Unexpected Reality: Book 1: Gamer Girl Read online

  “We’ve never mentioned gardening to each other before. Amazing.” She said and handed him the pizza. Then when the door was opened she held out her arms and Delta threw himself into them. Adam followed her inside and put the food down so that he could meet this dog that obviously adored his mistress. “Hello Delta.” He said and held out a hand. Delta sniffed, looked at Claire and when she nodded put his paws on Adam’ shoulders and licked his nose. “He seems to like you.” Claire observed. “Come on through to the kitchen and let’s eat before this gets cold.”

  They finished the pizza and took a coffee to the sitting room. “I like your house.” Adam said. “It’s very you.” She laughed and told him that could be either a compliment or an insult. “A compliment.” He told her. “All the up to date technology in a home that you feel right in.”

  They talked about all sorts of things and Adam said he knew that the press gave him a reputation with women. “It is just not true.” He said. “I work in Hollywood. The women are beautiful and very ambitious. It is part of the job I guess but they all seem very shallow somehow.” Claire nodded. “You have to have interest in your life that are more than just wanting to be rich and famous.” She said and he agreed. She went on to tell him that she had not been out with a man for over a year. “Like you.” She added. “I think they are always wanting to get into the dot com business or want to beat me at gaming. I like my garden, my dog and lazy days at home.”

  “This is a wonderful chance for me to get away from Hollywood. “ He told her. “Glamorous but overpowering.”

  “Can you face a short walk with Delta? That is not glamorous at all.” She asked and the two of them set off through the neighbourhood with the dog on a lead. It seemed the most natural thing in the world for him to hold her hand as they walked and it felt like she had been seeing this guy for years. “Don’t be fooled.” Claire thought as she walked. “It would be so easy to fall for this man.”

  “I have to work in the morning.” She told him. “We could meet up for lunch if you like.”

  “I’ll come and pick you up and try and get a peek into this gaming hothouse.” He said and she agreed. “Kassie will be over the moon to meet the producer of ‘River of Doom’.”

  “Kassie?” He queried and she laughed.

  “Friend, workmate and film aficionado. She is dying to meet you. She will bombard you with questions about every film you ever made. You have been warned.” She paused. “The woman is completely absentminded but give her a game console and she is concentration personified. Also what she does not know about your film work could fit on a postage stamp.” He laughed and said she maybe remembered more than he did himself.

  The two of them went back to the house and Delta headed for his favourite sofa. Claire handed Adam a mug of coffee and he took it and put it on the work top. Then he did what had been preoccupying his mind since her first set eyes on the girl. He held her face between his hands and took her lips with his own. Claire had thought that he might make a move at some stage and had thought she would return the kiss but be detached and level-headed. The instant their lips met all of those thoughts left her head and did a dance somewhere up amongst the stars. The kiss started as a gentle exploration but the feeling that came as it deepened sent Claire somewhere between the moon, the stars and fairyland. She felt reality slipping away and her hands wound themselves around his neck. Adam had meant to simply take a kiss to test her reaction but when he felt the softness and the return of the desire that she gave him, he was not prepared for the bolt of desire that stormed through his entire being. With an enormous amount of self control he pulled back and held her arms as he looked into her eyes. “Wow.” He said. “Wow.”

  Claire’s nodded and regained her composure. “We should try that again sometime.” He smiled and agreed.

  “I’d better go before I forget I’m being a gentleman.” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Claire Costas you are a wonderful woman. I’ll be at your office at eleven thirty.” He got to the door and then he laughed. “You’ll have to run me to the hotel. I forgot I didn’t have a car.” They both started to giggle and she came out to the car with him.

  Chapter 3

  Claire went to work with a spring in her step and Kassie raised a quizzical eyebrow.” Something’s made you smile today.” She observed. Claire dropped her shoulder bag onto the table and grinned. “You are not gonna believe this.” Kassie waited and then burst out with a command to tell her then. “Adam Osorascos flew over from Hollywood for a few days here. We spent yesterday together.” Kassie’s mouth literally dropped open. For once she was lost for words. “He he he- came to visit? What’s he like? Did you have sex?” She managed in a burst of questions. Claire laughed out loud.

  “It is not very often that I stop you in your tracks. Yes he came to visit me. He is pretty wonderful but no we didn’t have sex.”

  “Yet.” Kassie said and Claire had to agree that it might be on the cards. Then she had to give an account of the whole day. After she summarised that she said to Kassie. “One more thing.” She paused for effect. “He’s coming here at eleven thirty to pick me up and see where I work.” For second time in a few minutes Kassie’s mouth fell open and then she jumped and screamed. “Adam Osorascos is coming here. The producer of River of Doom is coming into this very room. Oh My God.” Kassie sank onto a chair and the other person in the office, Karl Darling, got a word in and asked if anyone was gonna make coffee. “Because you are both standing in the way.” Claire grinned and obliged by turning on the machine and then fired up her computer.

  “I should dress better for work.” Kassie said. “I look a mess.”

  “No you don’t and you can fix your make up before he arrives.” Claire told her and took the coffee that Kassie handed over. Then she looked at the screen and said. “This is getting worse.” Kassie and Karl both came to look at her Twitter feed and were shocked at the nastiness of the comments displayed. “I haven’t even been on Twitter. I haven’t posted anything and I haven’t looked at anything. They must just be making this stuff up for fun.” Karl had scrolled down the material and said. “This guy- must be a guy – is causing trouble by saying things you are supposed to have said. He is making it up. The next minute he says you’re stunning and what he would like to do to you.”

  “Why?” Kassie wondered and Claire said she thought he must just be a nutcase plain and simple.

  “You have to report it.” Karl said and Kassie added her voice to that. Claire reluctantly agreed that she would do that. Her phone rang and she saw it was Adam. “Mornin’ Sweetheart.” He said and despite the awful stuff on the web, her heart gave a jump inside of her chest and caught the breath in her throat. “Mornin’ back at ya, Adam.” She said and he picked up something in her voice immediately. “Something wrong?” She told him about the Twitter threats and said she was going to report it. “Thank goodness you are seeing sense. Do you want me to come over and go with you?” That seemed a good idea so she said that she would appreciate that. “Be over in an hour.” He said “See ya soon.” And he rang off.

  “An hour?” Kassie asked. “An hour? Where’s my makeup bag?” She rushed off to the rest room and Karl shrugged his shoulders. “What do we do about this game with the damsels in distress thing?” He asked Claire and she looked over his shoulder at the screen.

  “It’s a dreadful piece of using women as sex objects. Horrible thing. I guess we should make a video about it.” Kassie returned with hair sorted and eyes made up. She looked at the game as well and agreed that they should make a video. “When?” She asked. “You have to go visit the police and we need at least an afternoon or an evening.”

  “I will put in quick half an hour to finish what I was working on with the new game and then go and report these threats. Have a speedy lunch and come back to make the vid in the afternoon. I already have some idea about what to say and you can both add content as we go. We’ve done it before.” The other two nodded and the three of them set to
work. Claire posted a denial of the things she was supposed to have said and then blogged a short piece about her photo not being online for people to make remarks about. “I run a business and expect to be treated with respect. Using my photo for your own erotic fantasies does not give you power over me. It means your brain is in your dick.” Adam let himself in quietly to find all three of them engrossed in what they were doing, Music playing in the background and he coughed and made a noise to show he was there. All three of them jumped as if stung and then smiled. He came over and kissed Claire on the cheek and then turned. “You must be Kassie.” He held out both hands and kissed her on both cheeks. It was designed to make an impression and it certainly did that. Kassie had the mouth dropped open look again before she realised and smiled at the gorgeous hunk in front of her. “And you are Adam. The maker of River of Doom. I just love all of your films.” He thanked her for the compliment and Claire introduced Karl as “Our tech genius.” Then she apologised for having to work in the afternoon. “We have to get this video done as soon as poss. Sorry.”

  Adam Osorascos knew his business inside out and offered immediately to help. “Let me in on the vid.” He said. “Use my film experience to help.” He looked at Claire and she grinned back at him.

  “If I say no thanks, Kassie will brain me with a handset. Thanks Adam. It will be really useful.” Kassie gave her a hug. “Go and do this report thing and we’ll start after lunch.” Claire grabbed her tablet to show the police what she was complaining about and they left.

  The police were as helpful as they could be but did not hold out much hope of finding the culprit. The complaint was on record and that was as much as they could do. “Let’s grab a sandwich and sit in the park before we go make the film.” Adam suggested. As they sat on the bench he lightly dropped his arm across her shoulders and a little tingle of excitement ran down her spine. She talked about the video until he could stand it no longer and turned her head towards him. “Stop talking.” He said and claimed the kiss he had thought about ever since they had parted the night before. “I don’t think I could have lasted much longer.” He said and she came back down to earth. “Look Adam. I don’t want you to think I will just fall into bed with a man.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” He replied. “I have never travelled to be with a woman before, Lil. Even over the screen I knew you were special. Don’t tell me you cannot feel it as well.” Claire Costas nodded and told him that she did feel it. “It is frightening to feel so strongly about someone after such a short time.”

  “We can take it a step at a time.” He said and took her hand to haul her to her feet. “But I don’t care who sees this.” And he claimed another kiss that threatened to take them both back to his hotel instead of back to her work place. “Wow again.” He said. “Good thing we’ve got work to do.” They held hands back to the car and Claire put her business head on as they went back inside the office.

  “Cops cannot do much but at least there’s a record.” Claire told the other two. “Let’s set up this vid and Adam can see what we do.” The videos were almost always of Claire talking. She tried to be as animated as possible and make her points clearly. Karl set up the camera and Adam asked if he just used the one. ”Have you anymore?” He asked and Karl nodded and produced two more. Adam placed them where he thought and slipped into producer mode without even thinking about it. He gave Karl a lot of requests for extra shots, fade in, fade out sequences and asked if some animation could be added after. Karl was a technical expert and rose to the occasion. Kassie wrote everything down and Claire went over the words. Adam said “Right ready to go.”

  “Can we do light and action as if it was the real thing please?” Kassie asked and Adam told her seriously that this actually was the real thing. “It will be a film and not just a video.”

  He made Claire redo several sections until it sounded the way he thought it should. “That’s fine.” He told them. “What editing software do you use?” Karl set it up and stepped to one side. Adam flexed his fingers and played with the piece until he was satisfied. The other three watched in fascinated silence as a genuine producer from real films worked in their office. Claire hadn’t realised she was holding her breath until he stood up and said. “Can we see it on a big screen?” Karl dutifully made the switch and they viewed the finished article.

  “Woweeeeee.” Kassie said when they had seen the whole piece. It was not long but the difference that a professional film maker brought to the finished article was unbelievable. “That is phenomenal.” Claire said and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  Karl shuffled and asked if he could put that he worked on film with Adam Osoracsos on his cv and Adam laughed and said he would give him a reference any time he needed it.

  “Right.” Claire said. “Let’s upload it and see where it goes.” Karl did the honours and they went online to see it out there in the ether. Claire tweeted that she had uploaded a new video and Adam said he was gasping for a coffee. The business being over for the day, they all went their separate ways. Adam said he would follow Claire’s car back to the house.

  Chapter 4

  At the house they took Delta outside for his games time and then fell onto the sofa with coffee. It felt so relaxed and comfortable. Claire knew in her heart she was falling for this man and wondered if he felt the same or if she was just another woman who took his fancy for a short time. She flicked the remote and her twitter feed came up on the big screen. For a few seconds they both looked at the screen and then both shot up at the same time and Claire shouted out loud. “Oh My God, Adam. They’ve put my real address online.”

  “I see it, Lil. How did they get it and what do we do about it?” They read on through the ghastly tweets that this one particular individual was making. The threats were nasty and specific and he specified how he would make his own film whilst he was doing the things he threatened. She would be the female star in her own hideous video. Claire was horrified. “How did he find the address?”

  In all of the horror of the trolling, they missed the tweets that loved the film and there was no doubt that this video was set to go viral. Claire did spot this and said so but then she looked at Delta. “I cannot leave Delta here. If someone breaks in they would hurt him.”

  “You need to be out of here as well and we need to tell the police. They might catch him if he snoops around the house.” Claire thought and then said she would ring her cousin and take Delta there. “She lives the other side of town and loves the dog. I’ll take him there until we sort it out.” Her cousin, Val, told them to come round immediately and Claire collected Delta’s food, bowls and treats and a soft bed. Adam told her to put her own things together and he would book her into the hotel. “That will be the safest place for you. Their security is very good.” It seemed a sensible answer and she packed a bag, grabbed, tablet, laptop and phone and they packed her car. Adam said he would follow her to the cousin’s house and she checked everything was secure and the cameras were in operation. With a last look around Claire Costas left her home and the gates closed behind the cars.

  Cousin Val accepted Adam Osorascos as if he was the guy from next door and he took to her in an instant. She was a down to earth woman with two kids, a hardworking husband and a dog that was over the moon to see Delta. Claire took the verbal onslaught about putting herself up there for people to shoot at. She nodded and said she knew Val was right. “When this is sorted I will put an end to the blogging.” Val hugged her and said that was a relief and Delta was safe there for as long as it was needed. Adam joined in to say they would go to the police and book Claire into his hotel. “I’m not going anywhere as long as this lasts and we can hire bodyguards if necessary.” Val smiled at him and thought to herself that she hoped this fantastic guy would be sticking around for good.

  Claire hugged Delta and told him to be a good boy and then they drove to the hotel. Claire wondered fleetingly if he would suggest her staying in his suite but he booked her a separate suite a
nd took her bag up to the room for her. They sat on the bed and Claire asked. “What next?” Then she answered her phone for the umpteenth time. The office workmates had all seen the Twitter conversations and were trying to warn her. In the end she asked Kassie to ring everyone and tell them she was safely booked into the hotel. Karl rang to tell them to look at the hits on the video and the number was colossal in such a very short time.

  “Let’s get the police visit over with.” Claire said and this they did. Again the officers were sympathetic and told them the IT people were trying to track the culprit. It was another report and not a lot more. “Let’s have something to eat at the hotel and see what tomorrow brings.” Adam said and took her hand. She squeezed it and told him she was so glad he was there. “Maybe I’m not such a brave strong woman as I make out.” She laughed and he told her that everybody needed protection sometimes. They carried her bag to the room that was booked.

  Claire rested her head on his shoulder and he slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Relax.” He said. “You’re safe here.” She turned her face towards him and Adam did the obvious. He kissed her. Each time it happened they were both unprepared for the shock of the response they both felt. Adam took the kiss to a new and deeper level. Her lips opened and welcomed the exploration and she reached her arms out to hold him. He left the lips and nibbled her ears, neck and throat and his tongue found its way down to her nipple and traced a circle around it. Claire moaned and gave herself up to the sensation. He pulled her top over her head and released the flimsy lace that was a bra and then he nuzzled and sucked on those beautiful breasts. Claire pressed and arched against him but he pushed her away and picked her up. She made no attempt to stop the way this was going because her feelings were completely out of control. He took her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed and then unzipped her jeans and pulled them over her hips. He gazed in delight at the wonderful body in front of him and stepped out of his own clothes as she held out her arms for him to join her on the bed. He wanted the feel of her, the scent of her and the feel of her body against his own. Adam continued the exploration of her body with his fingers and his tongue. When he reached the top of her legs and slid the tongue inside she cried out and reached a peak instantly. “Adam, take me now. No more torture.” He was glad about that because he could barely hold himself back any longer and he slid inside. He held her hands above her head and watched her face as he moved slowly and sensuously. Claire arched and moved under him with increasing urgency and he could no longer resist. The two of them moved together, beat for heartbeat, stroke by stroke, flesh against flesh and were lost in a universe that contained only the two of them. The race for that ultimate delight made the world shake. The blood thundered in his ears and Adam swore he lost consciousness before he took her and reached that peak. Claire clawed at him, bowed her body up to his and felt the essence of him. She clung to him as they stampeded wildly to the crest of the hill. She felt everything in the world just fall away and leave her in some parallel universe of exquisite delight. The orgasm filled her being and Adam emptied himself into her with a release that was stupefying. They tumbled over that edge together and rolled panting down the other side. Claire lay still and felt the wild beating of his heart against her own.