Rule #26
TO HELL WITH CAUTION; FULL SPEED AHEAD!
CAI
The shower is life-giving. It had been too complicated to fully figure out, but I managed to get something akin to a tepid rainfall to rinse off the travel and carnality.
Standing in front of the mirror, wrapped in a towel, my skin feels alive.
It’s tingling like it has been zapped awake by Sonny’s hands and lips.
I grab two condoms out from under the sink (just in case), wrap my hair in a towel, and pull on a zippered hoodie I find hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
Back in the bedroom, Sonny looks up at me, his mouth falling open in surprise. I stop mid-step.
“What?” I ask. “Is it ok that I put this on?”
Sonny swallows. “Yes, of course.” He puts his phone on the side table. I walk over, and he reaches for me, pulling me into bed next to him.
“I just want to say that you in this hoodie just unlocked a whole new level of hotness,” Sonny says. His hand smooths the edge of the hoodie that barely makes it over my hips.
“I think the hoodie is doing a lot of the heavy lifting,” I say playfully.
“Why did you put it on?” he asks, his fingers playing at the hem.
I consider this for a moment. I have mostly done it out of habit. “I’m not super comfortable walking around just naked.”
Sonny nods. “I want you to be comfortable, and if covering up makes you feel better, do it. Just know that I find every inch of you absolutely perfect.” His hand rubs my thigh and circles around to grab my ass.
“Hoodie or no hoodie. Naked or dressed. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide yourself with me. ”
I kiss him. It’s slow and sweet. I’m not sure I even recognize how long I’ve wanted to hear those words. The little gremlin inside of me poofs out of existence.
Sonny pulls me against his chest, wrapping me in his arms and pulling a blanket up to cover my bare legs. I curl into him, my head resting on his shoulder.
“You know,” I say softly, tracing lazy circles on his chest, “I played Silent Knights with Rey while we were planning the grand gesture.”
Sonny goes still. “You did?”
I nod, a little embarrassed. “I didn’t want to show up to the con without at least trying to understand what you do.
I thought it would be all explosions and violence…
but it wasn’t. I got completely sucked in.
I played as Alice and cried during that side quest with the German soldier and the girl he loved. ”
I let out a self-conscious laugh. “Full-on ugly crying. Rey even noticed, so I’m sure I have years of getting roasted coming my way.”
Sonny is quiet for a moment. Then he tilts my chin up, so I have to look at him. His eyes are soft, almost awed.
“You cried over one of my side quests?”
“Don’t make it weird,” I mumble, hiding my face in his neck.
“I’m not,” he says, voice warm with affection. “That’s… probably the best thing anyone’s ever told me.” He kisses the top of my head. “You have no idea how much that means.”
I have forgotten about the condoms I had brought from the bathroom. I thought we’d be using them right away. But the wave of exhaustion from the whirlwind of the last week or so catches up with me.
In the cozy, safe cocoon of Sonny’s arms, I fall into the most peaceful sleep I have had in years. I feel safe and happy, and I dream of a night after a storm, with a sky full of Cocuyos.
I wake up completely disoriented. It was the kind of deep, peaceful sleep that makes you forget where you are. It takes me a moment to remember the events of last night.
Then the bed feels too empty.
A small spike of panic hits me until I notice the note on the nightstand, propped against my phone.
Cai,
Sorry, had to duck out early, work stuff.
You looked so peaceful; I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.
Plus, I was worried that if you were up, I’d never be able to leave.
There’s food in the fridge, and fresh towels in the bathroom.
Make yourself as at home as I felt at your parents’ home during the hurricane.
I know you just got back and may have things to do, but I am not good at playing it cool.
I want to take you out tonight. I have something being sent for you to wear.
I’ll be by to get you around 6. I hope that’s not too presumptuous. -Sonny
PS Don’t try to guess! Enjoy the surprise.
His number is scribbled across the bottom of the page too.
I read the note twice, grinning like an idiot.
Then I read it a third time just because I can.
The mix of sweet and confident, the little jive about what it would have been like if he were to have awakened me, the way he remembers how at home he felt with my family—it all makes my chest feel too full.
I flop back onto the pillows, clutching the note to my chest.
Tonight.
He wants to take me out. Properly.
For the first time in a long time, I’m not running toward the wrong person or hiding from my mess. I am running toward something that feels right.
I just hope I don’t trip over my own feet on the way there.
SONNY
The morning meeting has already gone off the rails, and it isn’t even ten o’clock.
I am supposed to be reviewing the latest dialogue trees for Silent Knights 2, but every line blurs together.
Instead of focusing on branching quest outcomes, my brain keeps replaying the sound Cai made when she laughed in my hoodie.
The way her thighs had trembled under my hands.
The shy but delighted look on her face when I told her to keep the hoodie on.
Focus, idiot.
Jack clears his throat from across the conference table.
“Boss? You still with us? We’re talking about needing a fresh voice for the new civilian arc.
The writing’s getting a little… same-y. We need someone who can bring real heart to the side characters.
Someone who understands emotional stakes instead of just plot beats.
I was thinking maybe we bring in that freelancer we used on that other project… ”
Jack is still talking, but I have already tuned him out. I blink, the idea hitting me like a loading screen finally finishing.
Someone with heart.
Someone who’d cried during a branching romance path in the original game. Someone who turns a silly granny-panties moment into the sweetest memory I’ve had in years. Someone who wants to be a writer but has spent years convincing herself she isn’t good enough.
Cai.
I try to keep my expression neutral, but a slow smile creeps across my face anyway.
“What if,” I say carefully, “We brought in someone new? Not from the usual pool. Someone with a fresh perspective. Maybe even… someone who’s never written for games before.”
Jack raises an eyebrow. “You got someone in mind?”
I lean back in my chair, tapping my pen against the table. “Yeah. I might.”
The rest of the meeting might as well have been static.
My mind is already spinning with possibilities, imagining Cai sitting in the writers’ room, arguing passionately about character motivation, bringing that warm, chaotic Cuban-family energy into our stories.
I can see her lighting up when she realizes she can actually get paid to do what she loves.
And I can keep her close.
Not because I don’t trust the distance, but because the thought of her chasing her dream—our dream now—makes something warm and possessive bloom in my chest.
I last another forty-five minutes before I pull out my phone under the table to see if she’d texted. She has! Yahtzee!
Cai
Hey! Here’s my number. Excited for tonight.
Sonny
Glad you found the note. Also… random question. How would you feel about writing video game stories for a living?
I hit send before I could overthink it, then immediately regretted how casual I tried to sound. Too late now.
Jack is still talking about narrative branching when my phone buzzes with her reply. I glance down, and my grin gets so wide that the entire table notices.
Cai
…Is this a joke? Because if it is, it’s a cruel one.
I type back quickly.
Sonny
Not a joke. We need a new writer for the civilian stories. I think you’d be perfect. But you’ll still have to win the creative director over. I can’t show you favoritism just because you make my head spin when you put on my hoodie.
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.
Cai
You’re serious.
Sonny
Deadly. You make stories come alive. That’s rare talent. Now let’s see if you can write a side quest as good as the one that made you cry.
This is probably moving too fast. But after last night, after feeling her fall apart in my arms and then watching her sleep so peacefully in my bed, I don’t care.
Some things are worth rushing.