Page 36 of Billionaire’s Game

He looked doubtful. “I’ve yet to see you display that facet of your personality, so I won’t argue the point.”

“Good idea.”

“I aim to please, your highness.”

I took another drink enjoying the banter between the two of us. It felt almost cozy. “So you were going to tell me about your poor days.”

My comment caught him off guard and he started to laugh, squirting the beverage from his mouth. He rose to get a rag to clean it up.

“Look what you made me do.” He gestured to his shirt which had once been pristine white was now decorated with splashes of cranberry juice.

“Sorry,” I said not the least bit sorry.

He found a rag and began wiping at the stains that were now forming. “You’re funny when you want to be. That ‘poor days’ comment was a real winner.”

I smiled and watched him dab at the stains.

“There’s really no use in trying to remove them with your shirt on.”

“Is that your roundabout way of trying to get me to undress for you?”

“What? No!”

“Hmm…” was all he said as he placed the rag down and deftly removed his shirt. I told myself not to stare. I really tried not to stare. It was useless. Just as I expected, Magnus was chiseled.

I pretended to be unimpressed and said, “What exercise program are you doing that gives you abs like that?”

“So you like what you see?” he said sitting back on the barstool and tossing his shirt haphazardly up against the island. He leaned an elbow on the island and studied me while I studied him.

“Your turn.”

“My turn to what?”

“Take your shirt off.”

I blushed. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t come over here to undress.”

His voice was deeper as he said, “That’s too bad.”

And then he did something I hadn’t expected. He hooked his foot around the base of my barstool and in one smooth motion, slid me over to where he was.

I was startled. “What are you doing?”

“You were too far away,” he said reaching out and tracing a hand down the side of my face. I was so close that if I wanted to, all I had to do was stretch out a hand to touch him too.

“Come here,” he said softly. He opened his legs wide and scooted my barstool right in between them. My knees pressed against his inner thighs and I tried to not look down. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice the sudden hard silhouette in his pants when what I really wanted to do was reach forward and brush my hand over it.

He touched my face, bringing it closer and then softly kissed my lips. I closed my eyes, surprised by his gentleness. He continued to hold my face as he deepened the kiss this time. This second kiss wasn’t chaste like the first. The second one was hot, deep, and the feel of his tongue against mine was more than I could take. I moaned and that was all the encouragement he needed as he lifted me up from my barstool and placed me on his lap. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back, wanting the moment to continue forever. Kissing Magnus was all I had imagined it would be but about a billion times better.

Finally, he slowly broke the kiss and I protested a little.

“That was nice,” I said, righting myself and pulling away. “But for the remainder of this evening, you should keep your hands to yourself.”

“Is that an order or a request?” He was amused as he made his comment, but his amused expression quickly gave way to desire as he caught sight of my hard nipples pressed against my shirt.

I felt a little self-conscious and positioned myself so that my chest wasn’t directly facing him.

“Eyes up here,” I said softly. It made me feel powerful that I could turn him on. Lesli Cabot was being drooled over by a billionaire, I could hardly believe it.