Her Perfect Game by Shannyn Schroeder Page A

hadn’t logged on and she was getting worried. What if Kraven had gone after Win again?
    When Jonah stepped out of the bathroom, a cloud of steam followed. He wore nothing, a testament to his level of comfort around her.
    â€œEnjoying my shirt?”
    â€œMuch, thank you.”
    He crossed the room, kissed the top of her head, and asked, “The rush of sex is gone already, so you’ve turned back to the game? I’m wounded.”
    She laughed. They’d spent nights just like this three years ago. Sex, gaming, hacking. Laughing. When did it turn? When did it become too much for him?
    The question was poised in her mouth as he pulled on his boxer briefs. She wanted to ask but thought better of it. Maybe there was such a thing as too much truth.
    â€œHave you figured out how Kraven almost raped me?”
    Charlie watched as the muscles in Jonah’s back stiffened and bunched. When he turned around, his face was stone. “Not yet. We found the altered code and corrected it, but my team is still working on figuring out how he got in.”
    â€œI’m worried about my friend. He was there that night. He saved me, in fact, but he hasn’t been back. I’m afraid that psycho did something to his character.”
    Jonah came back to her and squatted to put him at her eye level. His palm cradled her cheek. “The first thing we did was track that guy down and shut him out. He couldn’t have done anything to your friend or anyone else. I promise you that.”
    His palm on her face warmed and comforted her. “But what if he just created a new profile, logged in another way? He’s obviously got hacking skills.”
    â€œWe followed his IP and flagged it. It’ll hold him off while we figure out a long-term solution.” His thumb stroked her cheekbone, just like he had while they were in bed talking. “Trust me, your friend is safe.”
    He spoke with such conviction that Charlie wanted to believe him, but hearing from Win was the only thing that would really set her mind at ease.
    â€œGo ahead and play. I’ve got some work to catch up on.” He took the seat opposite her at the small table and opened his laptop.
    â€œAny secrets for Resskaar that you’re working on? I’d love to beta a new version.” She smiled and winked.
    â€œI’ll keep you in mind, but we have nothing ready just yet.”
    And then she lost him. His focus was on his screen. He was like a ninja on the keyboard. His strokes barely registered as clicks. Sometimes she’d woken in the middle of the night to find him typing away, but it was never the sound that disturbed her. It was feeling like he was gone, which he was every time he sat in front of a screen.
    She turned back to her game and put on her headphones. Today, she wanted to hear people. She wandered the woods. Her health and strength had returned, in large part due to Win. She checked her mission status and saw that three other members of her guild were on, so she went in search of them to see if they’d had contact with Win in the forums or outside the game.
    As she approached the group, they rushed at her to talk about what had happened. How did they know about Kraven? She hadn’t spoken to anyone since it happened.
    Messages in the forums told them what had happened, and although no names were used, they figured it had been her. She told them how Win had saved her and asked if Win had been playing. Of course, she got the answer she’d been expecting, which was that no one had seen Win. Just as the disappointment sank in, a blink notified her of Win logging on.
    A private message. Meet me at the cave.
    She said quick good-byes to her guild and took off back in the direction she’d come from. As she burst through the trees, she saw him leaning nonchalantly against the mouth of the cave. “Hey, gorgeous.”
    His computerized voice made her heart leap. She rushed at him and jumped on him.