Game of Love

by Melissa Foster

  “Sam, this is my girlfriend, Ellie Parker.”

  Girlfriend? Girlfriend. She tasted the word…and liked it. “Hi, Sam.”

  “Ellie, it’s a pleasure. I’ll just put your name on the always-allow-in list.” Sam winked at Dex.

  “You know it. Thanks, Sam.” Dex led her through the office, which was open, like an enormous loft, and lined with workstations. There were no interior walls, no cubicles, and more computers than she could count. Every employee was dressed casually, sporting a wide variety of denim, leather, and tattoos. An orange couch was tucked in the far corner of the space beside three oversized chairs and faced three enormous television screens. At least they looked like television screens, but they appeared to be fed by computers.

  Dex raked his eyes down Ellie’s body as they walked. “Wow, you look hot. I’m surprised to see you.” He squeezed her hand.

  “I do?”

  “Smokin’.”

  She tucked that compliment in the secret Dexy compartment in her heart, right beside the memory of his voice telling her he loved her. That he’d always love her. “I’m sorry for just showing up like this. I wanted to give you my news in person.”

  He stopped cold. His eyes darkened. “Please tell me you didn’t come here to tell me you’re leaving, because it’s not true what they say about public spaces. I would totally make a scene here.”

  She knew he was only half kidding. “No. It’s great news.” She saw Regina approaching from the far end of the room.

  He let out a fast breath. “Good.”

  “Dex.” Regina touched his arm. “Small problem.” The tattooed head of the viper that ran across her collarbone poked out from beneath her tank top. The hoodie she wore dipped low in the back, weighed down by the hood, and Ellie caught another mass of colorful tattoos that crept up the back of her neck. Regina smiled at Ellie. “Hey there, Ellie. Nice to see you.”

  “Hi.” She didn’t know what to make of Regina. The thick makeup and tattoos, combined with the harsh stares she’d given Ellie the night they’d met at the bar, contrasted sharply with the kinder woman who had made her breakfast and just flashed a sincere smile in her direction. Had she chosen a more visual path for her own walls and worn her mistrust on her sleeve, she wondered if it would have helped her deal with life in the long run. Regina seemed comfortable in her own tattooed skin, while Ellie, even after twenty-five years, was just beginning to get used to hers.

  Everyone has walls to hide behind and secret insecurities. Some just hide them better than others. She glanced at Dex, his jaw muscles twitching, his hand still embracing hers, and she knew his heart was tortured by her as much as it loved her.

  Regina turned back to Dex. Ellie noticed the way she held on to his arm, and she felt a flash of jealousy, which she quickly pushed away.

  “KI pushed their date back a week. Just announced it. They’re going out after us.” Regina tightened her grip on Dex’s arm as he flexed his fist.

  “Shit. Okay, meet in five, conference room.” He tugged Ellie toward his office. “I’m sorry, El, but this is critical. Can we talk fast?” He closed the door behind them and took her in his arms, then kissed her deeply, rendering her brain cells useless. Her hands found his hips and she pressed into him, her body instantly responding with a sharp ache of need down low. The parts that he’d awakened last night wanted to come out to play. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

  When they drew apart, she blinked several times, trying to regain control of her breathing. Damn, he knew how to steal her worries—and replace them with pure and luscious lust.

  “What’s your news?”

  “How can…?” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How can you do that? Jesus, Dex. Your kisses are like aphrodisiacs.”

  He pressed his hips to hers again. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” she said in a dreamy whisper. Shit. Concentrate. She took a step back. “You stay there,” she teased, holding her palm up. “I got a job. A really great job.”

  He opened his arms again. “That’s great, El. What school?”

  She held her palm up to ward him off. “Don’t touch me until I get this out, because you make me babble like a lovesick fool.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “I do. Hmm…”

  She laughed softly, then continued. “Maple Elementary. It’s a privately funded alternative education school.”

  “Sure. I know them. My mom has spent time there, teaching kids art, I think.”

  “Really? Oh, Dex. I loved the woman who interviewed me, Blythe Wagner, and their vision is so close to mine. She’d even like me to work on a proposal for the educational software I told you about. It’ll take extra hours, which I won’t be paid for, but I know I can do it.”

  “This is great news. I knew things would work out. You’re too smart and too passionate about education and kids not to have found someplace where you can make a difference. See, fate really does play a part in our lives.”

  Fate? That word was coming up a lot lately, and Ellie found herself giving it a little more serious consideration.

  Chapter Eighteen

  DEX HEADED INTO the conference room with a full heart. He knew how much courage it took for Ellie to come to his office. He also knew it meant she was really trying with regard to their relationship, and that thought chipped away at the anxiety that had been prickling his mind for the past twelve hours. He half expected her to bolt from his life, but his mother’s words had really hit home. She’s the one you probably need to trust the most right now. Maybe his mother was right. He needed to put his faith in Ellie instead of expecting the worst.

  The full conference room, the strained faces, and the quiet that came over his employees when he entered the room pushed his thoughts of Ellie to the background and brought the issues with their release date to the forefront.

  Mitch’s voice broke the silence. “We should wait to release.”

  Dex stood in the doorway, mulling over the ramifications of delaying the release date. Angry fans. Bad press.

  “They’re doing the next big thing rollout. We can’t win. I knew we should’ve gone out later. One week after they launch, we should release. I suggested that two weeks ago,” said Mike Talen, one of their programmers.

  “What do we gain by doing that?” Dex asked.

  Mike looked around the room, as if someone else might offer up the answer. Dex crossed his arms and waited for him to respond.

  “We become the next big thing,” Mike said.

  “How about going out a month after instead of a week? We can see what they roll out and tweak our system to beat it?” Regina suggested.

  Dex walked around the room and felt the eyes of his employees trailing him. He’d been thinking about Ellie’s project—and Thrive—ever since she’d first mentioned the idea of writing a proposal for a grant to develop educational software. He’d even mentioned it to Mitch, and Mitch had been excited about the possibility. The idea had sparked Dex’s interest for more than just the intellectual challenge of developing such a program. It offered a way to balance out his misgivings about the gaming industry. With his and Mitch’s design and development skills and a few key staff members pitching in, they could make a kick-ass educational software program that felt more like a game than a method for teaching.

  As he surveyed his employees, he saw a team of loyal, dedicated, hard-working, intelligent people. A bright and worthy team he had personally selected. The decisions Dex made today would affect every person in that room, plus the ones who worked for Thrive but weren’t present. Dex didn’t take these obligations lightly, but then again, no matter how relaxed he looked on the outside, he never took anything lightly—ever. Expanding development into new areas would potentially provide security for his staff, if the expansion didn’t cost them too much of their game-development time. The idea was a tricky one, and testing the viability of it on a small scale was inspiring. Even if it meant that he put his own capital into the initial development and prototypes,
together—with his team and Ellie—they could potentially change the face of education for low-income kids. The idea renewed his enthusiasm and bolstered his confidence.

  “Who here believes in our product?” Dex raised his hand. “Show of hands.”

  Every person in the room raised their hand.

  “Great. You can put your hands down now.” He circled the far end of the conference table. “Who here thinks our product is better than KI’s?”

  Again, the same show of hands.

  “What’s the chance of error on the release?” He looked at his programmers. “Statistically speaking? Percentage?” Dex already knew it was near zero, but he wanted to make a point.

  “You’re not an indie developer anymore, Dex. Chances with our team are safely two percent or less,” Mike said.

  “He’s right. I’ve looked over the beta testing. We’ve nailed it.” Regina gnawed on the end of her pen with a nod.

  “And what do we lose by postponing?” Dex had circled the room and stood at the front of it again.

  “If their game kicks ass and we don’t leave enough lead time after they release, users might not jump as quickly to check our game out and we could lose a huge market share,” Mitch said.

  After a minute of silence, Dex asked, “What about our fans? Do we not create these games for our fans? Isn’t that the whole damn reason we’re in this business? To bring games to the fans that they’ll stay up all night playing?” Pissing off their mothers, girlfriends, wives, teachers. Shirking responsibilities and letting their muscles atrophy.

  “They’ll get over it. Companies delay all the time,” Mike said with a wave of his hand.

  Dex set his palms on the table and narrowed his eyes, dragging them slowly across each and every face in the room. “They’ll get over it.” He let the words sink in, then pushed from the table and crossed his arms, speaking louder. “They’ll get over it.” He stared at Mike. “They’ll fucking get over it?” Dex took a slow stroll to Mike’s side of the table. “Let me ask you something, Mike. If you waited three years to buy something you wanted, and you found out it was going to take a month longer in production, how would you react?”

  Mike shrugged.

  “Really?” Dex lifted his brows, feeling the eyes in the room boring into him. “Because if I had to wait a month for anything, I’d be pissed. And as a teenager, I’d have bashed the company on as many forums as possible. Even if I went back to those same forums a month later to retract what I’d posted, those initial posts still exist. Our rep is tarnished, and rightly so.”

  He took a deep breath and let it out loud and fast. “Our product is ready. It’s rolling out to reviewers, and we have buyers standing by. I didn’t set out to let people down. I set out to create the best damned games I possibly could, without the bullshit excuses that I hated as a kid. And to a kid, any reason to delay a game release is a bullshit excuse. That is what Thrive Entertainment is all about. Making our fans happy. Live. Play. Thrive. They can’t play if we’re holding up the release to play marketing games.”

  “But, Dex, it’s been shown that the second game out can make a killing,” Lisa, a thirtysomething blonde and their financial marketing consultant, pointed out.

  “How close to breaking even are we with preorders?” Dex asked.

  Lisa shook her head. “More than two million preorders. We’re long past clear, and we’ve broken preorder records. There’s no failing unless our game fails.”

  Dex nodded. He held up his palms toward the ceiling, then weighed them like two sides of a scale. “Let’s see. We believe in our product. We’ve tested the hell out of it. We can make fans happy.” He lowered his right hand. “Or…we play scared and piss off fans, maybe sell more, maybe not.” His right hand dropped lower. “Seems to me it’s a no-brainer.”

  “Dex.” Regina crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “It’s a risk.”

  “It’s a calculated risk, and it’s the one we’re taking. If we cower to KI’s bullshit, it says we don’t believe in our product. I believe in our product.”

  And I believe in Ellie.

  Dex took one last look around the room and said, “So that’s the game plan. Let’s go out there and make it happen. Regina, I’m taking off.” Dex had created his world. Now it was time to make something more of it. He could use this world he created for fun or for good. I’m choosing both.

  “Wait. We have the podcast at six and a marketing meeting at eight.” Regina shot a look at Mitch.

  “Yeah, I know. I’ve got something I need to take care of. Mitch, you take the podcast. Reg, you can handle the marketing.”

  Dex headed out the door—and toward his future.

  Chapter Nineteen

  THE APARTMENT WAS quiet when Dex walked in. Too quiet. He called Ellie’s name. She hadn’t answered her phone and now the silence caused his stomach to feel funky. He found the empty envelope from her bank card and her cell phone on the table by the front door. Her black boots were on the rug beside the table. She’d never leave without her boots. Why am I even thinking that way? Shouldn’t today have proven to him that she wasn’t going anywhere? At least not right now.

  “El?” He walked through the empty living room and dining room. Her cell phone vibrated, and he picked it up on his way back to the bedroom. Asshole flashed on the screen. Asshole? He smiled. That was so Ellie. He didn’t have to wonder long to figure out who Asshole was. Ellie could have used that term for any guy who pissed her off. A boss. A boyfriend. The thought made him cringe. He squelched the urge to read the text when he caught sight of Ellie through the halfway-open bathroom door, dancing in her lacy black underwear and T-shirt. He tossed the phone on the bed and stepped closer. The sound of her humming caused his ears to perk up. He watched her through the partially open door. Her hips swayed as her shoulders moved from side to side in a seductively slow dance. Damn, she was hot. The hair dryer was beside the sink, and the scent of her sweet perfume filled his senses. His body heated up, and when she threw her hands up above her head and did a sexy little shimmy, he just about lost it. Christ almighty, she was his midnight fantasy come true.

  He couldn’t have stopped himself if his life depended on it. He stepped into the bathroom, and Ellie started; a yelp slipped from her lips. He took her in his arms and captured the balance of the fright—her panting breaths—in his mouth. She smelled fresh and feminine, and her skin was so damn soft as he slipped his hands beneath her T-shirt. When he met the bare skin of her breasts, a deep growl escaped his lungs.

  She was totally in sync with him, loving him right back with her hungry kiss. She tugged the earbuds from her ears, and he lifted her up to the countertop, pushed her shirt up to her shoulders, and shoved his hips between her legs. He could barely hold back. He wanted Ellie. All of Ellie. She buried her hands in his hair and drew his mouth to her breasts. He gratefully obliged and stroked her nipples with his tongue until she writhed against him. Fuck, she’s so hot. She drew his lips back to hers and kissed him hard and deep, and as she drew back, she licked his bottom lip, then took it in her mouth and sucked it, letting it go slowly through her teeth. Dex groaned, unable to form a coherent thought. He grabbed her ass and pulled her to the edge of the counter, then rubbed her through her damp panties. She settled her teeth on the tender skin of his neck while her tongue worked slow strokes over his already-heated skin; then she pressed his hand firmly between her legs.

  “Ellie,” he whispered. He pulled at her panties, and she lifted up, giving him access to draw them down; then he lowered his mouth to her and loved her until her body shook with tiny pulses of pleasure.

  “Dex. Please. Please,” she begged.

  He ripped open his jeans, and they dropped to his ankles. Their eyes locked, and she leaned in to him, kissing him again. Knowing she tasted herself on his lips nearly made him explode. He grabbed her hips and drove into her. She gasped a breath against his lips, unwilling to release her grip on the back of his neck, and then kissed him again.
She was so wet, so hot; he wasn’t going to last. Shit, he wanted to make love to her for hours. He wanted to keep her in his arms forever, breathe air into her lungs, and fill her heart with happiness so she never had reason to feel sad or alone—or leave him again. He’d waited so long to be with her, and now his body trembled with a mixture of desire, anticipation, and worry that he refused to acknowledge. He needed more of her—to drive the fear away. Far, far away. In one quick motion, he lifted her off the counter. Her legs clung to his waist; her breasts pressed against his T-shirt, her lips against his mouth. She used his biceps for leverage and met each thrust with a slide of her own.

  He carried her to the bed, still buried deep inside her, and they tumbled down together. She smiled up at him and his heart swelled. He pushed her hair from her face. “God, I love you.”

  Ellie grabbed his hips and whispered, “Dexy, go slow.”

  He obeyed, and she did that incredibly sexy thing with her hips again, that little move that stroked him—and her—in the spot that sent them both spiraling toward the edge, and as her eyes fluttered closed, she whispered, “Now.” He surged up, penetrating deeper. She clawed at his back, and her inner muscles squeezed every inch of him in erotic contractions, pulling the come right out of him. He nuzzled against her neck, teeth clenched, grunting through his own earth-shattering release.

  Chapter Twenty

  THEY LAY ON their backs wearing only T-shirts and gratified smiles. The murmur of a vibration rattled beneath Ellie. With one arm, Dex hoisted Ellie against his side and grabbed her phone from beneath her.

  “Sorry. I tossed your phone there. It was buzzing when I walked in, and then I saw you and…” He licked his lips.

  She moaned. “You kill me.” Ellie kissed his chest and made no move to look at her phone. Today had been too perfect. She didn’t want to chance seeing another text from Bruce and clouding her happiness. She snuggled against Dex. “Something changed for me today. For the first time in forever, I feel like lots of good stuff is happening at once.”