Читать книгу Living the Fantasy - Kathy Lyons - Страница 10

KEN LEANED BACK in the couch, his gaze on Ali. She had her lower lip caught between her teeth as she frowned at the screen. He didn’t even consider giving her a hint. First, because he had before and she’d told him quite clearly that she wanted to figure it out on her own. Second, because he had total faith that she could conquer this particular puzzle.

Because he’d learned in about ten minutes that she was smart.

She’d obviously not grown up with video games. Her eye–hand coordination wasn’t lightning-quick and she didn’t have the fluidity with the game controller that gamers did. So during fight sequences, she was at a severe disadvantage. But this game was as much about smarts as it was about fighting. In fact, he’d made sure the designers put in at least one smart solution to get past every obstacle. Brute force might help, but it wasn’t the only way.

“What if I try…this!” She rapidly moved her avatar around and experimented.

He didn’t answer. He already knew it wouldn’t work, but it was a good thing to try.

“Well, shoot,” she said and once again she started biting her lower lip. Even, white teeth. Red wet lip. God, he was hard for her. Hell, he’d been hard for her from the beginning. Sadly, he was her boss, so he held back. Besides, she was thinking and that was too sexy a sight for him to interrupt.

She grabbed her soda off the table and took another swig as she stared at the scene on the television. Then she thumbed through a few other screens, looking for a clue.

“Wait a minute…” she said.

There! She’d found it.

“Can you—”

“On it,” he said, quickly maneuvering his avatar to help hers.

“I’m going to—”

“I’ll brace you like this—”

“Now together—”

Bam! The Impenetrable Wall tumbled to the ground.

“Woo hoo!” she crowed, dropping the controller on her lap as she fell backward into the couch. “Damn, this game is hard!”

“You seem to be flying through it.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.”

Then she looked down at the game box. “Well, the game is designed for teens. I suppose I ought to be flying through it, huh?”

He shook his head as he leaned back into the couch right beside her. They were close enough to touch. In fact, he shifted his leg enough that their knees and some of her calf touched.

“That’s mostly a violence-and-sex rating. A lot of these puzzles will stump a teenager.”

She laughed. “Well, that’s reassuring to my ego. I’m smarter than the average sixteen-year-old.”

And sexy, too, with her eyes dancing and her lips wet and so close. He wanted to kiss her. She was thinking it, too. Or at least he thought she was. Her gaze had dropped to his mouth and her body had stilled. The air froze in his chest. Could he? Could she?

Guess not because she abruptly looked away. “Gee, um, what time is it?”

Stifling his disappointment, he glanced at the clock on the gaming machine. “One twenty-seven.”

“In the morning?” she gasped as she leaped off the couch. “Holy crap! I’ve got to go to work tomorrow. Er…today!”

He straightened slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets rather than reach for her. “Can you call in sick?”

“On my last few days there? Just because I stayed up too late gaming?” She blinked a moment then released a short laugh. “I never thought I’d hear myself say that.”

He smiled. Impossible not to smile when she laughed like that. “Well, consider it research for your new job.”

“I still gotta say goodbye to the old one first.” Then before he could comment, she held up her hand. “And I’m not calling in sick.” Then she sighed. “But I may take the afternoon off if I can’t keep my eyes open.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a fair compromise.”

“I’ll remember that, boss, if this happens again over the summer.”

He was watching her slip on her shoes, noticing the flash of bright red on her toenails, when her words hit him. “Hey, that’s not what I meant!”

She laughed. “Too late. You already said it!”

He released a fake grumble then started turning off the electronics. “Wait for me. I’ll walk you to your car.”

“You don’t need to—”

He stopped her with a shake of his head. “It’s a safe area, but there’s no sense in taking chances. Besides, I need to get home, too.”

She stopped arguing, and he quickly closed up the office. A couple of minutes later he had his satchel/briefcase strapped across his chest and together they headed for the elevators. Fortunately, he’d had enough time to think of another conversation topic. Or perhaps an old one.

“So you don’t have a brother or a male cousin or a boyfriend to show you video games?” If he were honest, it was the boyfriend part he was most interested in.

She laughed. “Actually, yes to all of those things.”

His heart plummeted. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice and kept talking.

“Three brothers, all much younger. A ton of male cousins and even a couple of boyfriends along the way. But none of them had the patience to teach me how to play. Not like you just did.” Then she flushed. “Was it terribly boring for you? To wait while I figured things out?”

“What? No! I had a great time.”

“Liar.”

He held up his hand in a three-fingered pledge. “Scouts’ honor. I had a great time. I like watching people figure things out.” That was a lie. He liked watching her figure things out.

The elevator arrived and they stepped in. He let her push the button for the parking garage since he didn’t know what level her car was on. Meanwhile, she kept up the flow of their conversation.

“You’re a great teacher. And I gotta say that it’s a welldesigned game.”

“Really? What parts did you especially like?”

She paused, eyeing him a little warily. “You really want to know?”

“Of course I want to know! You’re a brand-new gamer! If I could figure out how to interest people like you, then my financial woes would be over.”

She paused a moment, and her eyes narrowed. “You have financial woes?”

He sighed. “Don’t worry. The launch is safe. Let’s just say if the game doesn’t sell well, then I will have financial woes. As in piles and piles of them.”

She nodded, and he could tell she was thinking about that. But in the end she shrugged. “Okay, here you go off the top of my head. I really liked the story behind the game…”

She rattled off a couple of the early sequences, surprising him with her answers. At first he thought she was giving him just generic “girl answers” as Paul would say. In general, girls preferred quicker puzzles, less brute force. But then she warmed to her theme, getting more detailed in her comments and critiques of the story structure. By the time they made it to her car, he wanted to pull out a pad of paper for notes.

“Wow,” he said, as she finally ended her comments. “That’s just off the top of your head?”

She shrugged. “I read a lot. I like fiction.”

“I’d like to hear more. Some of your ideas won’t work with what we’ve already got, but a couple of those were brilliant.”

She shook her head. “Now you’re just stroking me. None of that was brilliant.”

“You’d be surprised what a gamer finds brilliant. And believe me, that last idea about the character arc for Guinevere? That was brilliant.”

She flashed him a coy smile. “Well, thank you. I’m glad I could help.”

They’d made it to her car. It was a little yellow Saturn, and she unlocked it with her fob. The chirp of the car sounded loud in the garage. Exhausted as he was, he still hated to see the evening end. Apparently, she felt something similar because she turned to face him without opening her car door.

“This was a lot of fun. You’ve got a great game and…well, I just had a ton of fun. Like I haven’t had in years.”

“Rough couple of years?” he asked.

She shrugged. “No. Not really. Just settled into a rut. I work, I read, I occasionally have lunch with Elisa. I always thought my life would be more exciting. Instead, it’s just kinda routine.”

“You’re shaking things up now. You’re going on tour with us.”

She smiled. She shouldn’t have looked so good under the harsh parking-garage lights, but she did. She looked beautiful. He swallowed, feeling the need to touch her build inside him. “I, um, I really had a great time, too. And I really hope we can play more.”

Her eyebrows rose and too late, he realized what he’d said had a double meaning. “More of the game?” she asked.

“Yeah, more of that,” he said. And then he just did it. He kissed her. He’d wanted to since he’d met her, and she was right here.

She gasped in surprise, her body stilling in shock. God, this was wrong of him, but he couldn’t stop. He stroked his tongue across her lips, tasting the cherry flavor of her lip gloss. Would she open for him? Or was he about to be shoved onto his ass?

She softened. It happened between one heartbeat and another. She was stiff and tight, and then everything in her seemed to give way. He would remember the feel of it until the day he died. The way she just relaxed into his kiss, tilting her head to give him better access and relaxing her body. She might have melted into him, or maybe he just pressed forward, trapping her body against her car. Either way, she opened herself to his kiss and he was quick to take advantage.