Gaming for Love (29 page)

“I know you do. Yes,
I will go with you although I’m a little nervous now, too.”

“You’re nervous?
Why?” I ask, baffled.

“Some of those girls
who you ‘took into the closet’ are going to be there aren’t
they? I mean, I know you have been with a ton of girls but to be
faced with them makes me a little…self-conscious.” She looks down
and I pull her chin back up.

“What the fuck would
you have to feel self-conscious about?”

“Well, they are
probably super thin and ultra-fashionable. And I’m, well… I’m
not.”

“Are you kidding me
right now? You are the sexiest, most gorgeous woman I have ever met
in my life. I love how you look and how you dress. They are going to
be jealous when their dates are drooling over you.” I have to be
honest with her again, though. “They can be catty, though. So,
someone may say something to you, but, I will shield you from as much
as I can.”

“You make me feel
sexy and gorgeous. Thank you for that. I would love to go with you.
Just give me the dates and I’ll get the store covered. Will we have
time to see Quinn and Zane? Quinn and I have become good friends.”
I nod, smiling. “Oh and John?”

“We can go a day
early again to see my friends and John will be at the party. I love
you, Yas. Thank you for doing this for me. Will you have time to find
a dress?”

“You don’t have to
thank me. I love being anywhere that you are. As for a dress, I would
like to have one made. I have an idea for one that I think would be
perfect.” Her eyes are twinkling and I know that I’m going to
love whatever it is she has planned.

“I can pay for it
since I’m asking you.”

She laughs. “Scott,
you made me a millionaire when you paid twice the asking price for
this house. I can afford my own dress. We need to talk about the
house, you know. I should give you back some of the money.”

“No, Yas. I would
have paid all of the money I have if that’s what it would have
taken. I want you to have what I paid. That was my choice.”

She sighs but I can
tell that she is going to let it go. “Okay.
I
have been working on accepting help better and not being
so proud. I still think it’s too much but if you say that you can
afford it, I believe you. Now that I know, should I move out sooner?
I was going to start looking for an apartment.”

I look at her
incredulously. “You’re not moving out. This is your home, Yas.”

“Umm, I know that we
are back together, but I’m not ready to move in with you yet.”
She looks away.

“That’s fine. You
can live here and I’ll stay at my place for now.”

“You don’t have to
do that. You bought this house and you should be able to live in it.
I can find another place to stay until I am ready to move in with
you.” She looks me in the eye. “Because I’m hoping that our
relationship progresses to the point where we move in and maybe more.
I’m just not ready yet.”

“I want you to stay
here and I definitely want our relationship to progress in that same
direction, but I have to ask for another favor while we wait. Can we
buy some furniture and stuff together? You know, for when you are
ready? And can I start converting one of the extra rooms into my new
workroom? I won’t use it yet, but I want to be ready.”

“Yes, we can do that.
I would love to have us both decorate the house. And I would love for
you to have a workroom here too. What would you like to change in
this room?”

“Here? Nothing. I
love this bedroom. I don’t want to change it.” I pause for a
moment. “Although I would like to add a bigger TV, of course.”

“Of course.”

* * *

Yasmin

After we eat breakfast
and make love again in the shower, Scott leaves to go to work. He
wants to stay but says that he and Sean are at a crucial part of the
new program and he hates to stop, but, he offers to stay if I want
him to. I tell him to go to work and that I’ll come by later. I
have something that I need to do today, too.

When Scott told me
about covering up his tattoos, I got an idea. I call Zane and ask him
what he thinks. “That would be cool, Yasmin. If you can find
someone to do it, I can get it ready.”

“I think that I can
find someone but we may not have a lot of time. Are you sure that you
don’t mind?”

“Mind? I love this
idea. Scott is going to love it, too. By the way, I’m glad to hear
that you two back together.”

“Thanks. I am glad
too. I am going to look up some designers now and then I’ll call
you back.”

“Okay. Talk to you
soon.”

I get off the phone
with Zane and look up some things on my computer. I find who I am
looking for and send off an email, hoping to hear back in the next
couple of days. What I want is going to take some time.

I decide to head into
work, even though I had planned on going in later. I want to get my
work done so that I can go over to Scott’s later. I have to look
over the applications that I’ve received since I’m able to hire a
couple more people. It’s nice to be able to take some time off and
not be at the store from open to close.

I get to the store and
let myself in. We don’t open for another half hour but I don’t
see Sam and Danny anywhere. I walk into the backroom to find them
making out against one of the tables. I yelp out loud.

They break apart fast.
“Oh my God, Yasmin. I’m so sorry. We didn’t think that you were
coming in so early today,” Sam says turning red.

“I wasn’t but I
wanted to get some interviews set up. You don’t need to apologize,
though. I’m happy that you two are finally together.”

“I’m happy, too.”
Danny moves back over to Sam and puts his arms around her. She smiles
up at him.

“I’m going to go
lock myself in my office. You have half an hour until we open. So, do
whatever you want until then. And come see me later. I need to ask
you guys to pick up some extra shifts so that I can go to Chicago in
a few weeks.”

“Chicago?” Sam
asks. “So, you and Scott?”

“Yeah, me and Scott,”
I tell her with a smile and then go into the office and close the
door.

I spend the day setting
up interviews and taking care of orders and bills. Owen arrives to
continue his painting and I tell him that I know about the plan and
thank him.

“Seriously, Yasmin.
This
is
a favor to
me. I have missed this. So, yeah, Scott asked me to help you, but he
knew that he was helping me too.” I hug him and head over to my
car. I can’t wait to get over to Scott’s place. I know that he’s
probably going to still be working but I can wait in one of the
cabanas for him to be done. I just want to be close to him.

I drive through the
gate and see Maggie and Alex getting into Maggie’s BMW. They stop
when they see me. I get out of my car and walk over to them. “Yasmin!
Uncle Scott said that you’re going to the ball with us. We’re
going to look at dresses. Do you want to come with us?” Alex tells
me, grabbing me in a big hug.

“I’m actually
planning on having a special dress made, but I would love to go help
you two pick out dresses.” I
would
like to go and it will give me something to do while I wait for
Scott.

“It would be
wonderful to have your input, Yasmin. And I want to hear more about
this special dress of yours,” Maggie tells me as we get into the
car.

I tell them my plan as
we drive to Crystals at City Center. They’re both excited and tell
me that Scott will love it. I tell them that I haven’t heard from
the designer yet so I am not sure if it is doable, but if not, I have
plenty of time to find a dress. We spend a few hours shopping. Alex
ends up with a Dolce & Gabbana and Maggie finds a gorgeous gown
at Valentino. I find some cool sandals with blue and green beaded
leaves at Jimmy Choo that I think will look good with the dress that
I’m envisioning. I find some emerald and gold earrings at Tiffany
that I buy, too.

When we get back to
their house, I see Sean and Scott in the driveway. I get out of the
car and Scott is by my side almost immediately. “Hi baby.” He
kisses me lightly. “I saw your SUV but I didn’t know where you
were. I was about to call you.”

“I came by earlier
and your mom and Alex met me in the driveway and asked me to go
shopping for the ball with them. I figured that you would want to
work longer, so I went with them and got some shoes and earrings.”

“Thanks for that. I
did need to keep working.” He leans in and whispers in my ear, “Do
I get to see you in those shoes and earrings?
Only
in those shoes and earrings?” A shiver goes up my spine, but I
shake my head.

“Nope. You can see
them when you see me in my dress. And then you can see me in
only
them after the ball.”

“I knew that would be
your answer but I thought that I would give it a try.” He laughs.

“You two need to get
a room,” Sean says with a grin.

“We have a room
around the corner,” Scott says to him with a bigger grin.

“On that note, I’m
going to take off.”

“Say hi to Erika for
me,” I tell him. He nods and drives away. We talk to Maggie and
Alex for a few more minutes and then escape to Scott’s place.

We order in pizza and
play video games. Or I should say, he plays video games and I
try
to play along with him. We have fun, though. I love being with him
like this. With no expectations and no pressure. Just having fun and
making out on the couch in between games. Eventually, our making out
gets hotter and I’m straddling him. Scott stands up, taking me with
him and I wrap my legs around him as he carries me upstairs and makes
love to me all night again.

Scott

It’s the day of the
ball. Yas and I went to see Zane and Quinn yesterday. We all went out
to eat and then hung out at their place. At one point, Zane and Yas
exchanged a glance and then went into the kitchen together. I tried
to follow but Quinn started asking me questions about my new program,
looking nervously at the kitchen every few minutes. I was worried for
a minute and then realized that they must be planning something for
me. Maybe Yas is going to get a tattoo. That would be hot. I would
love to see a tattoo on her awesome body.

We’re staying at my
apartment this time and we didn’t get much sleep last night. If
Owen knew that I took Yas from behind as she held on to one of his
sculptures, he would never let me live it down. It was pretty damn
erotic though, having her naked, pressed up against the metal with
her hands above her head, holding on. Thank God and Owen that he
insisted on me having his sculptures attached to the floor so that
they wouldn’t tip. That one would have definitely tipped last
night. That was just the beginning of our night. Shit. I need to get
a grip or I’m going to have to take a cold shower and I don’t
have time for that.

I’m in the guest room getting
ready while Yas is upstairs in my room. She was nervous all day,
waiting for her dress to arrive. When it did, she immediately ran
upstairs with it. I can’t wait to see her. It still sucks that I
have to cover up and I’m not happy as I remove all of my piercings,
but I get to have my girl with me so that makes up for it. I get the
text that I have been waiting for.

Yas: Are you ready?

Me: Yep. I am walking out to the living room now.

I walk out and stand at
the bottom of the steps waiting. When Yas walks out, I can’t
believe what I am seeing at first. Her dress…her dress is like
nothing I have ever seen before. It almost brings me to my knees as
she walks down the stairs and stops a few steps from the bottom. The
top is flesh colored and covered in my tattoos. Where they are on my
body underneath my clothes. But being shown on her body, on the
fabric of her dress, over her curves. The bottom of the dress is
stiff black material, a little shorter in front then the back and
showing off her shoes which have blue and green leaves twisting
around them. She has emerald earrings in her ears but no other
jewelry. There’s no need for any. The dress is a work of art. My
work of art. And Zane’s. I realize now what they were talking
about. He had to have helped with this. I can’t say anything. I
don’t know the words.

Yas misinterprets my
silence. “I-I can change, Scott. I have a backup dress.” She
turns and I reach out and pull her to me.

“Don’t you dare
fucking change. I love this dress. I more than love it. I just
couldn’t find my words for a minute. How did you do this?”

She takes a breath,
relaxing. “When you invited me to the ball and told me how you
couldn’t show your tattoos or piercings, I thought that maybe I
could show them for you. I called Zane to see if he could help and
then tracked down a guy I saw on Project Runway who had a fabric
printer. Are you sure that you like it?”

“Yes, baby. It’s
amazing and you are amazing for thinking of this and doing it for me.
I love you so much.”

“I love you, too. Oh,
and I’m sorry about the piercings. I thought about them, but I just
couldn’t do it.” She looks sheepish.

“This is enough, Yas.
It’s more than enough. You have no idea what it feels like to see
my ink on you.”

“Ohh, are you feeling
all alpha?”

“Yeah, I am. And if
we didn’t need to get to the party, I would show you just how
much.” I growl and then kiss her hard. I make myself pull away
after a minute and lead her from the apartment and into the elevator.

We exit into the lobby
and Bobby is there. “Wow, you two look amazing.” We thank him and
then head out to the limo.

* * *

Yasmin

When we arrive at the
ball, I’m not ready for the photographers who are waiting for us. I
didn’t realize how famous the Griffins are in Chicago. I recover as
quickly as possibly as Scott leads me onto the red carpet. We pose
for pictures and even kiss. Reporters ask me about my dress and I
tell them the name of designer and also give them Zane’s name and
tell them about his shop. We make it inside and find his family.