The Virtual Man [The Virtual Reality 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Nikki Sinclaire Page A

each time she pulled closer to the tip, until she sensed he was standing at the very edge of desire and about to jump off. Releasing him from her mouth, under his protesting and disaproving gaze, she brought a second whip into play and hit the wall with it.
    “NO! Have you lost your mind? You must be a pretty sick puppy to get off on inflicting pain upon another sentient being.”
    He still wasn’t admitting he was human. Oh, well, she would just up the ante.
    “Stop being such a sissy! Hmm. Maybe I’ll try something a little different.”
    Turning back to the armoire, Tiana thoughtfully perused the selection of whips and, after placing both whips back where she had originally gotten them from, selected a long bull whip.
    “Darlin’, you’re just gonna love this one. It is made of one-hundred-percent Peruvian llama leather. It won’t sting as much as the cat o’ nine tails would have, but it is easier to aim and it will rip up a bigger and deeper piece of your,” she giggled, “anatomy.”
    In utter shock, Derek watched her approach carrying what appeared to be an eight-foot bull whip.
    She’s too small to wield that big whip
, he thought, moments before she swung the whip around the top of her head then flicked it straight ahead of her, where it made a loud cracking sound.
    So much for that theory
.
    Derek’s cock still ached from the sight of her, not to mention his need for release, but his blood hadn’t pumped this fast ever!
    Tiana stopped for a moment, looked at Derek with her most intense, studious and academic look, before saying, “Did you know that when properly used, the tip of a bull whip travels so fast it causes a sonic boom? That’s what the crack you just heard is, you know.”
    “I’ll bet you’re a lot of fun during a game of Trivial Pursuit. Why don’t we play that?” Derek joked in the hopes that she would give up the current game.
    “You whine way too much. I haven’t even touched you yet,” she said as she lifted the whip back in the air.
    “Stop! Okay, okay, I know what you’re after. I admit it, I am not a hologram and I am a human being just like you. Please, put the whip down.”
    “What! You? Not a hologram? Surely you jest!” she teased in her finest southern belle drawl. Tiana appeared to truly be enjoying herself.
    “No, I’m serious. I’m the man who stumbled next to you at the courthouse back on Earth. Do you remember me? Please let me down and I’ll prove it to you.”
    “Well, if you’re a real person, not a computer program, and I let you down, won’t you be mad at me? Now I really can’t let you go. Why, you might try and whip me back.”
    “I would never do that. A gentleman never hurts a lady.”
    “Well, true, but you’re not a gentleman, you’re a convict that was, if I understood things correctly, on his way to jail on Lunar 5. Did you not like the other boys? Is that why you escaped?” she continued in a pouty tone.
    Derek finally began to understand. She’d been playing him.
    “Okay, I think I get it. You’re trying to teach me a lesson, aren’t you? How did you find out I was human? What gave me away?”
    “The wall-sized ‘wanted man’ portraits that Galactic Law Enforcement is broadcasting across the galaxy were a good first hint.”
    “Now will you let me down? Please?”
    “Only if you promise to tell me how you got yourself into this mess. I’ve observed you for close to a week and I don’t believe you are the thief you have been convicted of being. A liar, a voyeur and a pervert, maybe, but not a thief.”
    “I promise. Just please let me down, my arms hurt.”
    Tiana giggled, looking quite pleased with herself. She was no longer mad at Derek and, surprisingly, neither felt any danger from him nor seemed to give any credence to his conviction.
    “Computer, end program,” she ordered. Instantly, the cuffs around his wrists, along with the rest of the dungeon, dematerialized and were replaced with the room’s regular