Level Up (10 page)

"No worries," Adam said. "And sorry I'm going."

"You okay?" Fezza said. "You've seemed a little preoccupied."

Adam shrugged.

"The call," Fezza said. "Was it...?"

"Was it who?" Adam said.

He rolled his eyes. "Your ex. Casey."

"What? No!"

"Because you were a mess last year, after she dumped you," Fezza said. Fezza was a good guy--a good friend. If the Mysterious Pickles crew had a heart, it was Fezza. "That's why I kidnapped you. Didn't want you to just molder away in that house of yours, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," Adam said. "But don't worry, it wasn't Casey."

Fezza squinted at him. "No, it wasn't," he said. "So, who was it?"

"Just gotta grab Tessa from her party," Adam said. "She wants to get coding."

Fezza waited until he was halfway down the hall before he called out, "So...you hitting that?"

He flipped Fezza the finger, and Fezza burst into laughter. Still, Adam's head buzzed.

No, he wasn't "hitting that."

But God help him...he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Tessa stood on the side of the ballroom, feeling like an idiot. She was expecting it to be heavier on the cosplay side. Heavier on the "geek" side. Instead, it was a "masquerade ball."

Or, possibly, a very high-end drunken frat costume party.

Stacy floated over, looking phenomenal in a red ball gown--seriously, like something out of Versailles. "Having a good time?" she asked, with her megawatt smile. "My parents appear to have gone all out with the invitations this year. Usually it's not quite this..." She moved her hands in a vague gesture of excess. "
This.
"

Tessa shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot. "I chose a stupid costume."

Stacy gave her a half-hug. "I think you're an adorable Molly Hooper."

"That woman over there dressed like the French Maid asked why I was wearing a lab coat and if I was supposed to be a pharmacist."

Stacy sniffed. "She's wearing a French Maid outfit, the most boringly unoriginal costume on the face of the earth. I don't even know why she's here."

"Open bar?" Tessa ventured, then winced. "Whoops. I said that out loud."

Stacy grinned at the snark. "Where did Stacy seemed to be searching the room, making a "mmm-hmmm" noise.

"Looking for anyone in particular?" Tessa asked, glancing around as well. "Rachel was checking the table with flyers, and the rest of the girls were getting more punch, as I recall."

"More like avoiding people," Stacy muttered. "Normally, this is a really fun party, but this year my parents went all out, inviting a bunch of eligible guys."

"Well, that's a damned crying shame," Tessa said, tongue in cheek. "To have eligible guys running around."

"I sound like an ungrateful bitch, don't I?" Stacy said, her face falling. "I don't mean to be. I'm sure there are even some kind guys in here, but..." She sighed. "My parents picked them."

Tessa saw two guys dressed as football players ogling the French Maid. Another guy in a suit and a plain mask was looking disdainfully at the various costumes. A third guy was arguing, in an articulate voice, about how the country was going to hell in a handbasket.

"Just not my type," Stacy said, with another long sigh.

"That
is
 a bummer," Tessa agreed, seeing the dilemma. "My older sister and my mother used to do that, too. Try to set me up, I mean.""

"How'd that go?"

"About as well as you'd imagine," she said, wincing a little at the memory. "Most of the guys wanted to talk about their cars, or their jobs, or whatever. For a while, I think my mother thought if I just found a nice Latino boy, I'd stay in Southern Cal, give up this video game programmer business, and live nearby with a pack of kids, just like my sister Anabel. And I don't think it's bad--I'd like to get married and have kids. Someday. But I'm not giving up my job."

Stacy nodded. "It's about choices."

"Exactly." Tessa grinned. "Which is why I'm choosing to leave the party now, before midnight strikes and all those drunken frat guys suddenly see the opportunity to kiss any woman in sight."

"Chicken," Stacy said, nudging her, and Tessa laughed.

"Oh, no! You're leaving?" a voice piped up behind her, and there was Kyla--dressed as Kaylee, from
Firefly
, in mechanic's coveralls, with a floral parasol. "But it's not even midnight!"

"That's the point," Tessa said.

"Pussy," Hailey chimed in. She was dressed as a rockabilly Snow White, and it worked surprisingly well. Rachel was dressed to kill as Gogo from
Kill Bill
.
"Tessa's scared of getting kissed," Stacy said, and Hailey blew a raspberry at her.

"Or
not
 getting kissed, maybe" Tessa joked. "I feel like I'm in the seventh grade at a party and everyone's going to be making out while I flip through magazines. I want to get out while I can."

Kyla laughed. "I know how you feel."

"Come on. I'll kiss you," Hailey said, causing a few of the gentlemen nearby to leer.

"No, seriously," Tessa said, but she felt good that they were trying. "Besides, I really should get coding. We don't have a lot of time."

"You gonna catch a cab?"

"No, I'm waiting for my ride..."

There was a slight commotion by the door. "This party is by invitation only," a hotel security guard said. "Hey! You're not on the list."

It was Adam. Tessa felt a surge of relief. "Oh, there he is."

"Sooooo. Adam, huh?"

"He's my roommate, remember?"

The countdown was starting, she started walking briskly, then nearly sprinting for the door. This was the last place she wanted to be when the clock struck twelve.

"He's with me," Tessa shouted, causing a few people to turn. The bouncer reluctantly let Adam through.

"Jeez, it's a 
costume party
," the now drunk French maid said, a bit sourly--probably because her date was grinning and flirting with a Slave Leia. "What the hell is this guy supposed to be?"

He gave her the perfect look of derision, then walked up to Tessa. Then, the most amazing thing happened.

He stopped, then did the most perfect Sherlock hair-ruffle she'd ever seen. Then he reached out, framed her face, and laid the most breathtaking kiss she'd ever experienced on her.

Seriously. She felt like she'd been hit by a train. Her brain short-circuited, and for a second, she barely registered the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" being shouted all around her.

She bent into him, and he followed her, holding her tight, kissing her breathless.

Then, just as quickly, he straightened, stepped back, and turned to the drunk French Maid.

"The name's Sherlock Holmes," he said, then winked, grabbed Tessa's hand, and dragged her out.

CHAPTER 6

Stacy's parents' house was a large log-cabin styled mansion at the base of Mt. Si, only seven minutes from downtown Snoqualmie. With traffic from the taxis and cars leaving Stacy's place, it was more like ten.

Right now, it felt like the longest seven minutes of his life.

They hadn't spoken since he'd laid one on her and then taken her by the hand, dashing to the car he'd left in the large circular driveway, ignoring the valet yelling at him. They'd hopped in and driven home without a word.

He wasn't sure what had gotten into him. There were scantily clad (and, let's say it, incredibly stacked) women all around. But it was Tessa, with her ponytail and her lab coat, that he'd wanted to see.

"Please come get me," Tessa had said. "I'm miserable. I just want to go home."

He knew she was already at her wit's end. He didn't know what had prompted her to go to this gig in the first place, but he heard the agony in her voice, and his first instinct was to go there and rescue her.

He felt incredibly chivalrous. And right now, incredibly turned on.

He pulled into their driveway and they silently got out. He unlocked the door, his hands shaking slightly. He'd say from the cold, since it had to be nearly twenty degrees out, with a light dusting of snow. But it wasn't. It was adrenaline, and lust, in equal parts.

He finally got the door open.

"Thanks for picking me up," she said, her tone subdued.

He didn't answer. He took off his jacket, hanging it up. Waiting until she'd done the same.

She smiled, staring at him. "Wow. We've kind of got the track record for showy display kisses, huh?" She laughed, sounding breathless. "I guess security was giving you a hard time?"

He couldn't speak if he wanted to. Instead, he took a step closer to her.

"We gotta stop doing that," she said, with more nervous laughter. She was waving her hands a little, fidgeting. "People are going to get the wrong idea."

"What idea is that?" he said, finally, following her into the living room as she headed towards the hallway.

That stopped her in her tracks. She turned around, looking at him incredulously. "That...you know, that we..." She made an inarticulate gesture, then sighed. "That we're
together
," she said.

"Maybe I don't care if that's what they think," he heard himself say.

If her eyes got any larger, she'd be anime. "What?"

"Maybe I didn't do it for show, either."

Blink. Blink. "What are you saying?"

He stepped up, toe to toe with her. Not touching her. Giving her just enough space that, if she wanted to, if she said the slightest word, he'd stop. Giving her the time and the opportunity to turn him away.

Instead, her lower lip trembled. "Adam?" she whispered. "Why did you kiss me?"

He reached up tentatively, took a deep breath, and stroked her face with a feather light touch of his fingertips. She gasped softly.

"Why did you kiss me at the restaurant?"

"Out of spite," she said. "That guy was a total asshat."

He let out a startled laugh, and caressed her cheekbone. She sighed, a ragged breath. He saw her pupils dilate.

"Not then," he corrected. "Tonight. And the other night, in the hallway. Why did you kiss me back?"

"Because..." He saw her swallow hard. "Because I wanted to."

"Maybe I want to, as well," he pointed out. "Ever think of that?"

"You want me?"

It was the surprise, the disbelief in her voice, that had him dipping down, brushing her lips with his own. Feeling her shiver under his fingers as he took the kiss ever so slightly deeper.

"I want you," he whispered against her mouth, then covered her mouth with his, kissing her with fervor.

She moaned softly...then dove at him.

Her dive propelled them both backwards, and they landed on his couch, her halfway on top of him. The pressure of her breasts against his chest was enough to make him groan in return. His hands reached up, stroking at her back as she latched onto his shoulders, pulling him tighter, her mouth moving like a tropical storm. He moved his tongue to meet hers, and after a second's pause, she matched his.

His breathing went shallow and uneven. She was panting.

She pulled away.

"Tessa," he said, his cock already straight up midnight and every muscle tense. "Are you all right? Do you..."

He stopped on a gasp of his own, as she tore off her lab coat and then stripped off her sweater. His eyes popped. Her breasts were perfect, just about a handful, high and round. She was wearing a midnight blue bra with just a hint of lace.

"Holy crap," he muttered, and her delighted smile was a killer.

"Now you," she said.

Together, laughing, they tugged off his sweater. The house wasn't super warm, but he felt like he was on fire, and when her skin met his, he wouldn't have been shocked if the house went up in flames.

He tugged her hair out of its ponytail, weaving the fingers of one hand into her hair. It felt like silk, and he held her head closer to his. She shifted, straddling him, and he moaned as he felt her heat surrounded his hard-on, still trapped in his jeans. Her fingernails dragged down his chest. She gasped, pressing hot, drugging kisses along the column of his neck, nibbling at his earlobe, all the while shimmying just enough to drive him wild.

He finally grabbed her hips, holding her tight and still against him.

"You keep that up," he said, around gasps for air, "and this will be over way too quickly. And I'm in no rush."

Her answering grin was wicked. He had no idea she had that in her.

"You're shivering," she said, leaning forward until her bra slid against his skin. "Maybe we should get you hotter."

"Like the sound of
that
..."

"Wait, no," she said, pausing, breathless, to cock her head and listen for a second. "I think that's your phone."

"Screw my phone." He pulled it out of his pocket, not even glancing at the screen and shutting it off.

"Just your phone, huh?"

He froze for a second. "Depends. Anything else around here need a good screwing?"

She laughed. "I think there's something that could definitely use it..."

The house phone rang. He cursed.

"If that's Fezza, I'm going to kill him."

Tessa, however, got up, and he got up with her, not wanting to let her go.

"It might be an emergency," she said, then frowned. "I don't recognize the number, do you?"

He shook his head. "Let 'em leave a message."

Tessa smiled, turning back to him. "Let me just hear if it's one of the girls," she said. "They might need a ride or something, and..."

The machine picked up. "Adam? Adam, it's Casey."

Tessa froze. Adam shook his head. "Crap."

"I just wanted to say...I miss you. New Year's just isn't the same without you."

"Forget it," he said, wondering if he could mute the phone somehow.

"Ever since I left you, just before New Year's last year, I think I've made some bad decisions. And when I got the package you sent me...Adam, I still love you. Please, please pick up."