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Sighing, I averted my gaze. Jesus. What was wrong with me? I was acting like a rutting stag eager to slake my thirst with a comely doe. But for fuck’s sake, I was not an animal. I was Aaron Pegg, the lead programmer at OceansPlay, and a fucking gaming god. I developed the most popular game in the world, Happy Bird, and I was a hotshot. I needed to control myself better.
How on earth did a woman like Felicity manage to hold me at a sexual standstill?
The thoughts plagued me night and day, alongside the guilt that another woman was in the picture: Licia.
I liked Licia. She was a gamer like me, and we shared several interests. I'd never seen her face or heard her voice, but I already had a mental image of what she looked like: Petite, dark hair, brown eyes, and always wearing a beanie.
But I would admit that thoughts of her didn’t boil my blood like Felicity. In fact, when Felicity was nearby, all thoughts of Licia went out the window.
In truth, even if her father's threat didn’t exist, I had no doubt that Felicity would reject me. The woman barely responded to morning greetings. And the few times we'd spoken when she had to show me her sketches, she said as few words as possible. I was in way over my head with my stupid crush.
A knock rapped on the door, and the doorknob turned. I didn't have to look to know who it was.
"I swear to God, if I have to say, ‘Fuck this’ one more time today, I'm going to explode." My closest friend, Arjun, a talented game artist who probably spent more time chasing women than sketching comic characters, walked in without an invitation and plopped down into the lone chair opposite me. "Are there any more ways to say, 'Fuck this shit?' I've—"
He paused, narrowing his eyes. Then he gave me a weird look before snapping his head around to look out my office window. When he turned back to me, there was a grin on his face. "Still pining over the forbidden fruit, huh? It's just like you, wanting what you shouldn't."
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my irritation at getting discovered ogling Felicity like an adolescent teenager who’d just realized the stick between his legs actually worked. Could I be any more obvious?
"Shut the fuck up and get out,” I snapped. “Don't you have work to do?"
He nodded. "A shit ton. But I'd rather be here watching you want the one thing you can't have."
It sounded like a challenge. "Says who?"
Arjun's brows shot up. "Says Stephen Wiley, Mr.-If-You-Go-Anywhere-Near-My-Daughter-I'll-End-Your-Career."
"That's a sick way to tell everyone you want your daughter to grow old alone."
Arjun laughed. "Sure, like you were thinking of anything other than getting into her pants."
The accusation stung, especially since it was a half-truth. I did want to tie Felicity up in my bed for about three days and spend that time discovering the curves and edges of her body and what made her tick, but that wasn't the only thing I wanted. I yearned to know who she was underneath that calm exterior. Was she a shark or a deer? There was a fascination in me toward her, and I wanted to feed it.
"You're a dickhead." There was no way in hell I was telling him all that. Arjun wouldn’t know what it meant to like someone, even if it walked up to him and gave him a wedgie. For someone from a strict culture, it was a wonder how he managed to go through life every day looking for another notch in his bedpost.
"She's quite pretty, you know." His eyes turned toward her direction again before landing on me. "And if she removes those massive glasses, and maybe gets a new hairdo and slaps some make-up on…men might just fall at her feet."
Against my better judgment, his words provoked me. The thought of men falling at Felicity’s feet did not sit well with me, especially given that I would fall at her feet even if she kept her massive glasses on and didn’t change her hairstyle. I liked how long her hair was, and although she kept it tied behind her head with a pink rubberband, the low ponytail fell down her back quite nicely. Before I could imagine what her hair would look like, free and spread around my bed as she stared up at me with fuck-me eyes, I averted my gaze.
But Arjun's perception skills were next to none. He burst out laughing. "Oh, you've got it bad. She has you wrapped around her finger and doesn't even know it."
"Get out. I have work to do, and unlike you, I don't set out to break past the peak of incompetence." I ignored the little voice in my head that told me he was kind of right. "The higher-ups are talking about a new game that will supposedly shake the market. I expect they'll be announcing the news soon."
Arjun leaned back against the chair, intertwining his fingers, and lifting them behind his head. "Great. I need a new challenge. Ever since Happy Bird, there's not been much to do around here."
I gave him a look. "That's because you prefer to use your dick more than your hands."
The words were already out before I could stop them.
Arjun's lips spread in a grin as he wiggled his eyebrows. "I do. And I use it very well."
"Fuck off." Despite my disgust, I laughed. "You know what I mean."
Still grinning, he got to his feet. "Much as I love our little chit-chats, I've got to run. Umar will have my head if I don't turn in the art for this week's comic update today."
I gave him a mock salute. Arjun might be a grumpy grandpa, but everyone knew he loved his job. It helped that he was good at it, too. "May you never run out of HR-approved ways to tell your coworkers they're stupid."
"Amen to that."
