Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (6 page)

He was a man used to getting what he wanted.

And more and more, Cat was beginning to wonder if he didn’t want
her
. She supposed that all the signs were there – she was just completely and totally perplexed as to
why
?

“That’s quite an accomplishment.” He took a bite of his filet mignon, and Cat found herself envying his goddamn cutlery. It was honestly a crime how breathtaking the man was. Both breathtaking and intimidating as hell. “I dare say some very accomplished architects might be extremely surprised to find out about you.”

Biting her lip, Catherine looked away as he chuckled. It wasn’t as if she
meant
to deprive other people of their opportunity. After all,
she
wasn’t the one who had chosen her own drawing! That had been all Johnson!

“You look very fetching when you’re put out, do you know that?”

The statement actually made Cat inhale sharply as she looked to Elias once more. The man’s lips were curving upward into a slow, utterly devastating smile that made her heart flutter in her chest.

He was doing it again.

It had happened at least once a day ever since she’d arrived in London – that
look
. They’d be looking at plans together, having lunch, or simply in the car on the way to some new location, and she’d catch him looking at her…like that. As if he were imagining what she looked like with her clothes off.

Cat was simultaneously startled and aroused beyond all rational belief.  Did he even
know
he was doing it? They were supposed to be working together; and one minute, he looked over plans and directed construction, while in the next, she’d turn to see her staring at her with heat blazing in his eyes.

And then, there was the unmistakable possessiveness of his actions. At the building site, how many times in a single week had he put an arm around her in the guise of directing her? Perhaps too many for her to count. And each and every time, she was enveloped by the smell of him the feel of his hard body against hers…and she wondered what the hell she was getting herself into.

She certainly hadn’t come to London to entangle herself with a man. But when one was working with someone as attractive as fucking Elias Johnson, it was kind of hard
not
to.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to…what is it you called it?
Cheeky
?”

At her hesitant inquiry, Elias’ smile only widened. “You catch on to English sayings quite quickly, don’t you?”

Cat couldn’t help but smile in return. The man’s humor was infectious – even if he was only teasing her.

Her first few weeks in London passed by in a blur. It seemed no sooner had she settled in her suite every day than she was forced to leave it for one thing or the other. Though the young woman knew she’d been brought to London to work, somehow, she hadn’t thought she’d be running around this much.

She barely had time to order and eat her breakfast in the morning before Elias was summoning her off on some business to do with the building. Everything from materials to finalizing plans needed her approval, and Cat usually found herself busy from dawn until dusk.

But, on the plus side of things, she spent the majority of her time with her charming, gorgeous host. He showed her all of the great London warehouses, where the steel for the frame of their building would be manufactured, introduced her to more window specialists than she could remember the names of, and took her on tours of some of the city’s old, historic homes. Though the style of most of London’s architecture hearkened back to the Victorian period, there were a few post-modern buildings that she saw her own design in.

And whether the structures were older or newer, she soaked up all the information she could get from Elias like a sponge. Having had no formal schooling, she wanted to learn all that she could. After Catherine got back to the States, who knew when she would have this opportunity again? That, and she was pretty sure she’d never be as enthralled in any class as she was with Elias’ smooth, velvety British tones espousing on the history of cobblestone and brick.

Of course, they had time for a few non-architecture related things as well. Elias took her down to the High Street – London’s fashion district – and after watching her stare, awed, into windows for the better part of two hours, finally dragged her into one of the shops, insisting that she buy something. Of course, Cat was far too meek to admit that she barely had enough money to afford the few expenses the hotel didn’t take care of, but at her reticence, Elias took charge.

He had a way of doing that.

They were supposed to be
peers
, Cat had reminded herself as the man led her over to various racks of women’s clothing. She was designing his house. That was
all
it was.

…so why the hell had she let him pick clothes for her? Pluck silky dresses from the racks that cost more than she made in months and
then
let him see her try them on? Cat had hardly let her former boyfriends go shopping with her. What happened that she suddenly let Elias bully her into doing what he wished?

She supposed it
might
have something to do with the fact that she liked his bullying. Well, it wasn’t bullying per say. It was just that the man was…forceful. He gave orders. He steered her in the direction that he wanted her. His large form hovered over hers in a way that simultaneously intimidated and interested her as he guided her about London with a firm hand.

The young woman found herself trying to stave off thoughts of what his hands might be like behind closed doors. What
was
Elias Johnson like as a lover? For the past few years of her adult life, Cat had studiously tried to avoid romance. If she needed pleasing, she could please herself just fine. Men had done her wrong more often than not. But, Elias was different. He emitted a kind of cool, commanding confidence that had her almost desperate to see how his persona would carry into the bedroom.

Would he be gentle and tender? Domineering and rough? Dreams of both scenarios had her waking in the middle of the night, flushed and uncomfortable below the waist as she tried to find sleep once more.

But, despite all her repressed desire, Cat held her own admirably. There were several situations in which the man might have been making advances, and she staved him off; ducked under his arm, backed away, or outright fled back to her hotel room. She was feeling very pleased with herself on the afternoon he offered to take her to the London Eye.

Very in control.

Unfortunately, that control was quite easily wrested from her.

Not only did Elias want to
show
her the London Eye, he wanted to take her up in it. And Cat could hardly refuse him – especially not when the man rented out the
entire
goddamn thing on a busy day just so that they could take a ride.

Catherine’s face was plastered to the window of the capsule they sat in as she took in the view of London far below them. The Eye rotated slowly enough for them to get an expansive picture of the city spread out in every direction, and Cat could do little more than gape in awe. She could hardly remember New York, and so this was the biggest city she’d seen in a very long time. 

“It’s gorgeous.” She breathed, her breath fogging the glass slightly. She’d have to remember to take enough pictures to send to her mother later.

“One gets used to it, after staying here long enough.” At Elias’ casual words, she turned to arch a brow at him before she smiled teasingly. The man was sprawled over the bench on the opposite side of the capsule, every delicious inch of him on prime display in a pair of tailored slacks and a gray button-up. Cat was, all at once, glad that they were the only ones around. It meant she was free to sneak glances at him whenever she liked.

“Well, we can’t all be rich and glamorous.” She returned, teasing him gently. “Or world renown architects.”

At her words, the raven-haired man stood, crossing the expanse of the capsule and closing the distance between them so quickly she barely had time to realize what he was doing. “I’ll admit,” And just like that, there were mere inches between then, she pressed up against the clear, concave glass wall of the capsule as he entrapped her with an arm on either side of her. “Just now…it has its perks.”

Cat swallowed thickly, her heart hammering against her ribs. “Elias…” She managed, her tongue darting out to wet her lips self-consciously. “What are you doing?” It was a ridiculous question, she knew, but she couldn’t help but ask. She needed to make sure this was real.

“I’m looking at you, Cat.” He breathed lowly, his face mere inches away from hers, blue yes blazing with virile interest. “I find that I quite like looking at you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Funny…she’d just been thinking the same thing. Only Cat wasn’t bold enough to admit it. At this particular moment, she found her eyes roving his sharp visage, from the high lines of his cheekbones and the vivid, rich color of his hair…all the way down to the plump line of his mouth.

It wasn’t fair for a man like him to have a mouth like that. How was she supposed to think of anything else but how it might feel against her own?

“What’s…what’s so interesting about me?” She finally managed, a lump of anticipation hard in her throat.

At her question, the dark-haired man smirked. “What isn’t?”

And then, all at once, his mouth was on hers.

Cat couldn’t really remember the last time she’d been kissed. For years, she’d tried to put it out of her mind – how men liked to grab and shove their tongues down their throat as she endured in stolid silence.

But this…this was something different entirely. Elias hands cupped her face in a firm, yet gentle grip as his lips roved hers. The contact was light at first – almost tentative – but the moment a soft sigh of allowance escaped her, the gesture turned hungry.

With a low groan, Elias slanted his mouth against her own as his tongue slid past her lips. A hushed moan escaped her in reply as her fingers sifted through his dark hair, and Cat wondered if she wasn’t dreaming.

The man tasted like absolute heaven – and as his tongue tangled with hers, a fire sprang to life low in her belly that begged to be sated. The young woman clung to him, her lips moving over his with just as much hunger as he devoured her; and when Elias caught her lower lip between his teeth to nibble on, she shuddered in sensation. “
Elias
…” His name left her on a breathless sound of want before she could stop herself.

And a switch was thrown.

Cat inhaled sharply as the man’s hands suddenly slid from her jaw to her waist, pressing her flush against the glass pane at her back. One of his knees wedged between her legs, pressing against the most sensitive part of her, and her breath hitched against his mouth. His powerful form was suddenly flush against hers, and Cat found herself clawing at his shoulders like her namesake in an effort to be closer.

“Cat…” Elias murmured against her chin, his voice thick with desire. “So
bloody
sweet, Cat…d’you know how much I need to make you mine?”

His words jerked her back to the present - where she was currently in a very compromising position in a transparent glass capsule – and the world was probably watching. Taking a deep breath, Catherine tore her mouth from Elias’, trying to force the haze of lust that enveloped her to clear.

Make her
his
?

The prospect was enough to make her shiver in want even as she resisted the urge to run for the hills.

Not that she could have run anyway. Even if he wasn’t kissing her, she was still trapped between him and the glass wall, the man’s hungry gaze pinning her just as thoroughly as his body. “Problem, Cat?”

The way his tongue slid over her name should very well have been illegal.

The young woman swallowed thickly as she attempted to regain her wits. “I…everyone can see us.” She finally managed, glancing beyond the Eye’s car to where the ground was slowly advancing on them.

Elias merely smirked. “Let them look.” He went in to kiss her again – and Cat almost let him. At the last possible moment, she slid her hand between them – and the feel of his hot mouth against her palm was almost too much to bear.

This…this couldn’t happen. They were from two entirely different worlds. Atop that, Cat knew the difference between lust and actual emotional attachment, and she wasn’t idiotic enough to think that Johnson actually felt something for her. If she gave into him now, she’d be letting him exploit her shamelessly for the next five months, and then they would simply part ways.

And there was no
way
she he was having that. The man might be stunningly attractive. He might be talented, rich, and ridiculously charming when he put his mind to it, but Catherine Harris hadn’t come all this way just to spread her legs for him.

No…she’d come to work with him – to be his peer and his equal. And she couldn’t compromise that. “I…we shouldn’t.” To her merit, the words came out far steadier than she’d imagined they would.