The Billionaire's Masquerade Page 0,15

grinning from ear to ear.

“Deal,” he laughed and moved forward. “My turn?”

“Not a chance. I just put three balls into the pocket.”

Emerson’s surprise was written plainly on his face. He looked down at the pool table and sure enough, three of the solid balls were gone. “Okay, City Girl. You’re on.”

She laughed and almost danced to her next position.

“I think I’ve been played,” Emerson said out loud, enjoying her laughter as well as her lush body as it moved in front of him.

One after another, she shot the solid balls into the pockets, barely even touching any of the striped balls unless she needed one for a ricochet.

“Excuse me,” she said, looking over her shoulder as she tried to get the angle for her last ball to go in.

“Absolutely,” he said, but he grabbed her waist, his breath warm as he said into her ear. “I’ll just wait on the other side of the table.” His hand slid along her waist and her back, causing shivers to move all through her body.

She knew exactly what he was doing but couldn’t stop it. “That’s cheating,” she whispered, closing her eyes to fight the heavy languor that melted her insides with his touch.

He chuckled as he moved around the pool table. “You’re right.” He stood in front of her, his face unreadable since the light was over the pool table and his height caused his face to be cast in the shadows. “Second lesson for the day. Take advantage of all situations that come to you.”

She hesitated, trying to regain control of her body but her hands were now shaking and she wasn’t sure what she’d been about to do. Looking around, she blinked, then glared at the obnoxious man. “You’ll pay for that,” she groaned.

His grin widened. “I’m counting on it, actually.”

She shook her head, trying to focus on the table, the position of the balls…anything but Jack. But his touch was too much. As soon as she pulled back, she knew that she wasn’t going to make her shot. Unfortunately, the momentum was already there and she couldn’t stop the swing forward. The white ball actually popped into the air, dropping with a loud thunk without even touching another ball.

She stood up, glaring at him as he laughed softly, moving behind her once again. “I guess it’s finally my turn,” he whispered in her ear.

She shivered and thought that this would be the perfect time to melt into the floor.

Jack’s hand slid across her back as he moved into position. Within three minutes, all of the striped balls were sunk and the only ball left was the white ball, one of her solid balls and the eight ball.

Rachel swallowed painfully, seeing what he was about to do and she panicked. Never had she ever been so bold but this was a competition and she hadn’t ever been someone who was willing to lose. So instead of standing beside the table with her mouth hanging open like she’d been doing for the past several minutes, she did something she’d never done before. Leaning over the pool table, she pretended to examine the angle of his shot. She also knew that her silk blouse would billow ever so slightly. She didn’t think that she was giving him any intimate view, but she knew the moment he glanced up that her tactic had worked. She would have smirked with success, but she was caught in the heat of his gaze. She didn’t even know that he’d hit the ball, unaware of how the ball scratched, bouncing into the corner pocket. All she knew was that Jack was looking at her with a heat so hot in his eyes that her heart started racing, her face heated up and every cell in her body caught fire from his look.

“I’m sorry,” she said, not sure if she was apologizing for him missing his shot or the teasing.

Emerson tossed his pool stick down on the table, abandoning the game and walked over to her. With a swift move, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, one hand diving into her hair to hold her head where he wanted it, and the other arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her against his hard body. “No you’re not,” he came back a moment before his mouth covered hers.

Rachel was so lost, she couldn’t even tell if she was standing or sitting. Maybe even lying down, but she didn’t care. At this point, the only thing that