Page 81 of Return on Love

“So you flew across the continent just to see me for a few hours?”

“I’ll walk through fire to help and support you,” he says, smiling and I blush a little. He’s quoting the line I’d said to Priscilla. He did hear it! And the way he says it, it makes me feel he’d do it too. My heart flutters inside my chest. “So traveling across the continent is nothing.”

“You could’ve just called.”

“What if you wouldn’t pick up my call? You weren’t even receiving Gabriel’s calls. And I’m really sorry for what I said to you before I left. I shouldn’t have.”

“Don’t apologize for that. It was true. You made me see sense, to grow, to face my fears. If anything, I’m thankful to you.”

“This entire week, all I’ve done is think about you. I think about your inputs when I code. I think about what you like when I bake. Hell, I even think about you when I’m with Jen.” He squeezes my hands and looks at me, unblinking. “Eva Jones, will you give me a chance to be with you? I know you hated me in grad school. But I didn’t. I wanted to say these words to you even then. Then my dad died, and I had to drop out, and never had the chance to make you change your mind about me. In the past few weeks, I hope I’ve at least made some progress in that direction. Isn’t it?”

He looks at me with his deep blue eyes and I just want to swim in them, immerse myself in them. But I can’t answer him. I’m too overwhelmed. I’d gone to Boston to ensure a good return on investment for my firm. Instead, I got some return on love.

“I want you with me, if you’re willing to come. I’ll be by your side and never let harm come to you. I’m no hero or a Jedi who can sacrifice himself for the world, but I promise you I will kill anyone who tries to harm you.”

“Kill? Really?” I ask to reduce the tension building up.

“Well, maybe not kill, but I will hack their system and get all their secrets.”

We both laugh. Being happy is so effortless with him. He sits on the floor and gazes into my eyes.

“I know your life is in LA. But I want you. No, I need you with me, at every step of the way. And I… well, I can’t be just a friend anymore. You make me a better man. You complement me perfectly and I’ll do everything in my power to keep a smile on your face. That’s the one thing I really want. Even if it means walking away from you and never seeing you again. Even if it kills me. Tell me what you want, and I’ll accept it. No questions asked.”

“Well, I don’t hate you anymore.” I smile at him and slowly slide down the couch, straight onto his lap.

I can feel him harden under me. Slowly, I straddle him and our faces are barely a few inches away.

“What does that mean?” he whispers, moving his lips a little closer to mine, rubbing my lower lip with his thumb, giving me an opportunity to pull back if I want. “Is that a yes?”

I slowly lean into him, brushing my lips against his. “It is,” I whisper into his mouth. And in an instant, his hands are cupping my face. I close my eyes and push my trembling lips onto his first slowly and then with increasing pressure. His tongue touches my lower lip and a gasp escapes me, as his mouth moves nimbly against mine, his tongue sweeping my mouth and sending a zing all the way down to between my legs. He moves a little and buries his hands in my hair, bringing me closer, while I clutch at his shoulders. Our tongues dance, voraciously, ravenously, and all I want is to pull him inside me.

“I won’t ever let go of you, Eva,” Ryan whispers to me and somehow I have a great feeling about this, as if the Force wants us to be together.

Epilogue

Ryan

I look at Eva as she settles into her chair, Max sitting by her feet, and I can’t help smiling. This is home and today is the day I play the game for my future.

My anxiety makes me sweat as she opens her laptop. She rubs her hands in excitement and clicks a link. Her eyes shine so brightly that they could illuminate the entire world. Well, for the past few months, since she’s moved to Boston, she has brightened up my life manifold.

I’ve never been happier. Only good things have happened since she re-entered my life. With funding secured, MooreGames' new game is primed to break records. As for the education initiative, we’ve signed up a few schools to test the app. Eva has been leading this. The initial response is good and we hope to scale it up soon. We’ll probably need more funding for that, but that’s for the future.

She raises her eyes and looks at me.

“What’s so exciting?” I ask, feigning ignorance but knowing all too well the reason for that.

“Yeah, just some… thing, y’know. Nothing really. If you’re going out, can you get me a juice?” she says and dives back into her laptop.

I leave the house and message Emily to have the packet ready for me. There can’t be even a moment’s delay.

Eva had figured out that I’m RamBam sometime around when she moved to Boston. Upon reviewing our chats, I believe she first suspected something when I arrived at her home in LA and messaged YodaPrincess that I’d arrived at the door of the girl I loved. At least that’s what I think. After that, YodaPrincess has messaged me at various times, asking what I’m doing, etcetera. Honestly, it was sometimes creepy how close her guesses were to reality. And then the flirting began.

I was appalled. I really liked YodaPrincess, but I loved Eva. I’ve chatted with her for years and always found her to be an excellent gamer and a good friend. But receiving those messages seemed like betraying Eva’s trust.

Then one day, soon after, a month ago, as I was sitting on my system, I saw Eva typing on her laptop with a weird smile on her face. That smile of hers is reserved for when she has something naughty in mind. And just then, the chat window, with flirtatious messages, popped up on my screen. That’s when I had a doubt.

I knew from grad school Eva played games and she had made it quite clear to our entire team she can play video games better than most. Plus, there was the entire mystery about how YodaPrincess came to our rescue when Greg (who apparently had been paid by Priscilla) had decimated the beta version of our game just before the funding presentation. We hadn’t even sent her a link. I tested my theories and now I’m sure Eva is YodaPrincess. No wonder she knew what was going on in my life. So lately, I’ve been responding to her flirtatious messages with the same steam and funnily enough, she has toned down.

---