pardon?”

  Andrea Jane’s throat moved again and she blinked. “Good God. You’re Joshua. I can’t believe it.”

  Josh was starting to have the same feeling. He was standing in her doorway, doing some serious mental lusting, with a pizza in one hand and a twenty in the other. And she was staring at him like he was a cross between Santa Claus and the Devil himself.

  So what to do next?

  He did the only thing he could. He handed her the pizza and pocketed the twenty.

  “Hey.”

  He snickered to himself. That worked. “May I come in?”

  “Of course.” She pulled herself together as he watched, and tugged her robe across her body. Sheeeeit.

  With a smile, he handed her back her money and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “This pizza sure smells good. Um…were you expecting company? I can leave if…” He let his words taper off, hoping she’d take the hint.

  She did. “No…no…just me. And…and the 101X of course.” She managed a small laugh, and led him into her small kitchenette. “If you’d care to share? After you’ve checked me out, of course.”

  Her words fell into the room like bricks and she blushed bright red. “I mean after you’ve checked out the 101X unit, that is.”

  Josh grinned. “I had that same problem. Tangled tongue.”

  His cock ached. Damn, he’d like to do some tongue-tangling right about now. With her. She was everything AJ had been and more. Living, breathing, hot, smelling-fresh-and-tasty-more. Or maybe it was the pizza. He couldn’t tell.

  But he sure would like to find out. “How about we have some pizza, you tell me how you like the unit so far, and then I’ll run a few diagnostic tests…” and get you out of that robe.

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  Sahara Kelly

  “Oh sure. That’ll be fine.” She paused and looked around. “Did the delivery boy give you any sodas?”

  Josh, who had nearly mugged the kid in his eagerness to play pizza-man, blinked.

  “I didn’t see any.” Well, that was the truth.

  “Shoot. Stiffed again. Oh well. I don’t suppose you drink beer, do you?”

  Josh fell in love. For a man who had earned the nickname “Suds” in college, his response, however, was remarkably mild. “I have been known to indulge on occasion.

  A beer would be great right about now. It’s been a long day.”

  “Oh, yeah, the units and stuff. How’s it going?”

  * * * * *

  Like she cared.

  She had to sit and watch him, Josh, her Joshua, eat pizza. Watch the little strings of cheese get hung up on his lips and not rush over and help him remove them. With her tongue.

  He was shorter than she’d expected and his hair wasn’t long enough. But the rest of him? Hooo mama. He was everything she’d dreamed of, created on her screenand then some. Right down to those heavenly, to-die-for eyes.

  Inside, Andy trembled. This man, or the virtual image of this man, had seen her naked. She tried to gauge his mood from his expression. She hoped that it was some kind of sexual heat she noticed now and again behind his gaze, but she was so frickin’

  rattled by him showing up like this, it was hard to be objective. Just because she was suffering a major case of the I-gotta-have-you’s, didn’t mean he was, too.

  There was something there, though. Some sort of…of… connection had been established in the second their eyes met over that pizza box. After all, she could have met him while waiting in line, right? They could have shared their food in the busy environment of a pizza restaurant, and one thing would have led to another and…

  He was friendly, personable, and his virtual doppelganger had given her the orgasm of a lifetime not long before.

  Doo-dee-doo-doo, doo-dee-doo-doo. She was in the Twilight Zone.

  Her pussy started to moisten and she amended her previous thought. That would be the cable-TV X-rated version of the Twilight Zone.

  He smiled at something she’d saidshe had no clue whatand her heart turned over. Along with a sizeable portion of her spleen, her womb and several muscl
es around her clit. Fuck…she wanted him. Now. Right here. Push-the-damn-pizza-on-the-floor-and-get-naked type want.

  It was as if they’d skipped all the preliminary stuff that went along with the first date. The “God, is he gonna kiss me?” bits, the “He probably prefers slim blondes” bits 26

  Joshua 4.0

  and the always-killer “He’s not going to respect me if I let him come home with me and jump his bones too soon” bits. She’d bypassed the first weeks of a relationship with this man in one cosmic moment of bliss with his alter ego.

  But did he know?

  They chatted, laughed, shared a beer, and acted like normal people, when all she wanted to do was remove his clothes with her teeth and lick him from head to foot.

  Paying special attention to certain bits that were presently concealed by his jeans.

  If the rest of him looked as good as the outside… damn.

  She jerked her thoughts off of his crotch and realized he’d asked her a question.

  “I’m so sorry, my mind was miles away.” Right beneath your fly, actually. “What did you say?”

  “I asked if I might see your 101X unit?”

  Andy sighed. It was too much to hope that he might have said, “I’d like to see your body.” Or perhaps, “Strip me naked and fuck the daylights out of me, baby.”

  Hell. She’d have to settle for long distance lust. “Oh of course. It’s through here.”

  She led Josh to her office-cum-living room, and showed him the clutter of cables, connectors and her desktop. She wondered if the pheromones she was probably shedding right about now were going to drown him.

  He dropped to one knee and she admired the tight fit of his jeans around his ass.

  His really nice, firm, munchable ass. Her fingers twitched and her nipples beaded up.

  Shhh, girls.

  “So how do you like it so far?” His voice came from beneath her desk.

  “Oh I like it a lot,” she growled.

  So? It was the truth. She liked the view from her vantage point very much. His muscles moved as he slid back out, and she sighed. Some things should be bottled and sold to single women. The look of his ass in those jeans was one of them. Come to think of it, she knew a few married ones who’d probably grab a bottle or two as well.