“Lucky me,” she whispered back, unable to stop staring at him like some sort of besotted idiot.
He just grinned at her as he rolled the condom on, and then pushed into her again a moment later. Edie’s arms automatically went around his neck, her legs around his waist, and he began to thrust into her again, one hand on her shoulder to brace her body against his. “There’s a gaming convention in two days,” he murmured into her ear between thrusts. “I want you to come with me.” Thrust. “Levi and I are doing a panel about Warrior Shop and upcoming projects.” Thrust thrust. “Got a big room and a big bed and you’d look fucking amazing in it.” Thrust.
She bit down on his shoulder as he hammered into her. He was trying to have a conversation now ? Really? When she was having trouble thinking? “Can’t . . . leave . . . cats,” she breathed between his pounding thrusts. Another orgasm was building—how the hell did he manage to do that every damn time? He was totally going to ruin her.
“I’ll send my assistant to come and feed them and give them their meds,” he told her. He dragged one leg onto his shoulder, adjusted his hips, and then began to saw into her with deeper, surer strokes that made her eyes want to cross in her head. Oh sweet Jesus, that was even better than before.
“B-B-Bianca,” she managed.
“Tell her I need you,” he said, grinding his hips against hers.
Her heart fluttered.
“For my cats. Overnight stay. Lots of money. She won’t care.”
Right. His cats. The excited flutter in her heart died.
But somewhere between her next orgasm and his, Edie agreed to it anyhow.
Chapter Twelve
FanBoy Con was being held in Boston that year, Magnus told her, so it wasn’t such a long drive. He arrived to pick her up in his limo, and dropped off his assistant Jenna to stay at the house a few days and handle Edie’s cats. Edie was a little worried to leave them, but Jenna had grown up on a farm, she explained, and was fine with giving animals medication. So she’d listened attentively and took notes as Edie went over each cat and their medications, and promised to call with any questions. Magnus had set Jenna up with a nearby hotel to sleep at and Edie passed off her key. Bianca wasn’t even upset at being left behind at a four-day ‘work’ trip, Edie realized. She was busy planning a shopping trip with a few of her buddies.
Good thing she didn’t know this was a date.
The only ones who would miss her were the cats, and even they wouldn’t care that much. It should have been a relief, but instead, it just felt . . . weird.
She had no idea what to expect as far as the convention went, so she was more than a little shocked to see throngs of people in costume wandering around the hotel. She was even more shocked when women dressed up in some sort of skimpy costume squealed and approached Magnus. “We’re such big fans of Warrior Shop ! Can you sign my boobs?”
To her surprise, Magnus blushed and looked over at Edie, distinctly uncomfortable. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea right now, ladies. I’d be happy to sign a copy of your programs, though.”
The women looked over at Edie, sized her up, and then dismissed her. “We’ll catch you after your panel,” they said in flirty voices, then wandered away, arms linked.
Well, if that wasn’t a way for someone’s ego to be cut down to size, she didn’t know what was. Edie gave Magnus a curious look. “Do you get a lot of requests to sign body parts?”
His blush got a bit redder. “There’s an explanation, really.” His hand went to the small of her back and he steered her forward, toward the check-in desk.
“I’d love to hear it.”
The explanation had to wait until Magnus had finished checking in. Their suite was on the third floor of the hotel, so the porter brought their bags after them and they headed to the elevator. Immediately, Edie was dismayed to see that the elevator had a long line.
“Shall we just take the stairs?” the porter asked.
“Nope,” Magnus said, and draped an arm around Edie’s neck possessively.
That made her feel a little better. She elbowed him, leaning in against his big body. “So. Boob signings?”
“Yeah, when we made the game, Levi wanted a callback to let people know that it was us who had made the game, you know? So, uh, we programmed ourselves in there.”
She laughed, because he looked so utterly chagrined at having to admit it. “You programmed yourselves in?”
“It’s called Warrior Shop , right? So it’s this big fantasy world where you have to work your way through things as a gladiator, and you can fight other people or team up with them, and you can buy everything from weapons to minions, to whatever. So uh, all of the shopkeepers look like either me or Levi. It was kind of a joke at first, but now I regret it.”
She giggled at his acute discomfort. “Show me.”
He groaned and pulled out his phone, flipping through a few apps, and then clicked on something and handed her the screen. A loading graphic splashed across the phone screen, along with the big Warrior Shop logo. A moment later, a help screen appeared: Did You Know That You Can Purchase Additional Minions in the In-App Store? a barbarian that looked suspiciously like Magnus asked, his arms crossed. It was Magnus, she realized, but a slightly exaggerated version of him. He bulged with overgrown muscles, and he wore a codpiece that made her howl with laughter.
“All right, all right,” Magnus said, tugging his phone back from her. “Enough laughing at my expense. Some ladies like my codpiece.”