Sidonie forced herself to move and looked at the table. She couldn’t seem to compute what to do any more. She hadn’t been boasting—she knew she could play and quite possibly beat Alexio on a good day. But right now...she was useless. Eventually she saw the shot she needed to take. But she couldn’t get that torso out of her mind, those muscles rippling under silken flesh. Hard.
Predictably, Sidonie missed the shot—because just as she moved so did Alexio. She stood up and glared across at him, feeling hot. ‘Now, that’s cheating.’
He arched a brow, all innocence wrapped up in the devil—again. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about...’
And then his look changed to one so carnal her toes curled.
‘Shirt or trousers, Sidonie—unless you’ve got some very cute way to take off your panties from under your jeans without removing them.’
Of course she didn’t. Sidonie huffed. She only had one choice, really. She wasn’t about to bare herself completely to the sexiest man she’d ever met. So off came the jeans. She wriggled out of them, deliberately avoiding his gaze, self-conscious in her very plain white panties decorated with flowers.
* * *
Alexio watched with a heavy-lidded gaze as Sidonie carefully folded her jeans and put them to the side, near the bright pink splash of her bra. The same pink bra that had been tantalising him all day. The way she folded her jeans made him feel weak inside. There was something curiously vulnerable about it.
Now she looked at him, and her chin was up. Brave. She wasn’t half as confident as she was letting on. Alexio hid the way that made him feel by focusing on her gently swaying breasts beneath her T-shirt. They were beautifully rounded and pert. Their tips hard. His mouth watered. His erection got harder. He had to shift on the stool.
Her hips were slim, but womanly. Her panties looked positively virginal with their cute flowers. Yet the way she was looking at him now as he caught her gaze again was anything but virginal. Good. Because when they came together Alexio knew he wouldn’t have the patience to go slowly.
Aware that he couldn’t actually stand up without revealing how turned on he was, Alexio said, ‘I’m feeling generous. You can have another shot.’
Sidonie looked determined this time. ‘That’s the last piece of clothing I’ll be removing.’
She picked up the cue and moved around the table again, clad only in her T-shirt and panties. The soft white cotton hugged her bottom, revealed in all its lushness now.
Alexio had to admit that his jaded palate was well and truly unjaded now. He’d never been so turned on in his life. He’d never been brought so close to the edge without even touching a woman before.
And then Sidonie stopped right in front of him, her back to him. He saw a sliver of pale skin, the gentle curve of her lower back just over the band of her panties. He saw the two dimples of Venus above her buttocks and nearly groaned out loud.
When she bent over the table and widened her legs to get a better aim the tiny thread holding his control together snapped completely. With a feral sound Alexio wrapped an arm around her bare midriff and deftly scooped Sidonie back against him, ignoring her soft squeal of surprise. He took the cue out of her hands, throwing it to one side.
She was breathing heavily. ‘That’s not fair. That’s blatantly against the rules. Obstruction.’
‘Damn the rules,’ Alexio growled, turning Sidonie around to face him. Her eyes were dark blue now, the pupils huge.