For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,102

into the room to get dressed, his eyes followed her. She found herself smiling. More when she stripped to put on her outfit for the day. There was just one little problem. She was going to wear a skirt, and that meant she needed to put a few things in place.

"Don't look," she told him.

Braden groaned, but headed to the bathroom. "Fine, but tucking isn't embarrassing, baby. It's kinda sexy."

She didn't really care. In order to get her panties to lay flat in front, she had to do some pretty awkward bending and reaching. That was the least sexy thing she could imagine, so his opinion was invalid. At least when it came to this.

To make a statement today, Rhaven's outfit consisted of a high-waisted skirt, thigh-high socks, and black ankle boots. Her shirt was a black, fitted v-neck tee with the PsychoDreads logo in neon yellow. The look was definitely gothic, but it was sort of her signature now, and she liked it. The outfit made her feel sexy.

Hearing the shower start, she moved to the mirror in the bedroom and got to work on her face. Today, her lips were going to be a dark wine color, but her eyeshadow would be in shades of black and grey. A heavy black cat-eye look was accented with a smaller line of yellow just to make the logo on her shirt pop. When that was done, she dug out the new curling iron Kate had made her get, and got to work on her hair.

She was halfway through that when Braden finally stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. Her eyes locked on him in the mirror, enjoying the show as he dried off. The man was truly a tank - like his game name - and just the sight of him without a shirt made her heart beat faster. Completely naked? Rhaven could feel her body responding.

"You're killing me over here," Braden said. "That skirt? Mm."

She refused to turn around, trying hard to focus on her hair. "Well, the naked man in my mirror isn't helping me get pretty either."

"Think we should just no-show today?" he joked. "Spend it in bed instead?"

"Uh, no." With a laugh, she finished the last curl, then turned to face him. "I kinda need a job. A sponsor. Something. You kinda need to promote my favorite game."

"You play Flawed almost as much as Eternal Combat," he countered. "And yeah, I checked your account login stats."

"Stalker!" she gasped playfully.

"It's on the public page!" he countered, reaching for his clothes, talking while he dressed. "But you do look good, baby. I'm loving the lipstick."

"And it means you can't kiss me," she reminded him.

"Hate the lipstick," he decided, but the man was smiling. "So, what's your plan for the tournament?"

"Same as always," she said. "I just have to make it to the final round."

"But how?" he asked. "You looking for kills? Just going to hide at the edge of the map? I mean, what's your big plan?"

"Play it safe in the first round. I'll need a few kills so I'm not called out as a cheater or camper, but mostly I'll be trying to stay out of anyone's crosshairs. The second round is when it starts to get intense. I'll never make the kills Riley does, but I intend to make some that count. Murder's going to be distracted because of the new baby at home - "

"Don't count on that," Braden told her. "You're probably right, but that man has thousands of hours behind the keyboard. He can aim on autopilot."

Which was going to be a problem. Pulling in a breath, she realized she had nothing. "Any ideas?"

"Yup." Braden paused to pull on his shirt, then sat on the edge of the bed, facing her. "First round, you want to take the easy kills. Don't go hunting. Just clean up the noobs that stumble into you. Round two, you'll want to stalk the buildings. Work the map. Take distance shots, use your accuracy, and play the cleanup crew."

"Because the heavy hitters will be running around like a good squad," she realized.

Braden nodded. "So take out the wannabe gamers. The guys who think they're going to snipe from a room, or hold a corridor somewhere. Pull some of those trick shots you're so good at."

"Ok," she said, realizing that was a good plan. "And the third round?"

"That's where it will get intense. You'll need to be ready for some close quarters stuff. Your style