by Skye Jordan
“Thanks,” the other man said. “Your input made all the difference. I also added the ability for multiple players to connect via Wi-Fi so they can ride with their friends on the same slopes.”
“Perfect.”
Julia cut open the mango bag and peeled back the yogurt top.
“But what we’re really excited about is the outfitting advances we’ve made since our last meeting.” This voice was new. Deeper. Older. More serious. “We’ve signed eighteen more manufacturers to pimp their goods in the initial setup section with everything from beanies to boards.”
“Awesome,” Noah said.
Julia mixed the yogurt, keenly aware of Drake’s silence.
“But what’s really awesome,” the same man continued, “is that we’ve also designed a purchasing feature within that section of the game that allows players to buy all the merchandise directly. So, say they put together a rad outfit on the animated version of ‘Shred with Noah Hunt’ and want to buy it for themselves, they just click ‘buy,’ and it’s charged to the credit card on file.”
“Holy shit…” Noah said, awe in his voice.
“Wait till you hear the royalty we negotiated with the manufacturers.” Drake finally spoke. “It’s even better. I’ll get you the final numbers later today.”
“We plan on replacing the animated guy in the beginning with your real image,” the younger guy said, “so the player gets the impression you’re right there in the game with them, dancing to the background music and flashing them the same hand signals they see you making on TV.”
Imagining that made Julia smile around a spoonful of yogurt.
“We’re creating a full-circle experience,” the younger man continued, “where the player pretends they either are you or they’re your friend, and you two are getting ready to scrape powder together.”
“That sounds a little weird,” Noah said with a chuckle, “but you guys know what you’re doing.”
Julia yanked the spoon from her mouth, frowning. So he’d let other people take control of what they specialized in but insisted on pushing her away? What the hell? That was…was…dammit, that was insulting.
“I bet you’re all pretty ready to get headed back to San Jose,” Noah said. “You should probably get started. The roads are going to make it a long trip.”
Yeah, they should get started so Julia could get started too. She swirled out the last spoonful of yogurt from the container and stood from the stool.
“There is one other thing.” This came from yet another man. He sounded a little like Drake, minus the salesman, and his voice held a note that made Julia tense. “We should talk about your recovery as it relates to the game.”
Ah shit. That didn’t sound good. She slid her butt back onto the stool and fished a chunk of frozen mango from the bag.
“Sure.” Noah sounded relaxed enough, but after twenty-four intimate hours with him, she noticed the hint of lurking apprehension. “What do you want to know?”
“It seems we’re going to have a timing issue with the game’s release. We’d planned to release it the week before the X Games and push it hard. With it coming out so late in the season, we’ve got a limited window for sales before kids’ interests turn from snowboarding to skateboarding and surfing. So we’ve secured a lot of advertising for the Snowmass events.”
“Sounds good,” Noah said. “I don’t see the issue.”
“The issue is, that you haven’t accepted the invitation to the X Games yet.”
“Ah, those are just formalities,” Noah said with all his I-can-totally-rehab-myself misplaced confidence. “I’m in.”
“As a company investing quite a bit of time and money into this game, we don’t think it’s too much to ask that you formally accept the invitation. It will go a long way in our marketing efforts.”
Julia cringed a little. The request was reasonable but probably difficult for Noah to swallow. No athlete at his level wanted to be told what to do. A moment of silence followed, and Julia found herself holding her breath.
“Absolutely,” Noah finally said. “I’ll do it today.”
If anyone in the other room could read between the lines, they would have heard, “You bet. I’ll do it when I’m damn good and ready. Is this meeting over?”
But the oldest, most stoic speaker just said, “Great. Let’s talk about your recovery. How is it going? I know it’s a sensitive subject, but considering the success of this game hinges on your athletic performance, it’s important.”
Holy shit. This was going downhill fast. Julia slipped off her stool, crossed her arms, and clamped a thumbnail between her teeth, pacing the kitchen. This conversation brought back so many uncomfortable memories that she started feeling boxed in.
“It’s going great,” Noah assured with a mild go-fuck-yourself undertone probably inaudible to anyone but herself and Drake. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m going to own Aspen in February.”
“We’ve been hearing contradicting reports, and considering the game will fail if you—”
“Who told you differently?”
Noah’s brusque tone shot a tingle of ice down her spine. What the hell was Drake doing in there, playing with his nuts? Noah didn’t need this kind of stress while he was trying to rehab. He might not admit it, but she knew he feared for his future, the same way she had six years ago. Hopefully, he wouldn’t make the same mistakes she had. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to rebuild his life from the ground up.
“I can’t say who told us”—the company man’s voice held a hint of hesitation—“but we were given enough information to take stock in its credibility. I understand you’ve been rehabbing yourself. That you’ve lost three physical therapists because—”
“Because they weren’t doing their jobs,” Noah interrupted. “Because they knew less about sports conditioning than I do. If I’m running a little behind schedule, it’s because those physical therapists did more harm than good.”
Julia couldn’t take it anymore. She turned for the living room.
“Still,” the man said, “we’d feel better if you had a professional overseeing your—”
“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” she said in her most congenial voice, stepping in. “But I’m sort of in a time crunch.” She walked to the sofa where Noah overwhelmed one corner, and leaned her hip on the arm, addressing the group at large. “I’m supposed to meet a tow truck driver down at the bakery any minute to get my car out of that drift. I’d reschedule so you could finish this conversation, but with the limited resources around town right now, there’s no telling when I’d get another chance.”
She looked down at Noah, into the face she’d come to know so intimately last night. Now, she had to slip into her professional, distant-but-friendly veneer. And lie. “Would it be okay if we moved the magnetic therapy to this afternoon so I could pick up my car now? Once that’s finished, you’ll be ready for some intense training this evening. Then we can fit in another therapy session before you go to bed. Does that work for you?”
He was staring at her like she had a series of screws loose.
“We were just discussing Noah’s recovery,” Drake said, sliding his hands into his khakis and rolling back on his heels. “You’ve got great timing. Why don’t you tell everyone here from Guru Technology a little about your background?”
That would be a great idea if she were staying, but Drake knew she wasn’t. She’d called him last night while she’d been cleaning the kitchen to tell him so.
“I’d love to, but…” She searched for a clock. “Does anyone have the time?” Noah lifted his hand and twisted his watch face toward her. She sucked a breath through her teeth. “Ooo, yeah. I can’t miss this tow. I’d be happy to send you all a résumé if you’d like.”
“I’ll take you to get your car.” Drake pulled his keys from his pocket, then turned to the group, all men in their early to late twenties, dressed casually in jeans and sweaters. “Julia has a double bachelor’s degree in sport
s medicine and nutrition, and her masters in physical therapy. She’s spent the last four years of her career with Performance Therapy. They’re based out of San Francisco and handle all the big names, including various Olympic athletes and many of the players on the Giants and Niners rosters.”
“Really,” one of the men said. He looked the oldest and had a beard a lot like Noah’s, only the effect was totally different, giving more of a homeless look than Noah’s carelessly hot. “What brought you here?”
“Drake made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“And how is your work with Noah going?”
“Well, he is”—breathtaking in bed —“truly gifted. I’m looking forward to getting Noah back on the slopes in top form.”
“As you can see,” Drake said, “Noah’s in excellent and capable hands. You should all really get on the road before that second sweep of this storm comes in.” He lifted his chin at Julia. “Ready to go?”
She straightened with a relieved smile. “Beyond ready.”
Noah’s hand closed around her forearm, and his warmth burned into her skin, then seeped through her body. “I’ll take her. We have some shop talk to go over.”
“We can talk later. Drake’s already going out—”
“Actually,” the man from Guru said, “we have a few contract details to go over. Noah, do you mind taking Julia?”
“Not at all.”
Goddammit. She should have guessed she’d never get out of here that cleanly. But she smiled and shrugged. “Okay, then. Nice to meet you all.”
Noah was a little shocked at how well Julia played this game. She’d probably saved him from telling the Guru team what they could do with their precious video—and prevented Noah from throwing away millions of dollars.
He waited in the garage, staring at his boots while turning over the next month in his mind—specifically, having that time to experience the woman’s heady brand of smokin’-hot sex.
He’d never stayed with one woman that long, and he wasn’t sure how that would pan out. But she’d seemed cool with it all last night, and if she was living in the guesthouse, they really could stay out of each other’s way if things between them went south.
Instead of coming out of the house, Julia had exited the front and came up behind his SUV through the open garage door. She had her duffle and her backpack with her, and opened the back hatch to throw them in.
He pushed off the car and gripped the handle as she came forward, but didn’t open the door. When she paused and met his gaze, he said, “Why’d you bring those?”
“So I can leave from town,” she said in a hushed voice and a quick glance at the door leading to the house where the Guru team was still talking to Drake.
“You’re—”
She pressed her fingers to his mouth before he yelled leaving? “Shhh. I just got you out of a tight spot. Don’t blow it.”
Noah’s mood took a dive, and he ground his teeth as he yanked open the passenger’s door. If his anger bothered her, she didn’t show it.
As soon as he dropped into the driver’s seat, he said, “Why are you leaving? Last night was—”
“Amazing. Unforgettable. And, we agreed, only one night. Please, Noah, I don’t want to miss this tow.”
Grinding down his molars, Noah shoved the car into reverse and backed onto the street, then put it in drive and started toward town. There had been a break between storms, and the sky was a vivid, crystal blue. Sunshine made the fresh snow sparkle, but Noah couldn’t appreciate the beauty.
“I don’t understand you,” he said, trying to hold his temper. “Explain why you’re not staying.”
“Explain why you didn’t think to mention a business meeting with half a dozen guys—including Drake, for God’s sake—last night. Or, hell, woke me this morning so I could get out of your bed before they showed up.”
“I didn’t know they were coming. They were supposed to show yesterday, but it got canceled because of the storm. Drake just showed up on my damn porch this morning. By the time I could tell you about it, they were sprawled in my living room.” He cut a look at her. “Come on, Julia, calm down and reconsider.”
“Nothing’s changed. You have no intention of allowing someone to rehab you.”
“Goddammit.” He pounded the steering wheel. “You are so stubborn. Why didn’t you just let me hang myself with those guys?”
“Because I hated the way they cornered you. Besides, I really do have to get my car.”
He made a series of turns, trying to get into her head. Getting into a woman’s head was not something he’d ever thought he’d want, but he just couldn’t understand this. She was completely into him last night. She’d lain draped over him for hours between rounds of religion-altering sex—many of which she’d instigated. She’d let him stroke her back, kiss her forehead, run his fingers through her hair—all the sweet stuff he never did with other women. Never even wanted to do with other women. Now, she was bolting, as if last night never happened.
She was acting like…like…
Like him.
And it sucked.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your degrees?” he asked.
“It wouldn’t have made any difference. Your mind was made up long before I got here.”
Noah merged onto the main road and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “What if, you know, I agreed to let you rehab me?”
She pulled on gloves and made a bullshit sound in her throat. Her mouth was pressed into a tight line, her expression intense. “Don’t lie to yourself, Noah. You don’t have any respect for what I do. If you did, you’d give over control of your rehab to me like you gave over the design of your video game to Guru.”
Frustration percolated beneath his skin. “It’s not the same.”
“Close enough for me. The bottom line is, you’re not committed.”
“What if I promised to behave? It’s only six weeks. I can behave for six weeks.”
“None of this matters now. I told you yesterday, I don’t sleep with my clients. It’s too late to go backward.”
“I wasn’t your client last night,” he blurted without thinking. Because if she stayed, he would be her client. And that really messed up his more-smokin’-hot-sex plans. “I understand why you have that rule, but you’re right. We can’t go back. We already slept together, and I wouldn’t take it back even if I could.”
“Neither would I,” she said softly.
“Then don’t let some arbitrary rule you made up at some arbitrary time in the past ruin what we could have now.”
“You don’t get it.” She slapped her hands against her thighs. “I can’t work with you. We have freaking crazy chemistry. We’re going to want to sleep together again.”
“And again. And again. Already there. Was there when I woke up to a pack of unexpected guys at my door. Would pull over and do you right now—just say the word.”
“It’s unprofessional,” she cried, cutting a quick glance at him, then away as if she couldn’t hold his gaze. “I’m trying to build my career, not destroy it.”
Noah pulled into the bakery far too soon. And he was feeling a little frantic with the thought of her driving out of his life right now. That only rose when he saw the tow truck already there, hooking up her Audi.
“Oh good,” she breathed, gripping the door handle even before he’d stopped the car.
He braked and grabbed her arm so she didn’t jump out. “Julia, what you did with Guru today won’t last. As soon as they find out you’re not here anymore, I’m going to end up with the same problem again.”
“I have a list of therapists. They’re good. I’ll send it to Drake. If you’re hell-bent on not healing the right way, I imagine one of them would take you up on the offer of a charade. You’ll be fine.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Good-bye, Noah.”
She pulled from his hold and jumped from the car.
When the door slammed, Noah hit the steering wheel. “Goddammit.”
“Just let her go,” he muttered. “You don’t need that kind of headache.”
Only he didn’t have a headache today. He barely had any aches and pains at all. She’d treated him to a four a.m. full-body massage, focusing on his bad ankle and foot…until she’d become obsessed with his cock and balls. Then she’d had him begging for release before climbing on top of him and riding them both to exquisite pleasure. The simple memory had him squirming in his seat.
Julia stood back while the tow truck driver lifted the back wheels of the Audi off the ground and drew it from beneath three feet of snow, then stopped when the front end faced the street. Then they met up again to finish paperwork.
Noah pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed speed dial.
“Where are you?” Drake answered.
“At the bakery where her car got snowed in. Get down here, man, I’m losing her. You’re going to have to pull a rabbit out of your ass.”
Sitting across from Drake at the bakery, Julia was seriously out of sorts as she toyed with her teabag in the silver tea pot. He’d insisted they meet before she returned to San Francisco, and since he did have important contacts that would benefit her in the long run, she’d agreed.
Their waitress, a cute young thing named Sarah, gave Drake her biggest, brightest, double-dimpled smile when she set down his coffee. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything else?” she asked.
Drake declined and thanked her. And when she walked away, Julia said, “Come on, D, make the girl’s day and let her get you a BJ.”
He sputtered in the middle of taking a sip of coffee and pulled the cup from his mouth, grabbing a napkin. “A day with Hunt, and you’re talking, and thinking, like a guy.”
“This started years ago. It’s not Hunt.”
“About Noah—”
“I’m not staying. You’re right about him—underneath, he is a good guy, but he’s got some serious baggage, not to mention Rushmore on his shoulder. He’s impossibly close-minded. Wants everything his own way. Thinks he knows best. And above all, he doesn’t want help. I can’t force him to cooperate. I told you that before I ever got here, and I’m more than a little pissed at you for the way you handled this. I quit my job, for God’s sake.”