Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I blinked, shaking my head to clear it of the indecent fantasies I’d been having of him. “Like, video games?”
A blush touched his cheeks. “Yeah. Computer games, more specifically. Though also some board games. I’m kind of a…” He hesitated, the redness in his cheeks almost glowing. “A geek, I guess. My friend Conor calls it my secret superhero power, but really it’s not a secret. I just don’t get enough time for it anymore since I became partner at the firm.” He paused with a small smirk on his lips. “And it’s certainly not a power. He’s much better at it than I am.”
James didn’t meet my eyes, and the blush continued raging with a vengeance, streaking down his neck and flushing his chest. When the man had been in corporate mode during the family meeting, he’d seemed unflappable. But now here he was embarrassed about admitting he liked computer games. It was frustratingly endearing.
It made him seem more… human. More real. And likable. I didn’t want to like him this much.
“What do you play?” I asked.
His stood and stretched, his arms reaching high overhead, elongating the muscles down his sides and across his abdomen. My stomach twisted, my balls tightening at the sight of a salt-and-pepper happy trail disappearing under the band of his pajama bottoms. If he’d been anyone else, I’d have chuckled at the blatant attempt to show off his physique. But with James I was pretty sure the move was unconscious.
“Well, in terms of video games, my favorite is probably Skyrim. I actually got really into modding with that, but I don’t have enough time for it anymore,” he said, twisting his neck from one side to the other, working out a kink. “Mass Effect was another favorite of mine, but they lost me at Andromeda. My friend Shiver keeps trying to get me to play Craniax with her, but we’ll see.”
His eyes brightened the more he talked, his hands becoming animated as he continued to tell me about some of the games he liked and the reasons he liked them. “There are a ton of amazing board games out there, some really cool stuff, especially with Kickstarter. I’ve probably backed two dozen or more, but for most of them you need multiple players and it’s hard to find a reliable group of people who can find time together. You should see my collection, though. It takes up a whole wall in my library.”
He smiled at the mental image and then shrugged. “I used to be super into the whole scene, even going to some of the larger gaming conventions. But of course the last few years there’s been work and…” He paused, his eyes darkening for the barest moment. “And other commitments that have gotten in the way.”
Something about the way he said it caused something to stir inside me. There was a story there, and one that still bothered him. For the briefest moment I felt the urge to step forward, to press for more information. To find the source of that hurt and do whatever it took to get rid of it.
But the moment was over quickly, the cloud disbursing as fast as it had come. “There’s actually a funny story about the last con I was supposed to go to,” he said, already chuckling as he launched into a story about a friend of his.
I stared at him, mesmerized by the change that had come over him. It was like an entirely different person inhabited his body. He was relaxed and happy, the frown lines gone, replaced by laugh lines crinkling around his eyes. I wanted to watch him all night, bask in his happiness while in this magical moment of seeing the real James Allen shine through the stuffed shirt persona I kept trying to pin on him.
But he wasn’t a stuffed shirt. He was a dork. A sweet, adorable, sexy as fuck doofus.
“And he totally wore it! Even the tights.” James was laughing so hard, his eyes were watering. I’d missed what he’d said, but I was still enthralled. “I wish I had a picture so I could show you. It was epic. You’d have to know Wells to understand what a big deal that was, but he loves Conor like you wouldn’t believe, so…” His voice trailed off as he realized he’d been talking for a while. “Sorry, it’s just—”
I couldn’t help myself. The sight of him half-naked, the fantasies still swirling through my mind, the sound of his laughter and the look of utter joy on his face. The man was irresistible. I let the sledgehammer drop, and I took a giant stride toward him. Before I could stop myself, before I could think better of it, or think anything at all, I grabbed for the back of his head and yanked him in for a kiss.