Page 81 of Panty Dropper

“On the forehead.”

Okay, maybe not.

“Uh…ah…”

That mangled garble was all I was able to spit out. Not a snappy comeback. Not a witty retort. Deborah Kerr had lamented, in that famous line from An Affair to Remember, that all she could say was, “Hello.” Well, let’s see how you feel when all you could say was, “uh…ah,” Deborah.

Billy pulled back, standing straight and tall, sporting a self-satisfied grin. I felt a flicker of annoyance that he was getting the best of me and my damn disloyal self-control again, but that tiny spark was overridden by the raging flames of arousal that sprang up as I noticed the way his plaid shirt stretched over his bulging pecs.

Uh…ah, indeed.

I took a deep breath and stood to try and gain some modicum of control back in this dynamic. My legs were Jell-O but as I leaned my hands on the desk, mirroring what he’d done when he’d crossed the room, a real sense of empowerment rose up within me. Which, since it was the point of the whole exercise, I was happy about.

That was, until Billy looked me up and down, his eyes traveling slowly and deliberately over every curve and crevice of my body, the hungry look on his face making me wonder if he had x-ray vision that allowed him to see underneath the conservative blouse and trousers I wore.

I felt his gaze like a physical touch and my knees trembled so violently that I wondered vaguely, through the lust fog enshrouding my brain, if I was going to be able to stay on my feet or if I was about to fall down ass over tea kettle and embarrass myself even further.

What do you have to say to that, control? Do you plan on showing up, or has Elvis left the building?

Billy hit me with one of his thousand-watt smiles and said, “I just came by to see if you might like to join me for lunch. There’s something I wanna show you.”

A dozen possible answers popped into my head. Any one of them would’ve done the trick. All I had to do was choose one.

I have to work this afternoon. Yep, that had the advantage of being both true and clear. An excellent response.

I have plans with someone else. That would’ve been a good possibility.

No, thank you.Yep. That one was not only clear but only required my mouth to form three small words, which was a definite plus. That would’ve been a fabulous option to choose.

However, when I opened my mouth to give my answer, I heard myself talking as if I were entirely outside my own body. No warning. No filter. No control.

“Okay.”

Great. Apparently the agenda for the afternoon was going to be the abandoning of all my standards and self-control, with a side of turkey sandwich and tomato soup or whatever the hell else we were going to eat for lunch.

“Let me just grab my purse.”

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