Page 74 of Off Her Game
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“This is Tori Duarte, designer ofDragon Spy,which we have scheduled to release in six months.” Jake waved her way from where he sat to her right on an elevated platform. Cameras flashed. Video cameras documented their every twitch. At least thirty reporters yelled at once and waved hands for attention. This was the big league of techie world media.
Her first press conference and she should be freaked out. Yet, she wasn’t nervous about the questions flying their way or about the attention. Her mind remained stuck on the image Symphis sent her fifteen minutes ago.
Alex had been slumped against a building, his face covered in cuts and bruising from a recent fight. Only, Alex didn’t even know how to throw a good punch. Someone had beat the crap out of him.
Symphis had texted:Tonight. The code. Next time he might not be so lucky.
She’d called Quan moments before walking onto this elevated platform. He’d said, “Two guys jumped Alex last night while he was pumping gas. He went to an urgent care and might need some nose work, but he’s making it.”
Had someone asked her a question? Crap, she needed to focus.
Mere inches of air separated her from Noah on her left. Her foot accidentally bumped against Noah’s, or had he done the bump intentionally? Her shoulders ached from holding them stiffly in an effort not to glance his way.Don’t look.One glance and everyone in this room, and the international world of gaming, would guess she was in love with him.
Was she?
Yeah, she probably still was. But like Quan said, it was shit timing.
Maybe it wouldn’t be a crisis to be caught Noah-gazing. Every woman who’d crossed his path while they’d been ushered into this conference shot him googly eyes. Half the questions coming their way were from reporters hungry to grill the one person they’d been denied speaking with for years.
From the front row of reporters a brunette with cleavage pushed to the spillover point in a low-cut blouse threw Noah an I’ll-do anything-with-you smile followed by a less than subtle lip moisten.
Tori wanted to watch Noah, to see if he responded to the woman in the front row. The need to study him and her determination to resist led to a throbbing headache.
If he responded to the woman in the front row, then what? She had no claim on him. She was about to screw him and his company by stealing the code.
A focus on slow breathing didn’t help to soothe her escalating headache. She mentally talked herself off the edge of a mental breakdown. A calm glance at the press corps helped her conclude most here probably assumed she had a minor crush on Noah and Jake. Few would deduce her feelings surpassed the crush level.
Noah leaned into the microphone in answer to a question “Fast paced, upgradable skill tree, online and offline modes…” She zoned out as he launched into her game’s technicals. All she registered was the sexy low vibrations of his voice. Even though they weren’t touching, the heat from his body warmed her in the chilled air-conditioned hotel convention room. His tone sent chills across her shoulders and down her spine. Memories of his voice, hoarse after he…You will not go there.
She planned to reaffirm they were on a professional-only basis with him after the press conference. Speaking calmly would hopefully reset the two of them to sail into friends territory. In her mind she’d practiced her what-happened-is-over speech dozens of times. Although, why put out the effort when she was about to fuck him and his company over by fake stealing the code?
What if he gave her the cold shoulder? She’d be miserable because she was hooked on him. Totally, irrevocably. Okay, that was not a professional-only attitude.
You need him to give you the cold shoulder. She needed him to verbalize a clear it’s-over and reaffirm he didn’t want to deal with her anymore to push her into the move-on process. Getting over Noah might require a lot more ice cream andFireflyreruns than any previous guy, though.
Stop thinking about it.Focus on being here. On getting code today. And calling Quan when this is done. You’ll get clobbered by some dumb question if you don’t pay attention.
The next reporter asked, “Noah, what did you first notice about Tori that grabbed your interest.”
Her mind snapped to attention.
Jail.
Tori held her breath. Her gaze met Noah’s for the first time during the press conference, remembering their moment in jail.
“I liked her…outfit?” His lips broke into a silly grin over pointing out the mistake in the question. The press erupted into laughter. Noah said, “Her work is visually exciting.”
Visually exciting?Did he really mean her work or was there a subtext?Get your mind out of the gutter.
The same woman reporter yelled, “Tori, what’s it like to work with two of the world’s sexiest CEOs?”
Speak into the microphone, but not too close.She leaned in. “The team at NJ Legacy is amazing. I couldn’t be happier.” Success. She’d delivered line three on the worksheet of news bites she’d memorized this morning under orders from NJ Legacy’s press guru. Her gaze darted to Noah. He smiled at her, supportive. Sexy. Her stomach squeezed.
Look away. Now.
She glanced back into the throng of reporters.
