Give it up for geek love, she decided, and offered him another smile that had him flushing like a stop sign.
Now to pass that all-important test… to see if he would actually go to bed with her.
People often said sex was easy, and it was, if that was all she was after.She wanted more.She had been speaking to this man via cameras and phones for years, and she knew his mind as much as someone could know another.She talked to him on bad days, talked him up when he was ready to throw in the towel and frustration was enough to make him howl.She was there for his midnight calls when a line of code did exactly what it was supposed to do and he got the game parameters to shift just so.She had talked to him during personal crises and when he just needed to vent or hear a friendly voice.For the past few years she had been his lifeline and he had been hers.
She knew the first time she considered him more than a partner was when she got told to know her place by someone she couldn’t curse out and walk away from -- and the first person she had called was Evan.He had talked her down, and together they came up with a way to bypass the idiot all together.And now she was a success and the idiot was left out in the cold with his bad attitude and his stupidity.Sour grapes… no,schadenfreudewas the more accurate description of how she felt.It might not have been gracious, but it was human.
And she was very human, with some very human wants and desires and needs… and she needed him.
“You are what dreams are made of.”His whispered words tipped her over the top.
“And if I’m a dream, Evan Whie, then what are you?”She seriously wanted to know how he was going to answer this one.
“I’m a nightmare, Cleopatra Cockie,” he spoke with a sincerity she did not expect even from him.“I’m a nightmare of self-doubt and confusion mixed with a lot of frustration.”He looked up at her, green eyes blazing as he nodded to himself before continuing to speak.“I’m insecure, and I know I’m not the best-looking man out there.I am work-obsessed and spend more time than I should on the computer or throwing weights around so I won’t have a heart attack before I turn fifty.I don’t have a pet because I am afraid I’d forget to feed the damn thing.I don’t have plants because I have killed way too many of them.I get obsessed over the things I love -- photography, Mexican food, video games, the music of Prince, and you.”
She blinked as she absorbed his words.He equated Prince with her?They were both on the same level in his eyes?Wow.“Me?”
“I’m obsessed with you, with your brain and the way your mind works.Even with your sense of humor -- it’s dark in there sometimes and I appreciate it for what it is.With the accent that you swear you don’t have, but slides through when you get excited or upset or really happy.I’m obsessed with your mouth and your eyes, and your hair… I remember when you first put in your locks.I watched them grow, and I prayed for the day when I would have the right to run my fingers through them.Do I have the right, Cleo?Because you’re throwing some pretty big hints my way, and I am so far gone on you I can’t be a gentleman about it.Stop me now if I’m embarrassing you or if I’m wrong, but at this moment, I want nothing more than to strip you down in front of all these smug assholes about to get rich off the fruits of your imagination and then claim you so hard that their fucking grandchildren will feel it.”
Oh God, she was panting now.Yup, that was her, about to pant her way out of this fucking dress.She was so wet she could feel how soaked the crotch of her lace-and-silk panties were, pressed against her swollen clit.She might have been drooling… She reached up to check her chin and sighed in relief to know that she had managed not to look like she needed a bib.
He rose to his feet, and all Cleo could think about was that hard body pressed against hers.Forget about the big dick rumor, she wanted the big brain and the big heart of the man who was standing in front of her like some chivalrous knight, one hand outstretched and waiting, his eyes gleaming…
And what the hell was she waiting for?
She rose to her feet and grasped his hand, allowing him to pull her close.She rested both hands on his shoulders, looked him square in the eyes and said, “Godhitoelfucme… “
He blinked at her in confusion, and she felt her cheeks flame about as red as her dress or her lipstick.Hello, brain cells?You are in there, right?She squeezed her eyes shut, huffed hard, and tried again.
“Get me to your hotel room and fuck me now.”
The sudden silence in the room made her realize two things.One, they were not alone in the world he’d created with his words and his eyes and his sexy weaponized voice and his magic words.He was so good she’d forgot where they were.And two, she had just shouted her declaration for all the world to hear, including their investors, the free press, the VIPs in the room, and everyone from God down to the caterers, had just heard her yell what she was thinking to Evan.
“May the floor open up and swallow me whole,” she muttered.“I think I may just have ended my career.”
She opened her eyes to see Evan, beautiful, unflappable Evan, squeeze his eyes shut and shudder… hard, before his breathing broke and he forced his eyes open.
“I think I just came in my kilt,” he whispered, hugging her close to his shivering body.“No, I know I just came in my kilt.”
* * *
“Now that’s how to cap off a victory!”Lydia’s voice rang out and broke the tension that was filling the room.“I believe Evan just explained his new ideas and the expansion pack for the next generation of…The Game 2.I thought you were going to wait until the game officially released before you told her aboutThe Mountains of Madness.”
Instantly the room exploded into applause, and suitably distracted, the talk in the room immediately turned to speculation about what the two geniuses were planning for their next venture into the gaming realm.The Mountains of Madness?Whatever could that be?
Suddenly they were inundated with questions as they were surrounded by people who wanted a scoop on what the new power duo was planning next.
“I think Evan needs to explain it further.”Lydia broke into the circle that had surrounded them and began pulling them toward the hall and the bank of elevators that would shuffle them to Evan’s suite on the top floor.“Let’s excuse them while they get back to the business of creating worlds, and I’ll start presenting you with some of the marvelous swag and gags we’ve set aside for you this evening.Have you met our voice actors?”
With a wave of her hand, Lydia, the best assistant ever, distracted the masses with bullshit while Evan pulled his woman out of the room and into the hall.One swipe of his card brought his personal elevator to the floor, and within moments they were being whisked up to the privacy of his suite.
“Whatever you pay her is not enough --oomph.”
Evan pounced.He was so thankful that the elevator opened up to his room that he could’ve wept, but his mouth was too occupied, licking into Cleo’s mouth, suckling at her full lips, running down the side of her neck…
“You taste so good,” he murmured, and she moaned in response, her hands tangling in his hair as she pulled him closer.
Her body trembled within his grasp, trembled and shook as she held on to him as if her life depended on it.He loved that feeling.It made him feel invincible to know that this extraordinarily phenomenal woman was clinging to him, wanting him, needing him.
