She blinked and focused on the bright light overhead.
She would not cry in front of him, not for being herself.
“That really sucks. I didn’t mean to sound like that. It’s really cool you’ve been able to do something you’re passionate about.” He dug into his food, but didn’t let go of the line of conversation. “Was that always what you wanted to do?”
“Yeah.”
“You never wanted to do anything else? Something more?”
“Why are you so pushy?”
Raul shrugged and ducked his head. “I just always wonder if people are doing what they want to, or what they have to. Like, I work at the twenty-four-hour vet clinic because it pays really well and I can get a flexible schedule.”
“But...?”
“But I really want to run a non-profit rescue and charity.”
“That’s cool.”
“I’d like to get there someday.”
“I bet you could make that happen.” She bit her lip and tapped her fork against the tin container. Did she tell him she’d seen his website already?
“Someday is not today.” He set the empty food dish on the table. “But seriously, tell me more about the game company.”
“No.” She pushed her food around, annoyed at her own stubborn nature.
They ate with an occasional bit of halted conversation, but she’d effectively road-blocked them. She was so tired of being treated as less than just because she had ovaries. Raul seemed to get the drift and eventually stopped trying to get her to talk and finished off his food instead.
He nodded at Lola, stretching after emerging from her nest. “Shall we have a look at the babies?”
Miranda slid off her stool and followed Raul over to the box. Lola proceeded to her food dish without a backward glance. Raul pried the top off and they stared down at a pile of six kittens... and one runt off by itself.
Raul scooped the black runt up and turned the furry jelly bean over in his hand.
“Yeah, looks like she’s not feeding him. I don’t see anything wrong with him, he’s just little and struggling.” He rubbed his fingers over the kitten, who mewled and nosed around for a moment before giving up and curling in on itself.
“What do we do?” She reached out and ran her fingertips over the kitten’s soft fur.
“I think I’m going to run to the pet store and get some formula. You want to hold onto this little guy while I make the run?” He placed the runt in her hands.
“Okay.” She cradled the tiny thing to her chest, its little grunts breaking her heart.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Do you have any honey?”
“Yeah...”
“Good. Get it out, and I’ll be back really soon.” He grabbed his bag from the entry, tossed a smile over his shoulder, and was gone.
Miranda stared at the door until the sound of an engine revved and then she kept staring.
She’d gone and gotten her panties in a twist over nothing. Lately she was doing that a lot.
She needed to talk this out with people who knew her.
Runt in hand, Miranda crossed to her home office and plunked down into her desk chair and maximized the never-ending chat she had going with her three best friends.
Miranda: Help
She sent the message out into the ether and waited.
All three chat names were active, but that didn’t mean anything.
Rashae: Help you what?
Piper: ?
Miranda: Dr. Dreamy was here
Tamara: im so here for this
Tamara: what happened?
Miranda: He has ex/gf issues. And I’m going crazy lady.
Tamara: lame
Tamara: him not u
Piper: ?
Rashae: That blows, but everyone’s got baggage, and you aren’t crazy. Just cautious. With reason.
Miranda: I know. I just duno.
Tamara: you know you dont know
Tamara: youre not making a lot of sense
Piper: For fuck’s sake Tamara, get a new God damned keyboard.
Piper: I can’t take your lack of punctuation in my life anymore.
Tamara: suck a cock
Piper: I might. I do have a date tomorrow.
Tamara: what
Tamara: with josh
Tamara: details
Tamara: after m sorts out her shit
Miranda: He is bitter at the ex-bitch because it sounds like she was successful. And a bitch.
Piper: Not with Josh. No chemistry, remember? : (
Tamara: then hes got issues he needs to sort out
Tamara: dont sell yourself short and dont lie to him
Tamara: ug P u kellen me
Rashae: What T said.
Rashae: I still vote you use him for a night though.
Piper: Then you date Josh.
Rashae: There’s no way he’s your stalker.
Tamara: uh no thx he my boss
Rashae: Oh, FYI, I might have an in on a game design thing.
Tamara: whut
Tamara: more
Tamara: now
Miranda: I love you guys.
Miranda: What about a game design thing? And how’s your sister?
Rashae: Sam’s good. Settling in. Busy with her new job.
Rashae: The game design would be for a game that just lost their artist. It’d be a lot of work.
Miranda: You can totally do that!
Piper: *thumbs up*
Miranda: He’s back.
Rashae: Wait!
Rashae: Kittens?
Miranda: 6 healthy, 1 needs to be bottle fed.
Miranda: Raul’s back, he’s going to bottle feed the baby.
Rashae: Video. That. Shit.
“Hey, I’m letting myself in,” Raul announced.
He pushed the front door open, his hands full of bags.
For a moment, Miranda sat there, her brain short-circuiting. In what world did she leave her front door unlocked?
“What the hell did you get?” she asked.
“They were doing a sale on formula that’s almost out of date. It’s kitten season.” He shrugged as if that made perfect sense. “Mind if I put this on the counter?”
“Please.”
She closed the door, locked it and followed Raul into her kitchen where he proceeded to whip up a concoction of powder formula, water, honey and...Pedialyte?
“Why...?” She gestured to the surprise ingredients.
“Well, this little guy hasn’t eaten in a while. May I?” He held out his hand, and she placed the tiny kitten in his palm. “The Pedialyte is to rehydrate him. The honey will perk him up. And the water-and-formula mix is what he’ll need going forward, until he’s strong enough to eat on his own.”
“Oh.”
She watched, fascinated as he coaxed the tiny kitten into latching onto the teat.
“I’m squeezing this just a little so he gets a taste of it. You don’t want to drown them in formula because it’ll get in their lungs. There he goes.” Raul smiled.
The kitten pawed the air, its little tail stuck up as it grunted.
“He’s going now.” Raul’s smile spread into a panty-dropping grin.
“Do you think Lola will take him back now that he smells like you?”
“She’s a domesticated cat, so that’s probably not an issue. Ideally, he’ll be supplemented by formula for a little while, at least until he’s got some strength and can get in there on his own.”
“Oh, okay.” Miranda nodded.
“But it might take some time.”
“So...what?”
“Well, do you feel comfortable bottle feeding him? It’s an around-the-clock gig, I don’t know what your bosses would think.”
“I am the boss.”
“Yeah?” Raul glanced up, his confusion evident.
“I run Grunge Games.”
“No, shit? Like—how’d that happen?”
“The, uh, what?” She blinked. His smile was
not what she’d expected from a statement like that.
“Up, he’s done. Hang on, little guy.” Raul put the bottle down and crossed to the sink. He flipped the kitten upside down and ran warm water on the little guy’s butt.
“What—are you doing?”
“Seeing if he’ll pee. Shit. I should have—”
“No, no, if he needs to pee, by all means, at this age, the sink is fine. I was just curious.”
“Oh, whew. There you go, dude.” Raul turned the tap off and wiped the kitten with a dishrag. “Now he can go in with his brothers and sisters.”
“Can you tell it’s a boy already?”
“Pretty much.”
“Life’s mysteries—done.”
Raul put the baby back in the nest, then turned toward her, his head tilted to the side.
“Now—back to you.”
Shit.
3.
Miranda bit her lip, dreading this conversation a bit. She had to be true to herself. It was the last thing in this world that was totally her. If she lost that, she was nothing.
“What do you mean, you run Grunge Games?” Raul mirrored Miranda’s couch-pose, one arm up, legs curled.
“I started it. In my garage, even though that’s kind of cliché now. This used to be our meeting space. Then I sold it to Dark Matter.”
“Seriously? Why did you sell it?”
“Because... It’s complicated. We did okay on D1, D2 soared when we went with all the different story lines and we sank too much into D3 and rushed getting it out, so it stunk. We barely scraped together getting D4 out, and by then I was working on IOUs. We just didn’t have the capital to support us, in part because we got too big too fast without good enough management. As far as buyouts go, Dark Matter has been great to work with. Their owner signs off on our projects, but otherwise he’s hands-off until it comes to the back end.”
“How—Why—Really?”
“Um, what?” Miranda chuckled. “You aren’t, like, pissed?”
“Why...would I be?”
“You didn’t seem very keen on women in upper management roles.”
“No—with Navya...” He sighed. “I don’t think I ever mattered. With her it was all about money and what people thought about us. I didn’t look good enough for her. This is different. This was your dream. Your thing. And you made it happen. That’s awesome. I’d be crazy if I didn’t shut up and listen.”
“Really?”
“Look, my issues with my ex were...superficial shit. I don’t get that vibe from you, unless I’m wrong...”
“God, no. The money.” Miranda pushed both hands through her hair. “Cliff, he’s the owner of Dark Matter, and I talk about this. He is a business guy. People underestimate him all the time because he’s a little permafried and he’s a terrible people person, but he knows how to work a business. He gets that. I...am a people person. I’m good at organizing. But I’m really good with vision and motivation and keeping people on task. I sort of lose it in the bigger picture. We work really well together, and I’ve never been...he’s never treated me as less than because I’m a woman, and that’s a big deal. He knows he can trust me when I say a project is good for the market. And I can trust him to sell it.”
“That’s great. No, and I’m sorry if I came off like a dick.” Raul stretched out his hand, like some sort of peace offering. She put her palm in his and he squeezed.
Be still my beating heart.
The fluttering in her stomach was...she might be sick. What did she say to that?
“Well, now that we have that out of the way—kittens?” She pulled her hand out of his and waved at the cat hide.
“They look good. Healthy. And mama seems to know what she’s doing. I’d recommend spaying her in a few months. She’s a little too old to be having babies.”
“Yeah, I’d say.”
“Okay, I have to ask.” The way he grinned was pure trouble. “Whose idea was D7?”
“You didn’t like it.” Her stare was flat.
“No, it was just different. I was curious...did the same team come up with that who worked on the other games?”
“Yes and no.” She shifted, sitting cross legged. “The same team has worked on every Drudge game with a few exceptions. D7 started out as a game idea two of my designers came to me with. The girls wanted to do a small run game with a female cast set in that universe, but different. Explore more of what’s out there. I said—let’s make it an alternate reality Drudge game with the brothers as sisters—and we ran with it. The hate has been... It sucks.”
“I like where the story line went. I thought that alternate reality where Sammy didn’t die was cool, since it was so pivotal in D2.”
“Right? Killing Sammy was hard because he was such a fan favorite from the original game and by the time we knew that...he was already scripted to die, so not doing it and swapping him for a different character—or a different brother—would have been a cop out. Plus, I think doing this game at the seventh mark, since there are seven living brothers, was really cool.”
“Sisters.” Raul grinned. “Who came up with the first game concept?”
“That was mostly me, then I turned my team lose on them and it became a group collaboration. We went trope-heavy at first, and let things progress naturally.”
“I’ve always loved how different they all are. And come on—Balya was my favorite. He’s pretty badass.”
“You think so?” Miranda couldn’t help grinning back. This—this was what she loved. Fan feedback from people who got it. Who really got it.
“Yeah.”
“We wanted something that was more inclusive, so hearing that you like Bal is—it’s great. The idea that in this post-apoc world family is more who-you-pick was a big thing for us. We all wanted to play the game as someone who represented us.”
“Yeah—I read that somewhere. I can’t believe I never knew about you, though. Why don’t I hear more about you?”
“Because...I’m a woman.” She shrugged. “I might be the captain steering this ship, but it’s a smarter choice to put a man’s face on things. It’s something Cliff and I have discussed a lot. I really lucked into a great partnership with him.”
Raul stared at her for a moment, and God she wanted to kiss him. His confusion was everything that made her heart best fast.
“Well,” he finally said, “I think it’s awesome you were able to do something you’re passionate about and succeed.”
“I’ve been really lucky to have a team of people who support me and my vision.”
“I imagine that’s huge.” His words were sincere, but she heard the waver.
“It is. But it’s not all perfect.” She scooted a little closer and pulled out her phone. “This is my family. Mom. Dad. Brother. And my younger sister. I’m pretty sure the only people in my family who are proud of me are my dad and brother. My mother and sister want to know when I’m going to settle down. Have a family. Get on with the really important stuff in life. So, though, my dad was all for me starting Cat’s Cradle in their garage and even got a couple of his friends to invest, he just nods and grunts when mom goes to him for back-up.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, it does, but I remind myself that my mom and I have different life goals. I have zero doubt that she loves me. She has devoted her life to us and her grandkids.”
“They live around here?”
“Kind of. This was the house I grew up in. I bought a new build west of here, then traded with my parents. They’re about thirty minutes away, which is a good distance for us, I think.”
“You—gave your parents your house?”
“It’s complicated...” She glanced away, not ready to discuss the series of weird break-ins with him. With her luck, he’d call her paranoid and crazy, too. “Want some ice cream?”
“Uh, sure?”
She bounced off the sofa, fully aware she was running from that line of conversation.
Raul followed her into the kitch
en and stood by silently while she produced three options. When she finally faced him, he was still giving her the dark, brooding stare full of questions.
“Pick your poison.” She gestured to the options.
“How about you pick for me?”
“Hm.” She let her gaze travel from his still-tussled hair, over his chest, thankful to the threadbare gods that his shirt molded to every ridge of muscle, down to his trim waist and jeans.
Miranda pulled a spoon out of the drawer and pried the lid off her favorite. She dug out a nice sized bite and offered him the concoction.
“What is it?” He eyed the questionable color. She couldn’t blame him, the off-white ice cream had flecks of brown, which were lumps of white and chocolate bits all in it.
“Try it.” She thrust the handle at him.
Raul bent and wrapped his lips around the offered treat, sucking it off. Her mouth went a little dry, watching those lips of his work the frozen stuff off the spoon. His brows drew down and his jaw worked, his expression both comical and adorable. Sort of like a puppy experiencing snow for the first time.
“Vanilla bean, cinnamon, honey and white chocolate ice cream.” She dug in a bit for herself to keep from staring at his tongue, all too aware of where her mind was headed.
“I need more of that.” Raul crowded in next to her and took the spoon from her hands.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” She watched him dig in for another bite.
“My life has been missing this stuff. Here.” He held the spoon for her.
She leaned in and took the bite.
“Up, missed a little.” He swiped at the corner of her mouth, both capturing the missed bit of ice cream and smearing some on her. “Crap, sorry.”
He licked his finger and grabbed a napkin.
“It’s okay.” She chuckled, but he was already there, close enough her arm brushed against his stomach while he swiped at her cheek.
He bumped her chin with his fingers, taking far more care than was necessary. His gaze snagged on hers and for several seconds Miranda couldn’t breathe.
The spoon clinked on the marble countertop and her heart rate sped up.
Oh, God.
Raul was going to kiss her. She knew that look. Was pretty sure her panties were mysteriously, somehow on the floor as a result of that look. And she could hardly breathe.
Mr. Purr-fect and the Geek (Gone Geek, #2) Page 3