Gamer Girl (10 page)

Sarah arrived at the airport for the last connecting flight out on Wednesday night. Her ticket was electronic and when she arrived at the check-in counter, she discovered that she was booked in first class with Eamon.

She stepped out of the line and waited for Eamon to arrive.
He came up to the counter.

“There’s been some mistake. I’m booked in a first class seat, Mr. Byrne.”

“It’s not a mistake,” Eamon explained. “You’re in the seat next to me.”

“Is this your standard procedure?” Sarah asked him. “Does your PA always sit with you?”

“
You’re not my personal assistant. You’re my a
ssistant project manager
. You’re
special
and you will ride in first class. That’s all there is to it.” Eamon responded.

Sarah caught the sarcasm in his tone. “
Isn’t that just a little
too special?
I—”

“Just get on the
damned plane,” Eamon commanded.

Sarah
checked in. The weather was clear and there were no delays in the main hubs, so their flight left on time. Sarah spent the trip wearing a sleep shade and her mp3 player. If Eamon needed her help on anything, he’d have to shake her to get her attention. She couldn’t pretend to sleep on the commuter flight, but it didn’t matter. There was no first class on the puddle jumper.

They reached the hotel at
three in the morning. Sarah wheeled her carry-on up to her room. The door opened into a small kitchenette. Past the tiny breakfast bar was a sitting area and then a king bed, large TV and a great big bank of windows that overlooked the city. Everything looked fresh, tastefully decorated and squeaky clean.

Sar
ah pulled an outfit out of her suitcase, hung it up in the closet, set the alarm, called the desk to request a wakeup call, stripped off her now stinky clothes and fell into bed.

Five hours later, Sarah was awakened by a pounding on her door. She stumbled out of bed, pulled her stinky sweater on over her head and went to answer it.

Eamon stood there, fully dressed. “The van will be here in ten minutes. Is that what you’re wearing?  I mean, the guys will be pleased but…’

Sarah looked down
. She had nothing on other than her oversized sweater. “I need a shower!”

“No time, Miss Adams. Grab—“

“I need a shower! Give me the address and I’ll take a taxi!”

Eamon
looked at his watch and said, “You have fifteen minutes. If you aren’t in the lobby in fifteen, you’re on your own.”

Sarah slammed the door on his heels
, grabbed her stuff and hit the shower. She was out in five, brushed her teeth, put on her clothes and was out of time. Sarah still had a towel wrapped around her head when she swept her makeup and brush into her tote, grabbed her set-up bag and ran down the steps to the lobby. The guys were getting into the van just as she hit the door.

“Hi guys,” Sarah said as she
climbed into the van.

“Hey.” “Hi.”
“Hello.” The guys acknowledged Sarah’s entrance. She knew Kyle, but he was the only one.

The guys were talking among t
hemselves. Sarah reached up, unwound the towel and began to dry her hair, running the towel back and forth rapidly over her head. There was a sudden silence. Sarah lowered the towel and looked around. All of them were staring at her. All of them.

“What?” Sarah asked. She saw the guys take a quick look down and then quickly look away. Sarah looked down. Underneath her white
t-shirt her breasts were clearly visible. Toweling her hair had awakened her nipples and they stood proudly at attention. Sarah’s nipples were somewhat prominent, even in a bra. She was voted
girl with the perkiest breasts
in high school for good reason.

“Oh God,” she whispered. Taking a deep breath, Sarah sat up straight and said
, “Okay guys, the impromptu white t-shirt contest is at an end. Someone be my Paladin and loan me a more respectable shirt?”

T-shirt
s were whipped off all around her. Sarah looked at them, amused. She grabbed the
Darth Vader Lives!
t-shirt from the skinniest guy there. Sarah drew it over her head. Her Paladin sat there smiling in his white undershirt.

“You’re wonderful guys,” Sarah told them all. “Thanks. Now, tell me your names, please?”
The guys introduced themselves. It was Hank who had loaned her the shirt. “Swear to God, Hank, I’ll find a shirt to buy first thing and get this back to you,” Sarah promised.

Her eyes met Eamon’s. For
a moment she wondered if he was angry, but then he rolled his eyes and looked away. Relieved, Sarah went back to the business of getting dressed. She finished finger-fluffing her hair and she even managed to apply a little mascara before they got to the hall where the event was being held.

From the time they hit the door, Sarah ran her bottom off. It was “Sarah get this
, Sarah find that, Sarah, can you bring us coffee, and Sarah, find somewhere with good takeout.” Sarah ran and got and fetched and carried and found takeout. She even managed to find a booth that was going to sell t-shirts and wangled an early sale out of them. Hank seemed disappointed when she returned his.

“All good things come to an end, I suppose,” he said mournfully. Then he pulled the
t-shirt on and got a smile on his face. “Wow. This kinda smells like you.”

Sarah gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for the loan, Hank.”

“Any time, Sarah.”

Sarah went back to work.  By seven
Thursday night, they had their stuff set up. Power points and videos were tested, boxes of decals, posters, game costumes, cards, t-shirts, were lined up under the tables ready to be opened. Eamon used a box cutter to open one of the t-shirt boxes. He pulled out a small and threw it Sarah’s way. “You’ll need this.” He looked at her. “You could have had one this morning, you know.”

“I didn’t think. I just reacted.”

Eamon laughed. “I think everyone just reacted.” He saw the blush come to her cheeks.

“
I was in such a hurry and tired…I forgot to put on my bra.”

“I kinda got that, Miss Adams. But it was quite a show
, though the crew was…inspired.”

Sarah shrugged a shoulder and heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes a little. “Well, anything for the cause. So, wh
en do we get to go back to the hotel and rest?”

With a low chuckle, Eamon whipped out his phone. “Any
time. I’ll call the shuttle service.” He spoke briefly on the phone and then said to her, “It’ll be about thirty minutes. Go round up the guys.”

She found them in the side room they were using for the
Mirrored Nation: Reflections
demo tomorrow. They’d run through the presentation, checked out the local audio equipment and decided to use their own. “Hey guys, the shuttle is on its way,” Sarah told them.

“Great!” Kyle said as he put his hands on his hips and arched his back. “I could really use some down time.”

“So, finish up and we’ll get the hey-ho out of here.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go
,” Hank said.

As the guys headed
toward the door, Sarah found Eamon back at the booth and went to the foyer to watch for the shuttle. When it arrived, they climbed in and rode in silence.

Just before they reached the hotel,
Eamon looked everyone over. “Listen, if you want to eat here in the hotel or have room service, just put it on your room tab. If you’re planning to go out tonight, you’re on your own.”

“Got it, boss. Thanks.”
The guys said.

When they arrived at the hotel, S
arah headed up to her room longing for a hot bath. While she waited for the tub to fill, she logged into her laptop and brought up her email. The DLC team sent a storyline they wanted to propose along with outlines for the character companions they wished to create. Sarah read through it. She loved the plot and most of the dialogue trees were great, but Sarah was not happy with the art concepts for the companions. The team had used the standard maps for the faces. Sarah thought that this DLC was a chance to introduce additional face models and hairstyles to the series. Still, all of this was a great start.

Sarah remembered her bath just in time. She found her pajamas and her Terry Pratchett book and climbed in for a nice, long soak. She read until the water began to cool, and then she washed up and got into her PJs.

She realized she was hungry and called room service. A few moments later there was a knock on the door. Sarah opened the door to find Eamon standing outside. He’d obviously taken advantage of the bathing facilities because his hair was still damp and he had on clean sweat pants and a t-shirt.

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 i
dea 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 a
nd 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 o
ver 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 wan
t 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.