Page 21 of Off Her Game
She bit her lip against laughing at Noah’s unease after the chef’s gushing. “What’s the story? You gave the chef’s son a job?”
“Antonio’s son had a rough time before he came to me. Barely squeaked out of high school. Multiple expulsions for skipping school and there was an incident of spray painting public property. Rejected at all colleges. It took me about five minutes to figure out his kid’s a genius when you put him behind a computer screen. You know some of us computer folks excel at little else.”
“I get that. He applied for a job with you guys? He got your attention with no resume?”
Noah shook his head. “I was having dinner here and while chatting with Antonio I found out his son’s story. I offered he send his son down to the office for a day. I thought it’d be a big brother situation, but I swear his kid is brilliant. He’s become one of my top creative designers. A lot of the newer ideas on the secondZoneworld Warriorcame from him.”
Her heart squeezed. “That’s amazing you gave him a chance. I’m sure half the game designers in the world are jealous.”
“Are you?”
She shrugged, grabbed her water for a swallow and stared at the doorway through which Antonio disappeared.
“So you design video games?” he asked in a leading tone.
“I didn’t mean for us to talk about it.” She shifted and re-crossed her legs.
“What kind do you like to write?” He nudged his fork away from his plate and slid it back.
“Fantasy.”
“Did you finish one?”
“I did, but let’s discuss something else.” She met his gaze for an instant.
Noah leaned forward, his eyes sparkling. “Tell me about it.”
“You don’t have to fake interest so we can have small talk.”
“Gamers make the best designers. They know what irritates the hell out of people and what draws them in. You had decent training if you went to MIT. I went there, so I’d know. Tell me what you came up with.”
She chewed on her lip. She’d already sold her game. She didn’t need Noah’s opinion or interest, but she liked talking about it. “In undergrad I had this idea for a game and recruited a friend to help me fill in the gaps. I’m good at content like characters and visuals and ideas for the building aspects. I can code with the best of them, but my friend did artificial intelligence. He moved on from it when it was in its neophyte stage. My game is in a different category from what you created.”
“In what way?” He maintained eye contact without a hint of ennui.
“It’s fantasy. A royal assassination sparks a war between the dragon-keepers, elves, humans, and elementals. Players can choose which avatar they want to play. They can be whatever they want, be it mage, elf, drunk, whomever. They work to figure out who’s evil, who did the assassination, and save the world. There’s traditional slash-and-hack fighting, guerilla warfare, and advanced building capability.”
“Is it single pathway or multiple?”
“There’re hundreds of hours of quests, caves, dungeons, forts. It’s a classic RPG where you can create your own experience within the storyline. You could tip cows for an hour if that’s your thing.”
“Sounds interesting. I’d like to see it.”
“Really?”
Oh, crap. I giggled.
That kind of airheaded noise couldn’t have come from her mouth. Her stomach did belly flops whilehe wants to see itplayed over and over in her brain.
“Yes. I want to review it. I’m looking for something new.” He dug his cell phone out of his pants pocket to read the screen. “I’m sorry. I despise texting in restaurants, especially when with company, but I’ve got to reply to this.”
She waited until he was done. “Business? Or a girlfriend who’s pissed you’re not already home?”
“I said I was single before we started this. Are you jealous?” He seemed genuinely confused. Her typical date would’ve jumped all over her with joking snark about jealousy.
“Maybe.”
“Serious? This is you jealous?” He flashed his dimples as his lips split into a killer grin. He put his phone back into his jacket. “I had a call scheduled at eleven tonight, but I arranged to move it to tomorrow morning.”
