Game Maker (Game #2)

by BJ Harvey

  I should say no. I need to say no.

  “Sure.”

  “I know it’s late and I—” She stops talking when my answer registers. “You will?” she asks, her voice going higher.

  “I’m not working tomorrow, and Zander would want me to see you safely to your door.” And only to your door I reiterate to myself.

  A slow, sexy smile graces her lips, and again I’m torn between running away in the other direction and throwing my arm out, wrapping it around her waist, and pulling her hard against my body so that I can taste her mouth.

  “Okay . . . but you know I won’t make you stand outside my door to have coffee.” She tilts her head to the side and her eyes dance with amusement. I’m screwed. I might as well go straight to her brother’s house now, fall on my sword, and get it over with because with that head tilt, I’m done for.

  The cab pulls to a stop outside a modern brick duplex in Lincoln Park. I pull out some notes from my wallet and hand it over to the driver before stepping out of the door and holding out my hand for Danika to follow.

  When her warm skin glides against mine, her breath hitches. She’s just as affected by me as I am by her. I shouldn’t find that so fucking gratifying?

  Placing my hand on the small of her back, I lead her toward the building. I try not to think about it, but it’s impossible to ignore the body heat radiating through the back of her dress. I may be a gentleman, but I’m still a man.

  She types in her security code at the door and leads the way inside when I hold the door open for her. I follow behind her when the elevator arrives, making my way to the corner of the car while she pushes the button for her floor, then moves to flank the wall opposite me.

  I watch the display as the car begins its ascent.

  “How are you not drunk?” she blurts out, grabbing my attention.

  I can’t help but chuckle. “Many years of practice,” I reply. “Besides, I only had a few. Zan and Kate picked me up from the station after my shift.” And I couldn’t stop myself from offering to see you home.

  Her expression changes minutely before she schools her features. “Right. Well, thank you for escorting me.”

  “Haven’t finished the job yet,” I say with a wink. Her cheeks turn pink and she looks to the floor as a wry smile graces her lips.

  “I hope you’re not a quitter.”

  “Never give up—that’s my motto,” I say, puffing out my chest and earning myself a giggle. “You should smile all the time. You’d have the men lining up for a chance.”

  “Oh stop!”

  “What?” I ask, holding my hands up in mock surrender. “It’s the truth. I don’t lie. It’s not in my nature.”

  She just grins and shakes her head at me. The elevator slows down and stops, a loud ding filling the small space as the doors ease open.

  “After you, madam.” I sweep my hand out to usher her ahead of me, and she walks ahead as I follow her down a small hallway.

  She stops outside a black lacquered door, pulls out her key and turns the lock but hesitates. She slowly spins to face me. “Thank you.”

  I get a whiff of her perfume and I fight the urge to lean in close.

  “Honestly, Dani. You’re on my way.”

  She smiles and tilts her head. “No, for talking to me, asking me about work, all of it. You treat me like an adult, not just the baby sister.” She looks at me with those big blue eyes of hers, full of sincerity and totally honest.

  “You’re welcome. Now where’s this coffee you promised me?”

  She grins and pushes her door open, breaking through the serious turn in the conversation.

  I had to do it, though. The last thing I need is to do something stupid and come onto Zan’s sister. He’s the closest thing I have to a blood brother. Bringing her home was a favor to him. I have to remember that I can admire from afar but acting on it totally breaks the bro code.

  “It’ll be a quick one. I know you’ve probably got work in the morning.”

  She flicks on some wall lights and walks into a surprisingly large kitchen. In fact, as my eyes scan the living area, I realize that the whole apartment is rather upmarket and definitely bigger than I’d expected. “This place is awesome. I knew you were doing well but this is better than well, Dani.”

  “The permanent position came with a pay rise,” she replies by way of explanation and I grin in response.

  “I must be in the wrong profession,” I say, walking to the glass doors leading to a small balcony and looking out toward the brightly lit skyline. The comfortable silence is then broken by the telltale sound of beans being spun around a grinder followed by the whirring of the coffee machine as it begins to percolate.

  I turn and walk back over toward the breakfast bar, claiming a bar stool and leaning forward on my elbows. “I probably shouldn’t have come up.”

  “Why not?” she replies, her back still to me. She reaches to the cabinet above her head and pulls down two mugs, and my traitorous eyes drop to her thighs, the devil on my shoulder huffing and puffing to get her already short dress to ride up even higher. Down, boy.

  I shouldn’t be having these thoughts about her. I should have brother-like feelings toward her.

  There’s nothing brotherly about my next move, my eyes raking over her body, trailing down the exposed skin from her neck to the small of her back, and over the fabric-covered curve of one of the best asses I’ve ever seen. It’s not small, it’s not big—it’s a perfect handful that any straight man would see and immediately picture his hands holding tight to while bouncing it up and down on his dick.

  “It’s just coffee, Zach,” she says, knocking me out of the fantasy and back to reality.

  “It’s never just coffee when served by a beautiful woman, Dani ,” I reply frankly. Never have I been more glad to be as sober as I am right now because without my faculties, I would be taking my life in my hands without a single thought.

  She turns around and grins at me. “You’re right but everyone gets thirsty.” She fills the mugs and places one of them in front of me. “It’s kind of weird, you know . . .” She leans back against the far counter before lifting her own cup to her mouth, her eyes glued to mine.

  “What’s that?”

  Lowering her mug, she does that damn head tilt again. “We’ve known each other for, what? Like seven years?”

  “At least,” I reply, thinking back to Zander bringing his mom and three sisters around to our apartment when it was still being repaired from the unfortunate fire incident which saw me reamed out by my mom at the same time as having an epiphany about the direction I wanted my life to go in.

  “I was around fourteen . . .”

  “Wow, that makes me feel—”

  She smirks and it’s just as effective as her head-tilting habit. “Old?”

  “Yeah, old.”

  “I have a confession,” she whispers, a sly smile playing on her lips. There’s a glint in her eye that I’ve seen many a time. It’s a mischievous up-to-no-good sparkle that has me wanting to know more.

  “Okay, I’ll bite,” I say with a laugh, choosing to take life by the throat and see what this little minx has to tell me. Putting my coffee to one side, I stand up straight and cross my arms. “What would you like to confess, sweet and innocent Danika?”

  “I used to have a crush on you,” she blurts out.

  Cue total and utter silence—like, the awkward crickets-chirping kind—and my eyes grow wide. Of all the things I expected her to say, that was not one of them.

  I prop my elbows on the counter between us, leaning forward. Whatever handle I thought I had on this situation, I have absolutely none now. I’m on her hook, and she’s slowly but surely been reeling me in all night it seems, culminating in this exact moment. “Since when?” I ask roughly.

  “The day I met you,” she whispers, as if it’s the biggest secret in the world.

  Don’t get me wrong; I’m not blind. I knew Dani had taken a shining to me way back when, but I
was twenty-three to her fourteen. That’s cradle snatching in the extreme—as well as illegal—and I never saw her as anything more than Zander’s baby sister. Until she moved to Chicago that is.

  I’m a dead man walking.

  “When did it stop?” The silence stretches between us and it’s as if we’re suspended in time, the air around us growing thick, almost stifling.

  She doesn’t answer me though. She braces her hands on either side of her body, gripping the counter as if her life depends on it, her lips parted as her chest rises and falls rapidly.

  Then it hits me like a sledge hammer—she doesn’t need to speak because her silence is her answer. If ever there was a time for conflicted feelings to wage war inside me, it’s now. However, my brain seems to have gone on strike and all responsible—and logical—thoughts escape me as I slide off my stool and walk around to stand in front of her, our eyes locked the entire time.

  I lift my hand up and tuck a stray tendril of her chocolate brown hair behind her ear, her breath catching when my finger grazes the sensitive skin of her throat on the way down. I move closer, stopping barely an inch away. My heart hammers in my chest, my body burning from the inside out and my conscience? He’s still on vacation.

  “Tell me to go, Dani.”

  She opens her mouth to speak but clamps it shut when the backs of my knuckles graze over her collarbone, my hands moving of their own accord.

  “You’re beautiful,” I murmur, my hand still on a discovery mission. Her skin feels so smooth, the contact sending sparks of heat throughout my entire body. Never has it been this intense with a woman before. The undeniable chemistry between us is now beyond my realm of control, even if I was able to ignore it.

  Her eyes are half-mast with lust, her body leaning into mine. “I . . .”

  “You’re stunning. Amazing. I’ve watched you all night. As much as I tried not to, I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Zach . . .” she says hoarsely, and I feel it right down in my dick.

  “You’re my best friend’s baby sister,” I whisper, as if trying to talk myself out of the wrong I’m already doing.

  “I’m not a baby anymore.”

  “Fuck no you’re not,” I growl. “I have to fight not going hard every time I’m around you.” I lean forward, our mouths now a whisper’s breath away from each other, her lips offering a temptation I’m powerless to resist. “Say no, Grasshopper. Because if I don’t leave right now I’m going to kiss you. I’m going to do more than touch you . . .”

  My eyes drop down to watch her tongue wet her lips, and I groan at the thought of all the other places I want to feel her tongue, all of the things we could do right here, right now.

  “You’re so fucking sexy,” I say gruffly before I lace my fingers with hers and move them back down to the counter, holding them in place.

  With nothing else left for it, I move my head to close the last half-inch between us and slowly touch my lips to hers, savoring that first taste of her mouth, relishing in the whimper that escapes her throat the moment my tongue caresses hers.

  The last coherent thought I have is hoping that Zander will kill me quickly for what I’ve just done.

  One moment I’m having the best kiss of my entire life, the next, he pulls back and takes a massive and very sudden step back.

  His eyes blaze but I’m frozen in place, my mind stuck in a Zach-induced haze. Wanting more, needing more, I lift my arms to move toward him.

  “I’ve gotta go,” he says in a rush.

  “Zach, I—”

  “We shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t hav—”

  I step forward. “Please don’t finish that sentence,” I whisper, my shock making way for total mortification.

  “I’ve gotta go.” Then, quicker than you can say “fuck a duck,” I’m left in my empty apartment, staring at the front door that clicks shut behind him, wondering if I just witnessed the world’s fastest disappearing act.

  Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy magic tricks as much as the next girl, but it is cruel and unusual punishment to grant me the starring act of my hottest ever fantasy then just have him vanish into thin air.

  I slump back against the counter to hold myself up more than anything, and am still there five minutes later when Abi walks through the front door.

  “You alright there, Dan?”

  “I . . . I don’t know,” I reply honestly, my head still spinning.

  “What do you need?” she asks, walking over and putting both of her hands on my shoulders and giving me a shake. “Shots? Weed? Valium? I’d offer sex, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been diving down in disco town so I might be a bit rusty.”

  That finally snaps me out of it. “Shots. Then I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and forget it ever happened.” I walk across to our liquor cabinet where I know there’s a bottle of tequila. Grabbing two shot glasses off the shelf, I plonk them down on the kitchen counter in front of Abi.

  “Forget what happened?”

  “Nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing is going to happen. Nobody knows nothing, and that’s how it’s going to stay.” I screw off the cap and pour two very full shots before putting the bottle down, lifting the glass to my lips, and slamming my head back, downing it in one go.

  Abi’s eyes grow wide but she soon recovers and drinks her shot in the same manner. She picks up the bottle and refills our glasses. “So this is serious then . . .”

  “Nope,” I reply, relishing in the burn of the tequila as I pour it down my throat once more. “I just laid myself out for the only guy I’ve ever truly wanted. He touched me. He branded me, and after one kiss, he owned me.”

  “None of that sounds bad . . .”

  “Then he left.”

  “The firefighter?”

  “Yep. Who else would it be? My life is work, making games, playing games, and dreaming of one day getting Zach Cooper’s attention. He was supposed to kiss me and realize I’m his dream woman and brother be damned, he’d have me anyway.”

  I grab the bottle and walk into the living room. Then it hits me that Abi isn’t supposed to be here. “Aren’t you working overnight?” I put the tequila on the coffee table in front of me and flop down onto our suede sectional.

  “I popped home to grab a change of clothes for the gym in the morning.” She comes into the room and leans against the side of the couch, looking down at me.

  “But you just had two shots?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.

  “It’ll just make the shift all that more enjoyable, won’t it?” she says with a wink. “Are you working tomorrow?”

  I shake my head. “The boss gave us a mental health day. I’m just going to drink myself into a stupor tonight, pass out in bed, and hope the last half hour of my life was the universe playing a really bad prank on me.”

  “Was it really that bad?”

  “That good! Then that bad.”

  “Damn. He’s got you tied up in knots, doesn’t he?”

  “I more or less told him I’d been crushing on him for years.”

  The normally unflappable Abi stills, her mouth dropping open. “So that’s it then?”

  “He literally kissed and ran, Abi. You can’t come back from that.”

  “Maybe your lips are like crack?” she quips with a smirk.

  “And what? He had to get far away from them?”

  “If they’re crack, it means he’ll be back . . .”

  “You’re a poet and you don’t even know it,” I reply, and she sticks her tongue out at me, my depressing mood now thankfully broken.

  “Oh, I know it.” She leans down and ruffles my hair. “I better get going. Kyle’s covering for me, and he’ll be expecting payback of the deviant kind when I get back.” Her grin turns scandalous.

  “Like you’d ever say no. He’s the six-foot-four personification of a god.”

  “And boy, did the good Lord grace him with a really big cock.” Her eyes glaze over dreamily.

  “Not what I need to
hear right now.” Leaning over, I pour myself another shot but sit back and stare at it. I kind of wish I was enjoying Zach and his giant cock. Well . . . I’d hope it was at least above average. With all those muscles, that latent strength you can just feel by looking at him, God wouldn’t disgrace him with a three-inch ‘shower not a grower.’

  “Are you going to drink that or stare at it in hope that it magically ends up in your blood stream?”

  “I’m going to absorb the liquor through my armor and replenish my power bar with its amazing healing qualities.”

  She shakes her head, rolling her eyes at me before disappearing down the hallway towards her bedroom. “You’ve been playing that damn war game again haven’t you?”

  “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”

  “Bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “Just the easy ones,” I retort.

  “Touché.” Her voice is closer this time, and she reappears with a black backpack over her shoulder and heads toward the door. She stops and looks over at me. “I can stay if you want. Kyle will work till morning for me.”

  My eyes sting with the threat of semi-intoxicated tears, but I thankfully swallow hard and hold them at bay. “I’m fine. My mate, José, here will keep me company.” I reach over and pull the bottle into my lap, cuddling it into my boobs.

  “José is a good nighttime companion.”

  “Jack and Johnny are worthy bedmates too.”

  Her expression turns serious. “He’s just a man, Dani. Remember that, okay?”

  “He’s the man, Abi. I’ve known it since I was fourteen.”

  “Still just a man,” she repeats.

  Leaning forward, I wrap my fingers around the full shot glass and lift it in her direction. “Last one, I promise.”

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that a man-child who makes you cry is not worth the tears.”

  “He’s not—”

  A loud knock at the door interrupts me. My eyes widen, and Abi quirks a brow. Turning to look through the peephole, she spins back around with a huge grin on her face. “Well, well, well . . . I do believe you might have a late night gentleman caller, Ms. Roberts. Should I let him in or make him sweat?”