For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,23

wasn't masculine either, and while that made it easy to go unnoticed around here, it made it hard to feel like anyone would believe her.

But Braden did. He saw her. Not what was on the outside, but all of her - and he liked it. Flopping onto her bed, Rhaven pulled out her phone and found the contact for Kate. She didn't even bother typing out a text message. Nope, she just pressed the button to call, not caring what time it was in Ohio.

Her best friend answered immediately. "Everything ok?" she asked.

"I'm home," Rhaven told her. "And he wants to see me again tomorrow!"

"Yes!" Kate squealed.

In the background, someone groaned, and Rhaven could hear a man grumbling, "And now I'm deaf."

"Shut it, Adam," Kate teased. "Rhaven's got another date tomorrow with Braden."

"Yeah?" Then his voice got closer to the phone. "Did you knock him off his feet?"

She was grinning, her friends bringing back her good mood so easily. "It's entirely possible that I spent a little too long with my mouth locked to his."

Kate gasped. "You didn't! At dinner?"

"His hotel," she explained.

"TeamSpeak," Adam said. "I'm missing half of the fun. Tell her to at least log into chat with us."

Rhaven got up and turned on her computer. "Heard that."

"Good," Kate said. "Because he's been grumbling about this since you said you were leaving. Something about how Braden better act like a gentleman."

"No!" Rhaven said sarcastically. "Gentlemen don't throw a girl down on the couch and kiss her senseless."

"She says gentleman is out," Kate relayed just as Rhaven clicked to open TeamSpeak.

"Hey, I'm almost in chat. Pick a room, and this will be easier," she said.

"Bang Bang," Kate decided. "Meet you there." Then she hung up the phone.

Rhaven grabbed her headset, pulling it on, and selected the room. Immediately, IceMan and Lithium - Adam and Kate's user names - jumped into the channel.

"What do you mean, not a gentleman?" Adam asked.

"I mean," Rhaven clarified, "that gentlemen don't push a girl down on the couch and kiss the shit out of her!"

"Sure they do," he countered. "Difference is that a gentleman doesn't do it unless she wants it. He stops when she says to. He also worries more about making her feel good than getting himself off."

"Didn't go that far," she assured him. "Just some above the clothes making out, but he wants to see me tomorrow. Said he wouldn't mind if I spent the night."

"And?" Kate asked. "Please tell me you said yes?"

"I said I'd see him," she promised. "I'm just not sure that staying the night is a good idea. I mean, how would I even explain that?"

"You're twenty-two," Adam reminded her. "There's no reason not to stay."

"And it's still hard to explain," she reminded him. "C'mon, Adam. If it was a girl, my family wouldn't think anything of it. If I crash with a guy, they assume I'm gay, and I'm not ready for that."

"Just say you got drunk," Kate offered. "Didn't want to drive home, and you ended up passing out there."

"I kinda told my family this is more of a work thing," she admitted. "He's a developer from a big game company and wanted to hear about my mods. Pretty sure getting drunk with a potential employer wouldn't really go over well."

"So what are you going to do?" Adam asked. "I mean, he's there. You're there. Unless this is your way of saying it's too much too fast?"

"No," she promised. "I'm..." She paused. "Guys, I've never... you know. I mean, I keep to myself at home, and at the conventions, it's different."

"Do you want to?" Kate asked.

"Yes!" she said. "But that doesn't make it less terrifying. I mean, let's be honest here. I get naked, and I don't look like a woman."

"Sure you do," Adam countered. "Rhaven, some women have dicks."

"Would you go there?" Kate asked, her question clearly for him.

"Sure," he said. "I mean, Rhaven's cute. She's feminine - in her own way. C'mon, I hit on Riley, and that's kinda the same."

"And when I drop my pants and have a dick?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Well, I would feel like a teenager all over again, trying to figure out how to get it right, but I know how to work with a dick. Personal experience and all that. And I'm straight! All I'm saying is that it's not as big of a deal to some guys as you think it's going to be. The hesitation is mostly us realizing that all of our fancy moves