She hugged Jake’s mother and then Jake, patting him on the back. From one side, her hair was almost shaven to her scalp, while the other side hung at an angle over her alluring eyes. She wore a slinky sweater over skinny jeans and low-cut dress boots, and she didn’t seem put off by the shabby furnishings at the government owned housing units, or projects, that Jake and his mother lived at.
But then, neither was Dex. He accepted a cup of orange juice and sat in a vinyl chair at a metal card table used as a kitchen table.
Jake’s mother, Gladys, was too proud to accept gifts of furniture or money from him, so Gunner had to be content with gifting sports tickets to Jake as well as paying for his rehabilitation. Apparently, motherly love overcame pride where it came to Jake.
A warm feeling engulfed Gunner as he watched Jake laughing and joking with Safire and Dex. He was pantomiming headshots and bayonet stabs as he gave his interview on how he gained Potentate level.
Gunner kept his fingers crossed, hoping Jake wouldn’t reveal the surprise he had that he’d won, but the boy was fortunately bragging and taking credit for everything.
Everything looked good, until the camera panned to Safire. One eyebrow was up and the other down, and her lips were twisted, as if she was either skeptical or puzzled.
Or maybe she was thinking about him and the limo ride. That had to be it. She missed him as much as he missed her.
Chapter Eight
“Something doesn’t add up here,” Safire muttered to herself as she hunched over her laptop. An errant petal dropped from one of the broken long stem roses, and she swept it aside impatiently.
She queried the game database and tried to recreate Jake Rodriguez’s steps from the night before. How was it possible for the boy to claim he hadn’t seen the clue she’d left in the President’s globe? It was the key to getting the nuclear football open and clearing his way into the Illuminati level.
She went through the logs for Jake’s account. He’d activated a time bomb to score as many points as he could from the Presidential level, but seemed to have been aimlessly hitting objects on the President’s desk.
Then, twenty minutes before midnight, everything came together at once, and the only way in was through the globe that contained the nuclear football.
But, Jake didn’t know about the message in the globe when I asked him.
Safire palmed her hands over her eyes. The football in the globe was one of her cleverest hacks, and she’d been looking forward to the first person through the portal to be in on her secret where she revealed the identity of Fire_Hunter, a thorn in her side who’d been haunting the forums and spreading lies about her. The hack would have deactivated Fire_Hunter’s abilities and turned him into the mean old troll he deserved to be.
Maybe Jake is the old troll’s friend.
Safire dug through the game database to see if Jake was in Fire_Hunter’s guild. She went through each user name and avatar twice, but found no matches. Fire_Hunter was a Planet Wargames loner, and he was only in the Stormtrooper level, following orders without thinking for himself.
Her fingers shook as she thought of all the havoc she could wreak on the troll’s Thrive Game account, but he was a paying customer and she could not ethically hack his account. But if Jake had activated the back attack against the Stormtrooper and turned him into a hideous troll, it would have been okay, because it was a fellow gamer who went after him.
Crap. Her trap hadn’t worked. Jake was probably so excited to get into the Illuminati’s secret rune book that he’d overlooked the instructions to humiliate the enemy of the regime.
Safire yawned, rubbing her eyes, and her thoughts returned to Gunner. He’d been a real sweetheart taking her on that after-dark bridge tour. Who would have thought of a champagne filled limo ride as a first date? It was romantic, hot, and oh, yeah, she’d been thoroughly fulfilled in every sweet nook and cranny she owned. Besides, thinking about Gunner was a heck of a lot more healthy than obsessing over that troll who went through chat rooms and spread nasty rumors about her or dwelling on a virtual love affair that fizzled out without a trace.
She browsed to her Facebook account and saw that she’d received a friend request from Gunner. Ahh … that meant he was still thinking about her.
She accepted the friend request and typed a note. Gunner, thanks for showing a girl a great time. XOX
Seconds later, he liked it and her phone rang at the same time.
“Hey, sexy,” Gunner’s deep, sultry voice strummed gel-like through her veins. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Did you have a good time last night?”
“The best.”
“Only the best?”
“Why, I didn’t know there was anything better than the best.” Safire suppressed a giggle. She couldn’t act stupid and immature around the hottest bachelor in New York City, could she? “To what good luck do I owe this call?”
“Just wondering if you’re free tonight. You said you had to work.”
“I do, actually.” Now that he brought up work, she was on comfortable and familiar territory. “We announced the winner for the Thrive Planet Wargames World Tour. I don’t know if you saw the webcast, but it’s a boy who lost both his legs to a bomb blast.”
“I did, actually,” Gunner said. “I know the boy. He’s my Wishing With A Star buddy.”
“Get out of here!” Safire jolted upright in her seat. “No wonder his screen name is Thumper_Gunner.”
“I’m so proud of him. I saw how you met him at his apartment. The kid’s a real fighter. Imagine being a star quarterback one minute and then a double amputee the next. When the Wishing With A Star Foundation got in touch with me two years ago, my heart went out to him.”
“Then I’m glad he’s the winner,” Safire said. “He deserves it. He told me he’s doing better in school now that he’s no longer on the football field, and he wants to be a doctor—someone who treats burn victims.”
“This world tour will do him much good,” Gunner said. “His mother won’t accept charity, other than medical bills for her son, so this tour will let them have a chance to get out and see the rest of the world.”
“He told me he wants to visit amputees at every stop, and he already wants to donate his scholarship to making prosthetic limbs for children in impoverished countries.” Safire wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Wow, Gunner. I didn’t know you knew him, too. Otherwise, we could have had you come along for the award interview.”
“It’s okay,” Gunner said. “I don’t want to steal his moment of glory. Otherwise, the spotlight would have been on me, and that wouldn’t have been right.”
Sigh. Could this Gunner Gibson be more perfect? If he weren’t Clarissa’s client, Safire would be three-quarters of the way in love with him already.
Unfortunately, Clarissa had warned her that if word got out that she and Gunner were an item, her competitors could accuse her of granting favors to Gunner to keep him as her client.
As if.
Safire’s fist clenched and if Clarissa were anywhere near her, she would have taken a vaporizer gun and blasted her to another dimension.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Gunner said. “Are you free tonight?”
“Not really. I’m still going over the game database. There’s something that’s not matching up about Jake’s account.”
“Would it disqualify him?” Gunner’s voice tightened across the line.
“No, it’s just a discrepancy. Maybe he was too excited to mention what he saw beside the nuclear football. Unfortunately, now that the first person had accessed it, the message is gone. Oh, well, it was probably late at night and his mother was telling him to go to bed. You know how it is.”
“Yes, I do …” His voice trailed off suggestively.
“You do what?” A quiver of delight tingled between her thighs.
“I know how it is when you want a minute more, and then another minute, and another. That’s how I feel about you. Do you have a minute?”
&nbs
p; “Well … I could use a break, but not too long.”
“Not long enough for me to send a limo to bring you to my place?”
Oh, this was moving way too fast. He wanted her at his place already? But then, wow. She liked it. A lot. Too bad she couldn’t go, at least not without setting off the posse that was her family.
“Actually, Clarissa decided to have a family New Year’s dinner at her place. My mom and my baby sister, Gianna, will be there, so I can’t miss it. Not to mention I have to figure out why Jake didn’t see my Easter egg.”
“Let’s not worry about Jake,” Gunner said. “You said he won fair and square. Everything was hectic since it was a timed test. He was so excited he forgot to read the message.”
“You’re probably right.” Safire’s shoulders drooped. She really shouldn’t be thinking of getting back at a customer no matter how much he annoyed her.
Was she misusing her position for her own personal vendettas? Geez, that would be low of her.
Except the troller guy was all over the internet spreading vicious rumors about her—how she cheated her way into her Ph.D. by falsifying data, and how the awards she’d won were rigged. He’d even accused her of sleeping with Dex Remington to get the lead designer position on the newest top secret game coming out of Thrive.
But then, why was she wasting precious seconds thinking of him when she had Gunner Godlicious Gibson on the line?
“Now that we only have a few minutes, tell me what you’re wearing. Or maybe not wearing.” Gunner’s voice burred in that low, meaningful way that suggested he was either drunk or highly turned on, or both.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m wearing nothing sexy.”
“You’re wearing nothing? That’s very promising.”
Actually she was wearing sweats and an extra-large Thrive t-shirt, but it wouldn’t fit the fantasy. After all, wasn’t the entire point of video gaming to fuel a fantasy? Invincible power, precise control, and yes, sexy costumes and hot looking avatars.
“Actually, I have a leather holster strapped across my chest.”
“Hmm … and are you armed and dangerous?”
“Maybe.” Safire stepped away from the kitchen table and moved to her single sofa. “What about you? Are you dangerous?”
“Very. I’ve got my gunblade in my hand, hard and ready to shoot.”
Safire licked her lips at the memory of his silk over steel rod. It was a marvel of engineering how erect and solid it could get.
She couldn’t help letting out a moan as she snuggled with the fleece throw Dex had given her—a collage covered with her video game artwork.
“Are you comfortable, Safire?”
“I’m sitting on my couch.”
“I’m lying on my bed—a king-sized waterbed. Have you ever slept on a waterbed?”
“No, can’t say I have,” Safire mumbled. “They still make those things?”
“Definitely. Do you want to know how many beds I have in my house?” Gunner’s voice deepened. “Would you like a tour?”
“I would.” She lay back and closed her eyes, trying to imagine the grand mansion he lived in.
“I have a water bed, a feather bed, a Sleep Number, a futon, a platform bed, a gel bed … what kind of bed do you have?”
“I don’t know. A regular one?” Her voice squeaked and she hiccupped.
“Tell you what,” Gunner said. “Why don’t you take off that holster and any panties you’re wearing and crawl into your bed. Go ahead, I’m waiting.”
Safire’s nerves hummed at the invitation, and she rubbed herself through her sweat pants before slipping them off. She put the phone on speaker and crawled into her bed. The cool sheets felt smooth over her skin where every nerve was heightened.
“Are you in your bed?” Gunner’s breathing rasped.
“Yes. I have you on speaker.”
“Can you turn on the camera?”
“Oh, I, uh, well, sure.” This was something new. While Safire had had phone sex before, it had been purely auditory—no visuals.
She turned on the video feed. Gunner’s eyes were seductive at half-mast as he grinned at her. Then horrors. He moved the phone to show his erection.
Hold the horses. It was standing up like a flag pole and almost as long.
Safire swallowed a load of drool and gawked at it, her finger tingling and aching to touch.
“Sweetheart, show me your titties,” Gunner said.
As if hypnotized by a wizard, Safire obeyed. She lifted the bed sheet and pointed her phone camera at her erect nipples.
“Oh, yes, yes,” Gunner hissed. “Touch them. Pinch your nipples. Prop up your phone where I can see you, then touch yourself.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Panic mixed with lust roiled her lower belly with a maelstrom of want and desire. How did she know he wasn’t recording this? She was a computer person. She well knew how easily any data, once digitized, could be copied and preserved forever.
“You can do it, darling. Show me how you satisfy yourself on those long, lonely nights.”
Long, lonely? How would he know she wasn’t hooking up with anyone regularly?
Despite her misgivings, Safire propped her phone on her nightstand and arched her back, one hand over her breast and the other between her legs.
She was soaked down there already, and swollen, and just a tickle was enough for her to wiggle and moan.
“That’s hot, sweetie, so fucking sexy.” Gunner’s voice roughened. “I wish I could be licking you. Long and slow, licking and slurping your juices. So sweet, so gushing wet.”
His dirty talk revved her hormones and set her blood singing. Her fingers circled her clit and rubbed, lightly at first, but as she closed her eyes and pictured Gunner—his abs, the divots at his hips, his massive pecs, and the mat of hair leading to his huge cock, she gave herself over to her busy fingers.
“Safire, I’m fisting my cock, holding tight, so tight like your sweet little pussy, glistening with your sweet honey. I want you so much. Want to plug you and fuck you hard, pound into you, over, and over, and over. Saf, you still with me?”
“Uh … yes, I want … want you. Oh, I’m about to cream.”
“I can see you. You’re so beautiful, so perfect. Slip two fingers inside and rock your hips. That’s it …”
The sensations were heightened five hundred percent with Gunner watching her, and a wildfire consumed Safire as she squeezed her clit and rocked her hips. Her climax shot her through the ceiling. “Gunner …”
“Safire,” he groaned loudly and his breath rushed through his teeth as he sought his release.
Safire licked her lips and picked up the phone, cradling it to her ear. “Gunner, are you embarrassed?”
“No, sweetheart, are you?” His voice was husky and rough.
“No, besides, you weren’t watching.” She beamed at him, feeling superior.
“That’s okay, sweetheart, I can see the reruns. Now, do you want to cuddle while I clean up?”
Safire dropped the phone upside down on her bed.
Idiot. He had been recording it. What had she been thinking? She barely knew Gunner Gibson, other than he was a bigshot football player with a reputation as a womanizer. He probably had an entire video library of women he’d had video sex with.
“Safire?” Gunner’s voice sounded muffled in the bedspread. “You can trust me. You know that, don’t you?”
Actually she didn’t know anything, and the fact that the Remington brothers were upset with Gunner about something doing with their precious sister was suspicious.
Safire picked up the phone and turned off the camera. “I, uh, have to go.”
She hung up and threw the phone on the floor. How was she going to endure New Year’s dinner with her mother and sisters knowing that her life could blow up at any moment?
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Chapter Nine
Gunner frowned and stared at his cell phone. Safire had hung up on him. He scratched his
head and shrugged. Most women were flattered that he’d watch a rerun of their video chats, but Safire seemed put off.
Maybe she wasn’t as into him as he thought. How could she not want him to watch a rerun of her coming apart? It would only make him hornier and desire her more.
He wasn’t about to be written off yet. There had to be a reason she’d turned off so quickly. Or was he not good enough for her?
Raw anger burned through Gunner’s chest. Maybe he was good enough to fuck, but not to be seen with her family. Clarissa had explained to him once how despite the fact that her mother was widowed and living off social security, she still thought of herself as higher class than Westerners—always referring back to the five thousand years of Chinese civilization and calling everyone else barbarians.
We’ll see about that.
Too bad for her she’d mentioned a New Year’s dinner with her family.
Gunner cranked the shower to hot and jumped in. After washing and shaving, he slicked back his hair, dressed himself in a sleek Armani suit, and called for his limo. He asked the driver to pick up flowers on the way over and a bottle of vintage Duval-Leroy champagne. Before leaving his mansion, Gunner put on diamond cufflinks.
Forty minutes later, he was outside the brownstone where Clarissa and Safire had apartments. It had started snowing on the way over, and the sidewalks and streets were covered with a thin layer of fluffy powder.
Gunner climbed the short set of steps to the outer door and used the keycode Clarissa had given him to deactivate the lock. Once inside, he headed to Clarissa’s unit which was on the second floor while Safire’s was on the third. He was Clarissa’s client, and there was no way she’d throw him out. In fact, she’d act like she’d invited him and was happy to present him to her mother.
Gunner was vindicated when Clarissa opened her door.
“Why, Gunner, what a surprise. You brought flowers and champagne for me?” The glint in her narrow gaze told him she knew full well the flowers were for Safire, and somehow she disapproved of whatever she thought was going on between them.
As if she has a right to disapprove. I’m the man with the golden arm. She works for me.
The Remingtons_Blush of Love Page 5
