Her Perfect Game by Shannyn Schroeder Page B

His arms circled her as his back smacked against the rock, her long body nearly twice the size of his toppling them. Good thing they were only pixels. In real life, that would hurt like a bitch.
    Oh my God. Are you okay?
    He set her down. “The real question is are you?”
    I’m fine since I had a hero rescue me.
    â€œAnd a fine rescue it was. It drained me of power.” He paused. “And it freaked me out a bit. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
    Neither have I, but I have it on excellent authority that it won’t ever happen again.
    â€œDo I want to know who your authority is?”
    Remember I asked you to come to this con because I ran into my ex?
    â€œSure.”
    He’s a developer for the game.
    â€œSo you’ve gone and done something stupid because I wasn’t there.”
    She smacked his shoulder. Maybe. I’m not sure. The thing is, I feel so right when I’m with him. It’s like it’s too good to be true.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with that?”
    He’s going to leave. Again.
    â€œMaybe he won’t if you ask him to stay.”
    Charlie hadn’t thought of that, but she knew Jonah wouldn’t stay. He had a life away from here. Plus, she had nothing to offer him. If she wanted someone like Jonah in her life, she needed to get her shit together.
    Win waved a hand in front of her. “Did I lose you?”
    No, just thinking.
    He moved his body to look around her.
    What are you looking for?
    He laughed. “Smoke. I figure if you’re thinking that hard, there’s bound to be a fire.”
    You’re a good friend. I really wish you would’ve come here. We would’ve had a blast together.
    â€œI’m sure. I have to go. I work early. I just wanted to check on you to make sure you’re okay.”
    I am. See you soon?
    â€œOf course. I can’t wait to get all the details about the con.” Then he vanished.
    What was with her and the disappearing acts of men in her life?
    Seeing Win and knowing he was all right revitalized her, and she stormed back into the game, looking to do some fighting. She wouldn’t be able to exact revenge on Kraven, but she’d be able to find plenty of other players to fit the bill. She glanced up quickly in time to see Jonah looking at her.
    He smiled like he had a secret. She tossed her headphones on the table and leaned over to kiss him. She took a surreptitious peek at his screen. She didn’t know what she thought she’d find, but it was rows of code, nothing exciting.
    â€œWhat was that for?” he asked.
    â€œNothing. You were right. My friend is fine. I’m going to kick some ass now.”
    â€œHave fun.” Then he went back to his screen.
    As she put her headphones back on, she wondered what kind of secrets Jonah had.

    The room service arrived and Charlie ate her fill. Jonah had shut down his computer and refocused his attention on her. They lay in bed, leftover dishes scattered on the dresser, bedspread crumpled at the foot of the bed. Jonah’s arm was her pillow. She kept hearing Win’s words, but before she could even think about taking things further with Jonah, she decided she really needed answers.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” he asked.
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œNo, it’s something. What is it? You get this look like something’s bothering you. Talk to me. You were always able to talk to me.”
    She closed her eyes. Here goes nothing. Or everything. “Earlier, you said that I make things easy. If that’s true, why did you leave?”
    â€œI graduated.”
    That was a cheap answer. “You left without a good-bye.”
    His muscles bunched beneath her, and she braced herself for a lie.
    â€œI was worried about you. You were on self-destruct mode, and I didn’t know how to stop you. You’re this fucking brilliant person, Charlie, and you were going to throw that away. I saw all this potential