“What do you do in gaming?”
Perfect question to learn why he was at the awards and how much he knew about the industry, since he clearly knew who I was. Except where I expected him to answer so freely like he’dbeen doing since we stumbled upon each other, it was his turn to freeze up.
“Um,” he took another drink of his lemonade before continuing. “I help my friend out when he games.”
“Do you play?” I asked, trying to find out more.
He was mid-sip and started to choke on his drink at the question.
“Are you okay?” I took a step toward him, placing my free hand on his shoulder as he coughed.
“Yeah,” Ryker croaked out. “And sometimes.”
That was all he gave away.
“What about your friend? Beckett, isn’t it?” I knew exactly which friend he was talking about because it was the one Jemma was obsessing over at this very moment.
“Yeah, sure.” He took another sip. “He plays.”
Something about his answer didn’t sit right. Almost as if he was avoiding the subject or didn’t know what to talk about when it came to the topic of gaming.
“What about you? You write too, don’t you, besides gaming?”
“I do,” I answered as short as he had.
Static energy was forming between us, and I could feel my smile fading. I wanted to return to the carefree conversations we’d been having, but I also wanted to know more about Ryker. We’d talked about me each time we messaged and called each other, but not much about him. He also had the advantage of knowing who I was, and yet I still knew so little besides what we had chatted about, which, oddly enough, was never about games.
“Are you writing anything good?”
“I am,” I bit my lip, thinking of what I was working on, that my main muse was standing in front of me, having given me loads of inspiration.
“From the look on your face, it seems like it’s something good.”
“As a matter of fact, it is.” I giggled this time, my shoulders dropping at my overthinking of Ryker’s responses. “I like it a lot.”
“Oh yeah,” Ryker closed the space between us. “Why is that?”
“Because I’ve been receiving some really good inspiration lately, and it’s been fueling the words,” I said matter-of-factly. It wasn’t just Ryker inspiring me now, either, though. Sitting and writing while watching CovertRetriever play was helping set the ambiance I needed to get this new world together.
“Then,” Ryker leaned, his lips close to my ear. “I hope I’ll be all the inspiration you’ll ever need. Let me take you out on another date tomorrow night.”
His voice was husky, and I was caught off guard by his first comment, swearing it was exactly what he’d said to me the night of the ball, and oddly enough, sounded just like what CovertRetriever had said the first stream I’d come into of his.
“Yes,” I said, trying not to think too much about how similar his comment was to theirs, but also how different it was. CovertRetriever was an online gamer, and Ryker was standing in front of me. But I didn’t exactly know who he was. I breathed in Ryker, a woodsy scent filling my nose just before he pulled away, a smirk looking down at me.
Fuck, he was sexy.
“I should get going, Odette.” Ryker’s free hand came up and touched my cheek before he leaned down and gave me a quick kiss and pulled away. “Message me your address and I’ll come pick you up tomorrow around seven.”
“Anything I should know for this date?”
“Now, why would I ruin the surprise?” Ryker winked at me before finishing his drink and throwing the cup away.
“You sound like you have it all planned out.”
“For you, I’ll fake it till I make it.” He winked again before shooting me a large grin.
The smile that crossed my face matched his, and he leaned down to kiss me before starting to back away.
