Cari had refused to accept this because she’d always felt entitled to him in some bizarre way. I’d thought it was an innocent crush at first, but after his relationship with Mia had been revealed, she’d become enraged that Mia had swooped in and “stolen him right out from under” her.
I doubt it had actually happened that way, but Cari had become progressively unstable in the last year since I’d met her. I assumed this was due to the loss of her brother mere months before she’d started her internship, but it was hard to say because I didn’t know her that well to begin with. Either way, her fixation on Adam was growing into a determined hatred of Mia.
While we’d worked with her, Mia always kept to herself, but I never disliked her. Then she got sick—really sick—and I opened my big mouth at a party and said some stupid stuff. Cari had been nitpicking Mia’s appearance and I’d agreed with her. Mia had heard what I said and I felt mortified, but she handled it with grace and strength. When that happened, I’d wanted the ground to open up and swallow me on the spot. Not unlike the events of today, to be honest.
In answer to Cari’s question, I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if Adam’s in today.”
Her head jerked toward me in obvious shock. “You mean you work right in front of his office and you haven’t seen him? I’d be stalking his ass constantly if I worked up there.”
I wasn’t surprised by that admission.
“Nope. I’ve had too much to do. I’m there to work, not scope out the men.” Besides, personally I found Jordan hotter than Adam. There was something about his smolder, the gleam in those hazel eyes. The man oozed sex appeal. When he stood close to me today, though I’d been terrified, naturally, of the information he’d been conveying, I was also incredibly aware of him on every level. The smell of his subtle cologne. The feel of his hot breath on the back of my neck. His imposing height and solid build towering over me. I’d almost dropped to my knees to beg for mercy for reasons other than my job. I swallowed, wondering what was going on with me. My libido was in overdrive, and I had no one to thank for it but the hot mystery man of Comic-Con.
Alas, I personally hoped that wouldn’t be the best sex I’d ever have in my life or I’d have to box up all my sexy lingerie. Maybe I’d have to resort to running through the convention next year with a Falco helmet, trying it on every guy like Prince Charming had done for Cinderella with her glass slipper.
“I’m coming with you,” Cari squeaked.
“Me too!” Ingrid echoed, clapping her hands together.
“I’m not sure this is something you guys are allowed to come to.”
Cari shot me an unreadable look and then shrugged. “They can throw me out then. Better to ask forgiveness than permission!”
We walked through the double doors into R&D, which was set up like a giant warehouse with various terminals and stations. This area was used for testing new software and hardware. Since there had been talk of prototype equipment, I guessed in this case it was hardware.
A group of people huddled at the other side of the warehouse, and I spotted Jordan’s tall form among them. I rushed along while at the same time trying to walk so that my heeled boots wouldn’t echo loudly across the floor. When I’d almost reached the group, he turned, speared a look at me and glanced pointedly at his watch, scowling, before turning his attention back to the demonstration in front of us.
Adam Drake was standing in front of a giant screen in what was called command central—a huge video monitor that allowed a number of people to watch what was going on. The video game displayed was, of course, Dragon Epoch.
Near Adam, two play testers were perched atop circular platforms, wired into some strange-looking equipment with harnesses around their waists. Each woman wore goggles and matching tennis shoes with, as Adam pointed out, special sensors on them to track their every movement in the virtual world. I recognized one of the play testers as Adam’s fiancée, Mia. The other one was shorter, with a red braid dangling down her back.
Behind them, their characters were displayed on the screen. As the women walked, ran, or gestured on their platforms, their characters mirrored them in real-time. When Mia would swing her arm in a giant arc to the right, her character, Eloisa—so the name said above her head—would do the same thing on the screen before us with an almost undetectable delay.
Adam explained to the small crowd. “These sensors allow the game to interpret signals from the player’s body language to give commands to the character in the game, so that instead of using a keyboard or game controller, the player can use this equipment and their own gestures. What the players see on their goggle display is a three-dimensional depiction of the game environment. In this particular scenario, Mia is a spell caster and Katya plays a healer so their spells are different.” He turned to Mia. “Cast a fire blaze,” he said.