Gamer Girl

by Carmen Willow

  He eyed her up and down. “Ah, Kate Hepburn man-jams. Another mystery solved.”

  Sarah crossed her arms. “I thought you were room service.”

  “It might be a good idea to look through the little peephole before you open the door, Miss Adams. Just so you know who you’re inviting in.” Eamon stood there. “Well, am I invited in?”

  Sarah had to smile at that. “You sound like a vampire. Should I put on a cross?”

  “Couldn’t hurt,” he teased.

  “Come in then,” Sarah said, stepping out of his way. “How can I help you, Mr. Byrne?” She said as he came into the room.

  Eamon turned to face her. “Do you have a printer?”

  “Yeah, I do.” Sarah walked over to one of the cases and opened it. Inside it was a small printer and a couple reams of paper. “Here it is.”

  Eamon knelt by the case and closed it back up. “Excellent,” he said as he lifted up the case.

  There was another knock on the door and this time, Sarah looked through the peephole at the same time the man said, “Room service.”

  Sarah opened the door. The young man brought the cart into the room and put the tray on the table along with a large pot of tea. Sarah signed for the meal and let the man out.

  Eamon walked over and lifted the lid. “Prime rib?” He looked to Sarah and pretended to be shocked. “You ordered prime rib on my tab?”

  “Yep, rare with a baked potato, yeast roll and asparagus.” Sarah stared down at the plate. It was the mega cut, more than a half pound of rare beef. “You want to share?” She asked him.

  They stared at one another. Finally, Eamon put the printer case down. “Don’t mind if I do.” He laughed, “I forgot to order.”

  They both sat down at the little table. Sarah went to the kitchenette cabinet and found a plate and some silverware. Without further ado, she deftly divided the meat, the potato, the roll and the asparagus. Sarah put butter on her potato, Eamon put sour cream on his. She got back up and rooted through the kitchen drawers for more pepper packets while Eamon was content with the salt. Neither spoke much until the meal was finished.

  Eamon lay his napkin down. “Thanks for the meal.”

  Sarah smiled, “You know you could have called me. I would have taken care of room service for you.”

  “Ah, but this way, I had the pleasure of your company for dinner, Miss Adams.” He rose from his chair and started toward the door. Sarah followed him.

  “Glad you found my company pleasing, sir.”

  Eamon reached the door and turned around abruptly causing Sarah to step back a little. She could tell that he was engaged in some internal debate but then he nodded as if he’d reached a decision. “Look, Miss Adams. You did well today. You hung in, pulled your weight and were very cheerful about all of it. I appreciate it.”

  “Thanks,” Sarah replied her eyes alight with pleasure at his sincere compliment for her work. “I—oh, hold still.” Sarah put her fingers to the corner of Eamon’s mouth to remove a crumb of food that was stuck on his lip. She brushed his mouth, her brow furrowed in concentration as she worked to remove the offending bit of bread.

  Was it her touch? Her expression? The smell of her hair? He took hold of her wrist to pull her hand away and lost it. He turned her hand and tasted her palm. “Damn,” Eamon whispered against her skin, pulling her close to him with one arm and running his hand through her hair to position her lips with the other. He teased her lower lip, wetting it and breathing lightly over its surface before biting gently. Urgently, he covered her lips with his.

  Surprised and then overwhelmed by a flood of lustful feelings, Sarah could only react as she opened her mouth under his. He put her up against the wall, undid the buttons of her pajama top, and ran his hand over her skin from her waist to her breast. When his fingers found her nipple, Sarah’s knees started to give way. “Mmm,” was all she could manage to say.

  Tucking an arm under her knees, Eamon carried her to the bed and followed her down onto its surface, kissing her lips over and over again, his mouth slightly parted, his breath mixing with hers. Opening her own mouth wider, she invited him in and relished the movement of his tongue into her mouth while her hands searched under his shirt for his warm bare skin. When her hands found his nipples, she gently pinched them and broke free from Eamon’s kiss so that she could lick his nipples and be rewarded by his already firm erection growing even harder against her leg.

  Eamon sat back, ripped his shirt off and lay beside her so that they were skin to skin from the waist up. With a gentle shove he pushed her on her back and started trailing hot kisses down her neck and her collarbone while his hand found her breast and began to roll her nipple until it rose firm and hard between his fingers. As Sarah watched, he lowered his mouth to her breast and began to suck and nibble in an enticing rhythm so sweet that she had to thrust her hip up and down against Eamon’s manhood in response as she trailed her hands over as much of his bare skin as she could reach.

  Already on the brink of total cognitive meltdown, Sarah ability to reason went bye-bye when Eamon progressed southward into the pants of her man-jams, and gently slipped two fingers inside her. Sarah moaned. She was already slick and as his fingers began to move, to tease, Sarah slipped further and further into mindless bliss while her hand instinctively sought his cock.

  The phone rang! Loudly! Eamon and Sarah sprang apart to opposite sides of the bed staring at one another with mutual expressions of shock, incredulity, horror and, finally, returning common sense. Clutching her top closed, she picked up the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Miss Adams, do you want another wakeup call?”

  Without taking her eyes from his she said, “Yes, please, 6:30. Goodbye.” Sarah glanced down as she hung up the phone and looked Eamon’s way once more.

  He’d found his t-shirt and put it back on, but he seemed unsure. “I…I don’t know what…I didn’t…” He struggled to find words as he ran a hand through his hair, looked at the ceiling and then at the floor, clearly embarrassed.

  Sarah could see that he’d been knocked off balance by what had happened just as she was. “I know, I know. I didn’t either….” Sarah let her words trail away.

  As she watched, Eamon regained his composure once more for he turned to her with his game face back in place. “I apologize, Miss Adams. I do not do this with the staff—I don’t do this. And it won’t happen again, I am sorry it did tonight.”

  Ouch! He really hadn’t wanted this to happen. He really didn’t want her. “I believe you, Mr. Byrne.” Sarah swallowed her hurt feelings.

  Too embarrassed to realize that she was hurt, Eamon shot her a look of pure appreciation. “Thank you for that, Sarah. Be in the lobby by seven thirty.” Eamon walked over to the door and grabbed the printer case he’d dropped there. “Put the security lock on after I leave.”

  Sarah felt like she’d been kicked. Whatever had been simmering between them for weeks exploded tonight and caught them both in the blast. Eamon was a guy—it meant nothing to him, he made that clear, but Sarah knew that she was in trouble. When he kissed her, when he touched her, every bit of good sense she had went flying out of her head. All she could feel was the need to be close to him, to surround him, to take him inside herself and wring every bit of lustful passion out of him that he had to give. Knowing that Eamon could make her lose control like that disturbed her. It took another two chapters of Terry Pratchett before Sarah’s book was touching her nose. She put it down, turned off the light and fell asleep.

  Chapter 12

  Sarah went downstairs Friday morning wearing lime green skinny jeans with a long skinny t-shirt that draped softly to her hips finished off with a black shrunken jacket that hit halfway down her ribs and a mustard-colored scarf. She wore her low heeled knee-high boots over the pants legs.

  Hot breakfast foods: burritos and egg sandwiches, coffee, and drink for the troops were waiting for them to grab on their way out of the hotel. They hit the exposition h
all and put out the products in their display booth. The guys all had on their Mirrored Nation t-shirts. Sarah walked over to Eamon. “I can grab a tee if you want me to.” She said nodding her head toward the guys.

  “Nah, Miss Adams, you look fine. Wear it tomorrow. Saturday is our big day; that’ll be a good day to don the corporate armor.” His tone was neutral, businesslike and his expression was carefully guarded.

  “Okay, I’ll wear it tomorrow, proudly.” Sarah went back to setting up the booth. An hour later, they were all too busy to talk.

  The doors opened and the video gamers, the fans, the people in costumes all began to pour in. Sarah was surprised and delighted to see people of all ages show up. Hank, Kyle, Eamon and the other guys came and went during the day as they gave demos and presentations regarding Mirrored Nations: Reflections. Sarah stayed to man the booth with whoever was free.

  It was hard work and a lot of fun. Sarah met people who loved the game like she did. Some fans came to the convention dressed in costumes from the game. Wearing costumes or cosplay was popular in role playing games, and Sarah had a great time guessing which characters the fans were emulating with their outfits.

  By the end of the opening day everyone had a good feeling about Mirrored Nation: Reflections. They’d had a lot of traffic at their booth and the demos and talks had been well attended. That night, Sarah slept like a baby.

  Saturday! Friday had been busy, but Saturday was a zoo! The hall was packed with gamers, graphic novel fans, table top game players and just about anyone else who loved fantasy and science fiction. Sarah wore a pair of Levis and her official Mirrored Nation: Reflections T-shirt. It was so busy that she barely got away to use the restroom let alone eat any lunch. By the time they were able to leave, Sarah was starving.

  During the van ride home Kyle asked, “So, you going out with us Sarah?”

  “Going out?”

  “Sure, we always go out on Saturday night. Tribal custom,” Kyle explained.

  Sarah held up her hands. “So are we talking dinner, or what?”

  “Or what! Drinking, dancing, carousing, that’s what we’re talking about,” Hank told her.

  “What time and where?”

  Eamon spoke up. “The van will leave at nine and return at closing time. There’s a popular place nearby that’s highly recommended.”

  If she grabbed something quick from the hotel snack shop, Sarah could eat, shower and be down in time to join the guys. “Sounds good. I’d love to go.”

  The guys gave a general cheer. When they arrived at the hotel, Sarah started for the snack shop, but Eamon stopped her. “Dinner’s waiting upstairs, Miss Adams. Ready to go. My room this time.” When Sarah hesitated, he said, “It’s strictly business, Miss Adams. Not personal.”

  Sarah followed him up. Eamon had ordered roast chicken, new potatoes, and green beans for two. “That smells delicious!” Sarah sighed.

  Eamon pulled out a chair for her and then sat down opposite. Sarah was too famished to do anything but attend to the food. She demolished the chicken in short order. When she sat back, sated, she sighed. “That was wonderful. Thank you so much.”

  “No need to thank me, Miss Adams. I owed you a meal. And I wanted to show you that you can trust me to be appropriate in my behavior.”

  Sarah stood up. “Point proved, but thanks anyway. It was much better than the sandwich I had in mind. Now I must get dressed.” She turned to leave the room but stopped and faced him again. “Are you going tonight?”

  Eamon didn’t answer for a moment. Then he said, “Yeah, I’m going. See you at nine.”

  “Great. See you then.”

  Nine o’clock and Eamon walked down to the lobby. Sarah was standing with the guys. Eamon felt like he’d been punched in the gut. The woman was like a ninja! One good look and he was poleaxed! Sarah had on a sleeveless dress in a soft blue with a deep v-neck and fabric draped in a crisscross in the front. The dress hugged her luscious curves, and all he could think of was how much he wanted to slip it off her shoulders and play with those beautiful breasts he’d kissed and fondled. He was forced to do something he hadn’t needed to do since high school. He began ticking off the elements of the periodic table in his head. He got to iron before he was able to join them and say, “All right everyone, let’s head out.”

  The club was crowded and they all had to stand around for awhile. As they waited, the guys took turns asking Sarah to dance. Then the guys started looking for someone to hook up with. Eamon was hailed by one of the guys from another video game company and went over to talk with him while Sarah waited for a table.

  Sarah didn’t get asked to dance after that, so she resigned herself to crowd watching. When the waitress came around to take orders, Sarah ordered a bottle of water. I’ll drink the water and call a taxi, she thought.

  “Having fun, Miss Adams?” Eamon slid in next to her on the bench.

  “Actually, I am going to call a taxi. I am more tired than I thought.” Sarah ran a hand through her hair.

  Eamon whipped out his phone, but Sarah grabbed his arm and her eyes flashed fire. “Don’t do that!”

  He looked at her like she was crazy. “What?”

  “Don’t rescue me. I am perfectly capable of calling my own taxi. Why does everyone treat me as though I only had half a brain?”

  Eamon ducked his head. He was trying not to laugh. “Sorry, it’s an older brother thing. Don’t take it seriously or personally.” He managed to put on a sober face. “Actually, I think you are very capable, Miss Adams, even more capable than I suspected when I decided to hire you.”

  Somewhat mollified, Sarah took a breath and said, “Thank you.” She called information and reached a taxi company. “They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.” Sarah slid out from behind the table and rose to her feet.

  “Mind if I wait with you at the door, or would that be rescuing again?” Eamon asked her.

  “I wouldn’t mind,” Sarah told him. They walked out of the main area of the club and into the foyer where it was quieter.

  Eamon stood at the glass doors of the club looking out into the street. “Listen, tomorrow you and I will leave the convention at noon and catch the puddle jumper to O’Hare. We have to be back in Kansas City by Monday morning for a meeting Monday afternoon that we will attend together. You’ll need that corporate suit we talked about.”

  “What about the convention, sir?”

  “The guys will finish up. They’ll fly out on Monday morning. I don’t attend as many of these events as I used to, but with the new game coming out in our premier series, I want to be at as many of these as I can to promote the game.” He turned and looked at Sarah. “Have you seen the new trailer?”

  “It’s great. I really want to play the game. I don’t suppose that’s one of the perks of working for you?” Sarah asked.

  “It might be arranged,” He told Sarah, knowing that she’d love to start playing the game tonight if she could. Eamon stretched his shoulders and rolled his head. He realized that he really didn’t want to go back into the club. So, he turned to Sarah and asked, “Do you mind if I share your cab back to the hotel? I’m not in the mood for this, and I saw everyone I needed to see earlier.”

  “Sure, I don’t mind.” Eamon did seem tired to Sarah. And the club wasn’t due to close for another couple of hours.

  “Great.” Eamon sent a text to the guys who were still in the club. When the taxi arrived he and Sarah left together.

  Back in the bar, the guys read their message and looked at one another. Hank shook his head and said, “Damn, he’s a lucky guy.” The other four men nodded knowingly and went back to their drinks.

  Back at the hotel, Eamon paid for the cab and got a receipt.

  “I’ll pay my half,” Sarah said as they walked up the steps to the lobby.

  “Come on, you know better than that. The cab ride is a legitimately deductible expense. I was meeting with some of my competitors back there. I’m not paying a dime for the ride. Of course
, since I own the company for the most part and since that cab ride just reduced my profits a little, in another sense, I did pay for it.” He watched her face go from don’t rescue me mode to further protest would be stupid mode. Eamon held the door open for her while she walked in. Sarah deliberately held the inner door open for him. Eamon did an exaggerated eye roll but he went through with good grace.

  “You looked great tonight, Sarah.” Eamon could have bit his tongue off as soon as he’d said it. Damn! What was wrong with him anyway?

  Sarah turned toward him, and he took hold of a lock of her hair at the base of her neck, briefly, before dropping his hand. “And the hair…the hair’s great.”

  Sarah’s cheeks grew pink and she started to say something, but Eamon quickly turned and faced the elevator door. “Sorry, shouldn’t have gotten personal, Miss Adams. I’m not trying anything, just observing,” Eamon told her.

  The doors opened and they walked down the corridor together. Eamon waited with Sarah while she found her card key. She pushed it into the slot. There was a green light and Sarah twisted the knob on her door to open it. Without looking she said, “You could have asked me to dance. I would have said yes.” With that, she entered her room and firmly locked it behind her.

  Eamon stood there looking at a closed door and feeling like an idiot. With a soft curse under his breath, he found his own key and went on.

  Chapter 13

  Sunday at the convention was anti-climatic. Everything was winding down, some of the vendors had already departed and by one o’clock Sarah and Eamon were on a commuter plane headed for Chicago O’Hare.

  They had a long layover in Chicago and took advantage of the time to eat a decent meal. Sarah went to the bathroom and changed her anime ruffled skirt and shrunken top for a pair of leggings and a long woolen tunic, combed out her hair into something less theatrical, and shoved the skirt and top into her carry on. Then she returned to the waiting area.