The Game by Vi Keeland by Vi Keeland

“You going straight there?”

I nodded. “We’re meeting there.”

Christian walked around the desk. I stayed rooted in place, but my face must’ve looked nervous because he grinned and opened his arms. “Just giving my friend a hug…”

“Oh.”

Same as last time, he wrapped me in his arms so tightly I could barely breathe. Yet it caused my body to let out a sigh and relax. He was just so big and warm. His arms felt like the only safe place to allow my guard to slip down, if only for a moment. Not to mention, he smelled damn good again, even after a long practice. I didn’t want to let go, but too soon Christian pulled back. He dropped a quick peck on my forehead and looked down at me. “That should do it…”

My forehead creased. “Do what?”

“Coat you up with my scent to keep the other animals at a distance.”

I laughed. “You’re insane.”

He winked and let me go. “See you soon, boss lady.”



***



“So how are things with the team? You were working on an algorithm last time we saw each other, right?” Julian sipped his wine.

Our table hadn’t been ready when we arrived, so we had a glass at the bar before being seated. Since I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, I was already feeling a little tipsy after a glass and a half.

I nodded. “Things are good. I finished writing the code for the algo and loaded all of the stats for the team by player. My first set of results weren’t that great, but I made some tweaks with Christian’s help, and my margin of error is narrowing.”

“Is Christian the head of analytics?”

“No, Christian is a player on the team.”

Julian’s brows furrowed. “Knox?”

“Yeah, you know who he is?”

“Of course. Everyone knows who he is. Even an AI geek like me.”

I refrained from mentioning that I was currently wearing eau de Knox…and that I might’ve sniffed my shirt on the car ride over. But I’d spent enough hours thinking about Christian Knox the last week or two. Tonight was all about the man who was my perfect match, and I intended to keep that focus.

“Do you mind if we don’t talk about the team?” I asked. “It’s been so consuming, and I could use the mental break.”

“Of course.”

I sipped my wine. “Tell me what’s going on with you?”

He smiled proudly. “I’ve been asked to keynote at the Innovative Technology Conference on Artificial Intelligence.”

“Oh, wow. That’s big. Congratulations. What’s your topic going to be?”

“The revolutionization of quantum computing in pattern spotting.”

For the next twenty minutes, Julian rattled on about how his latest code rollout was going to integrate multiple databases and search millions of records in seconds, locating similarities in data that would previously have taken years of man-hours. A few months ago, this would have been the type of conversation I lived for, yet I found my mind wandering a little.

“I was thinking of kicking off with a holograph of an artificial neural network computer model, superimposed to look like it’s running inside the brain. What do you think?”

I squinted at a couple standing at the bar.

“Bella?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“Using a holograph in the opening of my speech?”

I glanced back over at the bar again. The man standing with that woman looked like Christian. Or did he? Was my mind screwing with me?

Julian twisted in his seat to follow my line of sight. “Do you see someone you know?”

The man had shifted so his back now faced me, and the woman he was with laid both hands on his chest and laughed. Yeah, I was definitely seeing things.

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Julian. I thought I saw someone I knew, but it wasn’t.”

“Oh.”

“You were asking me something. What was it again?”

He frowned. “It’s not important.”

Shit. I was going to blow this date if I didn’t get my act together. I adjusted myself in my seat and leaned forward, giving Julian my full attention. “It is important. Your work is important, and I really want to hear about it. I’m sorry if I was distracted.”

Julian smiled warmly. My renewed focus seemed to smooth things over. At least for a few minutes until I saw the guy from the bar heading toward our table. I still thought I was looking at Christian Knox’s doppelgänger…until the man flashed two canyon-deep dimples and waved.

Oh.

My.

God.

It freaking is Christian!

His gloating smile was brighter than sunshine as he approached. “Bella? I thought that was you.”

“What are you doing here, Christian?”

He shrugged. “Getting dinner.”

“At this particular restaurant?”

“It’s one of my favorites.”

Could it be a coincidence? I didn’t think I’d told him the name of the place I was going tonight, though I’d mentioned it was on Bleeker Street.

The woman standing next to him hugged his bicep. “It’s one of his favorites, yet he couldn’t remember the name of it. We had to stop in at four different restaurants on the block so he could look around and see if it was the right place.” She pointed to her stilettos. “These are made for curbside drop-off and pick-up only.”