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"He's quite the games master," Kate informed her, between describing the game that was under way, when she observed Tina looking over at Shaun. "Shaun works at Ray's company."
"He's very arrogant," Tina had replied dismissively, "judging from that conversation I walked into last night."
Kate didn't answer, but her smile was accusing, as if she could already tell Tina was curious.
Ray had networked a dozen computers together in their computer workshop, a purpose built extension tacked onto the back of the house along with a Jacuzzi room and a billiard room. A variety of games were played both on PC and in role-playing games. Tina couldn't help but love the arch-camp of the latter and the veiled interactions between the participants.
Most of the guests lived locally, but a few of them traveled far enough that they stayed overnight at Kate and Ray's, occupying the comfortable guestrooms. The room Tina was designated overlooked the lawns at the back of the house. The furnishings were sensual and luxurious. The curtains and carpet were dark red, and the red and gold embroidered bedcover and cushions made her think of the exotic east.
Shaun was one of the others who stayed over. Kate informed her Shaun's room had a sparser, Scandinavian theme. She said it with a naughty smile, which made Tina wonder if Kate amused herself by matching guests to their rooms. Was everything a potential game to these people?
Shaun lived on the other side of London. Tina didn't know any more about him and she didn't feel the need to, at first. She told herself it was the thrill of the games and the luxury of being removed into a slightly different world that kept her going to the monthly weekends there. She wouldn't admit to herself that she wanted to see whether anything more intimate would happen between her and Shaun.
At first, it seemed it wouldn't.
The flare-ups between them when they argued during dinner discussions and the way they went for each other during head-to-head gaming sessions seemed to preclude any notion of a relationship. Kate often joked about having to referee during their conversations, but beneath that conflict something else was simmering, something explosive—something that neither of them could ignore, something that would force the mutual antagonism between them into an exchange much more satisfying.
At the computer terminals, deep in the virtual battleground of Command and Conquer, she wondered if it was Shaun who waited to attack her there, half expecting his battalion of tanks to confront her before her radar was up. The thought filled her with a thrill that slowed her actions. She glanced up and met his mocking grey eyes across the computer terminals. Looking back down, she discovered that she'd been tricked—her flag had been captured.
"Damn you," she muttered under her breath.
Later, at the after-dinner role-playing session, she retaliated. The group chose to play Vampire :The Masquerade. It was Kate's favorite and she lit the room with candles, kept the flow of wine and brandy plentiful, and supplied them all with accessories to enhance their roles. Kate chose their histories. Shaun was designated a Toreador. Obsessed with beauty, he was given a pair of theatre glasses through which he had to observe the proceedings. He toyed with them continually, as if his hands enjoyed exploring the surface and shape of the object as he watched the game unfold.
Tina wore a velvet wrap and a feather boa which she ran back and forth around her neck to keep her restless fingers active. It was hard to concentrate with Shaun looking at her the way he was—as if he was about to devour her—but she just about managed. Later she took advantage of her role as a Daughter of Cacophony. She attacked his strongholds, striking with knowledge of his weakness, undermining his line of attack. Then she created a Blood Bond with him, thereby turning him into her servant.
Everyone clapped when he conceded defeat.
A deeply satisfied thrill flared inside her. She had won this stage of the game. Then he gave her a discreet smile that planted a doubt in her mind. Had he let her win?
She barely resisted the urge to sto
mp out of the room. He was insufferable. She flashed him a warning glance. His mouth moved into a wide sardonic line that curled to one side and made her want to bite his lip in return.
He was such a turn-on, such an arrogant, annoying turn-on.
The tension between them crackled, tangibly, and their first private encounter had been filled with exactly the same sort of tension.
Chapter Two
"You need someone to challenge you."
Tina jumped. She'd been walking up the stairs that night when Shaun strode out of the darkness on the landing. He was stripped to the waist. His bare torso was pinup-worthy. She tried to drag her gaze from the sleek tautness of his chest muscles. It was hard. The palms of her hands itched to stroke his shoulders and biceps. A nagging ache in the pit of her belly rapidly made itself known.
"You need someone to challenge you," he repeated.
"And how the hell would you know what I need?" She hoped it sounded dismissive. She meant it to.
He ignored that. "You are an intelligent woman. You need an intelligent man to spark with."
God, he was intolerable.
Her blood was beginning to boil. "I need you to give me a break is what I need, you arrogant prig."
It was a knee jerk reaction. She wanted to swallow her words as soon as she had spoken them.
Shaun, however, seemed totally unfazed by her hasty and rather rude response. There was a determined set to his lips. "I'm serious, you need a challenge."
His expression was indeed serious, and his words were laden with suggestion. He also seemed to be closer, without having moved. She felt the heat from her blood rise to the surface of her skin and began to turn away from him, moving toward the doorway to her room. She couldn't let him know he affected her that way.
