Excerpt of Better On Top

Toni arrived home still doing math in her head. This latest contract would not only put the business at capacity, but would also help pay off the last of her grandfather's hospital debts. And if she rented the duplex for another year, she could build a nice nest egg that might even become a down-payment for her very own house. Someday.

"That's right, baby girl," Toni said to her daughter who was cheering about something in the back seat. "Our home!"

When she got to the duplex, she was mildly surprised to see the glow of light from a window on the empty side of the duplex. She hadn't expected the Bensons to fill the vacancy that soon, but if the tenant was being offered the same rent she was, she could understand the rush to move in.

Once inside, Toni slipped into the evening routine, feeding, bathing and tucking her daughter to bed, then tackling the binder full of work orders she'd brought with her.

It was late at night when she finally got around to logging on to the computer Eileen had lent her to test the Orchid Soul system.

Eileen, bless her soul, had insisted that Toni use her old computer.

"It's already configured and runs just fine," Eileen had said. "It's just a tad bit slow, but good enough for testing."

Now, as the Orchid Soul screens were slowly loading, it was all Toni could do not to bump the laptop in the frustrated hopes of make it work faster.

After what seemed to be several hiccups, the subsequent screens came up uneven, with strange characters all over them. Toni dutifully made a notation on a nearby notepad to inform Eileen of the bugs.

She went through the boring process of completing her Orchid Soul profile. Hunkering down, she put in some real information, but ended up making up some of it along the way. Hell, why not? Orchid Soul was supposed to be anonymous anyway, so what difference did it make?

When the computer prompted her for her fantasies, Toni scratched her head and sighed. "What fantasies?" she grumbled under her breath.

She was staring at the computer, still undecided, when it let out a series of beeps, followed by a message stating that her profile had been evaluated and a "sex" match had been found.

"Impossible!"

And yet the message remained, defeating the denial. She clicked on the help icon on the top left corner but instead, a Cupid's Instant Messages came up, the cursor blinking, as if awaiting her input.

"What the hell?" Was it some form of live help? She puzzled over what to do next, and had just placed her fingers over her keyboard when the first message appeared.

Hello?

She hesitated before typing "Hello" back.

The other user replied. I didn't know there was an instant messaging service.

Neither did I, she replied. I thought it was a help chat.

Well, it's a live chat, but not for technical support.

Oh, joy. Things were just getting better and better. She scribbled a notation of the problem and looked up to see words appearing on her screen.

I thought the process was going to happen through emails, she wrote.

Me, too.

A long pause went by before temptation got the best of her and she wrote, So, what now?

I don't know. But please tell me you're a woman.

Toni chuckled. I am. And you're not?

I'm definitely not.

Okay, well . . . Her fingers tapped over the keyboard, the words practically writing themselves before she'd finished the thought. What do you desire in a fantasy lover?

He pause. Is this personal curiosity or simply for testing purposes?

She inhaled, then exhaled slowly. Testing purposes, of course.

LOL! Right.

She grinned sheepishly and wrote, Okay, maybe it's a little bit of both?

Are secrets between strangers supposed to be honest?

She blinked. How will I know if you lie?

I won't know if you lie, so what do you have to lose...