Billionaire Games by Sylvia Maddox Page B

unbuttoned her skirt but didn’t lower the zipper. She reached up instead and pulled her blouse from her skirt, smoothing the shirttails against her palms, though she knew it was just a ploy to buy herself a few precious seconds of respite.
    And then she began to work the buttons on her shirt, slowly opening them one by one and wishing she had worn a shirt that had a hundred buttons instead of seven. Because far too soon, she had reached the final button and was left with a question. A choice.
    Lower the skirt first, or take off her blouse?
    It was a silly, stupid question, but it was one she grappled with.
    If she removed the skirt, he’d have more time to look at her body, the hips that were always a touch too wide and full, but even wider and fuller now than they had been before. He’d have more time to examine her curvy thighs, the ones that stayed soft and untoned no matter how hard she tried to shape them.
    Or worse, he might see the dampness of her panties, the way her sex was now dripping with evidence of her desire for him.
    On the other hand, if she removed the blouse, he’d see the stomach that was not flat and her breasts that had sometimes been the source of embarrassment because of their generous size.
    She couldn’t decide which course to take and wasn’t sure that either would help her. So she stood, frozen, staring at Simeon’s chest as he watched her. Seconds bled into minutes and still Claire stood, not sure what to do. She hoped he’d say something, do something, anything that might help her decide in one way or another.
    He did nothing.
    Said nothing.
    He just stood, watching, waiting.
    Screw it! Claire thought.
    On two hasty motions, she tore out of the blouse and then unzipped the skirt and stepped out of it, leaving herself in the matching bra-and-panty set she had bought just for this occasion.
    Insane, she knew, especially since she’d bought special underwear but not actual clothes. Maybe it was her way of acknowledging what this was all about. It had been funny because between her trip to Simeon’s doctor and a stop at the post office to have them hold her mail, she’d made time to go to a lingerie shop. She was unemployed now, needed to watch every penny, but she hadn’t been able to resist getting something special for this occasion, and it had been love at first sight when she’d seen the pink-and-nude lace set and elation when the shop had had it in her size.
    She was again pleased with the choice as she lifted her eyes to meet Simeon’s and watched him react. His eyes darkened even further, and he looked at her intently, his gaze roaming her body, until he again lifted his eyes to meet hers.
    “I said strip,” he said, his voice gravel rough and low in the reverent silence of the room.
    She swallowed, not surprised that her ploy hadn’t worked, but now so deeply nervous and aroused that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to remove the underwear without him seeing the vicious tremor in her hands.
    She looked into his eyes. “Why don’t you help me?” she asked.
    His expression turned thunderous. “Are you playing some kind of game, Claire?”
    Something in her made her push back. “Would it matter if I were? Isn’t that what this is to you? Some kind of game?” she said.
    “I won’t be toyed with, Claire,” he replied voice low, almost silent, but she heard it loud and clear.
    “Sad for me that I can’t say the same,” she said.
    After she spoke, they stood, staring at each other. They stood for a long time, his expression so stormy that Claire halfway thought he was going to change his mind and send her away. And she knew where that would leave her.
    She met his gaze again, saw that his heavy brows were dropped low with his displeasure. She also saw a hint of vulnerability, and that was what made her speak.
    “I’m nervous, okay?” she said, her voice taking on a tone that was far too raw for her liking. She decided to be honest, confront what she was feeling