Page 145 of Played By Design

My hand shakes as I take the drink from him, the condensation beaded on the outside making the plastic slick. I slide the straw under my mask and take a long draw.

The cold hits my throat and spreads through my chest. I drain half the bottle before coming up for air.

Love softens Kain in a way I can finally recognize, and now I catch it every time he looks at me. “Do you want to know how much you won?”

“Nope.”

“Anything you want to buy?”

I wrap my lips back around the straw. “Nope.”

“So, let your accountant handle it like usual?”

I lower the sports drink and give him a wink. “Buy yourself something nice.”

He snorts, reaches into his jacket, and pulls out my handheld.

The screen is already lit on the Dusk Protocol anniversary DLC splash screen.

“Full setup’s waiting at home,” Kain says. His voice is quiet in the dim corridor, undercutting the muffled thump of bass from the stage. “PixelPeach and Glacial Blue stocked in the mini fridge. Snacks sorted into separate containers by texture. Power banks all at a hundred percent charge.”

He holds the device out, and I take it.

The casing is smooth under my fingers, still warm from being close to Kain’s body.

My thumb hovers over the launch icon.

I’ve been waiting for this moment since Lantern Key announced it at the Game Awards over a year ago.

Despite Kain’s dire prediction, Lantern Key blamed the forum leak on the people who attacked the server room, and somehow, Kain still got to finish the job he was hired to do. Julian even offered him a new position better suited to his skills as a programmer, but Kain turned it down, along with the dinner invitation that followed.

Things ended on far better terms than either of us expected, though we still don’t know who ran the black-market sales or ordered the attacks on Kain.

After a competition win, decompressing with my OG game obsession should be the highlight of my year.

But it doesn’t even come close.

My thumb hits the power button instead of the launch icon, and the screen goes dark.

I pocket the device and look up at Kain. “I’m in the mood for a different sim tonight.”

His eyebrows lift. “Oh?”

I hook a finger in the top of my mask and pull it to rest under my chin. The elastic pinches at my ears, but I ignore it as I step forward.

My fingers catch the front of Kain’s shirt, curling into the soft fabric just below his sternum, and I tug him down as I rise onto my tiptoes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Bunny.” He meets me halfway for the kiss, his mouth tasting of the mint gum he always chews before my competitions.

One of his hands finds the small of my back, palm flat on my spine through the damp fabric of my shirt, drawing me closer.

I deepen the kiss, and his fingers flex against my spine before they trail up to the Mark on my nape, where they settle like a live wire.

A pleased rumble vibrates from Kain’s chest and into mine where our bodies meet.

More than any competition or DLC, this is what matters. The Alpha I chose, not because the game told me to or because it was the next objective in the quest log.

Because I wanted him.