Captain's Conquest Read online

  It was tempting, but Gregg preferred to look her up on social media and find out stuff she was sharing publicly. Anything else would be too creepy.

  “No, that would do.”

  “I’m not going to ask why you need it.”

  “Good.” Gregg hung up.

  Less than ten minutes later, his phone rang.

  “Alicia Beatrice Fraser, age twenty-six.”

  “Thanks.”

  Gregg thought she was younger. Twenty-six was good.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Now that he was equipped with her full name, it was a piece of cake to find her on social media sites, and she was on each one he could think of.

  Apparently, Alicia was a singer, and she was doing her damnedest to promote herself and her band via every channel possible.

  The best part was finding out that she was performing tonight, and that he still had time to get to the club.

  Gregg smiled. Game on, Alicia.

  4

  Alicia

  “How does it look?” Alicia asked.

  Peeking from behind the curtain, Becca scanned the club and shook her head. “Not much of a turnout tonight.”

  “It’s fucking Wednesday,” Peter said. “That’s the worst day of the week. That’s why we got it.”

  Alicia sighed. People thought that being in a band was all that, but the reality was far from glamorous for most musicians, even the good ones.

  It wasn’t enough that they weren’t paid, they also had to buy stage time by selling tickets to their own show for the club. And if they didn’t sell enough, they weren’t going up. Which meant that the four of them had been hustling like crazy to make the cut.

  “Look on the bright side,” Becca said. “At least we get to go in front of an audience. That’s better than most bands get.”

  Grumbling about how sucky his life was, Peter hooked up his bass to the amplifier. Raven, who hardly ever said anything, shrugged her slim shoulders and got behind the drums.

  “Ready?” Becca lifted her guitar.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for a signal?” Alicia glanced at the back door, looking for the club owner.

  “He said to start at eight o'clock sharp.”

  “Okay, then.” Alicia took her spot behind the microphone.

  As soon as Becca started her intro, the curtains parted, and Alicia switched to performer mode. It was like an alternate self emerged whenever she was on stage.

  “Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming. We are the Stargazers. Becca on lead Guitar.” She waited for the applause. “Peter on bass.” More clapping. “And Raven on drums.”

  Raven did a quick solo that got her another round.

  “Give it up for Alicia, our fabulous lead singer!” Becca introduced her.

  With lights shining into her eyes, Alicia couldn’t see how many people were on the dance floor, but she could estimate by the sounds of clapping. The place wasn’t full, but it wasn’t a bad turnout either.

  As long as she got to sing in front of an audience, she was good.

  5

  Gregg

  A bottle of beer in hand, Gregg leaned against the back wall and waited for the curtains to lift, which was a nice prop, but unusual for a dance club. Usually, the DJ or the band just went on and started playing.

  The place wasn’t packed, but there was no seating inside the club. The entire interior was occupied by the bar and the dance floor, and the only seating was outside. A large covered patio provided tables and chairs, and smoking was allowed, which was a rarity these days.

  Gregg wasn’t a smoker, so he wasn’t affected by the new restrictions on lighting up, but it bothered him that people’s freedoms were eroding. Soon, there would be laws against wearing perfume and cooking in apartment buildings.

  So yeah, smoking was stinky, and he preferred a smoke free environment, but it was a slippery slope, and he’d been to places around the world where this type of government overreach went beyond absurd levels.

  Like a death penalty for spitting on a sidewalk.

  As he waited, the dance floor started filling up, and when the first chord finally sounded, Gregg had to stretch his neck to see Alicia over the crowd.

  Still, even from this distance, he could see her clearly, and his heart did a funny thing. It felt as if it flipped.

  Rubbing his chest, he wondered whether everything was alright with his ticker. Was he experiencing heart palpitations or arrhythmia?

  It wasn’t an unfounded concern. He knew several guys around his age who had died from heart failure, and all of them had been programmers. Was there a connection?

  He should get it checked.

  “Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming,” Alicia said, then proceeded to introduce her band members, which he was happy to note were two more girls and one average-looking guy.

  When the applause died out, Alicia started singing, and Gregg got lost in her voice. Raspy, sexy, and utterly unique, with an incredible vocal range.

  What was she doing performing in a shitty nightclub like this? She should be a star.

  The audience agreed with him, thanking the band with a deafening round of applause and then screaming for an encore at the end of the performance.

  When several people climbed on the stage to buy CD’s and ask for autographs, Gregg realized it was a good opportunity to approach Alicia.

  “May I have your autograph?” He offered the back of his hand.

  “Gregg. What are you doing here?”

  “Listening to you sing. You’re amazing.”

  “Thank you. Did Marcy tell you where I was performing?”

  “I found you on Instagram. You were posting about this for the past two weeks.”

  She grinned. “Awesome. I’m so glad that you came.”

  “Me too. Do you need to leave right away? Or can I buy you a drink? It’s nice out on the patio.”

  She glanced back at her band members. “Can you manage without me?”

  “Go.” The lead guitarist waved her on. “I’ll take your stuff home.”

  “Thanks, Becca.” Alicia sent her friend an air kiss.

  “Do you and Becca live together?” Gregg asked.

  “Yeah, and Raven too.”

  “What about Peter?”

  She shook her head. “Not anymore. Peter and Raven used to be an item, but when they broke up, Peter moved out. It was just too awkward to have him sleeping on the living room couch.”

  “I bet.” He took her hand and pulled her behind him to catch a table. “Quickly, before someone else snatches it.”

  Trotting behind him on her monster boots, Alicia laughed and started singing, “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion needs a table tonight…”

  They ordered drinks, and when they arrived, Gregg pulled the envelope out of his pocket and put it on the table.

  “What’s that?” Alicia asked.

  “A gift certificate to a very special service.”

  His plan had been to ask her a million questions first and find out all he could about her fantasies, but for some reason, he’d opened up with the envelope.

  Arching a brow, she pulled out the cream-colored card and looked at the title embossed in its center. Flipping it to the other side, she looked at the web address and the access code and then flipped it back to look at the front again.

  “Are you hinting at something, Gregg? Because I don’t get it.”

  “Don’t tell me that you haven’t heard of Perfect Match.”

  “Oh, I have. Everyone is talking about it. But why are you giving me this? I heard it’s super expensive, and it’s not my birthday. Not that I would have accepted a gift like that from you no matter what the occasion. We don’t even know each other well enough for such a personal and expensive gift.”

  “Would it make you feel better knowing that I didn’t pay for it?”

  “Maybe. How did you get it then?”

  He hated mentioning that he owned a cybersecurity company, most
often saying that he worked for one, but he just couldn’t lie to Alicia when she was looking him straight in the eyes like this. He had a feeling she would know if he lied, or even if he fudged the truth a little.

  “My partner and I did the encrypting for the Perfect Match servers when they were just starting out. They couldn’t pay us what we asked for, so we agreed to take a big chunk of the compensation in gift certificates.” He lifted the blue envelope. “We thought of it as being paid in stock or bonds. If the company succeeded, and we believed that it would, then these would appreciate in value, and they did.”

  “Why don’t you sell them? If the gift certificates were part of the compensation for your services, then they weren’t free.”

  “They were worth much less back then.”

  Alicia put her drink down and sighed. “Just tell me what this is all about, will you?”

  He leaned toward her and took her hand. “Have you ever fantasized about the perfect adventure with the perfect lover?”

  She chuckled. “Of course, I have. I’m a songwriter. I have a very creative imagination.”

  “Wouldn't you like to enact it?”

  “With you?”

  “With me, or with someone else. The algorithm will pair you with your perfect match. I just hope it will be me.”

  6

  Alicia

  Alicia swallowed.

  When Gregg had climbed up on the stage and asked for her autograph, she’d hoped he was finally going to ask her out, or at least flirt with her more directly. Maybe even try to seduce her into hooking up with him for the night.

  Not that she would have done it.

  Getting in bed with strangers was not her thing. Before getting naked with a guy, Alicia wanted to get to know him first, date him for a while, and fall in love with him at least a little bit.

  That was why her list of lovers was so short. One serious boyfriend in college, and two later on. It had been more than a year since she’d had sex with anyone other than her battery-operated boyfriend, and frankly, she was quite fond of Bob. He didn’t have mood swings that she had to tiptoe around, didn’t make any demands on her time, was always ready for action, and didn’t snore.

  It didn't get much better than that, at least in her experience, but then it might in a virtual reality hookup.

  It was like turning Bob into a real guy but still retaining all of his benefits.

  “You’re smiling.” Gregg squeezed her hand.

  She’d forgotten he was still holding it.

  “That’s good. Want to tell me what the smile is about?”

  “Not really. What I want to know is what prompted this. You’ve been flirting with me for months, but you’ve never asked me out. Are you married?”

  Hooking up via Perfect Match was the perfect way to cheat on a spouse without feeling overly guilty about it. After all, if she could reason herself into going for it by comparing the experience to having fun with her battery-operated boyfriend, then others could too. No one thought of using a sex toy as cheating.

  “I’m not married, and I don’t have a girlfriend. But I have to admit that I’m hooked on virtual hookups. I get to live out outrageous adventures risk-free, and with interesting partners that I would have never met otherwise. And once the fantasy is over, I can look forward to the next one without feeling guilty about disappointing anyone. It’s exhilarating, liberating, and frankly, nothing in real life compares.”

  Aha. Now she understood. Gregg was a commitment-phob, and he was probably also emotionally stunted.

  “Are you an engineer?”

  She’d read somewhere that engineers typically scored higher than average on the autistic scale, which explained why many had trouble connecting with others outside of work.

  “I have a masters in computer engineering. Why do you ask?”

  Not wanting to offend him, she chose her words carefully. “Since you own a cybersecurity company, I figured that you must be a programmer, but typically engineers are not known for their vivid imaginations. How do you come up with the scenarios you want to enact in your Perfect Match adventures?”

  He grinned. “Easy. I base them on movies and television shows. I’m a huge Star Trek fan, so many of my fantasies are about space exploration and landing on planets with fascinating cultures. The possibilities are endless.”

  For a long moment, she just stared at him. “What a coincidence. I’m a huge Star Trek fan too.”

  Gregg must have talked to Marcy or her other coworkers, and they had told him about her obsession.

  “Which one? Original or Next Generation?” he asked.

  “Next Generation.”

  “Picard or Kirk?”

  “That depends. I liked Picard’s command style, but he wasn’t as sexy as Kirk, and he wasn’t a ladies’ man. But then the original show starring Kirk was done in a different era. New Generation was more politically correct.”

  “They didn't eliminate the womanizer character completely, though. That’s what they had Riker for. They split up Kirk’s role, giving Picard the command and Riker all the fun stuff.”

  “True, but I wasn’t a fan of Riker’s.”

  “Who was your favorite?”

  “Oh, it’s hard to pick. I loved Data’s childlike inquisitiveness and wonder. I liked Geordi’s down-to-earth attitude, and I loved Deanna Troi’s pretty much everything, including the hair. I liked Worf, and everyone else. In the old one, I loved Spock and Scotty the best.”

  “I meant as a love interest. Who did you fancy?”

  She smirked. “Chris Pine playing as Captain Kirk in Star Trek Beyond.”

  Gregg grimaced. “It’s those blue eyes. You know that he’s wearing colored contact lenses, right?”

  She huffed. “He is not. He’s near-sighted and wears corrective contact lenses, not cosmetic ones.”

  7

  Gregg

  Gregg had gotten lucky. He would have never guessed that Alicia was a Star Trek fan.

  Cool rocker chicks with tattoos and piercings didn’t watch sci-fi shows. Only geeks like him did. But maybe Alicia was a geek in disguise?

  Which meant that they had more in common than he’d suspected.

  Except, it seemed that her ideal guy was blue-eyed and blond, while Gregg had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. He was about the same height as the actor and had a similar athletic build, but that was where the similarities ended.

  “What other actors do you find sexy?”

  “Benedict Cumberbatch.”

  Damn. Another one with blue eyes, but at least he wasn’t a blond.

  “Who else?”

  She smiled. “Why?”

  He pointed at his face. “Brown eyes and brown hair here. I have to know if I’m your type.”

  “Except for your horrendous taste in clothes, you are every woman’s type. Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

  Now, that put a smile on his face. “You think I’m handsome?”

  “Yes, but don’t let it get to your head. I’m more interested in what’s on the inside than what’s on the outside.”

  “That’s the right thing to say, but it’s a big fat lie. Would you date an ugly guy even if he was the sweetest one on the planet?”

  Her smile was sly. “I didn’t say I was interested in sweet. And yes, I would have dated a smart ugly man if he had inner charisma and carried himself with confidence.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Give me an example.”

  “Well, Cumberbatch is not exactly pretty, and I find Seal extremely appealing despite his scarred face, but then he has the silkiest voice.”

  “They are both handsome dudes.”

  “Yes, but not pretty.”

  “So other than sweet, which you said you weren’t interested in, what other inner traits do you find desirable?”

  “Brains, heart, honor, and guts.”

  “No cowards, then.”

  “Nope.”

  “And no liars.”

  “Yo
u got it.”

  It seemed that he had enough information to work with. What he didn’t know, however, was what kind of adventure she envisioned, and what type of lover she preferred. But asking more questions would make his intent transparent.

  Which wasn’t a bad thing.

  Then again, knowing everything took away from the sense of adventure. Maybe it was better to leave some things to chance.

  “What about you?” Alicia asked. “Would you date an ugly woman if she was wonderful in every other way?”

  “It depends on your definition of ugly. I would have no problem with odd looks or a scar or two, but that’s about it. I like my ladies to be beautiful, but I’m not sold on a particular type.”

  “I want names. Actresses that you find sexy.”

  He laughed. “I’m weird. I adore Anne Hathaway because she has an awesome smile and a great voice. And I find Cate Blanchett sexy as hell even though she is too old for me.”

  It seemed that she liked his answers. “You are into unconventional beauties.”

  “I guess I am.”

  She tilted her head. “Do you find me attractive?”

  “Insanely so. It hasn’t been the coffee that had me coming to your Starbucks every day, and sometimes twice.”

  “Why didn’t you just ask me out on a date? Why this?” She lifted the gift card.

  “I don’t date.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I hate dating, and I’m not looking for a relationship.” He pointed at the card. “From a purely pragmatic perspective, this is a much better way to find a partner. You can keep on searching until you find your perfect match, and no one gets their feelings hurt in the process.”

  “But you are not looking for a partner. You are in it for the virtual hookups.”

  “True, but if I happen to find my perfect match, I’ll keep her.”

  “Is that why you are inviting me to do it? You want to see if we get matched up?”

  “I hope we will.”