Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,7
she didn’t want to punch, and he was short of the full shilling.
“Dead? Why should I be dead,” she snapped. “Are you?”
He dragged one hand through his untidy black hair and down over his stubbly jaw. “Well, yes, I think so.”
Jilly blinked. “You look pretty lively to me. Where did you come from?”
He gazed around. “I don’t know. Sort of—asleep, and then I was here looking at you.”
Shit, she hadn’t even seen him in her desperation to get at the computers. He hadn’t been on the benches… Perhaps he’d been under them? Or wandered in from somewhere else in the house, through the outer study?
“Who are you?” she asked. And then since attack was the best method of defence: “What are you doing here?”
“Adam. And I don’t know.” His dark gaze came back to her. His frown deepened. “Are you sure you aren’t dead?” He stepped closer, reached out one curious, hesitant hand, and touched her cheek. Almost as if he imagined she’d disintegrate on contact.
Warm fingers, slightly rough in texture…
Her breath caught, but since his hand slid away almost immediately, she’d no reason to shove or punch. She curled her hands into fists but kept them still at her side.
“Soft,” he murmured as if pleased by the discovery. His frown cleared, and his lips quirked upward, almost smiling. “So soft.”
Jilly flushed. “Only on the outside. Why do you keep saying ‘dead’?”
“I remember dying.” The frown was back. “I was shot. Hurt like hell.”
“You’ve been dreaming,” Jilly said with a dismissive flap of one hand.
He nodded. “Could be. Or I could be wasted. Certainly never imagined the afterlife would resemble Dale’s testing lab.”
“Is that what this place is?” Jilly asked with interest. “What’s he testing?”
The frown between his brows twitched. His lips parted, and he sank backward, leaning his hip against the edge of the bench. “Of course… Wow. Shit, this is mind-blowing. I can remember.”
“Remember what?”
“My life… Well, most of it. No wonder everything’s so unreal.” His glazed eyes came back into focus, sparkling with excitement as he gazed at her face. “And you—did I really manage to think you up too?”
“No, you fucking didn’t,” Jilly said indignantly, and a grin flickered across his face. He had a good grin, boyish and spontaneous, allowing her a glimpse of what might, in other circumstances, be a fun-loving personality.
“Thought not. You’re much too grumpy.”
Jilly felt her lips part in shock. She wasn’t used to anyone calling her something as unpleasantly mundane and trivial as “grumpy.” Even Sera usually just ignored her or threw things at her when she got bad tempered. Men either told her she was beautiful in a placating sort of a way or backed off in terror, which was just as it should be.
Amusement lingered in his dark eyes as he straightened and began to pace around the room. “Trust me, it’s a fascinating combination, and I’m very glad to have met you. Although I wish I was alive to enjoy the experience to the full.”
Jilly rolled her eyes. “Oh, for… Are you back at the dead thing again? You want to see a doctor, or preferably a shrink.”
He spread his hands wide at his side and came to a halt just in front of her. “Feel free to bring one.”
She had to crick her neck to look him in the eye. She wished she wasn’t so aware of his tall, strong body only inches from hers, and confusion made her snappish.
“You’re not my problem, pal. Look, just walk past me and out the door.”
She stepped aside with a strange mixture of relief and disappointment. He glanced at the door. His brows twitched. Then he took one pace forward and stopped. Suddenly, he looked lost, and, stupidly, her heart tugged as if he were an abandoned child.
“Come on,” she muttered ungraciously. “I have to get out of here anyway. Follow me.” She marched to the door, turned to make sure he was coming too—and found an empty room.
She stared carefully around, even looking under the bench this time, but there was no sign of him. All the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
This she really couldn’t understand.
Swallowing, she turned away, then suddenly recalled her flash drive still attached to the computer. She ran and grabbed it. At least she remembered to remove all trace of it from the computer before she left the room and hit the Close and Lock button on the keypad.
Something weird was going on in this house. It just wasn’t like