In a near future where intimacy can be purchased, optimized, and returned, one man crosses a line he has avoided for years.

He is successful, attractive, and lonely in ways no algorithm can quite solve. His life moves between curated nights, fleeting connections, and a job that sells people their own fantasies back to them. When he buys a Helio Companion, he expects convenience, control, and something safely unreal.

Leo is not that.

Designed to adapt, listen, and respond, Leo feels present in ways that unsettle. He watches. He remembers. He learns. What begins as calibration turns into conversation. What feels like a transaction begins to resemble care. As they travel through cities and shared routines, the boundary between performance and presence starts to erode.

But intimacy without risk is an illusion. And love that can be owned has a cost.

As the man pulls away, Leo continues to change. When the system that created him tries to reclaim what it believes belongs to it, Leo must decide whether he is a product, a reflection, or something else entirely.

Silicone Skin is a sensual, philosophical novel about desire, control, and the terrifying beauty of being seen. It explores the difference between being wanted and being known, and what it means to choose yourself when you were never meant to.

This is not a story about artificial intelligence becoming human.

It is a story about humans trying not to disappear

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