Game Changer

by Rene Folsom

  “Drinks?” Maci asked, her eyebrow rising to one side in question.

  “Yes. We always have cocktails while enjoying the entertainment.” Her answering smile and change of posture didn’t go unnoticed as I asked, “So, what would you like?”

  “Jack and coke, please?”

  I nodded my head and, while never taking my eyes off Maci, held two fingers up to the waiter, signaling I would like the same.

  “You’re very arrogant, Mr. Allen,” she said with a smirk. Ahh, so she did hear my name. I guess it still didn’t ring any bells with her though. Either that or she wasn’t giving anything away. Couldn’t put anything past her. “But I’m beginning to think it’s just an act.”

  “An act?” I questioned, settling back and placing my arm around her while people mingled about in hushed tones.

  “Yeah. You put on this cocky front to keep people away. To protect yourself. Your arrogance is like your own personal Hylian shield of sorts.” Her intuitive voice faltered as she shrugged her shoulders and added, “I guess.”

  “One thing I’ve learned in life is people aren’t usually what they seem,” I muttered. Her Legend of Zelda reference surprised me, and I found it a bit too ironic that this woman was definitely not just a pretty face. There was apparently more to her than met the eye.

  “I guess I’m beginning to see that,” she replied with confidence, her beautiful, green eyes boring into my soul and making me feel a bit too exposed all of a sudden. I needed to change the subject. The last thing I wanted was to be the topic of conversation. Thankfully, the waiter chose that moment to bring our drinks, effectively breaking the discussion.

  Twirling a blonde curl through my fingers, I asked, “Where’d all the colors go?”

  “Oh,” she gasped self-consciously, bringing a hand up to pat the twisted thingy she had perfectly poised on the back of her head. “I figured since this was a fancy event, I should hide the whole radical rainbow going on back there.”

  “Shame,” I breathed, inching closer. “I like the color.”

  Turning toward my face, she studied me for a moment before an evil grin crossed her delicate features, triggering a flutter of nerves to congregate deep in my stomach. What was she up to? Without saying a word, she reached behind her head and pulled at something, causing waves of colorful hair to come cascading down around her shoulders. The fruity smell that filled the air around us was intoxicating, and it was all I could do not to blatantly sniff her.

  She looked even more radiant with her hair down, the curls accentuating the energy in her eyes, as she held out a lone hairpin for me to take.

  “There,” she said, pride evident in her voice. Placing the pin in my suit pocket, I brought my hand up and gently touched the side of her face with my fingers, worried she’d suddenly come to her senses and scream at me to stay away from her.

  It was either my imagination playing a sick joke on me, or she seemed to enjoy my touch—her eyes fluttering shut and her face leaning toward my hand as if she craved more.

  And I sure as hell wanted to give her more.

  Just as I thought about growing a pair and making my move, the lights began to dim and the master of ceremonies took the stage.

  Chapter Seven

  Maci: Fool’s Paradise

  Thank cripes the event was starting, because I was about to break my number-one rule and screw around with my arrangement. So much for keeping a level head.

  I didn’t know what I was thinking taking my hair down for him. It was probably a complete disaster now—the combination of hairspray and the position of my French twist not doing me any favors. Without drawing too much attention, I started to run my fingers through it in hopes I’d tame it a little.

  With a gentle touch, Liam grabbed my wrist to stop my fidgeting. Infuriatingly slow, he brushed a soft kiss against my knuckles before placing my hand on my lap with a pat. “Stop,” he whispered. “It looks beautiful.”

  I avoided his stare, too uncomfortable with his comment to look his way. Pretending to pay attention to the master of ceremonies, I tried to calm the loud voices in my head—warring with me at how delicious this man was turning out to be.

  The core benefit for this particular charity was one of the best literacy campaigns I’d encountered so far, and I was immediately sold on donating… excited actually. I wanted to use my author name though in order to publicly show my support to the literary community, so I would have to be stealthy about it and make sure Liam stayed in the dark.

  As several comedians took the stage to entertain us and the waiter kept bringing us drinks, I began to feel the alcohol warming my insides—that and the endorphins of laughing so hard had me on cloud nine while I sat next to this cute man and watched his smile broaden. The sight of Liam’s Adam’s apple bobbing while he stared at the entertainers and chuckled was mesmerizing. I’d never wanted to press my mouth to a man’s neck more than I did in that instance, just to feel the vibration of his laughter beneath my lips.

  The liquid courage was also beginning to get to me in other ways, and I found myself glancing around to find a restroom sign. Before my eyes could roam the entire room, they landed on my friend Sky sitting a few seats away, grinning at me like a fool. Her presence there shouldn’t have startled me. After all, I knew she worked for nZone. I just hadn’t let myself think about it much, Liam obviously sucking up all my brain cells. With a jerk of her chin, she gestured toward the exit and mouthed, “Bathroom.”

  I nodded. Leaning toward Liam, I ignored his invigorating scent and whispered into his ear, “I’ll be right back.”

  When he looked at me, a worried expression crossed his features. Smoothing his concern with a smile, I winked and mouthed, “Right back.”

  I could tell he was watching me intently as I stood and made my way toward Sky. I didn’t need to look back to see he was still staring, and the fact he couldn’t keep his eyes off me made me feel confident in this otherwise too-fancy dress and heels.

  As soon as the doors to the bathroom closed behind us, Sky turned to face me and said, “So you and William Allen, huh? Do you remember him from the New Year’s party? Cause I know you two haven’t been seeing each other since then—I would’ve found out by now if you had.”

  Party? What the hell was she talking ab—? “Oh, damn. I totally forgot about that party.” The holiday bash she invited me to almost a year and a half ago was hosted by one of the nZone Studios executives, and I rocked the place with my masquerade dress, clandestinely decked out as the Black Cat. Little did she know, I did hook up with someone there, but damned if I knew who. Not only was the night mostly an alcohol-induced blur of gaming and wagering fun, but we never once removed our masks.

  A look of horror must’ve crossed my face as I realized the dude I bumped uglies with that night just might be here, and I wouldn’t have the slightest clue who he was.

  Smoothing my face and pretending to be unaffected, I found my voice and responded, “Nah. Well, not that I know of anyway. I never learned anyone’s name that night, only costumes. I didn’t meet him until a few weeks ago at Ramon’s Café.”

  “Well, just be careful,” Sky warned as she headed toward the nearest stall. Locking herself in with a click, she continued. “He’s not really known for more than one night of happy fun time.”

  I felt funny talking about this through the bathroom stalls, our voices echoing louder than I was comfortable with, but my urge to relieve myself took over. “Don’t worry. This isn’t anything more than a business deal. He just needed to get his friend to stop bugging him about a date, and I thought it’d be a good cause.” She didn’t need to know how much the man was really getting under my skin. No one needed to know.

  As soon as I stepped from my stall, I found her standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, examining me with a half smirk. “It looked way more serious than that from where I sat, Maci.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be silly.” Washing my hands, I contemplated how much I want
ed to tell my gaming buddy. We usually didn’t talk about guys. Most of our conversations were riddled with strategy and techniques of the video variety. “I actually didn’t know who he was until we walked in here tonight.”

  Her burst of laughter startled me, and I studied her as she fluffed her black tutu-looking skirt. The way she wore her boots, laced all the way up to her skinny knees, had me jealous of her easy style. “How could you not know who he was?”

  “He only introduced himself to me as Liam. Until tonight, I didn’t even know his last name.” I felt like a fool now that I had a moment away from him to think straight.

  “Well, he probably did that on purpose. It’s okay though… he’s a cool guy. Just a bit of a player from what I can tell. I’ve never seen him with the same girl twice.” Tossing her paper towel into the trash, she held the door open and waited for me.

  “I need to freshen up. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  With a nod and a shake to her head, obviously laughing at me, she walked out.

  The silence of the bathroom had my ears ringing slightly until I heard a low thumping of music coming from the main room. The last comedian must’ve been done with his set.

  Looking in the mirror, I examined the messy mop on my head and silently wished I hadn’t taken out my French twist. My hair was a fucking mess.

  “Oh well,” I said with a sigh, realizing there was nothing much I could do with it now, especially since Liam still held my hairpin hostage.

  Making my way out into the hall, I turned toward the conference room doors and ran into a wall of suited perfection.

  “Fuck, Liam,” I whispered rather forcefully. “You can’t sneak up on someone like that.”

  Without saying a word to me, he tugged on my hand and pulled me into a small alcove just off the main hallway to the event’s entrance. My body collided with his, heat against heat, as he spun me around rather forcefully.

  As he pressed me against the wall, his fingers dug into one hip while his other hand grazed my cheek ever so gently. With his lips hovering mere centimeters from my own, he muttered, “Please, Maci.”

  Closing my eyes, I dragged in a ragged breath, worried my voice wouldn’t work at the moment. He was seriously robbing my brain of all sensible thought. My stomach fluttered like a schoolgirl on prom night, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell it was about this man that made me react so strongly.

  “Please what?” I asked, knowing full well what he wanted, but needing to hear him say it. C’mon, Liam. Say it. Because God knows I would totally give into the man if he could just tell me exactly what it was he wanted.

  Tilting my chin up, forcing me to open my eyes and meet his gaze, he whispered, “Let me kiss you.”

  The familiarity in his eyes seemed to do me in, depriving me of oxygen, and making my knees knock with nerves beneath his touch. He stared at me, his eyes darting back and forth between mine like he was trying to search for something, some sort of answer to all my unspoken secrets.

  “Non-date, remember?” I said without conviction, my hands pressed against the wall beneath my backside, aching to touch every inch of him. Hope sprang forth as the look in his eyes seemed to tell me how he couldn’t give a damn about my non-date comment.

  “Right,” he responded just before diving in and claiming my mouth. I couldn’t help but be thankful he chose to ignore me as his warm lips enveloped mine. The kiss was soft, sweet, and very passionate. It wasn’t ravenous and animalistic like I had expected. The gentleness in his touch caught me off guard and made me crave him that much more.

  Opening my lips for him, I explored him with my tongue—feeling him, tasting him, needing him. With his hands pressing against my back to deepen our embrace, a sudden memory flooded my mind unbidden.

  I abruptly realized why this man was so familiar to me.

  Gasping, I yanked my lips away from his and stared into his deep, blue eyes, desperately pleading for him to say nothing, or say everything, or… no, nothing. I didn’t want him to bring it up. Or did I? God, my mind was so tangled. My body seemed to be suffering from confusion as well, as I craved to touch him again all while my mind screamed to run.

  I could feel the exasperating tears begin to sting the back of my eyes as I examined his stare. His lack of recognition nearly had me doubling over in disappointment. Yet, why he should he recognize me? It was silly. It wasn’t like I was any more than another notch on his headboard that night. There was no reason the man should bother to remember me.

  Turning away, I willed myself not to get emotional. No reason for it, really. He didn’t mean anything to me, the same way I didn’t mean anything to him that night.

  Then why do you remember his touch, his taste, his… Stop! I internally scolded.

  “Maci?” His hand landing on my shoulder had me jerking away before I could think of my reaction hurting him.

  “We better get back,” I mumbled, rounding the corner of the alcove and making my way toward the double doors. He didn’t bother to say a word as he followed behind me, opening the door for me to pass.

  God, what a fool I’ve turned out to be.

  Chapter Eight

  Liam: No N00bs Allowed

  Her refusal Saturday night still had my mind reeling. One minute, I could’ve sworn she was into me, the next, she totally snubbed my advances and remained distant for the rest of the evening.

  I thought we had a connection, an odd familiarity between us that somehow drew us together, like magnets. Yet, the moment I made my move, igniting the smoldering embers between us, she snuffed out the flame, causing smoke to suffocate my resolve.

  Women. So infuriating.

  “Dude, you’re not going to believe this,” Thad boomed as he barreled through my office door. Monday mornings at the office were usually pretty dead—our gaming developers hung over by sleepless nights in front of their consoles. We hardly had an issue with our employees partying too hard, but their love of the game often had them wishing Monday didn’t come so soon.

  “Don’t you ever knock?” I scolded, never turning in my chair to face him.

  “Take the knot out of your panties and listen to me. You’ll never guess who donated at the gala Saturday night.” His enthusiastic attitude definitely didn’t fit my mood, and I was already losing my patience. He’d be smart not to make me guess anything.

  Looking over my shoulder, I stared at my friend, willing him to continue without me actually having to attempt any guesses. After settling in the chair across from my desk, he seemed to meet my bored gaze and finally got the hint.

  “M.L. Thomas.”

  Yeah, that got my attention. Swiveling around in my chair, I braced myself with both hands on my desk and said, “Wait, M.L. Thomas was there? Who invited him? And why didn’t anyone tell me he was actually there?”

  “Who the fuck knows. He probably didn’t want anyone to know. You know he never shows his face in public,” Thad guessed.

  “How do you even know it was him then?” The fact I could’ve been in the same room as my favorite Sci-Fi author and no one told me had impatience coiling in my stomach.

  “Well, I guess we don’t know for sure, but whoever was there left a check for five grand with his name on it made out to the foundation directly. He even left a note.”

  “What did it say?” The fact I had to prompt him for answers through this conversation was exhausting.

  “I dunno. Something about being honored to contribute to such a worthy cause. I’ll tell ya… the chicks running the charity are fucking stoked. Having his name on the donor list means quite a bit of publicity for them. They’re hoping some other authors follow suit.”

  I took a moment to think… hard… trying to remember if I had seen anyone I didn’t know who might’ve fit the bill. There were quite a few people I didn’t know at the gala, but none that really stood out.

  My mind flitted back to Maci. Maybe she invited him? It made sense considering she worked for Pembroke Publishing and he was their
star author. But, she didn’t even know what the event was for until dinner. Nah, that had to have been just a coincidence.

  “I’ll be back in a bit,” I said to Thad, ignoring the confused look that crossed his face as I bolted for the door.

  “Don’t forget about that developer’s meeting at three, numbnuts,” Thad hollered behind me. It was only ten in the morning anyway. It wasn’t like it was uncommon for me to go out on a coffee break midmorning. Not sure why he was getting all bent out of shape. Unless—

  Abruptly turning, I nearly ran into Thad as he followed behind me. “Oh, I meant to ask, how’d you make out with that redhead?”

  “Well, if you’d been acting normal and actually got online over the weekend, you’d know,” he spat back.

  “Quit whining and tell me.”

  “Eh, nothing to tell,” he said with a shrug, never meeting my eyes. Yeah, that usually meant he pussed out and didn’t have the guts to admit it.

  “One of these days, you’re going to need to follow your own advice and man up,” I said, pointing at him as I walked in the opposite direction. “I have to go meet someone really quick, but we can talk about this later, right?”

  “Whatever. Just go.”

  He didn’t have to tell me twice.

  I pulled out my phone, my fingers shaking as I texted Maci. Part of me was anxious about seeing her again and asking her why she practically ran from me, but most of my nerves stemmed from the fact that I was so damn close to meeting my favorite author. If only I’d known he was there.

  Liam: Ramon’s in five?

  Maci: Already here.

  Liam: ALLONS-Y!

  Knowing she was already there had me quickening my pace. I chose to walk the few blocks there so I could think, yet all my mind could focus on was seeing her again.

  On the way to the coffee shop, I thought about what I was going to say to her. I couldn’t just come out and ask her if she knew M.L. Thomas, could I? No, then she would think I was only after her for one thing, and that was far from the truth.