“Are you done talking on the phone?”
“Why, did you want to go down to the convention? We can.”
Well, actually, she’d been considering sex again, but the convention wasn’t a bad idea. He’d spent a lot of money to get them last-minute tickets, so she supposed they should go for a while. Mentally, she cringed at the thought of running into Julian again. God, she hoped not. “Okay with you if I dress up again?”
His brows went up. “Same dress as yesterday? I’m pretty sure we wrecked it.”
Yeah, her skirt hadn’t really survived their fierce play in Kerru Forest . . . Not that she minded. “Nope. I have some more regular stuff. Long skirt and corset. Blouse with puffy sleeves. It’s a tavern wench costume.”
Loch chuckled. “As long as I don’t have to be in costume as well.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I think you’d make an adorable jongleur. They have codpieces in-game, you know.”
He snorted. His phone rang again, and he got to his feet, heading for the balcony. “Let me get this, and then we’ll go.”
She sighed, watching him as he shut the door behind him. What could possibly be going on that was taking so much of his time and mental energy? Even when he was sitting with her, he was distracted. It was like he was . . . waiting for something.
But what?
Mystified, Taylor put her bowl down. She considered heading over to the balcony to listen in on the conversation, just to satisfy her curiosity. Instead, she headed for the bedroom and pulled out another costume. If he wanted to tell her, he’d tell her. She’d just have to learn to be patient.
Patience? Not one of her strong suits.
***
Everything was set.
Loch checked the ring box one more time, just to make sure that it was still actually there. The square-cut diamond winked back at him from its spot, nestled in velvet. The band was unique—gold filigreed leaves intermingled with two swords that pointed at the gigantic stone. It had taken some work; the band itself had been for sale by one of the vendors downstairs, and he’d snuck down while Taylor was visiting a few panels on the game and he’d pretended to stay in and take a nap. Loch had had to pay extra to get a jeweler to switch out the big fake blue stone for a real diamond and then deliver the re-jiggered ring back to him. It had involved a lot of phone calls but the end result was rather appealing-looking, and he thought she’d like it.
Now he just needed to find the perfect time to give it to her. He’d considered giving it to her in the privacy of their room—which had appeal in that it would probably lead straight to sex—but he’d decided to go the more public route. Maybe it was that after seeing all these men leer at her, he wanted to stake his claim. Maybe he wanted everyone to realize that sexy, funny Taylor belonged to him and only him.
So he’d scanned the list of events for the afternoon, looking for one that might suit his purposes. Most of them were nonsense listings that he couldn’t make sense of, since he wasn’t very up on game lingo. There was one event called “Guild Warring,” which sounded intriguing. Apparently it was something like one of the parties she frequented, where people brought their laptops and gamed together in person. Odd, but it sounded like something up Taylor’s alley. And her guild-mates would be there, which meant that everyone would know he’d proposed to her if he did it in front of them.
Which meant someone would tell that arse Sigmund, and he’d get the hint and finally leave Taylor alone.
The more Loch thought about it, the more he liked the idea. It was perfect, really. He’d free Taylor from Sigmund’s harassment, get the girl, and soon be heading back to Bellissime, throne-free and worry-free.
***
“You sure you want to do this?” Taylor asked Loch, clutching her laptop to her bright red corset. “We can do another event if you want, or just go out to dinner if you’d rather do that.”
“This is fine,” Loch told her, his own laptop in hand as they rode the crowded elevator down to the convention center. She was squeezed in between an elf and an orc, and the shoulder pads of the latter kept smacking her in the jaw. “These are your people, so you should hang out with them. I want you to have fun at the convention.”
She nodded absently, scooting closer to him as a few more people piled into the elevator. She didn’t even mind when he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. Actually, it was rather nice being held by him . . . She hated that they had to keep their flirtation a secret. It would be fun to prance around the convention as his girlfriend, showing off how incredibly hot her man was to all the other girls at the con. Not that she was the type to brag, but . . . well, Loch was exactly the kind of guy you wanted to brag about.
“You like these sorts of parties, I thought?” he murmured into her braided hair. Her costume today was of Asara the Magickal—the guild trainer for the mage guild. She was wearing a mage’s purple robe with a bright red corset over the waist and a low-slung ribbon belt. Still sexy, but not showing nearly as much flesh. And while it did give her a chance to wear her fun costumes and hang out with people she saw online every day . . . she was actually having a lot of fun living in the “real world” with him. As another couple crowded onto the already-packed elevator, she thought wistfully of the beach again. Going there with him would have been just as fun . . . and a lot more private.
But here she was feeling ungrateful when he’d gone to great expense to take her on this awesome trip. She was a jerk, wasn’t she? Taylor leaned against him and decided to make it up to him later that night. Her thighs clenched at the thought of how much fun all that making-up would be, too.