“No.” Tension oozed from his voice.
“What if I shoved my breasts in your face and then gave you a blow job?”
He glanced over at her and grinned. “I admit, it wouldn’t help, but I’d still enjoy it.”
At least he was smiling now. Edie toyed with one of her short braids. “How about we raincheck that until later and we go check out the convention for a bit?’
“Or we could do that,” he agreed, pocketing his phone and extending his hand to her. She got up from the bed and took it, and smiled when he leaned down to kiss her again. She could get used to all this attention.
***
And people thought cat ladies were weird, Edie mused as she watched a “knight” with purple hair fight a man dressed as a pink unicorn in a duel to the death. So far today? She’d seen a lot of weird. She and Magnus had strolled through the convention, admiring booths and seeing the sights. Magnus explained that it wasn’t an official gaming convention, but there was still a big “gamer presence” here at the con, and every time they passed a crowded booth, they paused to see what the fuss was about. Whenever it was video-game related, she could practically see the wheels in Magnus’s head turning. It was interesting to watch him, knowing that he was seeing what others found interesting about games and mentally stowing away that information for later.
There was food, of course—Edie’s favorite—and at one booth, Magnus had bought her a pair of cat ears to wear on her head. It had made him smile despite his constant frowns as he checked his phone, so she’d agreed to it. Magnus had been approached several times by more fans, all of whom he gave autographs to (thankfully not on body parts) and answered questions for. Inevitably, someone would ask about Levi, and Magnus had to make excuses for his brother. He was running late. He’d had car trouble. He was sick. Each time Magnus gave an answer, he delivered it with a smile, but his hand tightened on hers, and she knew he was stewing at the fact that Levi wasn’t here.
Then it was time for Magnus’s panel. The enormous room was packed, but Edie managed to find a seat in the audience between a Brony and a Sailor Scout. From her vantage point, she watched the men on the panel discuss Warrior Shop, its infamous buyout for two billion dollars, and what the Sullivan brothers had planned for the future. Magnus quickly had the panelists—and the audience—won over with his charisma and humor, and when he deflected questions about his upcoming projects, it was good natured.
They asked questions about Warrior Shop, the ideas behind it, the creativity, the coding, and Magnus talked for what felt like hours, discussing how he and Levi had coded it while in college, then shopped it around to investors, and when that failed, they’d put it up on the Internet themselves by maxing out their credit cards to pay for everything.
Occasionally a creativity question would come up, concepts about the game, the story behind the characters, and Magnus would deflect those questions with a smile. “My brother, Levi, could answer those if he were here, but unfortunately he’s stuck in traffic.”
And each time he avoided a question, Edie gave a little wince of sympathy. Where was Levi? Why was he hanging Magnus out to dry when he should have been here assisting him? Why was it that Magnus always had to cover for his brother?
When the panel was over, Magnus and the others got a standing ovation, but Edie’s heart hurt for Magnus. She could see the lines of tension on his face and knew they had to do with his brother. Why couldn’t Levi be reliable and devoted . . . like Bianca?
Then again, Bianca was sometimes devoted to the point of smothering, so maybe there was a happy medium somewhere out there.
Ignoring the ache in her knee, Edie headed for the stage and waited for Magnus to finish greeting people. She smiled brightly at him when his attention fixed on her. “That was a great talk.”
“I’m glad you liked it,” he told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her along behind him. “Come with me. We’re going to go back to our room.”
“Oh, okay,” she said, perplexed, and then Magnus was dragging her behind him through the crowds at high speed. Her knee protested the quick movements after hours of walking, but she suspected Magnus was lost in thought at the moment and had forgotten about her old injury. He was always super careful of her during sex, so it wasn’t like him to be thoughtless. She did her best to keep up, stumbling after him.
They crossed the large convention floor and rounded the corner to the nearest elevator. The line to go upstairs stretched around the corner. Magnus considered it, then shook his head. “This way,” he said, dragging Edie along again. “There’s another elevator down here—”
He stopped short, nearly running into Levi, who was pulling a carry-on behind him. Three costumed girls surrounded him. At the sight of his brother, Levi’s face lit up. “Hey, bro!” His gaze moved along to Edie, holding hands with Magnus, and his smile faded a bit. In fact, he looked downright unhappy to see Edie with Magnus, which stung. “Hi, Edie.”
“Levi,” Magnus said, his voice utterly pleasant and so out of character for how he was acting. “Glad to see you could make it.”
“Oh man,” Levi said, throwing his hands up dramatically. “These ladies will tell you, traffic is a beast out there. I’ve been stuck for hours—”
“I’m sure,” Magnus said, cutting him off. “Edie and I were just leaving.”
Levi tilted his head. “Why’s she here anyhow?”
Magnus’s eyes narrowed. “She’s a consultant for a game I’m thinking about creating. One with cats.”
“She is?”
Edie looked up at Magnus in surprise. She was? Why wasn’t he telling his brother she was here with him as his date?
“We can talk about it later,” Magnus said to Levi. “We’re going upstairs. We need to rest.” He started to head for the stairs, and for the first time, Edie protested. “I can’t,” she told him. “The stairs will kill me.”
Magnus’s expression softened as he looked down at her. “I’m being thoughtless, aren’t I? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down for a moment?”
“Oh, shit,” Levi said, then gestured toward the lobby. “That’s right. You want me to get a wheelchair for you, Edie?”
“I don’t need a fucking wheelchair,” she told him, irritated.
He gave her an abashed look. “Gee, I’m sorry. I was just trying to be helpful.”
The other girls gave her a horrified look, as if she were the one out of line. Fuck that. She threw her hands up. She wasn’t an invalid. She just had a bad goddamn knee and had spent too much time on it today. “I am going to go wait in line for the elevator,” she told Magnus. “I’ll see you up at the room. Why don’t you and Levi go have a talk somewhere?”
He moved forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be up shortly.”
She nodded, and the brothers left. She noticed that as Magnus moved away, Levi was giving them another one of those strange looks. She shot him the bird, because if he thought his brother could do better than a girl like her, he could go fuck himself. She was just as normal as the last girl. Maybe a bit bitchier, but it was because people like Levi tried to offer her a wheelchair and everyone else acted like she was the jerk for being offended.
Everyone but Magnus, that is. Brownie points in his direction for that, at least.
Eventually it was Edie’s turn for the elevator, and she went up to their room, grabbed a drink from the minibar, and filled the bathtub with scorching hot water. Icing her knee would probably be better for it, but fuck it. She was going to hurt in the morning anyhow. Might as well enjoy a hot bath and a drink. As the tub filled, she downed her tiny bottle of alcohol and grabbed two more, because she was feeling good.
Within ten minutes, she was toasted. The bubble bath was heavenly, the tub a luxury she never got to enjoy at home since the tub was upstairs with Bianca. And she was having a great damn time, because being in the big, bubbled tu
b reminded her of the scene from Pretty Woman. It was a similar situation, wasn’t it? Big sexy guy with ridiculous amounts of money got a great hotel room and his broke-ass booty call got to enjoy the bathroom. Of course, in Pretty Woman, the hotel wasn’t full of nerds in costumes, and Edie wasn’t a hooker, but those were semantics.
She could still belt out a Prince song just like Julia Roberts.
Chapter Thirteen
Magnus was in an absolutely shitty mood when he returned to the hotel room. The worst thing about conventions was that he had to constantly be in “on” mode. He couldn’t be rude to a fan who stopped him for an autograph, because they didn’t know that his brother had bailed on him or that Levi had insulted his girlfriend and Magnus had dragged her all over the convention without thinking about her knee. They didn’t know Magnus was weeks behind on his projected schedule and that all he wanted to do was go upstairs and fuck Edie until she screamed his name. They didn’t know he’d signed thirty autographs five minutes beforehand. A fan wouldn’t know any of that, so he did his best to be gracious and friendly, because he remembered what it was like to be shut down without being heard.
But today wasn’t his best day for a con. It had started out promising enough. He had Edie to himself for a few days, with no cats and no juggling of schedules. He’d been looking forward to hanging around the conference with her, seeing what fans were excited about, hearing feedback from peers and fans both, and getting his head back into the game. Nothing was better for the creative juices than a long weekend surrounded by other people buzzing from the same geeky vibe. He’d hoped the conference would recharge Levi’s interest, too.
He should have known better. Levi had been full of excuses from the start, and when he’d not shown up for the panel, Magnus was fucking embarrassed. Levi was one half of Sullivan Games. He was a representative of who they were. And he’d flaked out because, as he’d texted Magnus, he wanted to sleep late. And he was a billionaire now, so he could do that, couldn’t he?
Levi just didn’t fucking get it. It infuriated Magnus, which was why he’d lit into Levi the moment he’d gotten his brother away from the entourage of fans he’d surrounded himself with. They’d sat down in a quiet booth at the hotel restaurant, and Magnus had hoped they could hash out a schedule for the weekend if nothing else. But instead, Levi kept trying to turn the tables on Magnus.
Why are you here with Edie? he’d asked, as if it were more important than Levi disappointing him again. Bianca doesn’t know.
I don’t give a fuck about Bianca, Magnus had told him.
But . . . you’re just supposed to lead Edie around. Make her think you like her. You’re not supposed to sleep with her.
At which point, Magnus had been so infuriated that he’d gotten up, thrown money on the table to pay for the bill, and stormed away. His mood had gotten blacker every moment that he had to stand and wait for the goddamn elevator, so he’d hauled ass up the stairs instead, mentally kicking himself for suggesting it to Edie earlier. She’d been so incredibly indignant at Levi’s boneheaded suggestion, that he knew her feelings had to be hurt. She always covered with a few choice words, but he knew his Edie was a marshmallow on the inside.
He’d just have to make it up to her.
He seemed to be making up for Levi’s failings a lot lately.
Magnus paused at the top of the stairs, realizing he’d thought of her as “his Edie.” When had that happened? He thought back. . . . The gardens at Buchanan Manor. She’d flipped up her eye patch and thrown her arms around him to kiss him, and he’d been claimed just as surely as she’d claimed those cats of hers. The thought of it made him smile.
Even if his weekend was fucking shit and his brother was ruining their new project, at least he had Edie. Magnus put his hand on the door handle to the room and paused.
Something inside was wailing. His heart stuttered in his chest as he pushed the door open. Was Edie crying? Was she so upset that she’d been sobbing all this time? But as the wail trilled up to a higher note and started to make smacking noises, he realized it was . . . singing.
Sort of.
Splashing accompanied the wailing, followed by more smacking noises. This he had to see for himself. Magnus headed for the bathroom and pushed open the door.
And laughed.
Edie was in the bathtub, bubbles up to her breasts. She still had her hair in her braids, and her cat ears were on her head. Tiny empty bottles from the mini-bar lined the edge of the tub, and she picked up a handful of bubbles and tossed it into the air, still singing that screechy song.
It was so fucking adorable that he thought his chest would burst. “You need a refill, cat lady?”
She looked over at him and gave him a dopey smile. “Actually, yes. I’m having a Pretty Woman moment. You want to join me in the tub? Wait.” She paused, tilting her head. “I don’t know if that was in the movie or not. Never mind.” She waved a hand at him, dismissing him, and suds flew everywhere.
He chuckled. “How come you’re drunk?”
“Because I was mad earlier and there was no one to get mad at.” She stuck out her lower lip and then sank down into the bubbles again. “But now I’m not mad, I’m just drunk. Oh, but your brother’s still a huge douche.”
He shook his head and sat down on the edge of the tub. “Don’t remind me.”
“I won’t,” she said merrily. “But I just thought you should know. I don’t like the way he treats you.”
Was she mad on his behalf, then? Not over the wheelchair comment? “I don’t like the way he treats me, either. I don’t know what to do with him, but we’re partners. I can’t move ahead without him.”
She snorted, the sound so exaggerated it came across as horse-like. “Some partner. My vibrator gets more done than he does.”
Magnus’s eyes widened. “You’re very drunk, aren’t you?”
“So?” she said defensively. “I thought I’d have a good time myself if you were going to stay downstairs and sign boobs.”
“I didn’t sign boobs. I promise.” Not that he wasn’t asked. “I told everyone that my girlfriend was with me and she didn’t like that sort of thing.”
“Everyone but Levi,” she pointed out. “To him, I’m just your cat-lady consultant.”
He inwardly winced. So she’d picked up on that and was stewing over it, was she? “It’s a different scenario with Levi.”
“Different how?”
“Different enough that I probably shouldn’t try to explain it to a drunk woman.” He leaned forward and tweaked one of her short braids. “And I’m sorry if it hurt your feelings. That was never my intention at all.”
“Apology accepted,” she told him with a brilliant smile, then launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck. “Let’s have sex now.”
He helped her get to her feet, noticing how she was favoring her bad leg. “No sex right now. You’re drunk and I’m way too sober.”
“Then get drunk with me,” she told him. “It’s fun.” She gave him a hopeful look. “How about that blow job we mentioned earlier?”
Magnus grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped it around her. “How about we get you sober first?”
“Fair enough,” she agreed, and clung to his neck, all of her weight leaning on him. “Carry me?”
He laughed again, but he hauled her into his arms, careful of her knee. “You are way too drunk. Let’s get you to bed.” He carried her out of the bathroom and into the suite, then toweled her off while she drunkenly spouted nonsense. Then, still naked, he tucked her into bed.
She curled up amidst the pillows and then patted the empty mattress next to her. “Come snuggle?”
It was hard to resist her when she looked that cute. He got into bed next to her and lay down. She immediately put her arms around him and tucked her head into the crook of his shoulder, and then yawned right in his face.
Within moments, she was sacked out, her breathing deep and even. He didn’t move, just stroked her back. The day had been shit, but when Edie made him smile and curled up against him, things didn’t seem so bad. It was a shame she lived so far away, or he’d insist she sleep over every night, her arms locked around his waist as if she were afraid to let go. He . . . kind of liked that. He felt as if he were always chasing Levi, making demands of his brother. It felt weirdly relaxing to be with Edie and realize neither one of them made demands of the other.
It was nice. It was something he wanted every day. Without upsetting Edie’s sleeping form, Magnus reached over and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. He swiped his thumb over the screen and began to text with one hand, the other gently stroking her hair.
Hey, man, he sent to Hunter. You’re the real estate guru. Tell one of your guys that I’m in the market for a new apartment. Good neighborhood. Something with a view of the park, maybe. It needs to either be on the first floor or have at least two elevators.
The response pinged back on his phone almost immediately. Two elevators? Should I even ask?
Just in case one goes down, Magnus sent back. Basically stairs are a no-go for the new place. He didn’t want Edie to ever have to worry about being able to access the place. All one floor.
Hunter: Do you care what it looks like? Art style? Price?
Magnus glanced down at the woman sleeping against him, thinking about what she’d want. Then, he answered, No art style. Something that’s only a few mil, I think. Ten to twenty should be sufficient. He didn’t want Edie freaking out over the price too much. After a moment’s thought, he added, Make sure it’s cat-friendly.
Hunter: Cat . . . friendly? Was that auto-correct? Did you mean cab?
Magnus: No, I meant cat. Like meow meow. I want something with several rooms, too. And space for litter boxes.
Hunter: I see.
Magnus: I know it’s weird, man. Just put in my request.
Hunter: I have to ask. Are you . . . adopting several cats?
The Taming of the Billionaire Page 16
