Page 77 of Don't Game Me
“I was worried about her. Us gamer girls gotta stick together, you know. So few of us.” Lisi met his gaze with what he interpreted as earnest, maybe concerned. She removed her hand from his, glanced out the window at the rain. “Miserable weather.”
Weird. Awkward. Those words barely described what fueled his itch to leave.
“If you’re in trouble call Agent Reynolds. There’s nothing I can do. I don’t know where she is. I’ve got to go.” He pushed his chair back from the table.
She stood as he passed and wrapped her hands around his arm. With a seductive smile, she glanced up at him. “Thanks.”
He extricated himself from her, wishing Emma here so she could handle getting Lisi away from him. “Gotta go.”
She called out as he exited, “I’ll be around if you need something.”
24
Jake exited the elevator of his apartment building onto the top floor in a haze. He shuffled toward his door, one foot in front of the other across the shiny linoleum floor. Was it only nine thirty? Felt like midnight. The stress of the day before a game release, the weirdness of that exchange with Lisi, and Becca still missing in addition to no sleep in days pushed him to the point of full body exhaustion.
As he shoved his key into the lock, he heard, “What the hell were you doing having a coffee date with that woman?”
He whirled.
Becca emerged from the shadows, her hair plastered to her head from dampness, probably rain. An oversized bulky jacket dwarfed her. “That woman at the coffeehouse. She had her hands all over you.”
“Where’d you come from? How did you get into my building?” He glanced up and down the hallway.
“The attendant remembered me. You shouldn’t trust the woman from Comic-Con. You especially shouldn’t get involved with her.”
“She came out of nowhere.”
Jake snagged Becca around the waist and pulled her into his place. He plugged in his alarm code without releasing her and reactivated it. “Where’ve you been?”
“I was trying to disappear.” She wriggled until he let go and backed up a few steps. “Then I got worried about you. So I flew here. And what do I find? You and her getting it on in a coffeehouse.”
“We weren’t getting anything on. She stalked me out of concern for your safety, then got all touchy-feely.”
“Who knows if that’s true. I don’t trust her. I don’t get why she’s interested in you. I mean, you’re hot, but I’m not sure she’d think you’re hot enough to fly across the country.” She unzipped the bulky coat and hung it over a chair.
Jake massaged his forehead to ease his burgeoning headache. “Becca, why are you here? Is this about jealousy, or is this another part of some complicated plan you won’t share with me? I can’t keep up with what’s going on. It’s been a hellacious day, and I have to prepare for the launch tomorrow.”
She stepped into him and stared into his eyes. “I’m jealous as hell.”
With a sardonic smile, he murmured, “Hot enough to fly across the country for, huh?”
“Shut up.” She pulled his mouth down to hers.
A groan of relief and need rose in the back of his throat. His tongue dove into her mouth, and she met the thrust, clenching his shirt to the point her nails cut into his back.
He tightened his arm across her lower back, fitting his erection into the supple muscle of her lower belly, and tilted her head to taste her throat. She rocked her hips against his. He moaned and gripped her ass with his free hand to steady her.
“No. Not like this.” He pushed her away to have some space between them and blinked to clear his head. “I can’t tell what’s real anymore. I’m not sure why you’re here. Maybe Symphis found you and forced you to confront me in some sort of plan to do something else to me or the company. Hell, I haven’t slept in so long that I can’t think it through without paranoia. You and I felt pretty real last weekend, but it turned out to be part of a plot someone coerced you into.”
“I was supposed to hack into NJ Legacy’s system. No one told me to sleep with you. That was my decision. There are still no strings. So, no reason for you to freak out that I want more than a one-time repeat.”
“Maybe I want strings, baby. You consider that?”
Her mouth dropped open as wonder filled her eyes. “You do?”
“I don’t know.” He massaged his forehead. “Hell, I don’t know what I want right now.”
“I have to stay off the radar because I want to keep his focus off you and my family, although me here in your place is pretty stupid.”
