The Seduction Game

“Before I put my foot in it,” he began, taking advantage of her lapse into silence—who knew when the next would come? “I was going to say that yes, I have been busy working. But I managed to go visit my sister last night, which was a nice break. I missed her while I was away.”

A pause and then, “You have a sister?”

“I have two, actually. Jenny and Fiona. Fi is single and lives in a funky little apartment that is never clean, and I mean never. Mom has stopped visiting because she can’t take the mess. Fi insists she’s far too busy. She’s a graphic designer. She actually does all my marketing work—well most of it. She does have a team to help.”

“Oh, well, that’s cool, and you know what they say about clean houses?”

“No?”

“They’re the sign of a boring person.”

“Fi is far from that.”

Will pushed open the door to the store that used to be Mr. Kawoski’s and stood aside to let Kate go in first. He couldn’t help but pause an extra moment as she passed to take a long, hard look at her ass. It was outlined perfectly by the long tee shirt that was practically sticking to her skin, and though he already knew her ass was something special, he admired it all over again, found himself wondering just how long before he could get his hands on it.

He frowned, because this situation was not supposed to be about him, it was supposed to be about the development. His dick did not agree. Stirring in his pants so swiftly that Will had to shift a little and think about something completely inane.

“It’s kind of dusty in here,” Kate said, snapping his attention back. “Even more so than outside.”

“It’ll clear in a minute, but just wait there a sec, I need to grab us some hard hats.” Though the hard harts certainly were necessary, the moment apart gave Will some much needed breathing space. He stood in the small room where all the building equipment was kept, palmed his unruly cock, and counted to ten.

Why, the more time he spent around her, was it starting to feel like he was trapping not only her, but himself, as well, in his plan?

The thought remained unanswered as they made their way through the building to the large covered courtyard that Will had cleared out for a base of operations. A huge table dominated the space and in the center of it was a drawing of the complex—or at least how it would be when work got started again. All was quiet now. Will had paused operations, feeling that Kate might be a little more cooperative if he showed her his good intentions.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked, pointing to the mini fridge.

She shook her head. “Tell me about your other sister instead.”

There was no mistaking the envious tone to her voice, though likely she was just trying to steer him away from more outrageous comments. Will smiled, pleased to realize he was already onto her way of thinking. “Jen is married,” he began. “She has three kids, all girls, all little rascals, and she’s studying for a BA in comparative literature.”

“Kids and school? She must be run ragged.”

Will shrugged. “She does okay. She’s a hard worker.”

“And this is the sister you visited yesterday?”

“Uh-huh. What about you? Any family?” He asked the question even though he knew the answer. But Will suspected that if Kate knew how thoroughly he’d had her investigated, she would be far from pleased.

Kate shook her head, just as he knew she would. “No. My parents died seven years ago. I was an only child, and they had no family either, so I’ve always been short of family. There’s just me now.”

“That must have been hard.”

“I’d have loved a brother or a sister but my parents had me late in life and there was never a possibility for another child, from what I could tell, anyway.” Kate shrugged and shot him a strained sort of smile. “I met Meg shortly after they died and she became the sister I never had.”

“And how did you meet?” Will asked, genuinely interested to find out how such an odd pairing had come about. Though he’d met Meg just the once, she seemed to be the polar opposite of geeky Kate. Where Kate was quiet and cool, Meg was loud and warm. Kate seemed to favor jeans, tees, and Converse, while the outfit he’d seen Meg in was something he certainly would not be forgetting in a hurry. Will was pretty sure he’d never seen Wonder Woman panties before. Of course thinking about panties with Kate standing so close was not a good idea. His dick—the traitor—stirred all over again and Will had to step around the table to put a little distance between them. Something Kate negated almost immediately by following him around and looking down at the drawing as she answered his question.

“College, of course,” she said. “We both studied computer science, though Meg did neural science with hers. I did math.”

He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, reminding himself all over again how appearances could be so deceptive. “Neural science?”

Kate shot him a smile, probably aware of what he was thinking. “Yep, she’s working on an app that will replicate itself into a new subset app and so on, conceivably forever. It’s based on the actions of a colony of ants, though don’t ask me how the two work together because I have no idea, my stuff is much more basic.”

“Souping up computers?”

“Well yeah and…” She hesitated. Will leaned a little forward, both pleased and fascinated to have her opening up to him like this. Sure, it was only little details but he’d assumed it would take much longer to get even that far. That he’d have to bat away at her defenses for days before she shared anything beyond “you’re a bastard.”

“What?” he prompted.

“Well, I develop games, too,” she said, giving him a look that seemed to be a little challenging.

“What sort of games?”

“Like Second Life.” Clearly his face was blank because the challenging look she gave him turned into one that looked suspiciously like pity. “It’s like a virtual world where you can be whoever you want. So if I was say, a woman in my midforties, working as a cashier in a grocery store, and coming home to nothing but some shitty TV, I could log into my computer and become Xena.”

He was lost. “Xena?”

“Well not the Xena,” Kate explained as if that should be obvious, “more like a Xena. I could be a warrior who runs an army of male soldiers. They’d be other gamers, of course. Or I could be a princess ruling over my stronghold. I can choose whatever I want. It’s entirely my world to create.”

“You’re serious?” Will asked, unable to get his head around the concept. “A computer-generated life?”

“Uh-huh. They’re really taking off right now, and I’m working on my own version based on a medieval world. I do it in between my regular work and it’s in beta mode at the moment. I’d like to launch in a year or so.” She stepped back, seemingly aware now of just how close they were standing to one another. “It’s nothing like some of the others out there. I’m not that skilled, but it’s fun and it’s cool and I’ve already had some interest.”

“So, there is more to you than meets the eye, Kate Kelly,” Will said, and for some reason the image of her dressed in leather, brandishing a whip, fixed itself in his brain. Christ…he so did not need that right now.