Changing His Game (Entangled Brazen) (Gamers) (3 page)

She gave her brother’s shoulder a shove while he laughed. “Just because there’s no rule doesn’t mean it’s okay!”

He tossed the book on her side table. “Why not?”

She twisted her hands in her lap. “Because…because what if people find out? I’ve worked hard for those guys to take me seriously in that office and then to blow it all by…blowing a coworker?”

He laughed harder.

“Chad!”

He held up a finger and then finally spoke when he caught his breath. “Look, here’s the thing. You’re telling me they won’t take you seriously if you…what? Remind them you’re a woman?”

“That’s not—”

Chad wasn’t laughing anymore. At all. “No, seriously, Marley. I don’t understand. He’s not a direct coworker. He’s an IT guy you’ll see in the office, what, once a week? It’s not a conflict of interest unless he…I don’t know…installs more RAM in your computer than others.”

She pursed her lips. He didn’t understand because he wasn’t a woman.

“Marley, showing interest in a man doesn’t make you weak. It’s not going to make those men think any less of you. And if it does? There are discrimination acts in place for that reason. You’re a gorgeous twenty-seven-year-old woman who works sixty hours a week. You deserve some happiness.”

She stared into those sincere hazel eyes, so like her own. She was conflicted. She’d suppressed herself for so long trying to make it at
Gamers
. She loved her job, so why was she so worried about what her asshole coworkers like Jack thought of her?

“I’m good at my job,” she said.

Chad nodded and laid a hand on her knee. “You are.”

“Fuck them. I’m a woman, right? I have needs.”

Chad kept nodding. “You do.” He paused. “So what’s this guy’s name?”

She ran her tongue along the back of her teeth, savoring the name in her mouth before speaking. “Austin.”

Chad’s eyes sparkled. “So, Austin can check your software updates, huh?”

Marley rolled her eyes, but Chad wasn’t done. “And he can defragment your hard drive?”

“Chad—”

“Perform some pair programming…horizontally?”

“Oh my God, stop now.”

Chad had erupted into a fit of laughter again, bent over at the waist. Marley folded her arms over her chest and crossed her legs, jiggling her foot in the air.

When Chad was gasping for breath, she asked, “Are you done?”

“Maybe,” Chad breathed. She growled, and he held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Look, I’ll make up for my teasing by treating you to a movie.
Aric’s Revenge
is out.”

That stupid video game, and that stupid movie. But she wanted to see it. She played the game and beat it a week after it came out.

She hopped up. “Fine, but you’re paying.”

“No problem. Just shave your legs for me, all right? Getting a little cave woman there.”

She shot him the finger over her shoulder as she walked down the hall to shower.

Chapter Three

“Quit taking all the red ones,” Chad complained, snatching the bag of Sour Patch Kids from Marley’s hands.

“Hey!” she protested.

“I bought them.”

“Yeah, for me!” She grabbed the bag back and shot him a glare.

Chad leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his gigantic soda as the light of the pre-show slides flickered across his face. The theater was packed.
Aric’s Revenge
had been out for a week or two, but the positive buzz seemed to be fueling more ticket sales.

Marley dug in the bag for more coveted red, corn-syrupy goodness and pulled out a couple. She tossed one in her mouth and looked around at the crowded theater.

The movie was set to start in about five minutes, but a couple of patrons trickled in. Her eyes caught on a man and a teenage girl walking down the middle aisle. Something was familiar, and his walk…

“Mars.”

She turned at the nickname her brother sometimes used for her. “Yeah?”

“What’s the set-up of this movie again?”

She frowned. “How do you not know? You’re the one who suggested it.”

He shot her a small grin “Nah, I don’t know anything about it. I just suggested it because I thought you would like it.”

She smiled back. “Aren’t you sweet.”

“So who’s Aric and why does he want revenge?”

She tried to explain it as briefly as she could. The video game was set in a fantasy medieval world. Aric was a warrior, stripped of his knighthood, who was seeking revenge against a king who killed his family and enslaved his wife.

“So, what you’re saying is he’s a pissed-off motherfucker with armor and a sword.”

“And dragons,” she said.

“Come again?” Chad asked.

She opened her mouth to answer him but instead of her own voice, she heard a deep, soft one—the same deep voice she’d heard in her head since yesterday afternoon.

“Aric’s dragons are summoned when his anger level reaches sixty-seven percent.”

Marley stared at Austin, who stood in the aisle by Chad’s chair, a teenage girl at his side, nodding her head in agreement.

Austin’s gaze was on Marley, even though he answered Chad’s question. “It’s rather difficult for the player, because he or she must allow Aric to be injured enough to raise his anger level, but not enough to kill him. It’s a delicate balance. And then once the proper anger level is achieved, it must be held for five seconds. Of course, the programmers erred and it’s more like four-point-seven seconds.” His face darkened, like that error really bugged him.

He wore a pair of worn jeans that hung low on his hips, and a dark red henley, one top button undone, the fabric stretched over his chest. He talked like a textbook and looked like an underwear model. The combination did absolutely everything for her libido.

She looked to her brother, who stared at her coworker with eyes the size of saucers. Chad slowly turned his head to Marley, a silent question in his expression.

She cleared her throat and pointed at the man in the aisle. “This is Austin.”

Chad, who had just taken a sip of his soda, choked and she elbowed him with narrowed eyes.

Once he regained his breath, he wiped his watery eyes and held his hand out. “Nice to meet you, Austin. I’m Chad, Marley’s brother.”

Austin mouthed a word silently, and she could have sworn it was
brother.
He turned to the girl at his side. “This is Sydney, my friend’s daughter. Sydney, this is Marley and Chad.”

The girl smacked her gum. “Yeah, I got their names Unc Aust, but thanks. Nice to meet you!”

Chad motioned to the empty seats in their aisle, next to Marley. “Why don’t you guys sit with us?”

Austin looked almost alarmed, and Marley started to shake her head.

“That’s perfect!” Sydney said brightly. “I’m sitting with my friends and Unc was going to have to sit all by himself.” She rose on her tiptoes and stretched her neck toward her uncle. His eyes on Marley, Austin mechanically bent so she could kiss his cheek.

“Have fun!” Sydney said, and turned to walk away.

Austin reached out a hand and gently gripped her arm. “I checked ahead of time with the theater. They use canola oil on the popcorn, so you can eat that. But the soft pretzels here are a no, okay?” His soft voice held an unmistakable tenderness that hit Marley right in the chest.

Sydney wrinkled her nose. “Really? I thought I could eat the pretzels.”

He shook his head. “They changed companies. Sorry, sweetheart.”

She sighed. “Oh well.” Then she shot him a beaming smile. “Thanks for checking. I wouldn’t have thought to ask again.”

“Of course, Syd.” His fingers squeezed her arm and then he let go. “I’m not sure your father would ever forgive me if I had to shove an Epi-Pen in your thigh in the middle of a movie theater.”

Sydney laughed. “It’d be a fun picture for Facebook.”

He pointed to the corner of the theater where a loud group of teenagers was pointing and waving at them. “Go join your friends. Text me if you need me.”

Sydney waved and trotted away.

Marley was so caught up in the way he treated his friend’s daughter, that she almost missed her brother’s next words.

“Have a seat right there beside Marley.” Chad stood up with a triumphant grin, and Marley considered sneaking laxatives into his soda. She stood up, too, plastering herself as far back as possible so Austin could walk by. She held her breath, not wanting to smell his intoxicating scent, and then thought,
Fuck it
, because unless she wanted to die from lack of oxygen, she was going to have to breathe throughout the movie anyway. So she inhaled deeply like a weirdo when he walked by.

Austin seemed to avoid touching her as much as she avoided touching him. He sank into his seat, and she closed her eyes, praying for strength as she slipped down into hers.

Chad was still grinning. She ignored him.

Austin craned his head in the direction Sydney had walked, and Marley pretended that it wasn’t adorable he brought his friend’s daughter to a movie. She pretended he didn’t smell like a total dream. She pretended he wasn’t the hottest man she’d ever seen in her life.

“So, what’s in the pretzels Sydney can’t have?” she asked.

“She has a peanut allergy. The new pretzels the theater sells are made in a factory that also processes peanut products, so she can’t have them, because her allergy is pretty severe.”

He seemed to know a lot about the little girl, and her allergy. “And she calls you Uncle?”

Austin smiled and looked down where his hands gripped his thighs. “Yeah, I’ve known her dad since I was eighteen. So, I was a presence most of her life. She’s like a niece to me.”

Could she melt into a pile of goo in the theater? Because that’s what she felt like. A big melted, gooey Sour Patch Kid.

The lights dimmed, and Austin straightened as the previews started. Most of them were for action movies, although a couple were comedies. Austin sat silently, gaze on the screen. And Marley swore he didn’t even crack a smile. God, she wanted to see his smile.

When the movie finally started, the screen showed a montage of a younger Aric, chained to a cell as his wife was ripped from his arms.

Marley tried to lose herself in the story, but it was impossible with Austin this close. Sitting in a theater in jeans wasn’t comfortable so she had worn a simple sweater dress. She crossed her bare—now shaved—legs so that her foot brushed Chad, not Austin.

She kept her face turned toward the screen but her gaze strayed. Austin’s palms were flat on his thighs and his legs were spread. His pinkie on his right hand was close, oh so close. If he extended it an inch or two, he’d brush her bare thigh.

She wanted him to. God, she wanted him to. Her back was tense, and she squeezed her legs together, wishing she’d done something last night to relieve this ache. She hadn’t, conflicted with guilt and unease over fantasizing about a coworker. But now, with his scent surrounding her, his soft voice in her ears, she told herself to get a grip.

What was wrong with her?

And then Austin leaned over, and she closed her eyes as the heat of his breath touched her ear. “Aric’s motivations are interesting, aren’t they?”

She didn’t answer, just nodded, because she didn’t trust her voice.

“He tracks down every last one of his enemies,” he continued. “His goal isn’t to rescue his wife, Evelyn. It’s to exact revenge, which makes the game aptly titled.”

Aptly. He’d used the word aptly in a sentence. Why was that hot? Did she have an SAT fetish? Heat pooled in her belly and a bead of sweat dripped between her breasts. They ached with fullness, and she knew her nipples were hard.

The soft, seductive voice didn’t stop. “He becomes so entrenched in his mission that he becomes a monster, not unlike his dragons. It isn’t until he’s reached the wife of his enemy and has a chance to take her by force, that he realizes he’s become exactly what he hated.”

She turned her head, so that her lips were an inch away from his. Those eyes flickered in the light of the screen. She somehow found her voice and forced it through her vocal chords. “That’s the turning point in the game, when he changes his mission of revenge to one of rescue. He takes back what’s his.”

His chest rose and fell. “And do you think that’s appropriate?”

She could close the distance, just an inch, and those lips would be on hers. What would they feel like? Would he kiss hard or soft? Would he grip her jaw and direct the kiss? “Do I think what’s appropriate?”

He licked his lips and she felt the wet heat of that tongue on the edge of her lower lip. “That he takes what’s his.”

She released a breath, and his eyelids drifted shut.

She needed to leave. She had to get away from him before she hiked up her skirt and straddled him with his friend’s daughter, and her brother, and everyone and God as witnesses.

Jerking away from him, she stood up, mumbling, “Excuse me,” to a confused Chad. She slipped past him and out of the movie theater.

She dashed out into the lobby and burst into the bathroom. She leaned over the sink and stared at her reflection. The blush on her cheeks extended down her neck and across her chest. Her breasts looked swollen and her eyes glassy. Oh God, she looked drugged.

Drugged on that man with his big words.

He takes what’s his.

How much did he interpret from that GIF he’d seen? Did he figure out that fantasy? Because as strong as she portrayed herself in public, in her office, she dreamed of trusting a man like that with her body.

She wanted to lean her head back on a strong shoulder while he held her throat in a perfect grip, the other hand playing her like an instrument, with a rhythm only he knew.

Marley shook her head and splashed cold water on her cheeks, patting them dry with a paper towel. She straightened her dress in the full-length mirror and then took a deep breath.

She could do this. She’d ask Chad to switch seats. She could get through this movie and away from the incredible force that was Austin.

…

Austin had to talk to her.

His control was dripping like hot liquid from the ends of his fingers, evaporating before it even hit the ground. He was gone, so far gone, over this woman.

He knew he’d pushed Marley too far but he couldn’t resist feeling her out, wondering if that GIF was something she wanted for herself.

Did she imagine herself in that role? Did she want to be that woman, with a strong man’s hand around her throat? Playing with her? At his mercy?

He could give that to her. He could fulfill that fantasy.

He shifted from his position outside the bathrooms in the lobby and waited for Marley to emerge. He wasn’t worried about Sydney. He’d texted her and told her he’d be in the lobby, and she’d texted back with a winky face. He didn’t know what that was for.

The bathroom door opened and Marley walked out, then froze. Like she sensed him. Like a hunted deer. Her chest rose and fell and then her head slowly swiveled until she eyed him, tucked away into a secluded alcove.

He wanted to tell her to come to him, but she had to make the first move. She had more control over him than she thought.

Indecision flashed over her face before her chin lifted in a determined gesture. And then in a couple of swift strides of those long, shapely legs, she was in front of him, gazing up with huge hazel eyes.

“Sydney…?” she asked.

“She’s fine,” he answered.

She nodded, and her tongue sneaked out to touch the corner of her upper lip. He let his gaze drop. He’d fallen asleep last night thinking about her blushing in her office chair and woken up imagining sinking between her thighs.

And then to see her with another man at the movie? He’d wanted to toss the guy on his ass, so when she’d introduced the man as her brother, the rush of relief had been palpable.

He couldn’t resist anymore. He had a plan he’d been mulling, and he’d come to a decision that morning. He just had to keep his identity secret a little longer.

It was the coward’s way, but he wanted her with a bone-deep ache, and if her glazed eyes were any indication, she wanted him too.

Only one more thing to test.