Reserved For Me

About this story

Synopsis

Lyle Norris writes other people's bestsellers. She handles clients, hits #1, and survives Ms. Ridley's 2AM deadlines. She's good at control. Then James hands her a pod called "Reserved For Me." One click behind her ear and her nervous system pulls her into a gallery of perfect men. Men made from data, built to match what her body wants before her brain can lie. First door: Hudson Grayson. CEO. Skates on water. Proposes on a rooftop in the rain. For five minutes Lyle believes she can be chosen. Then the system crashes, the target unavailable. The next day his face is on every billboard. Twelve thousand girls get proposed to by the same man, Hudson is only Level 1. The pod isn't finished, More doors wait. CEO, soldier, artist, stranger. Each one designed to make her forget the cold man who types at his desk while she breaks. The rules are simple, Connect. Feel. Disconnect. But Lyle keeps disconnecting. She keeps thinking of Aiden. His jaw ticks, sleeves roll. His glass of water has no ice. He left her in the rain, caught her when she fell. He never looked. She hates him for it. While twelve thousand girls fight for Hudson, Lyle faces a worse truth: the man who never chose her might be the only one she can't simulate. The pod is just getting started. What if every door in the gallery opens for her... and the only one she wants stays locked?