Lie to Me (Pearl Island Trilogy #4)(13)

“Personally, I’ve always found brains sexier than brawn.”

“You’re joking, right?” He blinked as if she’d just said the sky is green.

“You doubt me?”

“Let’s just say, I find it an unusual perspective.” His disbelief shifted to curiosity. “A refreshing one, if it’s true.”

She rolled her eyes, seeing no reason to argue the point with a man who clearly had both intelligence and a drool-worthy body. “You were about to tell me why your parents weren’t happy about you getting a job with a game company right out of high school.”

“Ah, right.” He nodded. “They didn’t like the idea of me going to work for a soul-sucking corporation that paid slave wages. They’re much more into following one’s bliss. I had a hard time explaining to them that writing code all day was following my bliss, even if I had to do it while sitting in a cubicle under fluorescent lighting. They finally shrugged and said as long as I was happy, they were happy.”

“They sound like great parents.” Envy made her sigh.

“I think so. Not everyone would agree, since their lifestyle choices meant we didn’t have much in the way of worldly goods. They have friends, music, and food out the yazoo, but not a lot else.”

“Worldly goods are overrated. They gave you what counts.”

“They did. But I happen to like my worldly goods.” He wiggled his brows. “Which is why I devised my master plan.”

“Sounds diabolical.”

“Ingenious.” His eyes gleamed.

“Emphasis on the genius?” she guessed, only half joking. The more he talked, the more she suspected his IQ scored off the charts.

“It didn’t take a genius to see that technology was advancing at an exponential rate. Extrapolate that rate, and you have a new era on the horizon. With change, opportunity abounds for entrepreneurial thinkers.” He tapped his forehead. “I put up with slave wages for years, all the while watching, learning, and building my dream list.”

“Dream list?”

He leaned closer, lowering his voice. “I scoped out the best of the best. Years ago, long before most people saw it coming, I predicted the game revolution.”

“The what?” Gazing into his eyes, she saw layers of complexity amid the shades of green.

“An era when the big corporations would no longer hold a monopoly on distribution.” The words sounded like the beginning of a futuristic fairy tale. “A time when small, rogue programmers could upload new games to a store online and sell directly to the public. The beauty of gaming in a more advanced Internet age is it doesn’t take a huge financial investment to write and upload an app. All it takes is a great idea and a willingness to work an insane number of hours. I had, however, accumulated enough money from a different type of gaming to help things along.”

“What kind of gaming?”

He shrugged. “I used to hit the casinos whenever I needed to make a little cash.”

“You gamble?” She leaned back in surprise.

“No, I don’t gamble.” He straightened as if she’d insulted him. “Gambling is for idiots. I play poker.”

“Poker isn’t gambling?” An unexpected thrill went through her. As much as she loathed arrogant playboys who lived flamboyant lifestyles, the notion of Lucas having a little streak of bad boy coupled with his intelligence fascinated her.

“Poker’s a numbers game. I happen to be good with numbers,” he said, as if any moron who could add two and two could win consistently at poker. “Anyway, I revealed my concept to my handpicked dream team and asked if they’d work on it during off hours for no pay in exchange for a cut of the profits.”

“What about your poker winnings? Couldn’t you afford to pay them?”

“I did better than pay them. The team needed someplace to work, and I refused to let it be the same assembly-line environment we’d all endured for years. So I bought a warehouse on the fringe of the French Quarter and turned it into a gamer’s nirvana. We have an arcade gallery, a laser tag arena, and a kicking home theater.”

“That had to cost a fortune.”

He nodded. “I staked everything I had on the venture. The team had nothing to lose but time if the game flopped, and everything to gain if Vortal hit big.”

“I take it they said yes.”

“Yep.”

“And the game hit big?”

He just smiled.

Her admiration multiplied. He looked so pleased with himself, so proud, but he didn’t throw out dollar figures to impress her. He’d clearly achieved amazing success, but he didn’t flaunt it overtly. Okay, yes, he wore designer clothes and a watch that cost a bundle. She’d known so many men who did that, but in a different way. They’d used their appearance to communicate power and status. On him, the trappings were more like a costume of who he thought people—most likely women—wanted him to be. Sadly, he was right. A lot of women did like that. Yet the man sitting before her now, quietly smiling, held infinitely more appeal to her.

“Well?” she prompted. “Tell me about this game of yours.”

“Oh, it’s so much more than just a game. It’s a chance to step into another world,” he told her. “Whichever world you choose.”