Her Perfect Game (5 page)

Charlie leaned back on her elbows and watched his every move. “You know, you could speed this up a little. I might still want to have lunch before the next panel.”

“It's been a long time. I'm in no hurry.” His dick definitely disagreed with his mouth. She looked bizarre with her pointy ears, blue face and arms, and pale white skin everywhere else.

She hopped up on her knees on the bed and yanked his shirt over his head. He toed off his gym shoes and pushed her back onto the bed.

He lowered his face to hers and kissed her. “This paint tastes awful.”

She giggled. “I told you I'd take a shower.”

But then she raised her hips to meet his hand, and he forgot about kissing her and the taste of paint. She was wet and slick, and when his fingers rubbed over her clit, she moaned. Jonah picked up the pace of his hand, watching the quick rise and fall of her breasts. He lowered his head and sucked a nipple into his mouth.

Charlie threaded her fingers into his hair and held him as she rode his hand. He couldn't wait anymore. He hadn't been in a hurry, but now, seeing Charlie naked, wanting him, he couldn't wait. He pulled away. Although Charlie didn't say anything, she shot him a dirty look. He took off his jeans and grabbed the condom from his pocket.

He slid the condom on and then slid into her. Her breath hitched as he pushed deeper, but then she sighed against him. She was hot and slick, and he wanted to enjoy the sensation for a minute, but Charlie started to buck against him and he lost all rational thought. He began pumping into her, and he felt like a teenager not quite in control.

Hadn't Charlie always made him feel that way?

His balls tightened before he registered the feeling and he stopped. He needed to slow down, let her catch up. He rested his forehead against her shoulder and began to do math equations in his head.

Charlie leaned up and whispered in a husky voice, “Deep and hard, Jonah. Just the way I like it.”

She squeezed around him, and no amount of calculus would save him. He drove into her mindlessly until he exploded. His muscles tensed and then he groaned with release. He lay against Charlie, panting. Moments passed. Sweat ran off his forehead, and he registered that Charlie was breathing heavily.

But she hadn't come. Fuck, he felt like a shit. He thought he was going to make something right between them, and he got her into bed and just ended up satisfying himself. He was an ass.

He slowly lifted off her, determined to get her off.

As he pulled out of her, she began laughing. Not a satisfied
fuck yeah, that was great
laugh. Not a
you touched me and I'm ticklish
laugh. This was a
you're a ridiculous lover
laugh.

Jonah braced an elbow next to Charlie's head. “I know I said I wasn't in a hurry, but you do things to me, Charlie. I'll get you there. No need to laugh at me.”

He tried to play it off like it was no big deal, but what man wanted to be laughed at in bed?

She was laughing so hard, tears trickled down her cheeks, and she couldn't catch her breath. She shook her head and grabbed his wrist.

Great. Now he wouldn't even have the chance to redeem himself.

“Wait.” The single word appeared to cost her all of her oxygen, but she didn't stop laughing.

Fuck this. He pushed up and away from her.

She took a slow, steadying breath. “Jonah.”

“I get it, Charlie.” He closed his eyes because he was embarrassed and pissed off. This was not how things were supposed to go.

“No, you don't.” She rose on her knees again and brushed her fingers over his chest.

It took a minute, but he realized she wasn't trying to turn him on. She was tracing something on him. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. She used his chest like a damn canvas and finger painted on him. The stupid body paint had rubbed off her and onto him.

“This was why I laughed. It had nothing to do with your performance.”

He wished he could believe that. He pulled off the condom and turned toward the bathroom. When the door clicked closed, he looked in the mirror. He did look pretty ridiculous. Blue-green smudges marked his nose, cheek, and chest. Then he noticed what Charlie had traced. She wrote “Thank you.”

And of course, she'd written it backward so that it appeared the right way in the mirror.

He laughed and grabbed a washcloth to clean up.

A
s soon as the bathroom door clicked shut, Charlie got out of bed. She redressed and fixed her body paint. The whole situation would've been better had she taken a shower like she'd suggested. But no, the man who wasn't in a hurry turned out to be in a bigger hurry than she'd been in.

Not that she'd hold it against Jonah. Not much anyway. Their encounter, as brief as it was, had been the best time she'd had in longer than she could remember.

Definitely better than anything she'd shared with her ex, Ethan. The only thing better was her relationship with an imaginary dwarf.

God, her life was sad.

The bathroom door opened and Jonah stepped out. Why his nakedness surprised her she couldn't say, but she loved looking at him. She allowed her gaze a slow wander up his body, fit but not muscle-bound. When she reached his face, she didn't like the expression.

“Why are you dressed?”

“Let's face it. The moment passed. And I'm still hungry for lunch.”

“No fucking way. I deserve the chance to redeem myself.” He stepped closer and pulled her to his body. “You know I'm better than that.”

She laughed again. Hell, yeah, she knew how good he was, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of admitting it. She patted his bare chest. “Everyone's entitled to an off day.”

“An off moment. I'm not done.”

She sobered. “Really, Jonah. It's fine. More than fine.”

He studied her face and then pointed to his chest. “Why
thank you?
I know you didn't get what I did out of that.”

She sighed. “Even without the earth-shattering orgasm that we both know you're capable of delivering, you gave me an awesome time. I haven't had that much fun in forever.” Remembering Sylvie and Kraven, she added, “I needed fun.”

“I can make it even better.” His hand stroked across her back.

“As tempting as that is, I spent more than I can afford to get to this con. I'm not spending the entire time in bed with you.” Although a few more hours would suit her just fine, she couldn't afford to make any assumptions about what this was between them. “Get dressed and I'll let you buy me lunch.”

He rolled his eyes, but turned to the bed where his clothes lay scattered. She didn't move from her position but watched as he bent over. Exceptional view.

She loved the ease of everything with Jonah. No pretense, no pretending to be anything but what she was.

Which was a cold hard reminder that who she was hadn't been enough for him and he had left. This time, she was prepared. She knew she had a few short days and she'd enjoy them. Having sex with Jonah was always enjoyable. She'd hack and play and learn. Maybe she could even tap him for some networking help to find a real job.

But then she'd have to admit to him that she'd dropped out of school, and she wasn't ready to do that.

With his jeans tugged back on, Jonah turned to face her with his shirt in hand and just smiled. “You sure you don't want to skip lunch?”

“If we skip lunch, we're also going to skip the afternoon sessions. I want to get my money's worth.” She grabbed her bow and arrows and slung them over her shoulder as he finished getting dressed. If this had happened at any other time or place, she would've taken him up on his offer. But this wouldn't have happened at any other time or place. It was a fluke that they ran into each other here. Jonah hated cons.

They walked out the door together, Charlie feeling pretty damn relaxed and confident. In the hall, Jonah put his arm around her and said, “I don't know what you're smiling about. I'm the one who has the reason to be grinning.”

She bumped him with her hip. “I'm getting a free lunch. Plus, I know you well enough to know that you'll make it up to me. You don't like owing anyone, and you'll feel like you owe me.”

“I plan to pay back with interest.”

A shiver of anticipation shot up Charlie's back. Her week was definitely looking up.

They ate lunch together, and Charlie couldn't believe the comfort level she'd felt with Jonah. Having lunch with an ex, especially right after having some mediocre sex, should be weird. He managed to make it not weird. As long as she pushed away thoughts about how and why he'd left, she had a good time, like being with an old friend, instead of the guy who had left her.

After finishing off her overpriced cheeseburger and fries, Charlie stood and patted her stomach. “Thanks for the meal. That made up for skipping breakfast.”

“No problem. I probably owe you dinner too. Are you free later?”

She took the question for what it really was—a fishing expedition. She wasn't sure how honest she wanted to be with him. Reveal that she had no plans with anyone else? How desperate would that make her sound?

“As you know, I have the hackfest later, but I could probably be available for an early dinner or a late drink.” A sudden thought struck her. “Don't you think it might cause problems being with me?”

“How so?” He dropped cash on the table for a tip, a generous one at that, and signed the bill to his room.

“Fraternizing with a contestant might be misconstrued as cheating. Especially if I win.”

The smirk on his face said plenty. He didn't think she had a shot at winning. “I told you before. A third party planned the challenges. I don't know what they are until we're all in the room together.”

She bit down the urge to smack him and call him on his lack of faith in her abilities. He wasn't her boyfriend anymore. She had no reason to expect his support. “But everyone else doesn't know that.”

“Let me worry about it. Where are you going next?”

She checked her schedule. “There's a panel about harassment in fandom and then I'm on to a discussion about all things Joss Whedon. After that, I'm not quite sure. How about you?”

They made their way through the restaurant, non-con-goers still looking at Charlie like she was an alien. She would've thought they'd be used to the costumes by now.

“At the risk of sounding like I'm stalking you, I planned to attend the harassment panel. It's a work thing. We've had some instances of harassment in the forums and occasionally in game. It bothers me that people who want to play are afraid to.”

She thought of Kraven and what happened last night. “What can you do about it if it's happening in game? It is what it is. It's the in-person shit that makes me crazy.”

“Was that the reason for your military wear to the hackfest yesterday?”

She nodded. “I haven't participated in too many live competitions, but for the few I've been exposed to, guys are assholes.” She paused. “No offense.”

He laughed. “Saying ‘no offense' doesn't make it okay.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I know. I don't care if it's okay. It's not okay for guys to treat me like shit and say insulting, vulgar things just because I'm a woman.”

“Chill. I wasn't implying that it is okay. And there are plenty of assholes out there. I've had to boot a bunch from
Resskaar
for their behavior. But we're not all assholes. Some of us enjoy having women in the game.”

She thought of Win and knew that to be true. They walked into the conference room, which was actually one of the banquet halls. The convention organizers obviously thought this was going to be a big draw. She looked at the attendees and rechecked her watch. The session was due to start in three minutes.

The room was half empty and the audience was almost all women. Her hopes for engaging in meaningful conversation fell.

Jonah walked up a couple of rows and said, “Something wrong?”

“Hell, yeah. Look around. What's the purpose of this panel if the entire audience is women? We're the ones being harassed. It's preaching to the choir.”

He scanned the room. “True, but their stories are important. The panelists and some of the guests are listening. They—we—want to improve the gaming experience for everyone. If we don't know what you want, how can we fix it?”

Yeah, Jonah had a point, he always did, but the conversation was going to feel hollow and she knew that.

Jonah knew Charlie was ready to bolt. She never wanted to do anything that might be a waste of time. She looked at this audience and saw a waste of time. He wished she could open up a little and let things play out just to see what might happen. The moderator tapped the mike and as she began introductions for the panelists, more people claimed seats. Still mostly women, but the room filled a little more.

He listened to the bios of the speakers. They were a group of tech specialists, software developers, and security analysts. Then there was an author and a convention organizer. They each gave a brief speech about what they hoped to get out of the discussion, and then they opened the floor to questions and comments.

Charlie was right in that nothing would change because of this one panel, but this discussion was an eye-opener for him. He'd known about harassment, had seen it firsthand, but he didn't really know what it did to the victims until he heard their stories.

As each woman stood and explained what had happened to her and how she felt, Charlie nodded or grunted her assent. She shifted in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs and arms. When they called for last comments, she shot out of her chair and rushed to the microphone.

Jonah was stunned. He hadn't expected Charlie to speak up. He leaned forward and watched her body language as closely as he listened to her words.

“Like the rest of you, I've experienced the minor harassment when players realize I'm a woman. From the taunts of ‘girls can't play' to being told that I must be an ugly, fat bitch that no real man would want. We're all used to that. I think most of us ignore it and let it roll off. But we can't. Dismissing it allows it to continue as something that's not only acceptable, but expected.”

She paused and looked over her shoulder at him. He wished he knew what he could do to offer her reassurance.

She turned back to the mike. “Last night, while playing my favorite game, another character who was angry at me attacked me.” She took a deep breath. “He ripped off my clothes, and he planned to rape me—my character. This game has been my refuge, my safe place to relax and explore, but he took some of that from me last night.”

Jonah stiffened. He shouldn't have left her in game alone. He should've stayed online to make sure she was okay.

“The thing is, as a player, I can only do so much to keep myself and my identity safe. It's up to you”—she pointed at the panelists—“to keep my player safe. Why was this cretin allowed to rip off my clothes? In what universe would that ever be acceptable?”

Now she turned back, and the look she shot at Jonah was full of accusation.

“The developers, the security analysts, the businesses who take my hard-earned money should never have allowed that to happen.”

She walked away from the mike and kept walking until she hit the door. The room was silent. Jonah rose as the moderator began to speak to the panelists. He pushed open the door and looked around for Charlie, but he couldn't see her. As easy as it should've been to spot a blue-green elf walking around with a bow and arrows, it wasn't. The sea of Klingons and stormtroopers swallowed her up.

Although she moved quickly, he knew where to find her. No matter how angry or hurt she might be about sharing that story, she wouldn't miss a chance to be with other Brown-coats. Three years ago, they'd spent a weekend lying in bed watching the entire
Firefly
series. Jonah considered himself lucky Charlie loved that instead of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
. He snagged a schedule to find the Joss Whedon discussion. It didn't start for at least another twenty minutes, so he went in search of some coffee before tracking down Charlie.