The Boyfriend Sessions (20 page)

Then the opening scenes of the game filled the screen and I was forced to admit maybe it had been more than a few years. More like twelve. The graphics were amazing. “This is awesome.”

“I know. The technology has come a long way.”

I watched mesmerized as a gargantuan warrior slayed an opponent half his size and marveled at the quality of the animation. I wondered if maybe my confidence was misplaced.

“Who would you like to be?” Max asked.

I quickly ran through the options and despite being fairly certain that the woman I chose was probably not the strongest in the selection, I considered her oversized bust and tiny waist a weapon in her arsenal. It would be distracting to Max and remind him he was trying to attack his lover. I was nothing if not determined.

Max chose an average sized warrior and I hoped for my sake he wasn’t going easy. He’d learn.

The game began and I received a few good solid blows from Max before I found my rhythm. Soon it was like it hadn’t been twelve years and I could have been in the lounge room of my childhood home slaughtering my little brother. It felt good. Boy, did it feel good.

“Holy shit.” Max looked from the screen, to me, to his controller and back to me again. “Holy shit.”

“I warned you, Spencer.”

“Again.” He was determined. I liked that in an opponent.

“With pleasure.”

This time our battle took place on a terrifyingly high precipice, the wind howling around us. I sucked in a tight breath as Max came dangerously close to sending me off the cliff, but Magda, as I liked to call her—all earth-woman, kick-ass warrior, sex goddess—was nimble on her feet and managed to avoid tragedy. And she would make him pay. Oh, she’d make him pay.

“Holy shit!” Max said again as I finished him off with a fatal blow, sending him hurtling into the nothingness below.

“Again?” I asked demurely.

Max shook his head in amazement. “Can I choose a different avatar?”

“Be my guest.” All the good it would do him. I arched my brow as he chose the meanest looking dude in the whole selection. But that was okay. I’d find his weakness.

We were on solid ground this time, a series of vines hanging down around us, against the backdrop of a dense rainforest. It didn’t take me long to identify Thor’s—that’s what he looked like—weakness. He was frighteningly strong, but slow to respond when hit and I used it to my advantage.

“Far out, Christa.”

Piece of cake. “Again?”

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Immensely.”

“I think I love you.”

He’d said it in jest, but it made us stop and stare at each other for a long moment.

“The way to your heart is by beating the crap out of you on Playstation?” I inquired carefully.

“Apparently.” He hadn’t taken his eyes off me and the heat in them made my pulse skip a beat.

I gave him a wicked grin. “This turns you on?”

“Immensely.”

I laughed, enjoying the seriousness in his eyes, although I was pretty sure I could see the hint of amusement as well. “Foreplay Playstation style. Who knew?”

Max ignored me. “Again, Bubbles, again.”

“Ooh, Mighty Max likes it rough. Kinky.”

And that was how we spent the rest of our Saturday morning.

Mighty Max stared up at me, his expression a mixture of nonchalant confidence and determination.

His dirty blue jeans were worn and torn in places, revealing suggestive glimpses of powerful leg muscles. He was naked from the waist up, his ripped chest glistening and slick with sweat. His broad shoulders and muscular arms were shimmering in the glow of an eerie full moon, the half-light making his dark eyes appear otherworldly. They hinted at secrets and depths I was yet to explore.

I pushed the sketch pad away and released a big yawn.

It was late Sunday night and I’d had every intention of starting on some basic character sketches for the Speedstream avatar project, but instead I’d wasted several hours putting Mighty Max down on paper. I’d been home since Saturday night, but it felt much longer.

I reviewed my latest sketch with a critical eye. Sure, they were over the top, but they weren’t bad. It was almost a shame I couldn’t put forward Mighty Max for one of the avatar sketches. I had a feeling it might not go down so well. I grinned and resisted adding a ‘MM’ emblem on the front of Max’s chest. My superhero.

I closed the sketch pad and stashed it under my bed. I couldn’t exactly leave that one lying around the house for Cate to see.

I stretched my aching limbs and slowly rolled my neck 180 degrees to iron out the tension. It was partly the awkward position I’d been sketching in, but it was also a result of my weekend with Max. Sex and computer games. There was a combination I’d never thought would go together so well.

I allowed myself a lazy smile and flopped back onto my pillows to stare at the ceiling. I’d had such fun. I wasn’t just referring to the chemistry either. It was the easy banter, the laughter and the ability to just do nothing with him. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had that with anyone.

The image of Ben flashed into my mind.

It frustrated me that he was still in my thoughts. I told myself it had more to do with the way things had ended than anything else. The cultural divide had definitely complicated matters. Initially it was an exciting journey getting to know each other because we were so different, but I was hard pressed to say with any certainty whether our friendship was real. At the time, it felt like it, but I’d distracted myself with the chemistry instead. Maybe I hadn’t let our friendship develop because subconsciously I didn’t want it to be anything more than a holiday romance? I wondered.

I pushed those thoughts briskly aside. It was in the past now and I’d somehow ended up with Max, who I definitely had a strong friendship with. It helped that we’d known each other for years, but it was more than that. It was as he’d said—chemistry and friendship made for a very powerful combination.

And now I couldn’t get him out of my head. It had only been twenty-four hours but I missed him. What was that about? I’d be seeing him tomorrow night after work again and here I was drawing sketches of him like a teenage girl. Pathetic. I couldn’t recall ever doing that with my previous boyfriends.

Oh, God. Was that what he was? My boyfriend?

I sat up and cradled my head in my hands. We hadn’t exactly discussed it. That topic of conversation had been sidelined due to my desire to keep things under wraps from my friends. I had a feeling Max wasn’t prepared to talk about where our relationship was going until I’d made it publicly known that we were together. Which was fair enough really.

Except I just couldn’t do it. Not yet.

It still felt surreal that I was with Max. But I knew that wasn’t why I wanted to keep it quiet.

I got up and stood in front of my floor to ceiling wardrobe mirror. I looked young, dressed in nothing but a pair of light blue shorts and a grey singlet top. My bright blue eyes appeared tired and I’d piled my curls into a mess on top of my head. Unless you looked carefully, I could be seventeen, not twenty-seven.

I sighed deeply and rested my forehead on the cool glass.

No, the reason I wanted to keep us a secret was because I knew the moment it was public knowledge, the whole thing would become tainted. It would be the beginning of the end. And it would end. My past strike rate was evidence enough.

Right now it felt like something precious. Something sacred. The desire to keep the world at bay and hold onto our secret was growing stronger, not weaker. It meant lying to my friends, betraying their trust. I wasn’t happy about it, but if it was the only way to protect the special thing I had with Max, then I’d keep on doing it.

I wanted to hold onto this feeling for as long as possible.

*

“We have a problem.”

It was late Monday morning and I glanced up from my computer screen to find Maddy hovering next to my desk. It was unusual to see her edgy—full of energy, well, that was normal—but edgy meant something was wrong.

“I’m guessing this problem includes me?”

“The board has slammed the concepts.”

“Oh.” She was referring to the concepts we’d just finalized for Oz Guardians. I was genuinely surprised.

“They won’t approve them. They feel they’re too far removed from the Oz Zoo brand, too contemporary.”

I cringed. The Oz Zoo brand was badly in need of a face lift, so that wasn’t saying much. “Verdict?”

Maddy’s brown eyes looked panicked. “New concepts by tomorrow midday.”

I released a long breath. A very long breath. “Alright.”

It wouldn’t be the first time I’d come up against something like this in my career. Design was notorious for last minute changes. You’d have a project signed off, done and dusted, and then some senior ranking executive would decide they were offended by some aspect of the design for completely arbitrary reasons.

Navy blue? Surely not! My great grandfather’s company failed when they used navy blue in their logo back in the day.

Lime green? Isn’t that a bit, I don’t know, fashionable?

I’d heard it all, but this one was still a major shock because the Oz Guardians team had been so positive about the concepts right from the beginning. It was one of the main reasons they’d chosen Grounded Marketing, but it wouldn’t do any good to dwell on that right now. Board rules.

“Can you do it?” Maddy asked. It didn’t fail my notice that she bit her bottom lip, a nervous habit from childhood.

I reached out and squeezed her hand. Design issues always stressed out the account executive staff. “Relax. I can do it. I’ll just have to stay late. I’ll have new concepts for you to review tomorrow morning, in enough time to do final tweaks before they go to Oz Guardians.”

“Thank you. I’ll give you time off in lieu—”

I waved a hand at her. “Don’t be silly. It’s life. But I do want to talk to the client directly.”

Maddy nodded. “The Oz Guardians team is on our side. They told me they really pushed the board for the new designs, but were outvoted. I can get them on the line this afternoon, before five o’clock.”

It was exactly as I’d suspected. “Do it. Tell them as well as running us through what they didn’t like, I need to hear exactly what they did like. More importantly, I need to know exactly what they
want
.” It was one of the hardest aspects of the design process. The rounds of changes could go on for eternity unless you could get your client to articulate clearly what they wanted. Assuming they knew what they wanted.

“I’ll go call them now and line it up. You’re a star, Christa, I can’t thank you enough.” Maddy stalked off in the direction of her office, her dark mane of hair swinging purposefully behind her, but she stopped after a few steps and turned back. “Oh God, you didn’t have anything planned tonight did you?”

This time I refrained from the urge to bite my lip. Max. I’d have to call Max. We were going to have dinner tonight and … I looked at Maddy, who stared back at me. I could feel the beginnings of a blush creeping up my neck, so I quickly reached over to my long cold cup of coffee, took a sip and tried not to choke. God, how long had that been there?

“Christa?”

My blush all the more convincing because I was choking. I held up a finger until I was able to breathe properly again. “No, it’s fine. Nothing I can’t rearrange.”

“Great.” Maddy sent me a questioning look, but turned anyway, the need to call Oz Guardians more pressing than my choking.

Why did I have to be such a terrible liar?

I reached for my mobile next to my computer keyboard and quickly typed a message to Max.

Mighty Max. Client emergency and have to put in a late night. Can we reschedule dinner?

A second later his reply came through.

Understood. Will miss Magda tonight, I’ve been practicing.

I resisted the urge to laugh out loud and managed an office appropriate smile instead.

It’s no use. Magda will whip your ass again. She lives for it xo

In the space of the several hours we’d played Mortal Kombat on Saturday—I was still amazed we’d managed to play for that long—Max had beaten me only a handful of times. Magda was the undisputed champion.

Another message came through.

How about I call Maddy and tell her to give you a break? I need you to come over and whip my ass …

He was joking, I knew he was joking, but I still took the bait.

Don’t you dare. You do that and she’ll whip MY ass …

Another second later.

Your ass is safe with me. Miss you, gorgeous xo

“Who are you texting?”

I jumped about half a foot and turned to find Maddy peering over at me, a curious look on her face.

“Huh? Oh. No one.” Oh dear, I’d clearly been texting someone, I was hopeless at this. “I mean, I was just rearranging things so I can work late tonight.”

Maddy gave me an odd look. “Great. Conference call in half an hour.”

“Excellent. I’ll be ready.”

Maddy shot me another perplexed look, then thankfully left to do something else. Obviously there were more pressing things on her mind than my strange behavior. I returned my attention to my computer screen and began to pull up the series of Oz Guardians designs I was likely to be working on until very late.

“In for the long haul tonight?”

I swiveled in my chair to face a curious looking Julia, standing just behind my desk. Dear God, how long had she been there? And how had I never noticed the Spencer family ability to creep up on people?

“Afraid so.”

Julia nodded toward my phone. “Looks like you had to cancel plans. Hot date?”

I stared at her wide-eyed, caught out. How much had she seen?

“Just teasing you a little bit.” Julia nodded knowingly. “I know Maddy has you on that whole man-free stint. I can’t believe you agreed to it.”

I winced. If only she knew. “She can be very persuasive.”

Julia looked at me sympathetically. “You don’t have to tell me. I’m supposed to be enjoying my retirement, not working full-time for my daughter.”

I could tell by her tone she wasn’t complaining and I knew she loved working there. Plus, she was exceptionally proud of Maddy.

Her smile faded. “Just don’t overdo it like my three.”

“How do you mean?”

“Workaholics, all of them. It will be the death of me. So please make sure you leave some time for a special someone when he comes along, alright? You might be the only chance I have for honorary grandchildren.”

I smile weakly. Wow. This was getting messy. “I’ll do my best.”

“And don’t tell Maddy I said this,” Julia leaned in to whisper the rest, “but I think those sorts of promises are guaranteed to be broken.”

“Oh. Why is that?” I was deeply interested, but the sheer awkwardness of the situation meant I couldn’t look at her, so I fussed with my mouse pretending to locate files instead.

“You might as well have sent out a message to the universe saying, ‘I’m not available’. You know what the universe is likely to do? Send you your Mr Right. It’s perverse that way.”

I started coughing. On thin air. Once I’d recovered myself, I chanced a look at her.

She squeezed my shoulder gently. “All I’m saying is life hardly ever goes to plan, that’s all. Keep it in mind.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

I watched as Julia’s tall, compact form headed purposefully back to her desk.

Well, there was no arguing Max and Maddy’s mother was one wise lady. I just wondered what she would think if she knew it was her son the perverse universe had sent my way. And if she would still think he was Mr Right when she found out.

I shook myself, and forced my concentration back to my design files.

Fact was, it was more a question of whether
I
was Miss Right, and the verdict was definitely still out on that one.