Mastered 2: Ten Tales of Sensual Surrender Read Free

stomach clenched, but this was the only chance she had.
    He shuffled the cards, then dealt them out.  She glanced at her hand.  Two queens.  She tried to avoid smiling, but her lips quirked.  She glanced at him, but he hadn’t seemed to notice.  He gazed at his cards, then placed them on the table face down.
    She asked for three cards and got another queen.  He stayed.
    She pushed a couple of chips into the center.
    He matched her stack then, to her dismay, pushed in a much bigger stack.
    “You’ll have to go all in,” he pointed out.
    She eyed him.  Was he just trying to intimidate her?  Push in a huge amount of chips so she’d fold?
    She glanced at her cards again.  She was feeling pretty confident.
    “Okay.”  She pushed the rest of her chips into the center.
    Silently, he turned over his hand.
    Three aces.
    Oh, God, she was out.  In just one hand, she’d lost all her money, and her chance to help Ella.
    He swept the chips to his side of the table.  “I guess it’s time for the other stakes I told you about.”
    “And what would that be?” she asked cautiously.
    His gaze locked on her and glided down to her low cut neckline.
    “I like your dress.”
    She flushed, heat spreading through her at his appreciative gaze.
    “Thank you.”
    “I’m suggesting you can wager the dress.”
    Her gaze shot to his.  “I thought sex was off the table.”
    “It is.”  He smiled.  “It’s the dress I suggest go on the table.”
    She shook her head.  “This isn’t why I came here.”  She wasn’t about to be his Friday night fling.
    “You came here because you want a chance to talk to me.  Then you lost all your money. I’m just giving you another chance.”
    She knew it was about control.  He wanted to manipulate her.  To see how far he could get her to go.
    It irked her, but he had something she wanted, and as long as that was true, he called the shots.  Mr. Danner smiled.  “And it’s not like I haven’t seen what you’ve got on under there on any public beach.”
    She frowned, but then finally nodded.  She reached behind her back, feeling for the zipper tab.
    He smiled.  “Want some help?”
    “No,” she said stonily.  “I can manage.”
    She dragged the zipper down, feeling the cool air brush her back as the fabric parted.  As she pulled the dress off her shoulders, she couldn’t believe she was doing this.
    She avoided looking at him as she slowly lowered the garment, pushing it over her hips and down her legs.  Then she stepped out of it and held it out to him.
    The moment their gazes locked and she saw the heat in his eyes, her cheeks flamed.  His already dark blue eyes had darkened to the deepest midnight blue.  She realized her hand was shaking as she held the dress.  His fingers wrapped around the slinky fabric, brushing hers as they did, and for a moment, time froze, his fingers against hers, and a sultry heat simmered between them.
    Then his hand drew away, the dress with it, leaving her close to naked, and feeling vulnerable in her lacy black bra cut low in front and her skimpy black thong.  God, she didn’t want to turn around.  He might know women who would wear a bikini this scanty on a public beach, but not her.  She reserved this level of sexy for the bedroom.
    Or it seemed now, a high stakes poker game with a billionaire playboy.
    He placed the dress on the table and sat down.  He didn’t leer, or even obviously peruse her body, which she had to admit was classy on his part.
    But her skin prickled with awareness of his closeness and masculinity.  And she knew that even though he wasn’t being obvious, he was taking in every inch of her almost naked body.
    She had to face it, if the man offered to bed her to give her what she wanted, she’d probably drop her panties right now.
    She sat down as he dealt out the cards again and she picked up hers.  Her hand was a mish mash… one king and the rest non-face cards.  She kept the king and a ten, both