Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
DakkyDuck: Thank you. But I’ve got a job, and I’m very happy with it. I’ve worked hard to get into this position.
TheRealCreator: Maybe we’ll do a special dungeon one day, designed by the one and only DakkyDuck.
DakkyDuck: Maybe ONE DAY.
TheRealCreator: You’ve got talent. But I’ll stop now. The last thing I want to be is the cliched billionaire love-bombing a younger woman.
DakkyDuck: I’m not trophy-wife young anyway, not anymore.
TheRealCreator: Dakota, if I had you on my arm, you’d be a trophy to me. JUST for me. Nobody else.
DakkyDuck: Okay, Mr. Possessive.
I send that because I feel like I have to, like I have to make at least a token effort to stay strong.
TheRealCreator: I can’t deny that. Maybe I should. Maybe it’d be the tactically right thing. But no, Dakky, you get the truth. I want to possess you.
A familiar shiver runs through my body.
DakkyDuck: You know I should run a mile, right?
TheRealCreator: How about you run directly into a real date?
I chew my lip, let it go. He’s got me doing that more in a couple of weeks than I have during my entire life before we met.
TheRealCreator: I want to make it up to you. I wish I could promise we can be open, that we don’t have to hide. I can’t, Dakota. But I can promise you’ll never have to hide like that again. That was piss-poor planning on my part. Hell, it wasn’t even a plan. I just lost control.
DakkyDuck: So did I. I never do stuff like that.
TheRealCreator: I haven’t even been with a woman in years. Then I saw you, naked, ready, beautiful, confident, and just a little shy… it broke me. I didn’t even feel awake until that knock came at the door.
My inner thighs tremble slightly, my core pulsing.
DakkyDuck: I know what you mean. It was like being inside a dream.
TheRealCreator: Exactly. This time, we’ll have space. We’ll have time. We won’t have to rush.
DakkyDuck: Rush what, hmm?
His goblin kneels in front of me.
TheRealCreator: M’lady, accept my apologies. I am just a nice guy who wants to treat you like the queen you are.
DakkyDuck: Ew, no!
I laugh.
DakkyDuck: I think I prefer full beast to full nice guy.
TheRealCreator: Ha, ha, I thought that’d be your reaction. So—a date?
I’m almost tempted to tell him we can date in the game. Which is true. Build a table in our secret cave, our clamshell bed right there, waiting for our avatars to fill it. But I can’t hide behind screens forever.
DakkyDuck: I want to. How would it work?
TheRealCreator: I send a limo. Only, this time, I’ll be waiting for you inside.
DakkyDuck: And then what?
TheRealCreator: And then you sit beside me, patient and obedient, knowing your big bad CEO doesn’t want to ruin the surprise…
I pretend to be outraged. But I’m laughing. It’s like I can hear his husky, sarcastic voice.
DakkyDuck: Patient and OBEDIENT?
DakkyDuck: You wish.
TheRealCreator: No, I don’t. I want you sassy. Wild. I want you unimpressed. I want you… you.
Another smile takes hold of me, wide, carefree, and probably goofy.
DakkyDuck: I love surprises. But remember, you don’t have to buy me.
TheRealCreator: If I do something extravagant, it’s because I want to see you smile. Nothing else. Feel free to tell me and my goblin dick to get away from you.
I laugh hard, wiping a tear from my eye.
DakkyDuck: That’s easier said than done.
CHAPTER 18
JACKSON
On Monday, when I walk toward the elevator at six PM, Elena approaches me. “Taking it easy today, sir?” she asks, standing at the elevator with me.
I frown at her. She’s annoyed at her promotion being passed up—for now—which is fair enough. But she’s veering into insubordinate territory with comments like this.
“Excuse me?” I ask, voice gruff.
She smirks, holding my gaze. Where is this sudden confidence coming from? There’s no way she can know about me and Dakota, and even if she did, what can she do with the information? A falling stock price because of a PR scandal won’t help her.
Is she working her way up to full-blown blackmail? What’s her angle?
Or am I overthinking?
“It’s nice,” she says a moment later, seeming confused. Suddenly, her smirk looks more like a smile. “You need time to refresh. I’m sorry if I came across in a way I didn’t mean.”
I nod. “You didn’t, Elena. It’s just the work. We’re getting there, though. Have a good evening.”
“You too, sir.”
I walk into the elevator and press the button for the bottom floor. She lingers for too long. As the doors close, the smirk returns. I’m almost certain of it.
Or you’re getting paranoid.
I’m not sure that’s solid reasoning. If Pete were able to sense that something happened between me and Dakota, surely somebody else could too. I raced from the event to be with her. I’ve been texting her nonstop. I’m changing the game based on her notes.