Her Alpha CEO

After a long time under the hot spray, she climbed out and dressed. She would take herself out for lunch, she decided, and then see if any of her friends were free to join her for a movie later that evening. There was a new superhero film out that would make a good distraction from thoughts of a man who was sexier than men had any right to be.

She picked up her phone, and the latest fantasy novel she was busy reading, and grabbed her purse on the way out of the house.

“Oh, Nina, dear!” Mrs. Beechley called as soon as she stepped outside.

“Good morning, Mrs. Beechley,” Nine replied, trying to keep walking towards her car before the woman could start talking to her. Many a time, Nina had been late for gatherings with friends because Mrs. Beechley had stopped her for a quick chat.

“Who was that handsome young man who left here this morning, Nina? A new boyfriend? You want to be careful with men like that, my dear. They know they’re good looking and they use it to take advantage of young women like yourself. Your mother asked me to look after you before she passed, bless her soul, and I promised I’d take care of you as if you were my own daughter.” She paused for breath and Nina jumped into the conversation.

“Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Beechley. Brian’s just a friend. I have to go, now, or I’ll be late. Goodbye!” With a huff of relief, Nina slipped into the driver’s seat of her car and slammed the door. Mrs. Beechley had rounded the fence that divided their properties and was standing next to the car with her hands on her hips, clearly waiting for Nina to lower her window so she could continue her lecture.

With a silent apology to her mother for her rudeness, Nina smiled, waved and reversed out of her driveway as quickly as she could without risking injury to her neighbor. Not that she didn’t daydream about sometimes running the gossipy old bat down, but she knew the woman meant no harm and was really just lonely. Still, she was far too forward for Nina’s liking and the last thing she wanted was for Mrs. Beechley to begin blabbing to the whole street about the young man she’d seen visiting Nina.

Nina cringed as she drove down the street, imagining the gossip that would follow once Mrs. Beechley found out that Brian was the CEO of Guidice Games, and a billionaire to boot. She tried to remember what he’d been driving, but last night she’d been too nervous to notice, and this morning, too drowsy and distracted by his kisses.

Shrugging her shoulders, Nina resolved not to worry about Mrs. Beechley or Brian Guidice for the rest of the day. She turned on her indicator and swung left into the Saturday morning traffic of shoppers and sight-seers, heading towards her favorite coffee shop and art gallery.

Turning on the radio, she settled into her seat and began singing along to the CD of musicals she kept in the car.

*****

It was only when his stomach began to rumble audibly that Brian pushed away from his desk and rubbed his eyes. Checking the time, he was startled to discover it was already after three in the afternoon. He’d been revising marketing plans for New Moon Rising, and had gotten hold of his development team, calling them in for an emergency meeting the following day. None of them had grumbled about it being a Sunday – Guidice Games paid their employees exceptionally well, and everyone would be more than adequately compensated for working over a weekend.

In addition to that, Brian made it a priority to hire men and women who were equally as passionate about game development as he was. Each of the team members were emotionally invested in the game being a success. Except one. He frowned as he remembered the reason for the meeting, and the fact that one of the team had to be a spy for his brother.

When his belly rumbled again, making it clear that food was necessary, he rolled his tight shoulders and decided he’d contemplate it over a meal. The thought of satisfying his appetite made him think of Nina, and he reached for his phone, sure that he’d probably have a message from her. He kept his phone on silent while he worked, not wanting to be disturbed, but even though there were several messages from colleagues and Jen, there was nothing from Nina.

Brian frowned at the screen, wondering briefly if she was okay, before deciding that she was probably working. She’d mumbled something about work when he’d woken her this morning. That must be it, he thought, thumbing the keypad to pull up the number of his favorite takeaway.

Placing his order for a double cheeseburger, he went back to contemplating his plans for the release of the game. Jen had said that Tristan had planned the release for two days before their game was set to release, which was fine, if they were ready for it. Game developers often released games early and then waited for gamers to play them and find the bugs before they released patches on them. It was a way to test the game on the market before investing any extra expenditure on the development.

Guidice Games had set themselves apart by releasing fully operational games, with only updates to the gaming experience being released after the original. In addition to that, while most gaming companies, including Tristan’s, sold their games online as downloads, and required an internet connection to play, Brian had insisted that Guidice Games remain offline as much as possible.

He remembered his friend from school, Paul Barden, who had attended their prestigious private school on a scholarship. Paul hadn’t had an internet connection at home, and although he loved gaming, he’d missed out on the opportunity to play the same games the rest of the boys played, simply because he didn’t have access to online gaming. Brian had been determined that kids would always be able to play Guidice Games, with or without an internet connection. They may not be able to team up in online play, but they wouldn’t miss out on the majority of the gaming experience because of the lack either.

New Moon Rising was no different, and the game had been thoroughly tested and debugged by both himself and his team. It was a project that took gamers back to Guidice Games’ very first release, and Brian was excited and nervous about the project.

He recalled Nina’s enthusiasm about Ark’s Roses and wondered whether she’d be willing to play the new game that was a continuation of the story from that one. He made a mental note to ask her the next time he saw her. He remembered her excitement at finding out he was the owner of Guidice Games. She hadn’t been the least bit interested in his wealth or his company, but they’d spoken about the games and he’d mentioned his plans to keep the games offline as much as possible and she’d been enthusiastic about it. She’d even offered some really good ideas that he planned to implement in the next few releases following New Moon Rising.

When the bell rang, signaling the arrival of his food, Brian grabbed his wallet and ran down to collect it. He was surprised to see Lesley working at his desk and stopped on the way back to his office to chat.

“Hey, Les. Working Saturday?”

“Hey boss,” Les rolled back his chair, stretching out the kinks in his shoulders from hunching over in front of his computer. “Yeah, last night I was lying in bed staring at these glow-in-the-dark stars my daughter stuck up on the ceiling, and it occurred to me that some of the patterns we’ve used for the puzzles in NMR were back to front. When we rendered them, they were mirrored, so some gamers would never have been able to solve the patterns to unlock those levels. It would have been a nightmare so I came in to fix them quickly. Won’t be much longer though.”

Brian stared at Les in shock. He recalled the levels he was talking about, but he’d passed them easily in his own test run of the game. He’d thought something was wrong, but hadn’t been able to pinpoint it, and with everything that happened with Nina, and then Tristan, he’d forgotten all about it. While most hardcore gamers would have been able to work it out eventually, that sort of mistake could also cost them a following of loyal fans.