Gaming for Love (3 page)

“It’s nice to meet
you, too, Ryan. Your mom and Alex are great!” I reply honestly,
thinking that he’s a really nice guy.

I can’t explain the
instant connection I have with this family. Well, except for the
connection with Scott. That is easily explained as pure lust at first
sight. Until he opened his sexy mouth. Then it was irritation at
first sight. But, the other three members of his family that I’ve
met so far are really nice and friendly. I would love to see Alex and
Maggie outside of the store. Maybe I can ask them to lunch. Wait, I
can’t afford lunch. Damn it, yes I can. One lunch won’t decide
the fate of this store.

I must have been
spacing out for longer than I thought because Alex says, “Yasmin,
are you okay?” I snap out of it and tell her I am fine, just
thinking and that I can’t wait to show her some books.

“I am heading over to
mystery while you girls do your thing. I think Harlan Coben has a new
book out,” Ryan says with a sheepish smile.

“He does and it’s
awesome,” I reply and point him in the right direction.

Alex and I lose
ourselves in contemporary YA books for over an hour. Thankfully,
Danny is in today and can handle the few customers we have. A few
stop to say hi as we are curled up in two of the comfy chairs I keep
around the store. We are laughing and talking about our favorite YA
boys when Ryan comes over to tell us he has to get back to the
office.

“I don’t want to
leave yet,” Alex tells him. “I’m having fun.”

“I can see that,
honey. If I didn’t have a meeting in an hour, I would let you stay
here all day,” Ryan tells her, regret written all over his face.

“I could bring her
home,” I say without thinking.

“That would be
awesome! Please Uncle Ryan, can she?” Alex looks so happy my heart
almost bursts.

“It’s really not
too much trouble for you?” Ryan asks me, hope in his eyes at seeing
his niece smiling.

“Not at all. I am off
at 5.” I look at Alex then. “I do have some work, sweetie, so I
can’t stay here and talk to you. You are welcome to stay, though.”

“I would love to
stay. And I can help you if you want,” she says shyly.

“I never turn down
free help.”

Ryan watches our
exchange, a look of curiosity on his face. “Why don’t you stay
for dinner when you come over? We have a Friday night barbeque every
week. It’s one of the only times our family gets together all at
once. We have been doing it for years but this will be our first
since we moved here.”

“I wouldn’t want to
intrude on your family time,” I tell them although I really want to
say yes. I would love to see Maggie. Not Scott. Okay, yes Scott.
Maybe he can keep his mouth closed while eating.

“You wouldn’t be.
Oh, please come!” Alex pleads.

I meet Ryan’s eyes
and he nods. “Alright, then, I would love to have dinner with your
family.”

“Put your number into
my phone and I will text you the address.” I do as he asks and then
we say our goodbyes until later.

I spend the afternoon
catching up on emails and bills while Alex reads and helps shelve
books. Right before we are set to leave, I receive an email from
Erika with a link to the software program she was telling me about. I
print out the info and stuff it into my purse without looking at it.
Alex and I say our goodbyes to Danny and head to her house.

* * *

Scott

I made some great
progress with the software today. If I can just work out these last
couple of bugs, I will definitely be done in time for my dad and Ryan
to launch it before the fall semester starts at the universities. I
want to make my parents proud and bring good publicity to the
company. It’s not enough but it’s something. Anything I can do is
worth it.

I head out of the guest
house - my house, I remind myself -into the backyard. My brothers are
all there, along with my parents. We all got my dad’s green eyes
but while Ryan and I have his black hair, Owen and Luke are brunettes
like my mom. Erin had my dad’s black hair too. The thought sends an
arrow into what’s left of my shattered heart, but I push it away as
I notice that Alex is missing.

“Where’s Alex?” I
ask as I head over to the table.

“Yasmin is bringing
her. Alex didn’t want to leave the bookstore so Yasmin said that
she would drive her home when she got off of work. Ryan invited her
to dinner with us,” My mom says with a smile.

“Excuse me? You left
Alex with some chick we don’t know?” I stalk towards Ryan.

“Alex was laughing
and happier than I have ever seen her. Yasmin seems great and I don’t
think she would do anything to hurt Alex. She was excited to see Mom
again, too,” he fires back.

“Yasmin’s great?
And you invited her for dinner? Keep your dates away from our family
meals.” I have never once in my life felt jealous about anyone, not
even Amber, who I dated for a year. But the thought of my brother
dating Yasmin makes me want to tackle him into the pool.

“This isn’t a date,
although now that you mention it, I
should
ask her out. She is a little young for me, but definitely gorgeous.”
He looks at me in amusement when he says it and I am afraid that my
jealousy is showing. I try to school my features into indifference
but I’m not sure it works.

“Damn, Scott, do you
like this Yasmin girl? Because you didn’t even react to Ry saying
that Alex was laughing,” Owen tells me, looking at me like he’s
trying to figure me out. Good luck with that.

“I. Do. Not. Like.
Yasmin,” I spit out, a little too forcefully.

“I don’t like you
either so I guess we’re on the same page,” I hear her sexy,
melodic voice say from behind me. I whirl around to see Alex and
Yasmin standing by the patio door. Yasmin looks pissed and well, so
does Alex.

“What is wrong with
you, Uncle Scott? Yasmin is my friend. She understands about mom and
dad because her parents died. Why can’t you be nice to her?” Now
she looks like she wants to cry.

Shit. I need to fix
this before the tears start. “Alex, honey, don’t cry. I’ll be
nice, I promise. Just please don’t cry.” I wrap my arms around
her as she starts to sob.

I look up to see Yasmin
fidgeting and looking like she wants to get the hell out of Dodge. I
can’t really blame her. My niece needs her, so I swallow my pride.

“Please stay. I’m
sorry that I have been an ass. I will be nice to you.” I pull away
from Alex and reach into my pocket. “Look, I’ve even got a pen
you can have.” I hold it out to her, hoping that she will take it
and stay. For Alex. She needs to stay for Alex. And me. NO! Not me.
Who am I kidding? I want her to stay so that I can get to know her
better. I shouldn’t, but I do.

* * *

Yasmin

Scott’s holding out a
blue pen to me. It looks like the kind businesses give out. I still
feel like I might want to run but a big part of me is yelling in my
head that he remembered that I love pens and is offering me one. I
reach out to take it. It says “Tech Boys Do It Better” and has
the name of some company I’ve never heard of on it.

“Do they really?” I
ask him before I can stop myself, blushing instantly.

“What?” He says
looking confused, until he sees the pen he gave me. “Oh, yeah,
definitely.” And the smirk is back.

Thinking of being with
him makes me want to melt right there on the ground. I’m not a
virgin or a prude, but it
has
been awhile. Maybe too long. My friend, Candi, tells me I need to get
something battery powered to pass the time, but I only want body
parts in there. And yes, lately that means my fingers while thoughts
of a certain green eyed bad boy run through my mind.

“Your parents died?”
I’m snapped out of my thoughts -thankfully since I am standing in
front of my fantasy and his family for God’s sake - by the question
from a brown haired, green eyed guy who looks younger than Scott and
seems to favor his mother in looks and coloring, but is no less
stunning.

“Owen!” an older
looking version of Scott and Ryan with salt and pepper hair says
sharply. He turns to me with a kind smile. “Please excuse my son,
he sometimes lacks manners. And a filter. I’m Gary and it is great
to meet you, Yasmin. You know Maggie, Ryan, Alex and of course Scott,
already. These are our two other sons, Owen and Luke.” I nod at
them and notice that Luke looks like his mother as well.

“It’s nice to meet
you all. And Gary, Owen’s question is okay.” I look over at him.
“Yes, my parents died two years ago in a car accident. A drunk
driver ran them off the road. I took over the bookstore when they
died.”

“You own the
bookstore?” Maggie asks looking a little shocked.

“Yes, I do.” For
now at least, I add silently.

“You’re pretty
young to be running your own business. From what my wife says, it is
a wonderful shop,” Gary tells me.

“It
is
wonderful. It was my parent’s dream and I’m carrying it on for
them. I’m 20, so yes, I am young, but I love it as much as they
did.”

“Well, that’s
what’s important, doing what you love. And thank you for helping
our girl smile again.” He looks over at Alex with eyes full of love
when he says this.

“It’s my pleasure,
really,” I tell him.

“Enough with the
sappy stuff, can we eat now? I have a party to get to,” Luke says
with a smile, lightening the moment.

I walk over to the
table with Alex and Scott to sit down. Alex sits in the spot next to
her grandparents so I take the last spot, next to Scott. I don’t
want to sit next to him, but I have no choice. Oh, who am I kidding?
I
so
want to be next
to him.

They start passing the
food around and it looks amazing! As usual, I load up on carb-filled
sides. I know that I should eat more protein instead but the potato
salad and mac and cheese look too good to pass up.

“Are you really going
to eat all of that?” Scott looks at me incredulously.

“Umm, yes?” Oh,
God, did I take too much? Do I look like a pig?

Scott must sense my
unease because he leans in close to me and whispers, “I think it’s
sexy as fuck that you want to eat all of that. I hate women who won’t
eat in front of guys.”

What I said about
melting earlier? Nowhere close to this. I am basically a liquid form
in this chair. What’s this guy doing to me? And can he do more?

The rest of the night
flies by. Everyone is so nice and funny. I love to hear them tease
each other. They all make an effort to include me in their
conservations, even Scott.
Especially
Scott. He asks me about myself and what I am studying at school. He
tries to talk to me about what he does, but I tell him that I am
pathetic when it comes to anything having to do with computers. He
seems to find that funny and teases me, bumping my shoulder with his.
I catch the other members of his family smiling at us from time to
time. When Maggie brings out brownies for dessert, Scott puts the
largest one on my plate with a smile. He jumps up to walk me to the
door when I say that I need to get home. He tells me that he hopes I
had a good time and kisses me on the cheek. Maybe he isn’t such a
jerk after all.

Scott

It’s the morning
after the barbeque and I wake up rock hard. I could pretend that I
don’t know why or that it’s just normal morning wood but I know
better. I was dreaming about Yasmin. About how sexy she looked eating
last night, how she moaned after her first bite of my mom’s mac and
cheese. I want to make her moan like that while I’m sucking on
those hot tits of hers and thrusting my cock into her. Shit, I want
to do that so bad, I could barely stop myself from throwing her over
my shoulder and carrying her to the guest house. Especially when I
leaned in to whisper in her ear last night. She smelled like
something floral but musky at the same time and I was even harder
than I had already been, if that’s even possible. Well, I guess it
is. I was hard the minute she asked me about the pen with that
sparkle in her darkened eyes. Yeah, I think she wants me to.

When I kissed her cheek
last night, she flushed red and her lips parted slightly. I wanted to
kiss her mouth, too, but I held back. I shouldn’t have even kissed
her cheek. Talking to her all night and then that small kiss made me
realize that I want to get to know more than her body. I want to get
to know
her.

But, I can’t go
there. My family seems to love her and she is bringing my beautiful
niece back to life. I can’t use her for a one night fuck. I know
that it would be a use-the-entire-box-of-condoms kind of night, but I
can’t do it. I would have to see her again. I
want
to see her again. One night wouldn’t be enough with her.

Shit! I can’t think
like this. I don’t deserve more than one night and I can’t give
more than that. I already learned that once. She seems nice but what
if she’s like Amber and just wants to use me and my family? What if
someone gets hurt again? I couldn’t live with myself. Fuck if I
don’t want her, though.

I can use her to take
care of my cock myself, though. I start stroking and pulling,
thinking about her. Her tits stretching another book t-shirt last
night, her tight ass and those hips. I grip myself faster and thrust
harder into my hand as I imagine that it’s her hands on my cock.
And her mouth. Yes, that mouth that I think was made for me, sucking
my cock in and out. That’s it. Just that image is enough to make me
come harder than I ever have on my own. Holy fuck, I am done for.

As I lay there panting,
my phone starts to ring. I stretch over to grab it and see that it’s
my mom. “Hey Mom, what’s up?” I ask, trying to make my
breathing sound normal.