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)
CHAPTER 21
DAKOTA
Mara sits cross-legged on my armchair with a bowl of ice cream balanced on one knee.
“Did you tell him about your dad and Noah or any of that stuff?” She asks after I’ve explained my real-life Cove freakout.
“No,” I reply. “But he was understanding. He sort of sensed that something was going on without me needing to explain what. Then we went to the diner, and that jerk was there, the one I told you about.”
“That was the same night?”
I nod. “I didn’t tell you what happened after, either. Jack stood up for me. He went full caveman and called me his woman. And I loved it. I felt possessed. Owned. Protected.”
“And you… loved it,” Mara mutters in wonder.
“I know. Talk about mixed signals.”
“I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you a hundred times, that’s just being human. Where did you leave things?”
“Up in the air, I guess,” I say, shrugging. “We’re still seriously hot for each other. I’ve never experienced anything like this. One touch and…” I shiver. “He had to sit on the other side of the limo just to stop himself from touching me. It was crazy. But the whole time, there’s this alarm going off in my head. He wants to control you. He wants to own you. All while enjoying when he called me his.”
“You can be his in certain contexts,” Mara says. “And independent in others. You just need to navigate it together. Have you talked since?”
“A little. He texted me last night when I got in. Mostly about the game. But he’s so busy with work.”
“I saw they put an announcement on X.”
“Yeah—the new zone. He’s been working so hard on it. And when he took me to our real-life Cove…”
“You’re going in circles, Dakota,” Mara points out.
“It’s like—he wants to tell people. About us. But tell them what? Am I supposed to hop on stream one day and announce that I fucked him on somebody’s desk and had one failed date at a diner?”
“Don’t kid me. I know it means more to you than that.”
I avert my gaze because I can’t lie. She’s right. An hour in the game with him is better than any date I’ve been on with any other man.
“Maybe I should explain what happened,” I muse.
“It’d be a start. You said he shared something personal with you?”
“About his family,” I say, nodding. “I feel so bad. I thought he might be lying for a while. Then he mentioned it on the boat, and his tone, Mara, God. It was like his heart was being torn from his chest.”
“What’s his game plan if you go public?” she asks.
“Honestly? I don’t even think he has one. Not specifically. He just doesn’t want a PR scandal. Which is fair. Neither do I—what?”
Mara raises an innocent eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to…”
“He doesn’t want a PR scandal, so he makes public hints at you, transforms public places into scenes from the game, and takes you to a public diner… Maybe he doesn’t even know it—you know what men are like—but he doesn’t want this to become public, Dakota, he needs it to.”
I shake my head. “You’ve been watching too many romance flicks.”
“Nah-uh.” She shakes her head. “If he were the cold, PR-obsessed CEO he’s pretending to be, he wouldn’t have even met you in person.”
“Just because he cares enough to wreck our careers, it doesn’t mean I should let him.”
“Would it wreck it, though?”
“We’ve been over this,” I say, sighing. “Most of my viewers are great. Some? Not so great? And if there’s this big influx of people who just want the drama, it’ll only be a matter of time before it’s too stressful, until there’s too many awful comments. Online, once a bandwagon gets started, it’s almost impossible to stop.”
“Don’t worry about that part for now,” Mara says. “Just think about the two of you. Do you want my honest opinion?”
I wink. “Why do you think I bribed you with ice cream?”
She laughs. “You owe him an explanation. I know it’ll be tough. But clearly, based on his reaction when you told him to turn the boat around, he wasn’t trying to love bomb you, Dakky. He was trying to be nice.”
“You’re right,” I murmur. “And I threw it in his face.”
“Just give him a call,” she says.
I glance at the clock. It’s almost one in the morning. My stream ended thirty minutes ago, then Mara swung by. “It’s late—I’ll text.”
Mara smiles. “You two and your messaging obsession…”
I sit up in bed, knees tucked up to my chest, biting my lip as I look at our texting thread. The last exchange reads:
Jack: I think you’re going to love the final phase of this boss, beautiful.
My reply was.
Dakota: I can’t wait. Just make sure it’s not as easy as the expo version!