The Seduction Game

“Do you think—” Kate began, but Meg shushed her. The Kate avatar was stepping forward now, with the sword in hand, a sword which suddenly started glowing red, almost like a lightsaber. It was weirdly pixilated though; the color was an add-on code.

“Then slay me,” the Will avatar boomed, dropping his shield. “Slay me now, Katie. But know this. It killed me to say those words to Chris. Every one hurt. I may have started this game between us thinking to woo you into doing what I wanted, but the joke was on me.”

“He did what?” actual Kate breathed.

“He was going to woo you into doing what he wanted,” Meg said.

Kate gave Meg a look. “I know that. I heard Will—I mean the faux-Will—just freaking say so, the bastard.”

“Okay, well, but he did just apologize—”

The Kate avatar was speaking now, hushing them both. “You destroyed K.I.T. Vengeance will have to be mine simply for that.”

“No,” faux-Will said. “It was Chris.” He hung his head, the cape fluttering in the computer-generated breeze. “I should have realized, though, and so some of the blame must be mine. But you must know I would do nothing to harm you. Nothing. I will do whatever it takes to fix this.”

“But why?” the Kate avatar asked.

“Because I will do anything to make you happy.”

Her heart thudded and the real Kate swallowed unsteadily.

“There’s so much I need to tell you, Katie,” faux-Will continued. “Please, you must let me.”

“Then speak,” the overly big-breasted Kate demanded, waving her sword back and forth.

“Come to me,” the Will avatar said. “Look out of the window where I’m waiting for you and come to me.”

Silence settled into the room and both women held their breath. Kate looked from the avatars—who were now facing each other across the bridge, flexing their muscles—then to the window, then back to the avatars. She was having trouble taking it all in and could not even believe that Will had done this.

How had he managed it in such a short time? she wondered. And what the heck did it all mean? He wanted to explain himself, clearly, but what she couldn’t work out was why. To make you happy. The weight that had settled on her chest lifted slightly, leaving her feeling breathless and hot.

It was Meg, of course, who finally broke the silence. “You know what this is?”

“What?” Kate whispered.

“It’s like the moment in ‘Doomsday’ when Rose is banging against the wall and the Doctor is stuck on the other side.”

Kate frowned. She’d never been as much of a Whovian as Meg but she knew her number ten. “They split up in that episode. Are torn apart, in fact.”

“Well, yes,” Meg agreed, “but the emotion was immense.”

“This feels more like….”

“Like proof,” Meg said, snapping her fingers.

“Of what?” Kate asked, her gaze finding her friend’s, the truth of Will’s words arcing between them.

“Of the great love affair,” Meg whispered, “and scene two has just begun, and I have no idea what the fuck you are waiting for.”

“You think I should go to him?” Kate asked.

“Yes!”

Kate shook her head automatically and fidgeted in her seat. “But what about everything that happened? What he said?”

“He didn’t say it,” Meg said, pointing to the laptop. “Not really.”

“But—”

“But nothing,” Meg insisted. “The man you love is standing outside like something out of Romeo and Juliet, begging for you to hear him out. And he did this.” She grabbed the laptop where the avatars were now walking toward one another in slow-mo, and dropped it on the low table in front of them. “This called for some decent programmers and I can tell you right now, purely based on the setup, that he had to flash some cash. Okay, it’s poor coding, I’ll give you that. Characters have been cribbed from who knows where, and your breasts have never been that big. But who the hell cares. This is an episode all of its own. Get moving, missy.”

The man you love.

Adrenaline flooded her and before she could even think anymore, Kate nodded, jumped up from the couch, and raced across the room. She splayed both hands against the window, looking and looking, and yes, just as he said he would be, he was slumped against his car, waiting.

Will Thornton and the game had started all over again.





Chapter Twenty-Five


Will didn’t know if Kate was going to come down. If he’d have to, he’d wait forever and a day, but it took maybe less than ten minutes—though an agonizing ten minutes—before the main door of Meg’s apartment building opened. And then Kate was striding down the path, dressed in clothes far too big for her, her eyes fixed on his.

“Katie…” The word was whispered, his heart thudding in his ears, and Will jumped up and moved forward. Her hair was flying around her shoulders, her glasses glinting in the sunlight, and her face was a mixture of surprise and anger. His chest tightened at the look, wondering what she was thinking.

He didn’t have to wonder for very long.

She met him in the middle of the path, stopped just a yard away, and then slapped him resoundingly across the face.

“Jesus Christ.” Will’s cheek smarted from the contact. “What the fuck was that for?”

“For being an idiot,” she screeched. “For making me think…do you have any idea what the last few hours have been like for me? To hear the things you said to Chris—a seduction game? To think that it had all been a joke, that you used me and treated me like some sort of—”

He pulled her into his arms and silenced her with a kiss. It was fast becoming his modus operandi and he wondered if he was doomed to spend the rest of his life kissing Kate purely to shut her up. It didn’t seem like a bad way for things to work out though, and now, with her wrapped up in his arms, he breathed a desperate sigh of relief.

Her lips were still swollen from last night, her body shaking in the most appealing of ways, and he was gentle, soft, putting all his feelings into his kiss. It felt so right. Like it was exactly where he was supposed to be and all the panic and all the worry that had gripped him for the past few hours started to drain away.

But he wasn’t off the hook yet.

“How could you, Will?” she whispered the moment they pulled apart. “The things you said.”

“Kate, I never meant for you to hear any of that,” he pleaded. “It was all to flush Chris out. I thought you were still tucked away in bed.”

“Well, you should have made sure.”

“I will in the future. Good God, woman, you pack a punch.”

“Who said there’s even going to be a future?” she demanded, the light of battle sparking in her eyes again. They were red. He could see the smudge marks behind her glasses and his heart clenched. She’d been crying. He’d caused that. Never again.

Never, ever again.

“There is going to be a future,” he growled. “That is not an option.”

She glared. “You can’t order me about.”

“I should be so fucking lucky. I’ve never been able to get you to do anything you didn’t want to, from day one.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Damn right it is.” He kissed her again, this time hard, and his entire body responded in the exact right way. It would be so easy to throw her over his shoulder, proper caveman style, and then into his car and home. Everything else could wait until he wiped away every trace of the inadvertent hurt he had caused.