Page 1 of Stripping Bare

1

Seattle,Washington

December20

Three YearsAgo

Even geeks neededdowntime.

“Have a great holiday, y’all.” Jonah gave a group of Steele Trap’s coders a little salute as they filed out the door to take time off until after New Year’s. The people at Steele Trap were dedicated to making the best video games out there, and they did it by working long-asshours.

So every year at this time, he gave them bonuses, plied them with good booze and food, and then hustled them out the door for two weeks. Because that also gave him two weeks to hunker down and brood before getting the hell on withlife.

Tonight, the strain of maintaining his happy face during the holiday party had worn on him, but he’d damn well kept iton.

With everyone gone for the night, he returned to his office, not bothering to turn on a light. After all, getting his drunk on didn’t require more than the dim glow from the hallway lights. He could see well enough to reach into the credenza behind his desk and pull out abottle.

Hello there, Mr. Lagavulin. Haven’t seen you since this time lastyear.

He plunked the scotch and a glass on his chrome and Lucite desk. The interior designer who’d gussied up this place would probably blow an artery if he saw the tech stickers Jonah had slapped on the sleek piece of furniture. But every office, cube, and conference room on this floor was decorated in modern geek—Star Wars figurines, Legends of Zelda posters, and Rubik’scubes.

That was what made ithome.

For the past eighteen months, he hadn’t been comfortable in his own home, all because of a woman. But tonight wasn’t about TessaMartin.

Tonight was about drinking a birthday toast to his sister, just like he did every year on thisdate.

He kicked back in his office chair, feet up, and stared at the bottle of booze. This was part of the ritual, too. Looking at the damn thing until he couldn’t resist opening it. Usually, that took about ten minutes. Tonight, he lasted seven minutes and twenty-threeseconds.

He poured his first drink into the short glass and lifted it in a halfhearted salute. “This one’s for you,Micki.”

He and his twin sister hadn’t celebrated their birthday together since they turned eighteen. They had always been so close. Until the party their senior year. Everything changed that night. Micki changed. He changed. The whole friggin’ worldchanged.

Especially Tessa Martin’sworld.

Jonah had tried to repair it all, but his efforts had been too little, way too late. All the wayaround.

He was progressing nicely through the bottle, a warm haze taking up residence in his head, when he heard a noise from down thehall.

“It’s the holidays!” he hollered, trying for a lightheartedness he didn’t feel. “Get out of here. If you don’t, I’ll take back your holidaybonus!”

“Jonah?” A woman’s sweet Southern voice floated back tohim.

Of all people, it had to be her. Of course it did, because this was, after all, National Punish Jonah Steele Day. The one day of the year he allowed himself to shamelessly wallow in mistakes from thepast.

He stared at the doorway, and she appeared there just as he’d known she would. She stole his breath in a way that liquor never could. Tessa Martin was a kidney punch, lung squeeze, and heartbreak all inone.

Dark ringlet hair controlled into some mysterious girl twist at the back of her head. Golden-brown skin, the stunning result of her biracial heritage. And a slender fragility that couldn’t be eclipsed by the curves of her breasts andhips.

She stood in the doorway with one slim hand on the jamb and the other holding a digital recorder. Her style was classic and cool and so fucking sexy he tried not to look at her straight on. Whereas most of the women who worked at Steele Trap wore jeans and cargo pants, Tessa dressed in fitted business suits. Sometimes with pants, but nine times out of ten, with skirts that showed off herlegs.

Tonight, her suit was a festive holiday red and hugged the curves he couldn’t seem to ignore, even though he’d told himself a million times he should. That didn’t keep him from wondering about what she worebeneath.

Was she elegant and classy allover?

“What’re you still doing here?” She cast a doubtful glance at the bottle on his desk, and a dark corkscrew curl sprang loose from her neatupdo.

“Spending some quality time with an oldfriend.”