Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,79
What I need from you,” she said, poking Adam in the shoulder, “is access to all the security-camera footage going back to August. And you”—she tugged Jack by the arm—”are going to help me go through it. In fact, Blair can help too. He goes faster. Can he use the computer by the door?”
Adam regarded her, head on one side as if trying to read from her mind what she was up to. “Okay,” he said at last.
****
Jilly sat back and rubbed her eyes. It was heading for six in the morning, but she’d narrowed her search as far as she could. She glanced at Adam, sprawled in the computer chair next to hers. His hand still held the mouse lightly on his thigh, but he didn’t move it, and his attention was on Jilly.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“I’ve got enough to use.”
“Let’s see,” Jilly said eagerly.
Adam glanced back at the screen, moving the mouse across his muscled thigh, and Jilly’s throat went suddenly dry as she remembered those legs wrapped around her. Even doing something this mundane, Adam was effortlessly sexy. She’d always got along with geeks, of course, but she couldn’t ever remember any of them inspiring this kind of desire.
Without warning, the world changed. She was sitting not in the lab but on a sofa in the large sitting room downstairs,
“Whoa!” Jack exclaimed beside her. “What the…?”
“It’s VR,” Jilly said impatiently. “This is what he’s been working on.”
“Bloody hell,” Jack said admiringly. “You did this just from photographs?”
“And the programs already written for the new system,” Adam said. “I think we’ll call that working.”
Dizzyingly, the sitting room disappeared, and Jilly sat once more in the computer chair, blinking at Adam. “Do you always test this thoroughly?”
“Sarcasm in the ranks,” Adam observed. “I want to know what you’ve been up to.”
Jilly opened her mouth and closed it again. The impossibility of explaining this to him when she could be terribly, horribly wrong swamped her. She couldn’t find the words to use without raising what could be criminally false hopes. For both of them.
Unexpectedly, Adam’s eyes softened. “You’re tired,” he observed. “You should go home and sleep.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said uncertainly. She wasn’t used to people looking after her. It made her glow with something both warm and uncomfortable, so she aimed for humour instead. “Mind you, I’d kill for some coffee.”
“No need to go that far,” Jack said in a pleased voice. He delved inside the coat dangling over the back of his chair and produced a thermos flask. Jilly’s mouth fell open as he took off the caps and poured strong black coffee into two of them.
“Have you been sitting on that all night?” Jilly demanded, grabbing one of them.
“Thank you, Jack, how thoughtful,” he murmured.
Ignoring him, Jilly gulped down the warm liquid and closed her eyes with a sigh. “I forgive you,” she announced. “In fact, I almost like you.”
Jack snorted, and her eyes suddenly flew open.
“Shit, what about Blair?” she demanded. “It’ll be light soon; he’d better bugger off.”
Jack stood up, swallowing a mouthful of coffee. “He might have gone already. I’ll go and see.”
He took his cup with him and walked down the room, passing through the trigger point into the real world. Jilly took another sip of coffee, and turned with strange reluctance to find Adam staring at her intently.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
Jilly set down the plastic cup and drew in her breath. “If Blair was right, there could be some kind of secret cellar beyond the wine cellar. According to him and Jack, there was no sign of the wall being rebuilt, so there must be a way into it from the house. We don’t have time to tear the house apart, so I’ve been looking for the number of times our hosts disappear off camera for any length of time, only to reemerge from the same direction. I think I know the rough area now.”
Adam’s eyes searched hers, his own giving nothing away. “And if you don’t?” he said quietly.
“Then Blair can just break down the cellar wall. Trust me, it wouldn’t take him long.”
A flicker of amusement warmed his veiled eyes. “You guys are weird.”
“But lovable,” she said.
He reached for her, drawing her to her feet and then, into his lap. Surprise made her stiffen, and then, she relaxed against him, pressing her cheek to his and clutching his shoulders. How could she bear to let this go? To let him go…