Page 2 of Cyber Match

Chapter 2

The ping-pong chimeof Virginia’s iPhone startled her. She always shut her phone off before walking in to court. Work was all she had, and there could be only one reason Virginia failed to take such a simple precaution. Her insane venture into the world of online dating. She’d applied a few days back, and was on edge waiting to see if she’d been accepted. Obviously your love life is more important than you realized or you wouldn’t be this antsy.

“Ms. Quark is there a pressing matter?” The judge asked, raising one bushy, greying eyebrow.

She reached her hand out to tip the cell phone towards her. “I’m sorry your honor. Let me check and make sure this isn’t my assistant with information on Mr. Gerald’s case.” Virginia pushed the home button in on the phone and saw a text from a four-digit number—which typically meant a solicitation.

For some reason, she tapped on it. “Welcome to the Cyber Room.” Virginia did her best not to smile. A wave of excited desire washed over her, and she took a deep breath before setting the phone down.

“My apologies your honor, it was unimportant.”

“Very well, the timing was unfortunate. Due to the discovery from opposing council, court will be in recess until tomorrow at nine am.” The bang of the gavel echoed in the courtroom. “Court dismissed.”

The once quiet room erupted into chatter and her second, Mary, tapped her on the shoulder and grinned. “I saw that text over your shoulder. I’m impressed Quark. I didn’t think you’d have it in you.”

Virginia flushed and waited for the bailiffs to cuff and haul off her client before responding. Work came first, and free attorney or not, she didn’t want her client to think she was slacking with his case to catch his mother’s killer.

“Shh. Please, please don’t tell anyone. The last thing I need is someone finding out the rookie defense attorney has a guilty pleasure.” Her voice was a hushed whisper and she scarcely managed not to check to see if anyone was looking their way.

Mary chuckled, pursing her lips together. “Your secret is safe with me. Although if it works, I may have to put Tim and I through it as a joke to see if we’re compatible.” She winked.

Virginia’s laugh slipped out, and she needed a laugh. “We’re going to need to find some sort of plea bargain. You realize that?” The evidence introduced today inexplicably put their main suspect in a brilliantly innocent light.

Mary sighed as they walked out the courtroom doors and filtered into the busy Atlanta court system hallway. “It’s not that I like letting the guilty ones walk. But damn do I hate not doing my job properly.”

They didn’t say anything as they walked the rest of the way out and down the stereotypical courthouse steps. Part of that was due to Virginia’s brain being singly focused on her acceptance into the only sexual dating website in the world.

Or at least the only legit one.

“Why don’t you go get yourself all set up on that website, I’ll hit the gym, and we can meet back in the office in two hours. We have no billables on this so we may as well take a break before crafting one of the hardest plea bargains of your newbie career.” Mary was already walking the opposite way slowly.

“Thanks…I think.” She shook her head. “I’m going to blame you if this is horrible and blows up in my face.”

Mary laughed and waved a hand in the air before turning around and heading off. Alone again, Virginia’s mind swam with thoughts as she walked back to the office to grab her car.

Three years ago her husband’s life ended in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. She’d never so much as dated, let alone gone to bed with anyone. She wasn’t still mourning Nathan, but it felt like an affront to his memory to just move on.

They’d been high school sweethearts, and without him life often seemed unbearable. Their son, Nathan Junior, better known as Nate because she had trouble saying her husband’s name now, had been the only light in her life. He was old enough to be in school, which meant she’d had no reason to stay home living off Nathan’s insurance policy. She’d loved practicing law before his death, but hadn’t expected finding work to be so difficult. Even with a few years off, Virginia worked for a top firm and produced strong results. Turning to the DA’s office was strange, but her work held more importance now. In the six month’s she’d been back, some of the hurt slipped away, but the loneliness only grew stronger.

Nearly two months ago, Virginia’s first jolt of sexual desire for another person shook her. An attractive lawyer accidently bumped her in the hall, and suddenly, she’d spent an entire day thinking about said lawyer in very nonprofessional ways. She’d uncomfortably brought it up to Mary while they’d been grabbing drinks after a successful case, and her friend saw no problem in discussing Cyber Room, even if Mary never used it herself.

One web address scrawled on a napkin, and the damn thing taunted her for days from its place tucked away in Virginia’s top desk drawer. She’d pulled the site up half a dozen times and researched it over and over. It was a legitimate company working a new twist on the success of online dating. She hadn’t had the nerve to try it though. The idea of pretending to have sex with strangers online was one thing. But the idea that they were to cybersex to see if they were a match and then meet up—that wasn’t her style. So in the desk drawer, it had sat.

A few days ago she’d had a dream about the handsome CEO, Matthew Cobral. She’d stumbled across his photo in her research, found him attractive, and hadn’t wasted another thought on him until her subconscious took over.

He’d taken her to bed in her dream – twice. Virginia woke up so needy she’d spent the better part of an hour touching herself and fantasizing it was the man with the thick dark hair and bulky glasses. She realized then signing up for Cyber Room was inevitable, simply because she needed to get laid. Three years was just too long.

Thoughts of what she’d done, and what she might done left her briskly back to her office, and her car, so she could go set up an official Cyber Room profile.

Anticipation built over the course of the hour, and tiny ants seemed to dance all over her body, making her jittery. All she wanted to do was race upstairs and do whatever the next step was. Nate was still in kindergarten for the next few hours, and then he would be with her mother-in-law. She didn’t have to finish it now, she’d have time after work, but her body was telling her the sooner the better.

Virginia kicked off her heels by the coat rack at the door, dropped her purse and briefcase on the console table, and moved straight for her office. Turning left at the end of the hall, she used a bit more force than necessary to push open the soundproof doors to her office. Lust tingled through her body, the promise of what could come suddenly more appealing and needed than she’d ever realized. The possibilities for what could come next were endless and thrilling.

“Alarm.” Digging through her purse, she found and set the alarm on her phone so that if she got sucked in, she wouldn’t miss the meeting with Mary. She felt guilty taking time for pleasure in the middle of a case, but they had a break and it would seem her body and mind would be constantly distracted until something came of this little venture of hers.

Her heart thumped in her chest even as her body pulsed with desire. It felt like forever waiting for the computer to wake once she shook the mouse. Nerves inched up her body, making her itch out of the blue. “Take a breather, Virginia. Thousands of people have done this in the past two years. You’re in good hands.” It’s not good hands that I’m worried about, it’s the right hands.

She wasn’t sure when her embarrassment drifted completely to need, but when she pulled open her email, she groaned and shifted her legs together as she opened the welcome letter. A provocative photo danced across the letterhead, a man and a woman passionately engaged in oral sex. With a groan, she forced herself to ignore the pulsing need between her legs. She’d never been so sexualized before, but knew her stint of abstinence was the cause.

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