Build a Nerd Read online

  “I want to start again, Tom. I’m going to show you how I feel every single day.”

  I sit on the couch and pick up my fork. “You don’t have to cook like this every day. I’m happy the way we were.”

  “Are you? You’re so organized, and I’m messy where you’re about as opposite as you can get.”

  I twirl the fork around to pick up a mouthful of spaghetti. “And we work fine that way. I don’t want you to change, Bridget. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

  We sit in silence for a few minutes as we eat. When I’m finished, I wait for her to catch up and then hold my hand out for the plate.

  She shakes her head. “I’ll do the dishes.”

  “You cooked. I’ll do them. Just be ready for bed when I get back.”

  Her eyebrows rise as she hands me her plate. “Did you just tell me what to do, Jarvis?”

  “I think I did.” I laugh.

  “You really are coming out of that shell of yours. You’ve never been bossy before.” Her lips twitch.

  “Today seemed like a good day to start.”

  Bridget plants her palms on my chest. “Oooh, I think I like feisty Jarvis. Join me in the bedroom when you’ve finished the dishes?”

  “Try and stop me.”

  Her whole face lights up with her smile. “See you there.”

  What I don’t tell her is that I need those moments washing the dishes to ground myself.

  The anticipation over what’s to come is eating me up inside. To say I have performance anxiety is probably an understatement.

  It only takes a short time to wash two plates and the pans she cooked in, and while drying my hands, I take a deep breath.

  She wants me.

  She loves me.

  I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this woman if she’ll have me.

  Taking another deep breath, I leave the kitchen. The living room is empty and quiet, the only sound the hum of the computer in the corner.

  Her gift touches me. Before her, I’d never met a woman who just accepted me for me. Bridget knows I get carried away with game playing and understands it.

  She’s waiting in bed for me, her bare shoulders showing above the blanket. The room’s softly lit by a lamp, but I see her. She’s beautiful.

  My heart thunders in my ears. She’s waiting for me, but I can’t help feel a tinge of disappointment.

  “You got undressed without me.”

  She holds out her hand. “Come to bed.”

  “No. I mean, I wanted to do it.”

  Her expression softens. “Oh, I didn’t think …”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Next time. Or I can get out of bed and put my clothes back on and then you can take them off again.”

  I chuckle. “That sounds like it’s going to take too long.”

  “Come here, then.”

  I walk to the side of the bed and she reaches for the waistband of my jeans. After popping the button, she unzips me and pushes them down a little.

  My body tenses when she removes my boxers. It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before, but I’ve never felt so on display before..

  I step out of my pants and lift my shirt over my head. It falls to the floor, and all I see is love in Bridget’s eyes as she gazes at me.

  “Come to bed, Jarvis,” she says softly.

  She giggles as I climb over top of her and onto the other side of the bed.

  “I hope you know you are the only person who can get me naked.” I grin, slipping under the blanket beside her.

  “I should hope so.”

  Pulling her naked body into my arms, I kiss her. Her breath catches when I run my hand down her side until it rests on her waist.

  “Touch me,” she says.

  This time, there’s no hesitation. I stroke her back as I drop my head to her breast, tonguing her nipple. Her fingers press into my bicep, and her hips come to life, rocking against me.

  I push back the blanket and move, taking in the sight of her. How did I ever think I could be without Bridget?

  Trailing kisses down her stomach, I roll her onto her back. She spreads her legs and lets me in, her eyes never leaving mine while I move. Her chest rises and falls rapidly.

  “Yes,” she says. “Please.”

  On my hands and knees, I bend and plant kisses on her thighs. Her scent fills my senses. This is the moment I’ve been thinking about the past few days. I deprived myself last time. Now, she’s getting everything.

  She gasps when I give her one long lick up her slit. Settling on her clit, I play it like I played her nipple, my tongue rasping against her.

  “Tom. I knew you’d be good at this.” Bridget pants, rocking her hips against me.

  I’m surrounded by her. Her scent and the taste of her make me so freaking hard. I can’t think about anything else but pleasing her, but the thought of being inside her sneaks inside my mind and everything hurts.

  She’s all I want.

  I give her clit a gentle suck before tonguing it again as her cries grow more desperate. When I raise my head and replace my tongue with my thumb, she’s a mess of hair and sweat. She’s never been more beautiful.

  I’m the one who did this to her.

  Her mouth falls open, and she lets out a guttural moan, bucking against my hand. It’s a thing of beauty.

  “I love watching you come,” I say.

  “Are you ready?” she asks.

  I nod.

  “Get onto your back.” She’s breathless, and I do as she tells me, catching my breath as she reaches for a box of condoms in the bedside cabinet.

  Her eyes flash with desire as she straddles me, tearing open the condom packet.

  I swallow hard. This is the moment I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for. And I’ve got the perfect woman to share it with.

  The one who holds my heart.

  I close my eyes as she grips my cock.

  What if I disappoint her?

  What if I’m a five-second wonder?

  “Relax.” Her soft voice soothes me, but doesn’t remove all my anxiety. “I’m not expecting a marathon first time around if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  I laugh. “I’m not sure you saying that helps.”

  “You could never disappoint me. You know that, right? We’re in this together.”

  I open my eyes in time to see her pinch the end of the condom and roll it down my length. “You make me nervous.”

  She nods. “I’m sure. But I’m glad it’s me you’re doing this with. And I think it’s kinda hot that you waited.”

  Her gaze shifts to my hand as I reach out and stroke her arm. She’s so open and vulnerable right now. I love seeing her so bold and yet so shy.

  “So am I. I feel like I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Oh, Tom.” Her eyes well with tears. This isn’t what I want just as we’re about to make love for the first time, even if they’re happy tears.

  “I love you, Bridget. I’m glad you’re the one.”

  She smiles, and I hold my breath as she raises herself up and sinks down onto my cock. Her tight heat surrounds me, and I let out an audible breath, struggling to keep my eyes open.

  Being inside her is everything.

  Bridget rocks her hips forward a little. “Are you okay?”

  “So much better than okay. You feel incredible.”

  “This is just the start.” She leans over, and I cup her breasts in my hands. The dusky-colored nipples come to life with my touch.

  As she moves slowly, I flick my tongue over those pebbled peaks, and her short, breathy gasps tell me she likes it.

  “I love it when you do that.” She shoots me a shy glance. With every bit of encouragement, my nerves melt a little more. It helps me focus when all I want to do is come.

  Another flick of her hips, and it’s too much. I tense and let go, seemingly at the same time, and I let out a loud moan as I come.

  Her eyes widen.

  “Shit. I
hoped. Well, I tried …”

  Her lips curl into a smile. “It’s okay. You did fine.”

  “Are you sure? I mean. That wasn’t that long.”

  She leans over, and I close my eyes again as she presses her soft lips to mine. My cock stirs, still buried deep inside her, and I know it won’t be long before round two starts.

  I relax as she grazes her mouth down my neck. “Next time will be longer, and then the time after that, and then …” She laughs.

  “How much do you want from me?” I join in the laughter. God, how I love this woman. She’s so sweet and understanding. She’s perfect.

  “I want everything.” She leans up again, gazing at me with so much love I think my heart might just burst.

  “You have it all.”

  I’m not sure how much time has passed, but Bridget curled herself around me after I got rid of the condom, and her breath on my cheek as I stroke her clit and bring her to orgasm again is bliss.

  “So …” She runs a finger in circles around my nipple.

  “So?”

  “What did you do before me?”

  I frown. “What do you mean?”

  Bridget licks her lips. “I was the first one you had sex with, and your first blow job. Did you do anything with a woman before me?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  She laughs, burying her face in my side. “You have a very talented tongue.”

  “I think that’s more of a fluke than anything else.” I laugh. “I mean, I’ve watched porn.”

  Her mouth falls open. “That’s not the answer I was expecting.”

  “And yes, I’ve fooled around before, but no, I’ve never had sex or gone down on anyone before you.”

  “Really? That’s … surprising.”

  “I did touch a girl in high school. And it all went disastrously wrong. I became a bit of a hermit.”

  “What happened?”

  I take a deep breath. The memory is painful. I was already a geeky kid, and it took all my confidence to ask Heather out. A summer of getting hot and heavy destroyed me.

  “To cut a very long story short, I was in my bedroom with my hand in her panties, and my grandmother walked in.”

  Bridget’s mouth falls open. “No.”

  “Yes.” I laugh. “I can joke about it now, but it destroyed me in high school.”

  Guilt crosses her expression. “Really?”

  “She belittled me in front of her friends for it. Said my grandmother wanted to watch. She made it sound like something sick was going on.”

  “No.”

  I nod. “She was angry. No girl wanted to come near me after that, and I didn’t have the courage to approach anyone else anyway.”

  Her brows knit. “It’s so unfair. Teenagers can be so mean.”

  “I buried myself in my computer and never looked back.” I sigh. “I still liked girls, but I grew too introverted to approach them. Sex just kinda bypassed me.”

  “Until now.” Her smile is so smug, it makes me laugh.

  “I love you.” I’ll never get sick of saying it or hearing it. I should have given her the benefit of the doubt and just loved her instead of doubting her. This is the woman I want to spend my life with.

  She runs a finger down my chest. “I’m so crazy about you, Tom. I have been since the beginning.”

  “I guess I should have known when you got me naked that first weekend.”

  Bridget wipes the tears from her eyes. “Oh, that was just me being friendly.”

  “You were very friendly. And I appreciated it more than I can tell you.”

  A sly smile crosses her face. “I know. I could feel it that day.”

  I laugh. “You’re so not subtle. That’s what I love about you.”

  “I love your subtlety.”

  My eyebrows rise.

  “You’re the quiet achiever. I don’t think you ever give yourself enough credit for how good you are at everything. And I think you’re the diplomat in this relationship.” She grins. “But enough about that. Tell me about you and Molly.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your friendship. You two are so close.”

  “Jealous?”

  Bridget shrugs. “A little. But I know you love me, so I’ll get over it.”

  “I met Molly in college.” The memory makes me smile. “She was amazing. She ran rings around everyone, and I was just in awe of her.”

  Bridget pulls herself in tighter. “In awe or in love with her?”

  “Maybe a bit of both? But she never dated, and she wasn’t interested in any guys back then. I guess I know now it’s because she was still in love with Brad. And I still had the whole high school thing haunting me.”

  I capture Bridget’s hand in mine and bring it to my lips to kiss it.

  “I know I’ve asked you this before, but what about now?” she asks.

  “Like I told you back then, she’s like a sister to me. We became friends, and it was me she messaged and told to download her very first game. It was pretty basic as far as games go, but then I played on to the first iteration of Aeon. It blew my mind.”

  “You were that close?”

  I laugh. “We were competitive in class. But our friendship overrode that. Miranda joined us a while later, but at first, I was Molly’s guinea pig.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was the first software tester, I guess you could say. Every update that game got, Molly and I were online playing. She’d tweak the game as we went. Until she got confident enough to invite others to play. It grew from there.”

  “That’s so cool.”

  “Things came to a head a year before we graduated. Molly got in trouble because it turned out she’d installed Aeon on a server she wasn’t even supposed to have access to. When it kept crashing, the college staff couldn’t work out why, but it was from all the students connecting to it to play our games.”

  Bridget laughs. “I can’t imagine her doing anything that naughty.”

  “I guess that was the birth of Mollab. The users all got together and pooled their money so Molly could get space on a dedicated server. I think that woke her up to the earning potential.”

  I let out a contented sigh. “It was crazy, but she built Mollab from that. And I have loved being on that ride with her. It’s one of the reasons I was among the first to come here. I didn’t want to miss a thing.”

  Bridget smiles. “I’m glad you made that choice.”

  “So am I. I’ve never regretted anything.” I gaze into Bridget’s eyes. Her love for me is so clear. “And especially not now. The best decision I’ve made in my whole life was moving here.”

  “You’re sweet. Do you know that?” She leans over and presses her forehead to mine. “Tell me about working for Mollab. You clearly enjoy working there.”

  “Everything’s for the gamers. She knows how to take care of them. And she takes care of us. Early on, she set up a profit-share scheme.”

  Bridget’s eyes widen. “For all the employees? That’s generous.”

  I shake my head and look up at the ceiling. “Only Miranda and me. I could quit Mollab and live off the profit share alone.”

  “It’s not attached to your salary?”

  “No. Molly wanted to make sure that we both benefitted as long as she owned the company. The only way it stops is if she sells up.” I turn my head to look at Bridget.

  Her mouth’s hanging open like I just told her I won the lottery. “Isn’t her company worth millions?”

  I nod. “It sure is.”

  She says nothing at first, and just blinks what seems like a million times. “Tom. Oh my God. When you said you had enough to buy a house here …”

  “I don’t even know how much is in my savings, to be honest. I’ve got investments all over the place. Mostly recommended to me by Molly.”

  Bridget’s gaping at me. I’m not quite sure she can wrap her head around what I’m telling her. It’s not something I brag about because that’s not
me. And if the other employees at Mollab ever found out, there’d be hell to pay.

  Truth is, it’s humbling, because every time I get a payment, it proves yet again what a solid brand we’ve built over the years. I owe Molly so much for both my personal development, and making sure I never had to worry after my grandmother died.

  “I really misjudged her,” Bridget says. Her sad tone leaves me hurting.

  “She loves big, and she protects those she loves. I’m not sure what happened in the past with her and Brad, but now they’re together and getting married, there’s nothing she won’t do for him or Grace.”

  “I know,” Bridget says, and I don’t think there’s any sadness behind those words.

  She may have loved him then—she may still care for him now—but it’s me she loves. Me she’s with.

  The past might hurt a little, but I’m not jealous at all.

  She loves me.

  25

  Bridget

  My bed’s not usually this hot.

  There’s a weight on top of me, and I shuffle in to shift it.

  Tom.

  Retreating back toward the weight, I snuggle in against his warm body.

  Last night was amazing. We took it slow at first, but once we got started, neither of us could get enough. He was tired from travelling, but we still had sex three times before he wrapped his arms around me and we fell asleep.

  Everything was perfect.

  His performance anxiety seemed to disappear the second time. I’m not sure if he even realized it. My heart’s full from seeing him so happy.

  He belongs with me. More than ever, I see that now.

  Behind me, he stirs, and I smile as he nuzzles my neck.

  “Good morning,” I say.

  “Good morning.” His deep voice sends a shiver up my spine. “I think I like waking up with you.”

  “You only think that? You don’t know?” I laugh.

  “I’ve got a handful of breast. I love waking up with you.” He pinches my nipple, and I squeal.

  “What’s wrong? I though you liked that?” His tone is anxious. He has no reason in the world to feel that way, but I can understand.

  “I do. It was just a little unexpected.”

  “Maybe I want to surprise you sometimes.”