title: Gaming the System
author: Curtis, Laura K.
description: As the punk-Goth manager of Las Vegas's premiere adult toy store, Kai Tyler changes her hair color, nail color, and eye color the way some people change socks. In fact, she's even changed her name. She owes no one, depends on no one, and stopped believing in happily ever after before she reached the age of ten. All she really wants out of life is a few good gadgets and the occasional day of pampering once in a while. Luke Clarke loves his family, but he has no desire to fulfill his parents' dream by getting married and going into politics. So when he's invited to his sister's week-long wedding gala, he asks Kai along as a decoy. Having a date will squelch his mother's matchmaking attempts and Kai's outrageous appearance might-just might-convince his family once and for all that he'll never have a career in politics. But as stress, desire, and close quarters eat away at the masks both Luke and Kai wear, their easy arrangement begins to transform into something neither expected. Will they cling to the stable roles of the past, or bet on an uncertain future together?