Passionate Game (Kimani Hotties) (12 page)

“Not now, Mom. I just don’t know if I want to pursue anything.”

Her mother nodded. Her gaze drifted over Tamara’s shoulder. She motioned with a push of her chin. “Your young man is waiting for you.”

“He’s not my young man.”

“Maybe you should tell him that. I still can recognize that love-struck look on a man’s face.” Her mother got in her car, waved to her and drove away.

Tamara turned and walked to where Grant stood with legs apart, hands shoved in pockets, studying her. The night could be over or just beginning. No matter what he wore, no matter under what light he stood, Grant was gorgeous. The man had been blessed with good genes.

“Thanks for introducing me to your mother.”

“Likewise,” he replied.

“Wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be.”

“I’m glad my parents met you.”

“Your mom scares me, but your dad is a sweetheart.”

Grant laughed and then pulled her against his chest. They stood holding each other, swaying without any music.

Tamara sighed. What to do next? Her past told her to back away and run. Her present told her to stay put, hold on. The future scared her the most. She couldn’t see beyond the horizon.

Chapter 12

G
rant suffered through the film production, which lasted an additional three long days. In order to get over the interruption into his daily life, he had to remind himself that there were many benefits. With one notable exception: Tamara was keeping him at a football-stadium-sized distance.

It was one week after the ambush at his parents’ home, and she seemed frozen. Even his calls weren’t being returned. Maybe he should be glad that she’d backed off. If he continued down this path, he’d lose his mind. He had to stay away from his vice and regain balance.

At least turning his attention to the latest work in progress kept him busy. The production of the angels and demons game continued to unfold as planned. A few more tweaks and they could move ahead to the next phase. The simultaneous launch of a new game-design software particularly excited him. The software would allow the game to be played on additional platforms. Only a small number of staff knew about this rollout.

“The DBSK creators—Jax and Danny—are here, along with Norton and Hadfield,” his assistant informed him.

“Show them in.”

“Good to see all of you,” he greeted the team as they walked in.

“I hope you liked the latest mock-up,” Deetz Norton spoke first.

Grant nodded. “The third spec for the angels looked so real.” He laughed. “Well, as real as we think angels look.”

“Ever seen an angel?” Deetz asked.

Grant didn’t respond. His religious views and thoughts were his own. He wondered where this conversation was going.

“Nah,” Hadfield piped up.

“Not me,” Jax replied.

“I have,” Deetz volunteered. “And no, it wasn’t a winged man. Just that I was in a tight spot in my life, faced with a life-and-death situation, and a man appeared to help me. Then when I turned to thank him, he wasn’t there. And I would have known if he’d walked away.”

“I think that regular people can act like angels. They come into your life to help and then move on,” Roy offered.

Grant didn’t need any heavy conversation right now. He’d much rather discuss the project and leave personal testimonies to remain just that, personal.

“Back to the software program that I referred to in the email.” Grant redirected their attention. “I met with a graphic illustrator whose work is fantastic and isn’t like anything that I’ve seen.” He pulled up the software on his laptop and projected the image on a drop-down screen.

The 3-D images of models for angels and demons flashed onto the screen. Details of the anatomy were unbelievably realistic to capture the roles, tasks and special powers of the characters. Along with the illustration, the color palette added strength to the samples with a bold, heavy outline and vivid shading to make the image pop. They would need to get voice actors with the perfect timbre. But this demo was a must-have.

“Anything that good must cost a bundle,” Roy said.

“Expensive, but I’m willing to absorb the cost. There’s no way that this won’t be a hit,” Grant said, confident all the way to his soul in the software program.

“Plus we have the target group for testing,” Deetz noted.

“Yep,” Roy replied. “I have that already lined up with the interns. I think we should provide teasers to stir the interest and build up for the launch.”

Grant shook his head. “I want this group to have the game without any preempt.”

“Then maybe at the marketing level,” Deetz pushed.

“That will be another project. And we’ll go big or go home with the marketing.” Grant didn’t need this team to stop its focus on fine-tuning the game.

Hadfield pulled out his file to provide his update.

Grant waved him on to begin the detailed report. He admired the leadership skills that Hadfield exhibited. His talent definitely warranted not only nurturing but also the freedom to develop. There was no way that he would let Hadfield get nabbed by another company. He solicited the best or those with potential, and he expected and wanted his staff to stay with the company. The two game designers, Jax and Danny, were also impressive. At the end of this project, he was prepared to offer them full-time employment. Their partnership and ideas could set a new course for Benson Technologies.

* * *

Grant remained behind his desk long after the team had left. His imagination still whirred along as if on its own power surge. At some point, he had to stop and let the first edition go to production. As soon as the first edition hit, the new upgrade would already be in the final stages for its launch.

He stretched his limbs. For several hours, he hadn’t moved. Time for him to head home. Alone.

Fatigue hit him with a nagging headache. By the time he got home, he wanted only his bed. Food wasn’t even an option. After a quick shower, he fell diagonally across the bed, still thinking about the new computer game. He’d have to change the name, but he’d let the marketing team deal with that headache.

Exhaustion smothered him like a warm, heavy blanket. Had he ever seen an angel? He yawned and turned on his side, ready to drift to sleep. Of course he saw an angel. No one could convince him otherwise. His life might have veered so far from the path he took that he might have been in an orange jumpsuit with numbers printed on his chest for his ID. He’d been handed his second chance, and he didn’t plan to waste any part of it.

* * *

Tamara ended her Monday-morning staff meeting. One day-care helper had called in sick. Mitzy had arrived late. Becky was still in Florida. The mood in the meeting matched the staff’s lethargy. Maybe they were all overworked. But theirs wasn’t the kind of business that could close its doors for a quick minute.

She missed Becky’s ready input. Tamara picked up the phone and dialed.

“What’s the word, Becky?” Tamara didn’t like that she was having to track down her friend.

“Things got hectic here. Sorry for not giving you an update.”

Tamara waited for the dreaded words—
I’m leaving
—that she expected to hear from her friend.

“I’ll be back to work by Monday. My mom is much better.”

“Yes! And G-Dragon?”

“He’s heading off on tour. I only got to see him once. The rest of the time was spent online catching up and talking about ourselves. Not quite the same. And I don’t want to be another fan girl hanging out backstage.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Tamara said. “I’ll have a great welcome-home party when you get back.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” They shared a laugh. “So fill me in on the documentary.”

“I’m actually looking at an edited piece right now. We made a couple of versions, just in case he didn’t care for one thing or the other.”

“Sounds like you’ve worked hard on this.”

“I wish that I could take the credit. But the crew did a fantastic job. I’m also thinking of a new program for the academy—we could invite some well-known folks to hold master’s-level classes on various subjects, but of course, geared toward our guys.” Tamara tossed out the idea to vet with Becky.

“Another major project—sounds exciting.”

“Yeah, but we have to make sure it will have great results, too. The big thing will be to get really good people.”

“I’d love to run with the master’s class project,” Becky offered.

“And I’d love to turn this over to you.” Tamara picked up on Becky’s desire to be back in the office working around people she knew.

Tamara finished up the call. She was thrilled to hear from Becky and to learn that she and G-Dragon had decided to go their separate ways. Love wouldn’t elude Becky for long. She only hoped that her friend didn’t settle for another frisky singer-celebrity who only wanted to get in her pants.

Her cell phone rang, and she saw it was from Grant’s office. This was a change. He’d been calling her in the evening. Now he was calling her in the morning, too.

Not taking his calls was difficult, but she knew she had to wean herself off him. If she kept herself busy, she thought of him only during waking hours. By the time she slept, she was too exhausted to remember any dreams.

She wasn’t worried about missing any important updates on the documentary. He could go through her assistant for business-related matters. The call went to voice mail. She pressed the icon to play the message.

“Tamara, this is Deanna Rushgrove in the human resources department at Benson Technologies. I think there may be a problem. Your interns didn’t show up today for work. And I just got a call from Bill Stevenson that due to altercations among some of the guys, a few will no longer be participating in the program.”

“Tamara, Mr. Stevenson is on the phone.”

“Put him through.” Tamara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Mr. Stevenson, what on earth is going on?”

“A major fight broke out among the guys. And you know we have a zero-tolerance policy for fighting. Three guys have been expelled from the program and a hearing is scheduled to determine if they will remain at Miller-Brown.”

“There must have been a good reason.” Tamara would grasp at any straws to save her students. “They had been doing so well. Grant said they are all learning quickly. When they came in they were looking wild, lacked discipline and complained a lot. Now that they have incentives from Grant, they’ve been working as a team.” She realized that she was rambling and forced herself to remain silent.

“Doesn’t matter. I just wanted to let you know. I called Mr. Benson to make him aware of the situation. Tomorrow the rest of the group can return. I’m as disappointed as you are, Miss Wendell.”

Tamara had known that every day was a tightrope walk with the guys. Emotions, egos and simple teenage hormones could get them in trouble in the blink of an eye. She said good-bye and hung up with Mr. Stevenson, then tossed aside the pen that she had been using to scribble notes and dropped her head into her hands.

“What are you going to do?” she asked herself out loud.

Tamara looked at a framed photo of the guys on their first day at work. No way was she giving up.

“Mitzy, can you get Greta to step in for me? I’ll need the afternoon sessions covered. I’ve got a plan, but I have no idea how long it may take for me to get what I want.”

Mitzy chuckled. “They don’t know who they are messing with.”

“I promise to play nice.”

“Good luck.”

“I’ll need it.” She grabbed her car keys and headed out the door.

On the way to Benson Technologies, she placed the necessary call to Grant. She couldn’t do this without his help. Hopefully, he’d want to help, although she had been dodging any contact with him for several days. No time to think of any backlash from Grant. Her students needed his help.

These guys had so much potential. One good thing about the fight was that it hadn’t happened on the company’s grounds. But the liability of having wayward youth among the staff must give HR nightmares. She didn’t want their doubts about this program to resurface.

While she needed Grant to help her with her plan to get the guys back into the program, Tamara first needed to know that he still believed in the program. Her decision to not speak to him and put distance between them couldn’t have happened at a worse time. She took a deep breath when she pulled up at Benson Technologies and saw that Grant was already waiting for her.

Tamara looked around the parking lot. “You know it might not be safe to stand around like that?”

“Expect someone to kidnap me?” Grant scoffed.

Tamara nodded. “Or carjack.” The man couldn’t seem to get it through his head that he couldn’t go around unaware of his surroundings. She’d also rather scold him than deal with her other overwhelming emotions, which felt like just a constant loop of intensity and vulnerability.

As usual, Grant looked beyond fine. She knew what lay beneath the polo shirt that hung loosely over his khaki pants. Those hands, with long tapered fingers, had once stroked her skin like soft velvet, enticing her to an array of delicious, sensual pleasures.

“The day that I can’t walk around and do what I want, then that’s the day to pack it all in. I’m a no-fuss, no-frills kind of man.”

“Well, someone down-to-earth is always appreciated.”

“People don’t give a darn about me. They care about the product—that’s a good thing. I’m not complaining.”

“You’re selling yourself short. I know ten guys who already hold you up as their role model.”

“They shouldn’t.”

“That sounds ominous,” she responded.

Seconds ticked as the silence surrounded them. There was something that he was hiding. She’d felt it before and dismissed it, but she wouldn’t let it go this time.

“Tell me what happened,” Tamara said. She knew that he could retreat and shut her out, but she had to try.

Grant sucked in his breath through clenched teeth. His jaw worked as indecision warred quite visibly on his face.

She lost sight of his face when he turned to face the car window. Nothing about his shoulders was relaxed. The longer he remained silent, the more alarmed she got that his secret had enough power to erect a defensive wall against anyone, including her.

“Let’s just get to the home,” he said at last.

Not quite what she wanted to hear. He joined her in her car and they sped off to their destination. There was no time to coax any information from him.

She pulled in the parking lot of Miller-Brown and switched off the engine. “What’s our plan?”

“To get these guys—all of them—back at Benson Technologies.” Grant looked at her. “Ready to sway some minds?”

“Always.”

He laughed.

Tamara wanted this to work more than anything she’d ever wanted. She kept her reasons close to her heart, knowing that her secrecy with Grant was a bit hypocritical. But he didn’t need to know her turmoil. All he needed to know was that she had the best of intentions.

They were granted immediate access to the director’s office. Tamara and Grant took their seats to face Mr. Stevenson, who looked ready to battle them.

Although they hadn’t devised a specific game plan, Tamara opted to play sidekick and allow Grant to use his quiet but firm nature to take hold. But if that didn’t work, she wasn’t beyond using tears and full-out begging to get what she wanted.