Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
DakkyDuck: Please don’t send me an unsolicited dick pic.
TheRealCreator: I’m keeping it above the waist, beautiful.
DakkyDuck:
Her message sends a jolt of heat through me. She’s responding, then. She feels it too somehow.
DakkyDuck: Okay, NOW I’m interested, stranger. Uh, my phrase? How about today’s date, with a drawing of two people shaking hands written underneath it?
TheRealCreator: What if I can’t draw?
DakkyDuck: Something tells me you CAN draw.
TheRealCreator: What’s that supposed to mean?
DakkyDuck: If you’re allowed to be mysterious. Then so am I!
She’s right. I grab a sheet of paper from the desk drawer and quickly write the date, then sketch out the image beneath it. Once that’s done, I stride into the bathroom, tear off my shirt, and hold the paper in front of my face as I take a picture.
Excitement courses through me. A thrill I haven’t felt since the early days of coding my game. I know this could backfire. Big time. CEO sends inappropriate photo to streamer… Another headline. But—fuck it. Don’t I get to live too?
I send the photo, then sit at my desk, wishing I’d brought one of my tennis balls home.
CHAPTER 5
DAKOTA
“Oh my God,” I murmur, pacing in front of my laptop, his image filling the screen.
“What?” Mara asks on speaker.
“He sent it,” I tell my oldest friend. “A picture of himself. But he’s covering his face.”
“What does he look like?” Her voice full of curiosity.
I sit on the couch and lean forward. My body feels like it’s on fire. He’s shirtless, low light bouncing off his chiseled abs, making his pecs look rock-hard and huge. The piece of paper mostly covers his face, but I can see his chin, square, with a little dimple in the middle. A very light smattering of dark stubble.
“Dakota?” Mara yells.
“Hot,” I admit. “Really hot. And the drawing of the hands looks real. No mistakes. The paper looks like it belongs in the image.”
“Be careful,” Mara warns. “It could still be fake. You never know these days.”
I swallow, pressing my thighs together. There’s a needy tugging in my core, my nub rubbing with extra friction against my underwear. My entrance flutters as I move my gaze from his abs to a preview of his jawline.
“It’s… odd, right? Sending something like this so fast?”
“It’s better than an unsolicited dick pic,” Mara jokes.
“Ha, that’s what I said to him, too.”
“How do you feel about it?” she asks. “Forget about what you think you should feel.”
I stare at his abs. At that chin I’ve seen in so many interviews. There are articles gushing about the dimple in his chin.
Mara, I think this is Jackson Cross.
But the words are insane just thinking them. Saying them would be next level.
“Hot,” I whisper.
I can hear Mara’s smile in her tone. She’s always encouraging me to date more, to put myself out there. My usual answer is that I use all my energy in my streams. By the time I’m done, I’m too exhausted to even think about real-life connections. But now, that feels like an excuse.
“Then message him back!” Mara says encouragingly. “But be careful! I’ve got to go, hon. Love you.”
“Love you,” I reply.
DakkyDuck: This could still be fake. It’s possible to fake anything these days.
TheRealCreator: I would never pretend to be someone I’m not. Especially not to trick a woman online. That’s just fucked. I never do anything like this.
DakkyDuck: Why the secrecy, then?
TheRealCreator: I have to be careful.
DakkyDuck: Jeez, Creator. Anybody would think you’re Jackson Cross or something.
A long pause. A minute, then two. I put my phone down next to my laptop and stare at the screen, at the V-shaped muscles that disappear into his sweatpants, at the hard ridges of his abs. I’m getting hot, borderline breathless.
I will myself to calm down. Slow my breaths. Maybe a byproduct of going so long without dating is that now my attraction is going into overdrive.
Or I’m letting myself believe a crazy dream. Maybe this is a clever scammer pretending to be Jackson Cross.
TheRealCreator: If I were Jackson, you’d understand why I couldn’t explicitly tell you over a message.
DakkyDuck: Why’s that? Maybe I’m not as clever as you seem to think.
TheRealCreator: I can’t be seen giving special treatment. Plus, there’s the power imbalance, Dakota. A CEO and a streamer who exclusively plays that CEO’s game… That’s the sort of stuff headlines are made of.
DakkyDuck: Do you think I’m going to run through the streets, singing your name, bragging about this? I just want to know who I’m speaking with.
It’s like I can feel his apprehension through the phone.
DakkyDuck: I know what you’re risking. I could spin this into you being some creepy CEO using your position of power. I get that. But newsflash, stranger. I’m capable of making my own decisions… even if they end up being mistakes.
TheRealCreator: You just said it yourself, Dakota. The reason I have to be cautious. When you called me a stranger.