Chapter 9

Spring avoided looking at anything in particular as she headed for the only other door in the entire loft.

She immediately closed and locked the bathroom door then fell against it and sighed. "What the hell,
Spring? Can you at least not act like a judgmental freak?" she whispered to herself.

Spring pushed off the door and focused on her image in the mirror. She stared at herself for a few
seconds then closed her eyes. "He's nice. He's smart. And you don't have to make him like you."
Spring opened her eyes and kept talking to her reflection. "But you want him to, for reasons you don't
even know right now."

Spring quickly made use of the bathroom then found her way back to the dining table. Again, she
avoided looking at the details of his bedroom. The dining table was now clean, with a gray and white
vase in the center, almost the exact place it sat before Dez moved it for them to eat.

(How long was I in the bathroom?)

As Spring mentally added up the time she was gone, the tune of her favorite childhood game sounded
through the open room like a nostalgic musical lure. It called to her, pulling her toward the arcade game
and...Dez.

Who could forget Dez? He stood in front of the monster of a machine as if he were an old school gamer
like her uncle Rio. The memories of Rio and how he loved everything to do with gaming flowed over
Spring like a warm blanket that held the scent of familiarity. Rio grew up in a time when arcade games
were new and popular. He mastered most of the games he took an interest in. So, when he needed to
find common ground with two little girls who needed a positive male role model, Uncle Rio used games
to bridge that gap.

"Well..." Dez nodded her over. He raised his brow and gave her a wicked challenge-laced smile,
revealing his sexy dimples once more.



Spring shrugged as she wiggled her feet out of her shoes and placed them on the cool wood floor. As
she walked toward her opponent and her all-time favorite game in the world, she didn't offer him a
warning. She didn't throw out threats. Her uncle taught her early on that when a boaster lost, the
impact was bigger. She didn't plan to lose, but when she played, she played with quiet confidence.

"Ready?" Dez asked as Spring got reacquainted with the controls.

She nodded as she rolled her shoulders.

"Aww, look at you, getting into the zone."

Keep talking, Spring thought as she pressed the start button. I can show you better than I can tell you.

----------

DEZMOND

(Four times...she beat me four damn times.)

In a slight daze, Dez reached for his remote as he flopped down on his sofa. He turned on the
television, tuning it to his favorite news station as he glanced over at Anna as she slowly made her way
over to him. Her beautiful face had a worried looked as she inched closer.

Good, he thought, she should feel guilty. He still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she beat
him. She spanked the hell out of him on his own game at his house.

(A spanking sounds like a fitting punishment.)

Dez allowed the idea, though it was a subject that he never entertained before, roll around in his head
when Anna sat down beside him. It wasn't easy to ignore his striking guest but he was feeling a little



sour, so he focused as much as he could on the TV news. Dez half listened to the reporter who was on
location at a park that was not far from his house.

The reporter explained how there were few leads as to who murdered a lively young woman who was
found there two days ago. The one and only lead the cops would reveal was a single piece of wrapped
hard blue candy. Neither the candy wrapper nor the candy had any prints on it, and the candy was so
common that the investigators couldn't trace it back to anyone in particular.

The case would normally intrigue Dez to the point of sleuthing, finding out everything he could on the
matter, but Anna was too distracting. He looked over at her to see that she was watching him with
guarded eyes. "I told you," he said for the third time, "it's no big deal. It's just a game."

"I feel terrible." Anna twisted her lips in such a sexy damn way that Dez had to suppress a groan as he
felt a warm feeling rush to his groin.

"Well, you did wound my male ego." Dez tried to play up his hurt by giving her a sheepish look, or what
he thought was a sheepish look. He never cared to play mind games with women, but for some reason,
he didn't mind working for Anna's attention. "Only a kiss can ease my defeated soul."


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