Page 49 of Stripping Bare
“And I assume we’reenemies?”
She momentarily lifted her goggles and glanced over at him.Whew!If she’d had a free hand, she would’ve fanned herself at the sexy flash of his smile. The force of it tingled its way through her system, and she dropped her arms. The gauntlets knocked against her thighs and her character vaulted off the ground and into a nearby bush. She emerged with a gun, and a thrill of accomplishment raced through the real Tessa. After a few false starts, she figured out how to run and weave, although she was stillclumsy.
Her attention snagged on something at the edge of her screen, a glimmer of movement behind a cluster of azalea bushes. Before she could determine exactly what she’d seen, the foliage swayed and settled. “Are you chasingme?”
“Whether I want to or not,” Jonahmuttered.
“What’s this weapon I’mcarrying?”
“Dammit, Tessa, we’replaying.”
“Yes.”
“You won’t quittalking.”
Oh, that’s right. Apparently men weren’t able to walk and talk at the same time. Too bad she couldn’t use her feminine charms on-screen to distract him. Or…maybe shecould.
In real life, she untied the sash of her robe, but Virtual Tessa’s clothes remained on her body. Sexy distractions were out. Shoot, if seduction wouldn’t work, then she’d have to play it his way. “I need to know how to use whatever this weaponis.”
“Aim and pull thetrigger.”
Fine. She’d figure it out by herself. For several minutes, she directed her character to hunker down behind some rocks near a stream. She fiddled with her finger and hand movements until she figured out a combo that would allow her to not only shoot the strange gun, but also jab it like a bayonet and swing it like aclub.
Oh, yeah. She was going to take himdown.
Then she studied the terrain on Jonah’s inset view. Somehow he’d found his way to the towering tree she’d fallen out of, which meant he was gaining on her. If she didn’t figure out the game soon, he’d find her and captureher.
The thought of being chased and captured by him in real life sent a delicious tremor through her body. It would be intense, challenging, and downrightthrilling.
But that was reality. Steele Survivor was a game she planned to best himat.
She waded her way across the stream, almost feeling the chill of the current against her skin. On the other side, she found an incline where she could watch the area around her. Watch andwait.
Jonah was so intent on his pursuit that he apparently didn’t realize she was on to him. Now that she knew how to maneuver, she shimmied up a small tree to get a better view. To assess heropponent.
Jonah’s character—dressed in the incredibly realistic torn jeans and graphic T-shirt—jogged up to the rocks Tessa had sheltered behind. He crouched down and ran his fingers across the indentions made by herheels.
“Why can’t my character take off her clothes in thegame?”
The inset of Jonah’s screen wobbled as if he’d missed a step. “Wha…what?”
“It seems like I should be able to kick off those stupid heels if I want to. Clothes should beoptional.”
“If I’d been fifteen when I came up with the idea for this game, there would’ve been female characters and they probably would’ve all been naked.” He studied the terrain for a few seconds and waded into the water, headed directly for her hiding spot. “Gotcha,” hemumbled.
Damnhim.
There was no way she could get down from the tree without him spotting her now. At least not in the normal manner. But her small perch had benefits as long as she could bepatient.
It didn’t take long until Jonah was circling the area, checking behind bushes and edging his way around trees. He studied the branches, but Tessa had miraculously camouflaged herself in the leaves. He crept in the opposite direction while she waited. Andcalculated.
She drew in a breath, let go of the tree, and jumped. With a real-life victory cry, Virtual Tessa shot at Jonah with her weird gun and crashed into his back, forcing him down onto hisbelly.
His character gave anoomphas though he’d really felt the impact of her weight. Then he somehow dislodged her and flipped over, sending her gun flying and skitteringaway.
Shoot.She’d been so close to getting the drop onhim.
“This is when it changes to hand-to-hand,” he told her. “Kicks, punches, hair-pulling. Anythinggoes.”
Well, hand-to-hand sounded good, but she doubted if it included any sexy times. Since she no longer had a gun, she expected his character to cast aside the weapon in hishand.
But before her character could scramble to her knees to engage with him, on-screen Jonah pulled back his sword. Then the massive blade arced around and time—on-screen and IRL—slowed to quarterspeed.
“What the fuck?” Jonah said in a roughvoice.
“What’s happen—” Before Tessa could finish her question, the sword sliced cleanly through her character’s neck. Her severed head thudded to the forest floor and rocked to a stop, face up. Eyes still open and filled withsurprise.
