Living the Fantasy

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…”