“Because of your game?”
She nodded. “My guild’s probably ready to kill me for bailing out on them.”
He leaned forward. “I’m still fuzzy on the whole guild thing. You want to explain it to me?”
Taylor’s skepticism meter dinged again, but Loch’s expression was serious. He didn’t look as if he was making fun of her. “Boy, you really don’t spend much time on computers, do you?”
“I’m more of an outdoors guy. Hunting and all that.”
“Hunting. Barf.”
“Computers. Barf.”
She laughed. “All right, point to you, sir.”
He took another drink and patted the table. “Out with it, then. Tell me about guilds and why yours is so important.”
“Well.” Taylor considered it, leaning forward as she did. Her hands went around her beer again and she started to peel the label from the bottle. Talking about guild stuff with non-gamers always got her weird looks. No one ever understood the appeal. She glanced over at the TV again, where the soccer game was still on. “I guess it’s a lot like a team sport. We all choose to be on a team together, and instead of fighting against other teams—though you can do that—usually you fight against the computer.” When he nodded understanding, she went on. “Each guild has people that do very specific things. Kind of like positions in soccer. You have your DPS, which is your damage dealers, you have your tanks, and you have your clerics. You need a good balance of all three to run a successful raid.”
“And a raid is . . .”
“It’s like a match against the computer. You go to the big dungeon and put in an all-out assault against the computer’s monsters.” He still wasn’t giving her the you’re crazy look, so she continued. “I’m the guild leader and so me not being there is a lot like sending my team out onto the field with no coach.”
“Ahhh.” He rapped his knuckles on the table and then pointed at her. “So you not being there cocks it up for everyone else.”
“Exactly! God, I could kiss you right now for getting it. Everyone else thinks I’m nuts.”
“I’m the captain of my polo team at home, so I understand.” He leaned in again. “Though I’ll still take that kiss if you’re game.”
He was flirting hard and heavy, wasn’t he? Loch was probably a flirt to all women, and he was treating her no different than he would anyone else. Still, it was fun, and she felt like they’d connected on some level. It wasn’t her to flirt back, but tonight she was cutting loose a bit. When would she ever get another chance to kiss a hot European guy? So she leaned forward and met him across the booth.
Their lips barely brushed, but she felt a flood of heat move all the way through her body. Her nipples tightened in response and every inch of her body seemed to be hyperaware of his presence. She leaned back and he gave her another one of those lazy, sexy grins.
“I should dare you a few more things, shouldn’t I, Taylor?”
“I’ll only do it if I want to,” she retorted, but she was smiling. With him she felt . . . carefree. Light. Happy.
The food arrived, breaking the moment, and for the next while Taylor talked about her guild and the mechanics of raiding and how the makeup of the group was as important as the items the characters wore. Loch seemed interested, drawing sports comparisons from time to time, and shared stories of his polo team with her, and even a few hunting tales.
Several beers later, Taylor was picking at the last fry on her plate when they decided to order another round of food and beers. She ordered fried pickles, and made Loch try one. The revolted look on his face sent her into peals of hysteria, and for the next while, they dared each other things and the penalty was eating one of the fried pickle slices.
God, she was having such a good time. Even Loch, who’d spent a lot of time watching the soccer game when they’d first sat down was now totally focused on her, and his eyes were shining with amusement as she told him about her dress fitting for Gretchen’s wedding and how she’d accidentally stuck her foot in a box and tumbled out of the dressing room topless.
“Tay?” A familiar voice broke into her story and she looked over, just in time to see Chester and Frank giving her curious looks. They had their laptops in hand.
“Hey, guys.” She smoothed her hair and accidentally elbowed her beer. Luckily, Loch caught it before it could spill more than a few drops. “Whoops.”
“It is you,” Frank exclaimed. “I wasn’t sure until I saw you elbow the beer. Are you on a . . . date?”
“Pfft, naw.” Taylor made a shooing motion with her hands. “This is Loch. He’s just a buddy new in town. I’m showing him around.”
Loch extended his hand at both guys. “Pleased to meet you. Friends of Taylor’s?”
“We’re in her guild alliance,” Chester said, and there was a tightness in his voice that made Taylor’s stomach upset. “It’s just funny to see her here, having a good time, when we had a multi-guild raid tonight.” He ignored Loch’s outstretched hand. “It was a total wipe, you know.”
She winced.
“Wipe?” Loch asked.
“Everyone died,” Frank explained. “Big failure. Spent two hours on corpse retrieval. It was brutal. Everyone’s in a shit mood.”
“Yeah. Hope you had fun tonight on your not-date,” Chester snarked, and then walked away.
Frank moved toward their table. “He didn’t mean that. Just give him a few days to cool off. See you next Saturday, Tay?”
“I’ll try and make it in person,” she told him. “If not, I’ll be online for sure.”
“Catch you then.” Frank waved at them and then hurried after his friend, to the back room in the bar. Taylor peered over and she could see all the tables of the LAN party were full. Shit. Now everyone was going to know that she ditched her guild to go on a date. Chester had a quick temper but he also had a big mouth.
Sigmund was going to lose his shit. Ugh.
Taylor rubbed her forehead. “Ugh, awkward.”
“I bailed on my team once to go drinking with chums,” Loch offered sympathetically. He reached across the table and put one of his big, warm hands on her arm and gave it a squeeze. “Didn’t get caught, but the guilt was bad enough to ruin it for me.”
She gave him a faint smile. “I should really head home soon anyhow.”
“I’ll walk you.” He pulled out a wad of American dollars and tossed them on the table.
“I should be walking you,” she protested. “I know the city.”
He shrugged. “If I get lost, I’ll flag down a taxi. It’ll be fine.” He put a hand to the small of her back when she got up from the table, and it felt oddly right. “Let me be a gentleman and walk you home.”
Well, how could she argue with that? Taylor left the pub with him and they walked to the subway in silence. She still hadn’t checked her phone; she was afraid to. Nothing she did now would change anything, so there was no point in looking until she was ready to deal with the consequences.
Luckily, her building was minutes away from her stop. Loch kept a hand on her back as they walked and then Taylor gestured at her building. “This is me. I’m sorry I didn’t show you around more—”
He put a finger to her lips. “No apologies. I had a great time. And because I had a great time, and I think you did, too, I refuse to let either one of us feel guilty.”
She smiled as he pulled his finger away, and jammed her hands in her pockets. “It’s just . . . complicated. It’s more than just guild stuff. It’s . . . personal.”
“An ex-boyfriend?” he guessed again.
“God, no.” She shuddered.
“Good.” He leaned down and to her surprise, he looked as if he was going to kiss her. Instead, he only said, “You’re allowed to have fun, you know.”
“I know,” she whispered. Damn it, why wasn’t he kissing her? His face was clos
e enough, and he was so handsome, even this close. She could feel the warm puff of his breath against her face, and he tasted like Guinness, and for the first time in her life, she didn’t hate Guinness. “I just have a lot of obligation wrapped up in it is all.”
“Obligation will be there in the morning. Might as well enjoy the rest of tonight.”
Taylor gave an unhappy little sigh. “Too bad tonight’s over.”
To her surprise, he chose that moment to lean in and lightly brush his mouth against hers. “Doesn’t have to be,” he murmured, breathing the words against her mouth. “Invite me up.”
And maybe she was crazy, but she was going to do it. “Okay. Got condoms?”
“Always.”
And that should have alerted her again that they weren’t compatible. But all she could think about was his big body, and how gorgeous he was, and how very, very much she wanted to go up with him.
Tomorrow, the world could implode on her. Tonight? She was going to enjoy the rest of her night. So Taylor grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled his mouth down to hers and gave him another kiss. Not one of the fleeting, featherlight kisses he’d given her twice now, but a real, honest-to-goodness kiss with tongue and promise. If she was going to do this, she was going to go all in, damn it. There would be no half-assing her hookup with the hottest guy she’d ever seen.
She was going to climb Thor like he was her own personal Asgardian.
Chapter Five
Despite the scorching-hot kisses on the street, Taylor was nervous about inviting the clearly more worldly Loch up to her apartment for an evening of no-strings-attached sex. She really wasn’t the type of girl who picked up men at bars. She’d slept with three guys in her life, all of them relationships.
Okay, four guys. There was that time with the guy at the Excelsior Convention, but he’d been smoking hot in his leather armor and she’d gone into it purely for a physical experience. Plus, once she’d gotten a good look at his teeth, she’d been uninterested. Dental hygiene was high on her list of boyfriend musts.
And Loch? God, the man had gorgeous teeth. Actually she was pretty sure he had gorgeous everything. Not that she was going to do more than hit it and quit it. Taylor had made that vow to herself before she’d even asked if he had condoms. This was not a guy in her league. This was not boyfriend for nerds material. This was DEAR GOD DON’T ASK QUESTIONS JUST NAIL IT AND BE THANKFUL material.
So she was going to nail it and not ask questions.
The elevator ride up to her apartment was awkward as heck, though. Taylor shifted uncomfortably as the small, dirty elevator climbed slowly up the jillion floors to hers. This probably wasn’t his regular scene, and she mentally winced at the thought of the dirty clothes on the floor of her tiny studio apartment, along with the stacks of dirty cereal bowls next to her computers. To be fair, she hadn’t been expecting company or she’d have cleaned up. She considered making him wait in the hallway for a few minutes while she frantically straightened. It wasn’t the worst idea.
“So how long have you lived in New York?” Loch asked, breaking the silence.
“Me?”
“No, the others in the elevator,” he said, grinning and pretending to look around at the empty elevator.
A hot flush crept over her cheeks. “Since college. I’m actually from South Carolina. Very small town. I wanted to get away, though. Not much opportunity there. So I’ve been here about five . . . six years.” Wow. Looking back, it was a little embarrassing. Six years and the best job she had with her computer science degree was tech support? Dang, that was disappointing. “Um, how about you? How long are you in the city for?”
He shrugged. “Until I grow weary of it, I suppose.”
“Ah.” Must have been nice to not have to worry about money. New York wasn’t exactly the cheapest place to just hang about. “And you’re like, Griffin’s cousin, right?” She’d met him once, at a party. “Isn’t he an earl? Does that make you a duke?”
He looked down at her, frowning slightly. “Bellissime only gives out titles to the royal family, and I’m actually a baron. Why?”
She shrugged. She had the vague impression he wasn’t too keen on discussing himself. “Baron sounds kind of badass. Do you get anything cool with that title?”
His smile tugged up again. “Just a coat of arms.”
“Oh man, your own coat of arms. I’d be throwing that shit on everything.” She grinned. “Personal checks, phone case, you name it.”
Loch laughed. “It’s really quite ugly.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s just badass that you have one.” He made a sound in his throat that sounded like vague agreement, and she winced. “Am I making you uncomfortable? I can shut up at any point.”
“It’s fine.”
“You can back out at any time, you know. No hard feelings.”
His smile remained but his brows drew together. “Are you trying to get rid of me, Taylor?”
“No! Not at all! I’m just saying that if you ran away screaming at the sight of my Doctor Who decorating theme, I wouldn’t blame you.”
This time, his laugh was genuine. “Forewarned is forearmed. I promise not to scream in too much horror.”
“You say that now, but wait until you see it.” The elevator dinged, signaling her floor, and she got out, pulling her keys from a clip in her pocket. “I have to warn you that I wasn’t expecting company and I’m a bit of a slob.”
“As long as you don’t make me sleep on the floor, I’m sure it’ll be charming.”
“You can’t sleep on the floor. That’s where I keep all my laundry.”
He laughed again, and she moved to her apartment door quickly. She was down at the end of the hall, and she prayed like heck none of her neighbors would come out and see her with a man—
Actually, scratch that. If they saw her with Loch? She was pretty sure they’d be high-fiving her for her excellent taste in hookups.
But then the door was open and it didn’t matter. Taylor mentally steeled herself, hoping her apartment wasn’t as bad as she remembered. “Come on in.”
She stepped inside and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d suspected. Most of her laundry was piled on one end of the futon that doubled as an extra bed for when a friend slept over. She was a little messy, but not too untidy. Her bed was unmade, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to wreck it shortly anyhow. “Home sweet home.”
Loch, however, looked shocked. “This is your place?” He stepped inside and rubbed his jaw.
“Um, yup. Is that bad?”
“It’s rather . . . small.”
She gazed around her place, trying to see it through his eyes. It was a wee bit crowded, but she was only one person. The futon was along one wall, the TV hanging on the wall on the opposite side of the room. Her bed was along the windows and in the corner next to the bed was her computer desk, set up with both of her laptops. Directly to the left of the door was her small kitchen (okay, really just a cabinet or two and a microwave and sink) and next to that, the bathroom. All in all, she felt she made pretty good use of the four hundred square feet. “Well, anything under two grand a month doesn’t get you much in the city. How much is the place you’re renting?”
Loch’s brows drew together. “I’m . . . not sure.”
She shrugged. “Might want to ask before the price tag takes you by surprise.”
“I should,” he murmured, slowly walking farther into her apartment. He rubbed his chin again, gazing around him.
This was getting uncomfortable. “You want a drink? I have some bottled water.” She would have offered him a snack but she suspected he wouldn’t be into the Cup Noodles that was her staple.
He shook his head and held a hand out to her. “I’m being a rubbish guest. My apologies.”
She shut the door
behind her and locked it, then set her backpack down. “It’s okay. It is small. It took some getting used to when I moved here. You can get an entire house in South Carolina for what I pay for this shoebox. Sometimes I think I should go back.”
Loch sat down on the edge of her bed and then leaned back on her covers. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here.”
Oh, god. The sexiest man alive was lying back on her bed. Her. Bed. “Me, too,” she breathed. She licked dry lips and moved toward her computer desk, setting her phone down. The moment she did, she accidentally tapped the mouse and her computer screen unlocked, displaying her email tab, which she’d left up. Sixty-one new messages. Sigmund’s name was on every single message she could see.
The sick feeling in her stomach returned.
“Everything all right?” A warm hand caressed hers.
Taylor looked over at Loch. He was so sexy and so delicious and so . . . here. She’d never get this chance again. And Sigmund was going to be pissy and weird about everything anyhow, so what did she have to lose? Nothing. She pushed aside her worries and laced her fingers with his. “Just some stupid shit that can wait for tomorrow.”
“Then come sit down with me.”
And because her mama didn’t raise no fool, she did. Taylor gingerly sat on the edge of her bed, a little uncertain because she wasn’t used to giant, sexy beasts sprawling all over her twin bed.
Loch immediately put a hand on her waist and dragged her down onto the bed next to him, until she was flat on her back. His big body was on its side and he gazed down at her, a thoughtful look on his face. “You’re not getting shy on me, are you?”
She made a pfft sound and tried to be all casual. “Who wouldn’t be shy with their own personal Thor in their bed?”