“What the hell is that?” Brian asked.
“It’s a beta code.”
Brian let out a little sigh. “This is why Eva is going to be perfect for you. Only a woman like her would get that you’re probably going to masturbate over getting this beta code for one of her games in development.”
I didn’t care what he thought or that he might’ve been right.
“Can I see the cuff links?” Brian asked. I handed them over, and he held them in his palm as he inspected them. “Very nice. They suit you.”
They were very nice. But the beta code? I loved it.
After Brian departed, I opened up my email, pulling out the private address I’d created solely to communicate with Eva.
Zane: How lucky am I to get this beta code? By the way, the cuff links are perfect.
Friday is only three days away.
Eva’s reply came only minutes later. I loved that she wasn’t coy and didn’t try to drag things out.
Eva: You’re the only person who has that beta code. Let me know what you think.
Now, it’s only 2 days, 23 hours, and 48 many minutes until Friday.
By the time Friday rolled around, I was doubting my ability to keep my cool when I finally saw Eva. For starters, we had a back and forth text and email exchange about her game. I loved her brain. I wanted to climb inside and take a walk around. She was brilliant and savvy and so fucking creative.
As much as I wanted to steal her back, I knew running her own company was what gave her this freedom. I would happily partner with her on any projects she wanted.
When Danny pulled to the curb in front of her house, he glanced over his shoulder at me. He eyed me speculatively for a moment until I arched a brow in question. “I like Eva,” he offered.
“I do too. Care to share why you felt the need to let me know that?”
Danny was quiet, and his gaze considering. After a beat, he lifted his shoulder in a shrug, almost as if thinking to himself. “She deserves a good man. I know you’re a good man, but sometimes you forget that.”
“Are you worried I’m going to hurt Eva?” I kept my tone light, but my heart thumped unsteadily in my chest.
Few people knew me as well as Danny did. He’d known me since I was a boy. My parents weren’t wealthy, but he’d done yard work for them for years after my father messed up his shoulder. Now, I paid someone else to do yard work because Danny was too old. He wanted to work, so I had a driver solely because I wanted to give him employment.
Danny shook his head. “Oh, no. I trust Eva can take care of herself. But I think you really like her, and if you don’t give yourself a chance for something good, you would hurt her and yourself.”
I didn’t even know what to say. After another silence, Danny said, “Now, go get that pretty girl and take her to a nice dinner.”
As I climbed out of the car, my senses felt fully attuned. I heard a soft breeze rustling the leaves in the trees. My eyes landed on the flower boxes in the windows of Eva’s small house. I hadn’t even consciously noticed them the last time I was here, but then perhaps my subconscious did. In the silvery evening light was an explosion of wild, messy flowers just like the bouquet I’d sent her.
When I stood in front of her door, I realized for the first time since I’d gotten in the car tonight that I was nervous. Because I liked Eva. I really liked her. Maybe it all started because I thought of my physical attraction to her, and she was hot, but now she was more.
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until the doorknob turned, and she opened the door. Her hair was down in a glossy swirl around her shoulders. I thought I spied a streak of pink mingling with the burgundy in her locks.
Her teeth dented her bottom lip as a smile unfurled across her face. “Come in.” Opening the door wider, she gestured me inside. “George will want to say hello.”
“He will?” I replied with a chuckle. As if to prove her point, George approached, purring up a storm as he circled my calves.
The little skirts Eva wore were going to kill me. She had great legs, long and lithe. Once again, when she leaned over to pick up her purse, I was thinking I could just cross the room and pull that skirt up.
As if he was aware of the direction my thoughts took, George purred again, bumping his head against the front of my shin. “Hey, George,” I said as I leaned down to scratch under his chin.
As I straightened, my eyes landed on the desk in the corner. Her home was warm and inviting. With glossy hardwood floors and throw rugs here and there, she had a big comfortable-looking sectional and a television mounted above the fireplace. In the corner, she had two desks situated with several computer monitors on top, all of them on at the moment.
Before I realized it, I was crossing over to see what she was working on. I scanned, seeing the beta game I’d been playing on one of the screens. “Are you making more changes?”
“Until a game is out the door, I’m always making changes.”
Eva came to stand beside me where I had my hand leaning on her desk. One computer screen had the code she was working on with another showing the graphics. “I’m struggling with setting the difficulty,” she explained. “I tend to overthink that.”
We were supposed to go to dinner, but I forgot.
It was a full two hours before I even noticed the time. That was with a clock in front of me the entire time on the computer monitors. We were sitting at her desk, alternating between screens as we toyed with adjusting various settings in the game. Eva showed me some changes she had already implemented based on my feedback about the beta version she had sent over.
We were completely engrossed in work, although I didn’t even think of it as work. I loved analyzing mechanisms in technology. I also loved listening to Eva.
She was brilliant, thoughtful, creative, and so thorough. She considered every angle of every change she made. It was a major turn-on.
“Did you still want to go to dinner?” I belatedly asked.
I occupied a low stool Eva had pulled over while she sat on her desk chair. Her hands froze on the keyboard, and she spun to face me as they dropped away. Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink, and I wanted to kiss her.
I’d had enough foresight to text Danny and let him know we would be leaving later because I was doing some work with Eva. I’d told him to go home for the night because I didn’t want him waiting around indefinitely. Good thing I had because I’d lost all sense of time.
“I forgot about dinner,” Eva said, catching her bottom lip in her teeth and worrying it a little.
“We missed our reservation.”
Her eyes widened. She whipped her head to the side, glancing at the computer screen. When her eyes met mine again, she cast me a sheepish smile. “It’s been two hours. I’m really sorry. I can get kind of absorbed.”
“Same here. You weren’t the only one who lost track of time.”
As we stared at each other, the air around us begin to feel heavy with a subtle hum of electricity. The hairs on the back of my neck rose in awareness. I had meant for tonight to actually be a seduction. It was supposed to be planned.
Yet here I was, apparently so enthralled with the way Eva’s brain worked that I forgot everything else. I felt the swell of my cock when I saw her slide her palms over her thighs, almost nervously. Leaning forward, I reached for her hands.