Twenty minutes later, I was still alive but barely. I had lost so much blood that one more attack and I was going down. Those aliens just kept coming, eager to turn me and Dean into their hunting trophies.

I was gripping the joystick hard, I was sweaty from the tension of where the next predator would pop out of, my body was buzzing with adrenaline... I was happy.

I was still worried about Eric, but for the first time in a very long while, I wasn't worried about my safety. About paying the next rent. About taking the first job I could find so I could afford food. About planning the inevitable relocation to a new town. About... being lonely.

I had refused to admit it to myself before but now, after having spent some 24 hours with two guys I really liked and one who knew how to get under my skin, I had to be honest. I had been lonely, not simply alone.

That was why playing some video game with Dean was making me so happy.

The win-the-TV challenge he had issued was making my tigress happy, too. The playful cat loved challenges and–

"Watch out!"

Dean's warning made me realize I had zoned out for a moment. I refocused on the game just in time to see a predator's tri-beam laser pointed at me.

"No!" I screamed as I ducked, both with my game character and with my own body.

But it was too late. The shot caught me in the side of the head, sending my blood reserves to zero.

"Darn it." My tigress meowed miserably in my mind as well.

I had lost the challenge.

"Sweetie down, I repeat: sweetie is down," Dean announced to our team of computer-controlled commandos, whose role was to run around us and get killed from time the time. "My heart is broken, buddies! Help me kill that alien scum right away... No, don't die yourselves, you idiots!"

I laughed at Dean's theatrics. Instead of rub the loss in my face, he was trying to make me forget about it.

Watching him play was doing a good job in that respect, too.

Relaxing back into the sofa, I enjoyed his expert moves with the joystick, his fingers so agile. His well-defined biceps flexing at every danger on screen. His eyes shining with excitement at every predator taken out. His full lips curving into a confident grin at the message he could progress further into the jungle, closer to the rescue chopper and victory.

He was hot as hell.

"Finish the level successfully and I'll kiss you."

Wait, did I just say that? I barely resisted the urge to slap a hand over my stupid mouth.

Dean was as shocked at my suggestion as I was, nearly losing his grip on the joystick. "For real? Or are you trying to distract me so that I'd lose?" He cast a quick look my way, suspicion in his gaze.

The suspicion was replaced by surprise when he saw the blush I was sporting. Then a knowing smile lit his face up. "Like that, is it? Challenge accepted. Better prepare yourself, sweetie, because I'll be coming for my kiss in a jiffy."

Oh, no, there could be no kissing. I couldn't give him what would lead us into too dangerous a territory, all because I had issued a challenge in a moment of weakness. I had to make sure he lost.

But my shouts in crucial moments of the game and my suggestive moves on the sofa beside him failed to do the trick. Nothing seemed to distract Dean from his survival mission.

Maybe if I flashed my sports bra at him... But no, I was too shy to do that and, more importantly, I risked him ditching the joystick to pounce on me. The glint in his eyes did suggest he was eager to finish the game and proceed with another type of playing.

So Dean passed the level, and in seven minutes at that. In his hurry, he lost all but 5 percent of his blood reserves but survived nonetheless.

He paused the game before the next level could load and left his joystick on the coffee table. Then he curled a finger at me to beckon me to go to him.

I bit my lip, staying where I was on the sofa.

"To the victor go the spoils, sweetie." He wiggled his brows at me.

I got up and brushed my suddenly sweaty palms against my jean's back pockets. "You never would have made it to the next level without my help."

"Well..." He took a step towards me. "I promise to make the kiss pleasurable for you, too. Since you did survive longer than expected at this difficulty level."

My brow furrowed. "What do you mean? Wasn't this the beginner level?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "We played on what I call the madness level. The top difficulty."

I glared at him. "You cheater! You made sure I would lose your challenge before it had even started."

Dean, smiling sheepishly, took another step toward me. "I did win your challenge at the hardest level of difficulty, though."

"Nope, no kiss for you." I took a step away from him. "You cheated in your challenge, so I'll cheat in yours, too."

He fake-pouted. "Now that's just cruel, sweetie. You can't deprive a victor of his honestly won award. There is no backing out of our kissy kissy."

He moved closer and puckered his lips exaggeratedly.

I smiled at his antics but inside I was struggling to make a decision. The heat blooming in my core at Dean's every step closer was making the decision-taking even harder.

Should I listen to the tiny voice of reason saying I should cancel this award ceremony? Should I put a stop to this dangerous game of ours before I lost myself in it?

Or should I listen to my tigress' suggestion and I put my scent all over Dean, starting by slanting my mouth across his?