Chapter 16 Penny
Penny
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Penny spat furiously.
Rhys didn’t pause as he pulled another hotel out of the Monopoly box, easily parting with a tiny portion of his mountain of cash. The mountain of cash he’d earned by draining her dry. “What?” he asked, carefully placing the hateful red figurine on yet another one of his properties.
“I feel like at some point this just becomes bad sportsmanship.” Her words were curt as she surveyed their game, which was feeling increasingly like a minefield.
“You’re free to put hotels on your properties.
” Rhys rested back against the sofa, the remains of their dinner—sushi—on the kitchen counters behind him.
Perhaps she should have asked him to pick up a different board game when he went to get their dinner.
Monopoly was the only game Roman had in his flat, and Penny thought that after the last few days here, it might be fun to play.
Wrong.
Her eyes narrowed. She took a deep breath, mentally going through her reasons for not strangling him. “Am I? After you just relieved me of my last ￡200?”
“Your go.”
Penny rolled a five, mercifully allowing her to dodge his hotels for another round. She watched Rhys roll a six, landing on one of her properties. She silently snatched up the ￡400 he gave her in rent, but her luck ran out when her next roll put her squarely on one of his hotel-topped mines.
“That’ll be ￡1,400, please and thank you.”
She’d had enough, staring him down. “No.”
Rhys blinked, a ghost of a smile curling his lips. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. No. Fuck your hotel. Fuck your ￡1,400.”
He pointed at some of the few properties she had left. “I just gave you ￡400; if you sell these three as well, you’ll have enough.”
“Or you could shove your rent up your arse. You have a squatter, deal with it.”
He moved her piece—the little dog. “If you refuse to pay, then you need to go to jail.”
Penny moved the dog back so forcefully that the hotels on the board shifted out of place. “No. You don’t get to price someone out of every position on the board and then complain when they can’t pay you rent.”
“What can I say, inflation’s a bitch. Pay up.”
“No.”
Rhys leant back in his seat with a contemplative look, his eyes lingering over the board before climbing up to her face. “Well, if you don’t want to pay, and if you don’t want to go to jail…”
She let out a protracted huff, debating throwing the board out of the window. And him with it.
“…then I’m sure we could come to an arrangement.”
His meaning hit her like a bolt of lightning, her eyes widening in surprise. No, surely she was misunderstanding him. “What kind of arrangement?”
Rhys quirked his eyebrow. His gaze descended once again, but this time it wasn’t to the board—it was to her body, and he didn’t bother to hide it. “What would you be willing to give me instead of the ￡1,400?”
Her breath escaped in a hush as she realised she didn’t object to his perusal, she welcomed it. They’d been balanced on the edge of something for days now, and she wanted to tumble over it with him. “Name your price.”
“I want your underwear.”
Fuck, she definitely hadn’t been misunderstanding him.
The first tendrils of arousal wound themselves around her thighs, growing into a beating ache at her very core.
Silently, Penny stood, locking her gaze with Rhys’s as she delved beneath the loose fabric of her skirt to hook a finger into the cotton beneath.
To his credit, he didn’t look away as she shimmed her underwear down her thighs, delicately stepping out of them before balling them up and throwing them at him.
Rhys sent her a wicked smirk as they hit his chest. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He rolled the dice, landing on one of his own properties. “Your turn.”
Instead of the dread of her previous turn, this time it was anticipation that sent her heartbeat fluttering.
Penny tried not to look disappointed when she avoided landing on his properties.
Her disappointment wasn’t short-lived, however, because Rhys landed on one of hers.
“What’ll it be?” he asked, twirling her underwear around his fingers.
“Take off your shirt.” The words tumbled from her lips.
With a wink, he straightened, pulling his shirt over his head to reveal the rigid swathes of his shoulders.
Her gaze followed the furrows downwards—his broad chest, the line of hair carving a path down his torso before disappearing beneath his trousers.
“Your go,” he reminded her, his eyes alight with energy.
This time, she landed on one of his properties—a hotel. “I want your bra, Pen.”
Beneath her oversized shirt, she unhooked the clasps, pulled it free, and threw it across the board.
Rhys caught it effortlessly before taking his turn. Again, he landed on his own property.
She leant forward to take her turn, trying not to think too much about the feeling of her shirt moving against her breasts. She landed on his property—and arousal had her thighs clenching together. What was she about to lose, her shirt or her skirt?
But he had other ideas. “I want you to hold my gaze, put both hands beneath your shirt, and pluck your nipples.”
Holy shit. Penny whimpered, half from surprise and half from desire. She clenched around nothing, growing wetter with every turn. Her nipples tightened almost painfully, begging for her to obey.
Locking her eyes with his, she let her hands slide under her shirt and up her torso, sensitising every inch of skin they came into contact with. She sucked in a breath when she reached her breasts, their tight brown tips crying out for more.
“Do it, Pen.”
Another whimper left her as she pinched her nipples simultaneously. Had they ever been this sensitive? Had she ever been this full of need? Surely she was about to combust.
“Now pull.”
Penny let out a sob as she pulled, the feeling going straight to her clit. It fluttered madly, and for half a second, it felt like she was on the edge of release—until her nipples slipped from her grasp, leaving her clenching her thighs and more needy than ever.
While she panted, Rhys took his turn, finally landing on one of her properties.
“Trousers off,” she told him immediately, watching like a hawk as he stood. He unzipped them, letting the fabric fall to the floor, but her eyes were caught on the long outline of his erection beneath his boxers.
He sat back down, adjusting himself beneath the fabric. “Roll the dice.”
Penny let it rattle across the board, trying to ignore the mounting need within her. Every tiny movement reminded her of how slick she was. A noise somewhere between a gasp and a whimper left her when she landed on the most expensive of Rhys’s properties.
A series of slow tuts came from him, each one feeling like a caress. Rhys’s amber gaze was victorious. “Remember you’re free to go to jail.”
“Or?”
He steepled his fingers, his focus raking across her sensitised skin. “Touch yourself.”
She swallowed. “What?”
The gleam in Rhys’s eyes was rakish. “Don’t play coy, Pen. Have you never wanted someone to watch, to show off to? Give yourself pleasure.”
The seconds ticked by as she considered it. She couldn’t deny that the idea was…titillating. Freeing. Half of her—the dignified half—wanted to refuse him. Touching herself whilst the person she was with responded in kind was one thing, but when she was the only one doing it?
And yet somehow that made it all the more appealing.
The other half—the half sheltering the need overflowing her veins—made the call.
Penny eased her hand downwards. Rhys’s head snapped up at the movement, his sharp, wolfish gaze immediately locked in. She took a deep breath as she reached her skirt, pulling up the fabric and widening her legs.
A shudder of relief wracked Penny as she reached the slickness between her legs.
Her fingers slid along the silken petals, evidence of the arousal that had nearly overwhelmed her.
Her lips fell open on a silent sigh as she brushed her needy clit.
Her touch was soft, almost hesitant. “How long for?” she panted, just about managing to look Rhys in the eye.
Well, she was looking at him, anyway. “Until I say you can stop,” he responded, his gaze never leaving her core.
Penny circled her clit, widening her legs a little more to provide herself with better access. Another teasing brush had her worries quietening, fading into the aether as she followed her desires. She shifted her hips as her arousal grew, needing more than she alone could give.
Opposite her, Rhys’s shoulders heaved, her underwear balled up in his fist as he pressed his knuckles against his mouth. The ferocity of his expression was thrilling, but the rigid length in his boxers was even more so.
Drunk on desire, she slipped two fingers inside herself, letting her head fall back against the sofa. “Rhys,” she moaned, on the edge of ecstasy as she thrust her fingers in and out, the aching heat within demanding more—demanding him.
“Stop,” he commanded, eyes locked with hers.
Penny blinked, her fingers still buried inside herself. The icy blast of doubt was fast approaching, but then Rhys ignored the dice, flicking his little silver piece clean off the board. “Oops,” he said softly, holding her gaze. “I guess I lose.”
“Come here,” she demanded.
The edge of his lips curled as he shoved the coffee table between them aside, Monopoly game and all. Its contents tumbled to the floor, tiny plastic hotels, metal figurines, and cards all scattering across the rug.
Rhys went to his knees before her spread legs, tugging her to the edge of the seat before taking her face between his hands and seizing her lips with his own. His kiss was almost savage, devouring her as she clung to him with both hands, lost in a whirling storm of desire.
“Off,” he growled.