Leveling the Field (Gamers)

by Megan Erickson

  He shook his head. “No, I kinda just decided that five minutes ago. Because now that I convinced you take me back, I can’t imagine going over there without you. I know it’s a lot to ask but…please?”

  She smiled and collapsed back on her side then rested her chin on his chest. “I’m a big girl. I can handle myself. You want me by your side, I’m there.”

  He ran a thumb over her lips as he gazed at her with undisguised adoration. It warmed her down to her toes. “What’d I do to deserve you?”

  “Had sex with me on a glitter-covered bearskin rug.”

  He laughed, which made her head bob where it rested on him. “For the record, I’m still picking glitter out of places glitter shouldn’t be.”

  She curled her lips between her teeth.

  He narrowed his eyes. “You think it’s funny.”

  She shook her head.

  He grew still, and she had a second to squeal and try to squirm away before he grabbed her and began tickling her, then he began doing other things with his hands, and she stopped trying to get away from that.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ethan hadn’t been to his parents’ house in…well, it’d been a long time. And now he stood at their front door, his clammy hand in Lissa’s, hoping he didn’t throw up.

  As for Lissa—his woman stood with a straight back, lifted chin, gripping his hand tightly. She might have been faking it, but she looked confident as hell. Today, she wore a simple teal dress, nude heels and a large chunky necklace. She’d clipped back one side of her hair, and everything about her was beautiful and comforting. She turned her head, catching him watching her, and winked.

  He smiled and tugged her closer, pressing a kiss to her lips, and that’s when the front door opened.

  He broke apart quickly, not because he was embarrassed to kiss his girlfriend—yes, girlfriend—in front of his mother, but because he preferred not to be sucking face when she saw him again for the first time.

  There was a small intake of breath, and when Ethan straightened his shirt and looked at his mother, she stood on the doorstep, one hand on her chest, gazing back and forth between Ethan and Lissa, then down to their clasped hands.

  She blinked rapidly. And Ethan swallowed. Because what was there to say to his estranged parents? So he said, “Hello, this is Lissa Kingsman. And if you want to give someone credit for me finally calling you, it should be her.”

  Lissa turned to him with a frown. “No, that’s not true.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  She shook her head, let go of his hand so she could place hers on her hips, and faced him. “No, you need to give yourself some credit for picking up the phone. I wasn’t there when you did that. I wasn’t even speaking to you then, actually.”

  “But I don’t think I would have called if I hadn’t met you.”

  “Okay, maybe I’ll take that tiny bit of credit. She held up her fingers a millimeter apart and raised the tone of her voice. “A teeny tiny bit.”

  He threw up his hands. “Are we really arguing about this right now on my parents’ front porch?”

  Lissa’s eyes widened and she snapped to attention, facing his mother. “Oh shit, uh, shoot. Sorry Mrs. Talley.” She brushed her hand over her hair. “Wow, what you must think of me.” She smacked Ethan’s stomach lightly with the back of her hand. “Face your mother and hug her or something. We can still salvage this.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes and was about to retort when a snuffling noise caught his attention. He turned to his mother, who was now holding a hand over her mouth and she was…laughing.

  Really laughing, as in, chest shaking, tear-inducing shaking. She managed to get herself under control enough to hold out her arms, which Ethan stepped into quickly. She hugged tight, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He closed his eyes as he scented her familiar perfume on her skin. “Hi, Mom.”

  She pulled back and wiped away the lipstick stain she’d left behind. “Hi, Ethan.” Her voice trembled a little, and she cleared it before turning to Lissa. She, too, received a Talley hug, and smiled at him over his mother’s shoulder.

  “Thank you for bringing him to us,” she said, and Lissa only nodded, her eyes a little wet.

  Inside, Ethan’s father sat on his recliner, talking to Grant and Chloe. Ethan’s sister whirled around as Ethan walked into the room, and Ethan wanted to cry at the pure joy on her face.

  Why hadn’t he given this to her earlier? To his parents? Hell, to himself?

  Ethan’s father watched him a little warily. It had been a long time, after all. Then he held out his hand, a brief smile crossing his face as Ethan clasped it and shook.

  He sat down on the loveseat in the living room, Lissa beside him.

  “Thanks for having us,” Ethan said. “I know it’s been a long time but”—he rolled his jaw—“I needed that time.”

  His mother drew her lips between her teeth as his father watched him steadily. “I think we needed the time, too, Ethan. What matters is that we made the first step to all be together again. I have hope we can…find a new normal.”

  Lissa’s hand slipped into his, and he squeezed it. “Yes, I think we can.”

  During dinner, his parents enjoyed shooting rapid-fire questions at Lissa. About her life and her family and job. They especially had a lot of questions about Rona’s Scars. Ethan worried it was too much, but Lissa seemed to flourish under the attention. She poured on the charm so thick, he knew she was about to take over the coveted favorite spot from Grant.

  “Ethan,” his father said, “Chloe showed us you’re back in front of the camera now.”

  He nodded. “It was a hard decision, but now that I’ve done it, I certainly don’t regret it.”

  “You sounded great,” his mother interjected. “And looked very handsome.”

  He laughed softly. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “The videos are getting more attention than we even expected,” Grant said. “We have requests for Ethan to demo games and possibly even make a throwback video to the time he was E-Rad.”

  “This game is a Top Dawg!” Lissa said in a low voice.

  He glared at her. “I did not sound like that.”

  She took a sip of her water. “Uh, yeah you did.”

  “You did,” Chloe said, giggling.

  Ethan sighed. “The women are ganging up on me. We’ll see who I decide to call out on camera next video, hmmm.”

  “Bring it,” Lissa said, nudging him with her elbow.

  After dinner, Ethan made a quick trip to the bathroom, and on the way back, his father met him in the hallway. “Could I speak to you for a moment?”

  Ethan had figured this was coming. He couldn’t use Lissa as a buffer forever. “Yes, of course.”

  His father gestured for him to step into an office, which Ethan did, glancing around at the dark oak furniture and dusty books. He shuffled his feet and turned around to face his father, who was watching him intently. “So, why did you decide to call us now?”

  Ethan laughed softly. “Don’t beat around the bush, Dad, Christ.”

  His dad shrugged, with a smile.

  Ethan ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve been punishing myself for years. And seeing you mourn also made me feel even worse.”

  His father stared at the floor. “We didn’t know what to say to you. I know we failed, but we’re only human. We were angry and…it was hard.”

  He shook his head. “No, I understand. I cut myself off from you, because it was the only way to cauterize the wound.”

  His father looked up. “And now?”

  “And now…well Lissa has had a loss in her life, too. And her family rallied. They all took some blame for her sister’s death, but they didn’t fracture, they glued themselves together into a different picture. I want that for us.”

  His father stepped forward and clasped Ethan in a hug. “I want that, too, son.”

  Ethan squeezed his father, then they both stepped back, clearing their throats awkwardly after that display of
affection. Ethan’s father nodded toward the door. “So, dessert?”

  Ethan grinned. “Yeah, dessert sounds good.”

  …

  Lissa watched as Ethan swirled his spoon in a lake of whipped cream on his plate then scooped up a berry and slipped it into his mouth. Grant said something funny, and Ethan laughed, his face flushed from wine.

  He’d never be the same man he was when he was E-Rad, just as she wasn’t the same woman she was back then, either. But this Ethan was an improvement over the one she first met in the Gamers office. This Ethan laughed and talked more, scowled less, and was…happier.

  He told her she was a huge reason for that, but she knew she was just the catalyst, really. He did everything else on his own, from getting in front of the camera again to reconciling with his parents.

  He glanced at her. “You need more wine? Another slice of cake?”

  She shook her head, still gazing at him with what she knew was undisguised adoration. “No, I’m good.”

  He reached out and rested his hand on hers where she held her wineglass. “I told you how beautiful you look today, right?”

  She smiled. “Yeah, you did.”

  He nodded. “Just checking.”

  A soft sigh made Lissa look up, to see Chloe watching them with her hands clasped to her chest.

  “You look like you’re an extra in a Disney movie, Chloe,” Grant said. “Maybe tone down the gasping and the staring, huh?”

  Chloe glared at him. “I’m observing romance in real time here, Grant. Mind your own business.”

  He rolled his eyes then winked at Lissa when Chloe wasn’t looking.

  Lissa hadn’t known what to expect at all before she met Ethan’s family, but they had fully accepted her. She assumed it had a lot to do with her encouraging Ethan to come back into their lives, but they had also seemed interested in her life.

  She’d been back with Ethan for about a day, but already it seemed as if they had been together much longer.

  When they finally said their good-byes to his family, they walked hand-in-hand. Lissa tried to unclasp her hand so she could get in the car, but Ethan wouldn’t let go. “The weather’s nice, right? Want to take a walk?”

  She glanced down at her heels. “Let me grab my flats out of the car, okay?”

  He motioned to her to wait, and so she did, as he retrieved her shoes from the car. He bent over, taking off her heels and then slipping her flats onto her feet, then he placed her heels gently on the floor of the car. “You ready?”

  Chloe had been right. This was romance. “You know I’m a sure thing, right?”

  Ethan cocked his head. “What?”

  “As in, I already agreed to put up with you. I’ll be getting naked with you tonight, I’m sure, and I’ll probably be the one begging for you to fuck me again in the morning. You don’t have to do all this.” She motioned to her feet.

  He didn’t move for a minute, and then he laughed, his voice echoing off the brick wall of the house. Lissa glanced back and saw a curtain in the Talley house move. Well, crap, hopefully no one heard her talking about fucking.

  She turned back to Ethan, who was wiping his eyes. “Lissa, you are without a doubt the woman for me.”

  “What did I say that was so funny?”

  He stepped toward her and gripped her hands between them. “I wanted to romance you because you deserve it. Because I didn’t from the beginning.”

  “You don’t have to make up for anyth—”

  “I don’t think that. There’s no quota for me to fill. I want to treat you well, romance you, sweep you off your feet, because that’s what feels right. You make me so happy, that all I want to do is make you happy, too.”

  Oh, she was going to cry. “Ethan—”

  “I do make you happy, right?”

  She cradled his jaw with her palm. “Of course you do. I love that I was the one to finally smooth this line on your forehead.” She ran a finger over his scowl line. “And get these to turn up.” She pressed on a corner of his lips and he feigned biting her. She laughed softly. “You make me feel wanted and needed and also really horny.”

  He surged forward to kiss her then mumbled against her lips. “Let’s forget that walk and get home and get naked.”

  She nodded frantically as she squeezed his ass. “That’s a great plan.”

  Epilogue

  Ethan hunched over the handlebars of his cart and sighed. Lissa stood in front of a row of Crock-Pots, her hands on her hips. “So, this one would go with my parents’ kitchen, because it’s blue, but this one is programmable.” She turned to him. “What do you think?”

  He just stared at her, and she rolled her eyes. “You’re a Grinch.”

  “I dislike crowds,” he huffed.

  She smiled. “You’re so cute when you’re grumpy.”

  “How about I be extra grumpy and we get out of here and get naked?”

  She laughed. “There are small children around, you weirdo, stop.”

  He pursed his lips as Lissa turned back to studying the Crock-Pots. They were shopping for Christmas presents. Ethan would have ordered everything online at the last minute, but Lissa wasn’t having that. She said she needed to “see things in person” before she purchased them.

  So that was why he found himself pushing an already full cart around Target, with Lissa in the lead.

  She finally grabbed a box and tossed it into the cart, then scanned the list on her phone. “Okay, my parents down. Let’s do yours now. I’m thinking a Keurig. They have room on their counter, and they never make the whole pot of coffee.” She bit her lip. “What do you think?”

  “I think,” he began but then stopped as he took time to take in the moment. He was shopping. For his parents. For the first time in years. He was with a woman he loved with all of his heart, a woman who had convinced him to better his life.

  He was bitching about shopping and how his feet hurt, and he hadn’t realized just how special this was. How years ago he didn’t have this. He had people he loved to shop for, and that meant something. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, and his voice was hoarse as he said, “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.”

  Lissa studied his face and then stepped beside him, placing her hand on his arm. “You okay?”

  He nodded. “Yes, i-it just kind of hit me now, how I haven’t bought my parents a Christmas present for years, and now I’m here with you. Shopping for our families. That I’m in a relationship with a woman as special as you, who notices and thinks about what kind of present my parents would appreciate.” He shook his head as Lissa’s eyes widened. “Fuck, I love you.”

  Her lips trembled. “Are you seriously making me cry right now? In Target the week before Christmas?”

  She smacked his arm and he started to laugh. “I’m sorry!”

  “You jerk!” she huffed, but her tone was affectionate. “Stop, stop it right now. I don’t want to cry in front of the Crock-Pots.”

  “I love you,” he said again.

  “I love you, too,” she said. “Now let’s go pick out a Keurig.”

  …

  Lissa watched as Ethan shoved the last of the presents they’d bought that afternoon into the hall closet. “Did they fit?” she called from the living room. She’d moved in about a month ago. Ethan had asked her the day after they agreed to get back together, and she’d managed to hold him off for a while. He’d finally put his foot down, because he wanted her there all the time. And to be honest, she wanted to be there.

  He shut the door and made his way toward her. “We bought a lot of things.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re a star now, making big bucks.”

  He rolled his eyes at her, but it was true. Ethan as the face of Gamers was just about the best thing that had happened to the magazine, and to Ethan. He could still be a grumpy guy sometimes, but on camera, he really came alive.

  He sank down on the couch beside her. “Look who’s talking?”

  Not only had they already
received all the funding for the first Rona Kingsman scholarship, but Lissa’s studio business had picked up. “I’m not as famous as you.”

  He shrugged. “I only care about being famous to you.”

  She laughed. “Oh, you’re famous to me all right, baby.”

  He grinned. “So, remind me again of the holiday schedule.”

  She held up her hand and ticked off her fingers. “Christmas Eve is with Grant, Chloe, Sydney, Austin, and Marley. Christmas morning is with my parents. Christmas afternoon and evening is with your parents. The day after Christmas is my family reunion.”

  “Who holds family reunions the day after Chistmas?”

  “The Kingsmans,” she answered. “And I already told them you’re coming and the kids are excited.”

  “Oh God,” he muttered. “Am I going to have to sit at the kiddie table?”

  She swung her legs up so they rested on his lap, and then reclined on the sofa. “If you do, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

  He rested his hand on her feet. “Oh, really? Hmm, actually I really want you to have to make something up to me. I’ll volunteer to sit with the kids.”

  She laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”

  He began to massage her feet as he kept his gaze on her face. “The holidays will be busy for us this year.”

  “Yes,” she said on a moan as he hit a knot in her arch.

  “And you know what?”

  “Hm,” she answered, her eyes closing.

  “I’m grateful for that.”

  She opened her eyes. “Yeah?”

  He smiled. “Yeah and I promise not to be a Grinch. Much.”

  She sank down further into the couch, with a smile. “Sure, whatever you say, Ethan. I’ll love you anyway.”

  A chuckle reached her ears. “Yeah, I know.”

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