Primal Elements Christine d’Abo.pdf

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Primal Elements

ISBN 9781419918254

Edited by Briana St. James.

Photography and cover art by Les Byerley.

Electronic book Publication August 2008

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in

part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing,

Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales

is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

P RIMAL E LEMENTS

Christine d’Abo

Chapter One

“Welcome to Perfect Match, version 3.5.”

The voice of the computer faded leaving the spinning logo of the dating service on

the screen. A loud chorus of cheers erupted from the small collection of women

gathered in the booth.

“You guys are insane,” Jenna laughed and squeezed onto Rhonda’s lap.

“Shut up, jerk, and enjoy your present,” Rhonda said and gave her arm a light

shove.

Ruby piped in, “Yeah, jerk, it’s not every day the baby of our group turns thirty.

Now what are our options?”

The holographic face of the host appeared above the viewer. Relief ran through

Jenna—thank the gods he hadn’t shown up in person again. It was bad enough having

him take her picture for her profile. The prospect of having to spend another minute in

that creep’s presence, especially in this cramped space, was nauseating. At least this

way she had the pleasure of knowing he was safely three rooms away.

“Ladies, I hope you find the booth spacious.”

“First-rate. Hell, you could put a king-size bed in here,” Rhonda said and rolled her

eyes.

“Glad you like it, sweet cheeks.”

The angle at which the holograph hung gave the proprietor a perfect look down the

front of their shirts. Rhonda tugged the neckline up half an inch and glared.

Jenna knew this would get ugly fast if she didn’t put a stop to things. Waving her

hand in front of his holographic face, Jenna smiled sweetly at him. “How does this

thing work?”

The man sniffed before a holographic arm appeared from out of nowhere and

hovered above the smooth keypad. His hand began to whip wildly around, pointing

out the features.

“Press here to access the database. You’ll be asked a series of questions. Questions

and images will be displayed here on the screen. If you lie on the questions the

matching system won’t work. And remember the information you enter will be kept

confidential.”

“Are you sure you don’t peek?” Michelle asked.

The man laughed, “I can’t even if I wanted to. The database is locked tight with

both a hard-coded and soft-coded password. Only the owner has them.”

Somehow, that didn’t completely reassure Jenna. Neither did it seem to reassure

Primal Elements

Rhonda, who now had her arms crossed firmly over her chest.

“And who’s the owner?” Rhonda asked in a tone that was less than inviting.

The holographic host licked his lips before winking at her. “That’s the million-credit

question now, isn’t it? I don’t ask, don’t care as long as I get my paycheck.”

“What do we do when we’re done?” Jenna piped up, not wanting things to get

nasty.

The host turned back to Jenna and his slick smile was quickly back in place. “The

file saves automatically once you’ve completed the questionnaire. It runs a

compatibility test and then you’ll see your perfect match. Any questions?”

“Nope. Bye now!” Rhonda waved.

Jenna tapped the back of her friend’s head. “Settle down.”

“Don’t do that on my account. I like them wild.” The man winked before the

holograph disappeared.

“Okay, eww,” Ruby shuddered.

Michelle laughed, “I hope he’s not in the system.”

Ruby smiled. “I bet he is.”

Oh shit.

“I’m out of here,” Jenna said and stood to leave.

Six hands reached out and stopped her escape.

With a groan, Jenna fell back on Rhonda’s lap. “Come on, guys, I was only kidding

when I said there wasn’t a man on Mars for me. Don’t make me do this.”

“Too late, it’s too late,” Rhonda said in a singsong voice. “Now let’s get this party

started.”

After tapping a few of the keys, she managed to get the program up and running.

“Welcome to Perfect Match home screen,” the computer cooed in a distinctly

feminine voice. “To begin your journey to find your ideal mate, please complete the

following questionnaire. If you have questions or problems at any time, please contact

the proprietor.”

“Fat chance, sister,” Ruby giggled.

The screen popped to life with a slick, interactive questionnaire. Rhonda

dramatically cracked her fingers then attacked the keypad. “First off, is your perfect

match male or female?”

“Male please,” Jenna said and hung her head, knowing she wasn’t going to get out

of this. At least not without inflicting bodily harm on her best friends on the entire

planet, and that wasn’t high on her list of things to do.

“Easy enough. Question two is to list the ideal height of your Romeo,” Rhonda

rolled her tongue over the r to produce a purr-like sound as she said it.

“Earth plays suck. Especially old ones,” Michelle said and kicked the wall under the

vid screen.

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