"And then, after dinner, I want you to talk dirty to me."
Matt's gaze grew hooded and he entwined our hands together. "Why wait until after dinner?"
Later, close to midnight, while we were lying in bed together-cuddling, naked-I traced the outline of his handsome face with my fingertip, feeling amazement.
Here. Now. Touching him as I pleased. My heart swelled with the sweetness of it, with gratitude. I hoped I would never take these moments for granted, never take him for granted.
"You like my face." He sounded certain.
"No. I love your face."
"I love your face, too. And your bosoms."
That made me laugh, and I dropped my hand to his cheek, "Look at me."
He complied, his eyelashes fluttering open until his gaze focused on mine.
"Beautiful," he said, the single word full of wonder. Abruptly, his hand began stroking my hip and bottom, as though the sight of me made the action compulsory.
"Thank you."
"No. Thank you." His eyes followed the progress of his fingers as they slid to my lower belly, then up to the valley between my breasts. "Tell me something."
"What?"
"Tell me what you want me to do to you."
"How about you finally administer that questionnaire?" I teased.
His hand paused and his gaze jumped to mine. "Ah. Yeah. About that."
"What? Don't tell me you don't want my data."
"Oh, I do. But I can't have it."
"Why not?"
"Because we were explicitly forbidden from becoming involved with anyone who signed a consent form for the study."
It took a while, but the full weight and meaning of this revelation finally sunk in. "You mean, you didn't consent me or administer the questionnaire, all this time, because you wanted-"
"To impregnate you. Yes."
I smacked his shoulder lightly and chuckled at his silliness. "Because you wanted to be with me."
He ducked his head, also smiling. "Exactly."
"You are something else." I was unable to stifle my grin or the delighted heat coursing through my veins.
"I kept putting it off. At first I told myself it was because I wanted you to feel comfortable with me, so you'd give me honest answers. I also told myself I was being so nice to you, hanging out with you so much, for the same reason. But then," his gaze moved back to my body and he lowered his head, placing an achingly tender kiss between my breasts, "then I stopped lying to myself and admitted the truth. I wanted you, all of you, all the time."
"Even more than you wanted to work?" I teased.
"Yes." He nodded somberly, his focus still on my body, and I threaded my fingers into his messy hair.
"It's funny." He placed another kiss on the side of my breast, saying absentmindedly, "People, when they're connected to the cloud-the Internet-they zone out on real life. But an AI can only function when it's connected to the cloud, because they have no real life. They are more real to us than they are to themselves."
"That's deep, Professor." I tugged on his hair, forcing his eyes upward.
"It's seductive, to live in a virtual space, especially when the real world isn't what you want it to be." His gaze moved over my face, and I got the sense he was speaking mostly to himself as he said, "You-being with you-was the first time I wanted real life over a virtual existence. You distracted me. I'd never been distracted before."
"You distracted me, too."
His stare sharpened, finally focused on mine as he positioned himself above me, an imposingly masculine presence, making my heart quicken. My legs fell open to cradle him as he lowered his strong body to mine and gave me a playful kiss.
"I want vacations with you," he nuzzled my nose, "with no Internet connection."
I mock-gasped. "Are you sure we're ready for that kind of step?"
He licked my bottom lip and rubbed his growing erection against my center. "I want candlelit walks on the beach and sunset dinners."
"There's something wrong with your user interface," I said on a pant, instinctively tilting my hips, chasing the feel of him. I was going to correct him, tell him it was candlelit dinners and sunset walks on the beach, but speech suddenly failed me.
He grinned. "Oh?"
"Yes. You need to input the device."
"Why?" His eyes danced as he moved above me, making me crazy.
The need was building within me. I couldn't focus on words when he rolled his hips like that. Nevertheless, I tried to tease, "I need more RAM."