Page 19 of Boss Level

“To be an all-important investor who can skip work and play all day.”

Xander chuckled. “It’s incredible. I’m meeting the Queen of Hearts later for mimosas and golf.”

“As if. I hear she takes off your head if you offer her mimosas after lunchtime.”

“Busted.” The way he slumped put him a few inches closer to my height. “Seriously, though. I told the other partners I was coming to peek in on our investment. Really I’m here to help you with security so you don’t have to spread your devs’ time too thin.”

The consideration warmed me, and having him here with me felt right. It was a shame Dominic couldn’t join us until tonight. I may not have embarked on this adventure if it wasn’t for his advice. “Too bad I can’t stick around and watch,” I said.

“Watch me be fierce and imposing?” Xander dipped his head to rest his mouth near my ear. “Kinky girl.”

“Judith?” A new voice cut through the playfulness, and my gut sank when my brain caught up to my ears.

My fear was confirmed when I looked up to see Claire standing a few feet away, watching us with a weak smile and a furrowed brow.

Fuck me. “Claire,hi.” I could play the chameleon if I needed to, but here? Now? The last person I wanted to be was someone’s sweet, naive bride-to-be. “Xander, this is Claire. Dale Monson’s wife.”You know—Dominic’s potential new client? I didn’t have to say the last part aloud. He’d know.

Xander stepped closer to her. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Claire ducked her head. “Hi.” Her voice was instantly soft.

Yeah, the tattoos and salt and pepper hair did that to a lot of women. The muscles didn’t hurt either.

Xander squeezed my arm. “I’m going to leave you two to talk. I need to get to work.”

“Ah— Good luck.” I cursed his name in my mind, and let him walk intomybooth. “So, Claire, what are you doing here?” I turned back to my unexpected companion, for at least the next minute or two.

With Xander gone, she was back to her smiley self. “I love video games. Like, so many of them. So I had to come. There’s some stuff I’m not quite cool with”—she glanced at the AcesPlayed booth—“But I had to see the rest of it.” She frowned suddenly. “Where’s your ring? Did you lose it?”

Fucking— Take the ring off. Put the ring on. I showed her the chain, with my ring at the end. “I didn’t want something happening to it.”

“Like, it getting stolen? Does that happen here?” Claire looked horrified.

“Like it getting damaged or lost.”

“Oh. Right. Of course. So what brings you here?” Claire asked.

Mother-fucking, God damn, son of a—“More or less the same as you. I’ve come every single year since they started. I love this show.” Sometimes truth was the best deception.

“Oh. Does that mean you know the best places to check out?”

“All of them.” I had no idea what kind of an answer she was looking for. “Go to as many panels as you can, visit all the booths. Why would you pass up any of it?”

She grabbed my arm, and I resisted the urge to jerk away. “Are you here alone?” she asked. “We should go see it all together.”

I can’t. I have to oversee my billion-dollar porn game. It killed me to swallow the retort.For Dominic. “I’m actually meeting some friends soon. But we’ll catch up later.” Only a tiny mistruth. My day would be spent in meetings with investors, vendors, and other industry professionals.

“Oh. Okay.” Claire’s expression fell.

“Will you be at opening ceremonies tonight? The concert?” What was I doing?

She shook her head. “The one featuring the smutty smut? No thank you.”

Like that, any twinge of conscience I’d had about abandoning her evaporated. “I guess I’ll see you around.” I spun away. She only had to believe I was marrying Dominic and not tarnishing whatever bullshit image he supposedly had. She didn’t have to be my new BFF.

But Claire’s being here was going to cause some serious issues, if I couldn’t let her see me doing my job.

8

---