“You’d play with me, mister?” asked the young boy, his eyes growing wide. Beth had the feeling adults didn’t play with him often.
“I sure would.” Taking a seat on the floor, Jake threw her a huge smile before picking up the controller. Rosie settled in beside Jake. “But you have to promise to let me win,” he teased the boy.
Moving up behind the pair, she watched them play. After they started playing, Beth realized how much skill one needed to play the game. While it seemed to her Jake could beat the little boy, easily, he kept the scores close.
“Man, mister, you sure know how to play this game.” There was awe in the kid’s voice.
“It’s one of my favorites.” Jake concentrated on the screen. “You have to be careful in the catacombs, and watch out for the wall demons. If you catch the golden chalice when it floats by you’ll have total protection through the catacombs.”
“This is cool.” The boy’s excited voice rang through the store. “I’ve got the chalice.”
“Great,” said Jake. “Now make your way through the doors, but watch out for the dragon keeper.”
Beth took a deep breath. Happiness flowed through her. Jake face was animated as he talked the little boy through the levels and gave encouragement to take risks. Jake would make a great father. He’d make sure his children were loved and cared for, not ignored or shoved aside. And she wanted it as well. She wanted Jake’s loving, his caring, him.
Her eyes snapped open. This wasn’t a line of thinking she wanted to pursue right now. She returned her attention to the game. The pair continued to play, Jake quietly giving advice to the young boy. When they made it to the fourth level, the boy paused the game.
“Wow, this is neat. I’ve never made it past the third level.” He gazed up at Jake. “I thought I was a good player, but mister, you’re awesome.”
“Thanks.” Jake set the controller down. “But I’ll tell you a secret.” He leaned over to the kid.
“What?”
“I have an advantage. I created the game.”
“No way.”
“Way.” Jake grinned at the boy and the boy smiled back.
Beth’s heart contracted as the last of the ice started to melt away. Jake’s eyes twinkled with excitement, and the kid’s eye filled with awe.
“Wait ‘til I tell the guys at home I met the guy who made City of Gold. It’s our favorite game.”
“Charlie,” called a female voice.
“That’s my mom.” He rolled his eyes. “Got to go. It was nice meeting you, mister.” Charlie rose and took off across the store.
Jake stared up at her with a bemused expression on his face.
“So, you design video games.” She might have guessed it, since he did run an electronics company.
“Among other things.” He reached up and captured her hand. “Sit down and I’ll show you how to play.” Rosie had curled up several feet away so she wasn’t disturbed by the excitement.
“I’m not sure.” She lowered herself next to him on the tile floor. “I’m not very good at games.”
“I’m very good at games,” he whispered in her ear. “Especially in the bedroom. But remember, I’m the designer, so you have an advantage.” He put the controller in her hand and she looked down at it trying not to squirm from his words about bedroom games.
The food processor Carla bought her last Christmas had less buttons than this thing did.
“The red button makes you jump up, the green makes you duck. The joy stick moves you forward, backward or to the side.”
Jake reset the game. The music started and the characters popped on the screen. “You’re the one in purple, and I’m the one in orange.”
Within seconds Beth’s character fell off the cliff for the third time. “I told you I was no good at this. I can’t coordinate the moving and jumping.” She sighed.
“You just need practice and help.” Setting his controller down, Jake moved behind her, he slid in behind her, his groin up against her ass, his legs alongside her thighs, then his arm encircling her as his hands covered hers over the controller.
Heat flooded her body when his chest pressed into her back. His hands were warm and strong over hers. Her pussy grew moist and she fought her rising arousal.
“Let me show you.” His breath brushed her cheek, his chest pressing against her back.
He reset the game again. Her character lasted marginally longer, but still died. Well, what could she expect? With Jake’s arms around her, cradling her body against his, her brain was short circuiting.
“You need to concentrate, sweetheart.” He reset the game again.
Concentrate, yeah right, easy for him to say. She tried, she really did. Inhaling, she took in the scent of pine and pure male. Jake. He smelled so good. And his arms made her feel protected, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Yikes, I just died again.” She sighed.
“Relax against me. Let my hand guide yours.” He reset the game.
“Easy for you to say.” He didn’t have a clue what he was doing to her. His hard body pressed against hers, making her think of that nice bed they had back at the hotel.
“You can do this,” he whispered.
She nodded and they started off again. His fingers tightened around hers and she almost forgot everything until her character moved. Oh yeah, I’m the one in purple.
“That’s it. Move to the left.” His breath brushed her ear making a shiver of excitement to race up her spine.
“That’s it. Get ready to jump a piece of gold is coming.” He wiggled against her butt. “Jump up and grab it.”
She was thinking about just doing that, jumping up and grabbing him, then she realized he was talking about the game. Biting her lip, she watched the screen and when the gold piece appeared she pushed the red button.
“I did it. I’ve got the gold piece.”
“Yes, you do. Now we’re going to move through this corridor, duck down as you go through the door so the ogre doesn’t catch you.”
With his help, she managed to do what he said. “What now?” she asked when a new door appeared.
“Wait and the key will appear, grab it and unlock the door.”
“What’s on the other side?”
“The princess. You get to kiss her.”
“I don’t want to kiss the princess.”
No, I’d rather kiss you.
He laughed. “It’s part of the game, remember?”
“Oh yeah, the game.” Taking a deep breath, she let it out, relaxed her fingers and concentrated on the game.
A few minutes later, she let out a shout. “We did it. We made it past the first level.” Turning her head, her lips brushed against his cheek.
“I knew you could do it.” His green eyes were smoldering with desire.
“That was a lot of fun.”
“It was.” He removed the controller from her hand and inched away from her. Once he was on his feet, he held his hand out to her. She allowed him to pull her to her feet.
“Your games made me think about what I had to do. I had to make choices.”
“That’s how we make them.” His hands framed her face. “I want to kiss you.”
“Yes. Please,” she whispered.
Jake groaned, then covered her lips with his. Heat filled her mouth. Beth opened to Jake’s questing tongue. He tasted of the coffee they drank earlier, her arms encircled his neck. She wanted more. All too soon, he was pulling back. “More,” she whispered.
“Later.” Reaching down, he scooped up Rosie, then took Beth’s hand and they strode out of the store.
The bright sunlight made her blink and she fought to get her desire under control. She wanted Jake and she wanted him now. But it wasn’t practical to jump a man in the middle of the street. She followed him down the sidewalk to wherever the next adventure took her. “Does your company make all video games like City of Gold?” she asked.
“No. We do make some of those shoot ’em up games as well, but we try to balance out with adventure and educational ones.”
“How did you get started in the business?” He glanced down at her, questions filling his eyes. “I really want to know, Jake.”
“I started out with adventure videos, at the time there were games like Combat and Commando were popular. Then I branched out into educational ones.” They stopped at a crosswalk for a red light. “I continue to work on the story boards because they’ve become the mainstay of my business now.”
“Why did you decide to do that?”
“Because kids today need to learn how to make choices, right or wrong, and understand what their choices mean.”
She could hear the pride in his voice and her heart swelled. He was helping kids understand what the real word was like. Good or bad, you had to have responsibility for your choices. “You enjoy your work, don’t you?”
“Every second of it.” He touched her nose with his finger and her stomach growled. “Someone is hungry.”
“Starving.” She looked at her watch. Two already. No wonder her stomach was protesting.
“Good. Let’s go eat.” When the light turned green, they crossed the street, then down a small alleyway between two buildings. When they emerged, there was a restaurant hidden in the back.
A sign said, “Please seat yourself.” and then a second sign “Pets are welcome in our outdoor courtyard seating.”
“How did you find this place?” she asked, as Jake held a chair out for her.
“I stumbled onto it by accident one day.” His fingers brushed her neck, his soft skin making her shiver. Then he leaned down and set Rosie under the table at her feet before taking his seat.
“It’s charming.” She glanced around the garden courtyard. Large trees shaded the tables, and the smell of fresh coffee brewing teased her senses. She picked up the menu off the table.
“What are you going to have for lunch, madam?” asked Jake.
“The grilled chicken sandwich sounds good.” She lowered her menu when Jake chuckled.
“I was asking Miss Rosie.”
Beth followed his gaze. Rosie, instead of sitting at her feet, was sitting at Jake’s feet, gazing up at him with pure adoration.
“Traitor,” she said to her dog. Rosie gave her a quick glance before sucking back up to Jake. She couldn’t really blame her dog, she liked Jake, too. He was fun and made her feel desirable.
She peeked at him over her menu. The wind had blown the collar of his shirt askew and a deep seated urge to fix it, to touch him, to feel the warmth of his skin on hers, almost overwhelmed her. Maybe Rosie was on to something here. Her dog had taken to Jake in the beginning, and that made Jake special.
Setting down her menu, trying to remember what Jake had said. One day. One day to let her defenses down. No regrets, no going back. Today was for them and she was going to enjoy every second of it.
After lunch, they spent the afternoon wandering through several art galleries, where Beth found, to her surprise, Jake had no taste in art whatsoever.
“Hey, what can I say, the biggest art thing my parents ever dragged me to was the King Tut exhibit,” he said as they walked down the sidewalk.
“King Tut? What about all the other exhibits at the DeYoung or the Modern Art Museum?”
“Mom and Dad were more the types to put my crayon drawings up on the fridge, than anything else. Which was pretty special to me.”
“Why?” If she hadn’t been staring at him she would have missed the shadow pass through his eyes.
“I’m adopted,” he said, his voice husky.
She stopped, right in the middle of the sidewalk. “Adopted?” Her heart clenched at the thought of Jake being abandoned and alone.
He placed his finger over her lips. “It’s okay. My adoptive parents are very special and they’ve made me feel that way too. Don’t feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t,” she mumbled against his finger. Reaching up, she took his fingers and cupped them against her cheek. “I think you’re pretty special, too.”
Rosie barked and a couple squeezed by them. “You pick the worst times to go all sexy on me.” He dropped a fast hard kiss on her lips before tugging her into yet another store.
This store catered to dogs and cats, they spent an hour inside enjoying all the things people could buy for their animals.
Beth laughed as Jake picked up a pink dog bed, complete with a princess crown. “I think Miss Rosie needs this.”
“No, Jake,” she got the words out between giggles.
“Ah yes.” Jake went to the cashier.
He was really going to buy it. “Jake.” Beth strode up to him with Rosie in her arms. “Rosie has a perfectly good bed right now and doesn’t need another one.”
“She’ll need one at my place.”
“You’re assuming a lot.” And he was, she’d only agreed to today, nothing more.
“Hoping.” The cashier rung up the bed.
“Jake, please. Don’t spend the money on something that isn’t needed.” She laid her hand on his arm.
He gazed down at her with a question in his eyes.
“Sir, that will be eighty-five dollars and twenty-eight cents,” said the clerk.
“I’ve changed my mind, sorry.” Jake took Beth’s hand in his and led her out of the store.
Beth was grateful when they drove away from the shopping area and Jake didn’t question her about why she wouldn’t let him buy the dog bed. Another thing nudged at her brain, and it was Jake being adopted.
Maybe they had more in common than she’d thought. While she hadn’t been adopted, Jake probably understood about being abandoned. How old was he when he was adopted? Did he realize his parents abandoned him, just like her father did to her? And later, her mother would abandon her for her lovers. After a few minutes of silence, he suggested dinner, and she pushed her thoughts of abandonment away. She expected him to take her to another restaurant, instead he pulled in front of a small deli.
“Be right back.” He jumped out of the car.
“I wonder what he’s up to now,” she mused aloud to Rosie who was curled up at her feet. Within minutes he was back and he set a picnic basket in her lap. Coolness seeped from the basket to her skin.
“What’s in the basket?” she asked as he merged into traffic.
“Dinner.
She puffed out a breath. “As in what?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She sniffed. “Smells like watermelon.” She started to lift the lid.
“Hey, stop that.” He reached over and playfully slapped her hand. “No peeking.”
“Possession is nine tenths of the law.” She scooted closer to the door.