Touch Me Not(72)
“We can stay here tonight if you want.”
Lily glanced over her should her at him. He looked satisfied, yet hopeful, like a little boy asking for a new toy. “I wish I could, but I have to be there for the girls. I can’t stay out unless I make arrangements ahead of time for someone to cover my floor.”
“That’s too bad.” He ran a finger up her spine and she gasped, her skin still sensitive.
She felt the bed shift as Nikoli stood up. She spotted her dress sticking out from under the bed and grabbed it, slipping her legs in and then sliding it up her body. Nikoli came to stand behind her. He pushed her hair over her shoulder, and then zipped the dress up. He bent and placed a soft kiss on her collarbone.
“I want to show you something,” he said. He was wearing his pants, but no shoes or shirt. Taking her hand, he led her out of the bedroom and down a hall. The last door on the right opened into an office.
It was full of dark mahogany wood furniture, and bookshelves lined three of four walls. A wall of windows overlooked downtown Boston. Lily skipped the scenery and went straight to the books. It was a jumbled up mess of computer programming books, fiction, classics, and general science. The man did not know how to organize his library.
“Leave it to you to beeline to the books,” he said with a laugh. “Come over here, please.”
Lily looked up to see him sitting behind the desk, turning on the computer monitor. He typed a few keystrokes and then hummed as he waited for it to log him in. She walked over to stand beside him. He wrapped an arm around her waist while he logged into a program.
“Lily, you’re a pretty decent gamer.”#p#分页标题#e#
She laughed. “I guess.”
“Well, would you want to test a beta game?” He looked up into her eyes, and she frowned. Was he asking her to beta test one of his games?
“It would depend on what kind of game it was,” she said at last.
“It’s a first person shooter,” he said. “Zombie game.”
“Sure, if you want me to. I’m a big fan of horror games, and first person shooters are my favorite.”
“I thought as much,” he said. “You kicked ass today in that tournament.”
“It had been a while since I’d played,” she said, playing it down. “It was a team effort, really.”
“Bullshit.” He shook his head. “You took out almost that entire opposing team by yourself. That requires a lot of skill.”
“It’s no big deal.” She shrugged it off.
“Lily, when I said before I could afford to buy you a ticket, I meant it. I own a gaming company.”
“And when I said before I didn’t care, I meant that too. I know who you are, Nikoli.”
“You know?” His mouth fell open, and she laughed. For once, she’d one-upped him.
“I’m a gamer, Nikoli. Of course I know who you are. I just didn’t say anything because I thought you wanted to keep that part of your life private, and it wasn’t any of my business.”
“You knew who I was all this time, and you never asked me for anything…”
“Because I didn’t want anything from you,” she said. “Well, I do want your car, but that’s beside the point.”
“You’re not getting my baby,” he told her, his eyes still wide with shock.
“That remains to be seen, Kincaid.”
“I think you and I both know you’re not getting that car.” His grin turned wolfish.
“We don’t know any such thing,” she said, her own smile turning slightly wolfish. “I can say no.”
“We shall see, my little prude.”
“So we shall,” she agreed, praying she could say no to him.
He gave her a gentle squeeze and focused on the monitor.
“Is this something you’re working on?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “Luther and I are working on it, and we need beta testers to analyze the weapons, how they handle, glitches, things like that. Could you do that for me?”
“Sure,” she said, jumping up and down inside. She’d heard rumors of this game on the ’net, but their company was being so closed-mouthed about it, no one could get details.
He popped a blank CD into the computer and started the burn process. “Lily, I’m trusting you with this. You can’t show this to anyone.”
“I won’t. Not even Mikey.”
A few minutes later, he popped the CD out. He rummaged around for a sleeve and handed it to her. “Come on, Milaya, let’s get you home.”
She cast one last look at the couch, her face flaming before she followed him out of the apartment. She truly hoped she could say no.