She" d just made it back to the workbench when the bells jangled again. Apparently all she had to do to improve cash flow was find something interesting to do with her time. Jolie hurried back to the counter to greet the new customer. This time it was Mack.
Jolie didn" t know him that well, but her father had mentioned him in conversations a time or two-a good guy he liked to go have a beer with now and then. Jolie had expected a man her father" s age. She" d been surprised by his youth when he introduced himself at the funeral. Even so, he had at least ten years on Jolie and it wouldn" t have mattered if he was her age. Jolie had been too numb to care or feel or want.
The numbness hadn" t eased in the weeks that followed, or the months beyond that.
Numbness had solidified, turned to the steel that kept her putting one foot in front of the other when all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep forever.
“Hey there, sunshine, how" s it going today?”
She knew she was no one" s idea of sunshine, but he had a contagiously sunny smile she caught herself mirroring.
“Great,” she said, grabbing his laptop from the closed-repairs shelf and handing it over. “Virus is gone. A new version of antivirus all installed and ready to go.”
“You" re a savior,” he said. His smile deepened to reveal dimples.
One would never know it to look at him, that he liked to hang out in cyber back allies, abduct women and use them how he pleased. At least she assumed he did, because she" d found the Quarterz World while investigating the source of a virus on his computer. She" d seen the viewer required to access the site on his desktop and loaded it on her own laptop to confirm or deny it as the source of the problem.
Knowing what she now knew, she couldn" t look him in the eye for long, so she kept her head down while she studied the bill as if she didn" t already know the total. He held out a credit card and angled his body this way and that until his antics won out.
When she looked up it was straight into worried eyes.
“You okay?”
She frowned to hide her nervousness. “Sure. Sure, just a bit distracted. Sorry.” He was looking at her as if he knew where she" d been. He couldn" t know, couldn" t have been inworld today-she had his computer. He could have a desktop PC. Right, and of all the people in the world with access to that site, she had just happened to run into him the first time she went there. Her own guilty conscience made her nervous. That would teach her to go snooping.
While she" d been prepared to investigate the Quarterz for work-related reasons, she" d actually found the true source of Mack" s virus and attributed it to a different cause while the Quarterz software was still downloading. She could have deleted the download then. Probably should have. But she heard snippets of gossip about virtual worlds at college. Tempting tidbits laced with references to forbidden fantasies.
Curiosity wouldn" t let her turn away without a good look.
When she" d opened the viewer, read the backstory and rules, her first instinct was that no sane woman would walk into the Quarterz. In the end, that she had just gone there must prove something.
Mack flipped out his wallet and passed his credit card to her.
She took the card, almost snatched it-the quickness of her hand an effort to hide the trembling she knew would be obvious if she didn" t move fast.
She tried not to think of Mack in the Quarterz-a world of renegades who didn" t say please, or thank you, or even ask your approval. They took what they wanted.
If they could.
Those last three words were her downfall. Why she" d been unable to stay away.
“Pretty day out,” she said. Lame, but she needed to get her mind out of the Quarterz" s gutters.
He looked over his shoulder and her eyes followed his gaze. It" d still been dark when she came in that morning, so she hadn" t seen the clouds that blanketed the sky in pewter, hadn" t noticed when she" d gone out with her last customer either. It" d been warm, though, she was pretty sure, warm for March. She decided to keep her mouth shut.
He laughed. “Well, yeah. I love a good howling storm and looks like we have one on the way.”
“Me too,” she said. She handed him the ticket. That was that.
He nodded toward the computer she kept up front to teach customers various skills. She" d booted it and opened a graphics editing program earlier that morning when a lady had come in wanting a photo touched up. There were several photos open on the screen.
“What" s that you" re working on? Looks interesting.”
“It" s a side job, a customer wanting a wedding photo, but back when she and her husband were married they couldn" t afford things like a princess gown or a tux. He wore his best suit and she had on her best dress. I" m taking the original and creating a fairy tale photo for her.”
“Really? You can do that?”
“Sure, come on back and I" ll show you.”
He stepped past the swinging gate and stood next to her when she sat at the desk.
He was a big guy, tall and built solid, like a guy who did more than desk work. His size was magnified when she was sitting and he wasn" t. She forced herself to focus on the task.
“Here" s the composite picture. I put her in the fancy dress and matched her skin tone so I could paint in the areas of skin that weren" t showing in her original dress.
Here" s the next composite of her and the groom. This was harder because he was wearing a hat in the first photo and glasses in the second. In this last picture I have them in the setting, with the skin tones right. I just need to antique this final picture so it looks like a photo taken fifty years ago when they were married.”
“That" s incredible. You" re really good at this. How" d you learn? I thought Jim said you were studying software engineering.”
Jolie shrugged. “I did engineering the first two years of college because I knew it would please my dad. I dropped out and did a year and change of art school because that pleased me.”
“And you dropped art school to keep this place going? That sucks.”
“No. I like being here. I" ll stay as long as I can keep it going.” He was close enough that she could feel the heat of his leg an inch from her thigh, or imagined she did. Her mind went blank, all fragments of conversation washed away by his nearness. He" d leaned forward to examine the composite photo, one work-roughened hand on the desk. Her eyes followed over the tracks of raised veins just under the surface of golden skin. A long callus ran from fingertip to the second knuckle along the left side of his right index finger. She wondered what might create such a thick callus there. She wondered about other calluses. Would he have them on the undersides of his hands? On the pads of his fingers? She" d had a guitar-playing boyfriend once and the pads of his fingers did delicious things to a woman" s body when he rolled a nipple or clitoris between them.
“Jolie?”
She jumped. “Oh, sorry. I" m afraid my mind wandered for a minute.” His clear-blue eyes studied her, one corner of his mouth tilted up in a half smile that seemed to make the room tilt with it. “Dare I ask where to?” She frowned and stood, the heat of a blush spreading up her neck. She was grateful her long hair provided a little cover. “Nothing interesting…geek stuff.” He nodded. “Maybe I" d better move on and let you get back to work. Thanks for showing me your project. I like to dabble with the graphics programs myself. Maybe we can swap tricks sometime.”
“Yeah, sure. Drop in anytime.”
He moved back to the other side of the gate, picked up his laptop, fixed her with a sexy grin that had her stomach doing another somersault. “I may take you up on that.” He was gone with a jingle of the bells on the door, and she dropped back into her chair. He was just way too handsome and charming. Why did a guy like that play stalker games online? Was he hiding from a personal reality beyond repair?