Resisting the Billionaire Collection (26 page)

The girls clinked their coffee cups together
in agreement.

"Hey ladies, mind if I join you?"

It was Don, the branch manager and MJ's
immediate boss. He was a fairly good-looking guy, tall and blonde,
and in good shape. When he wasn't being an asshole about rosters
and time off, he was actually a pretty decent guy. MJ had been
trying to get close to him for a long time but he didn't seem to
like the idea of mixing work and pleasure. It was a pity because MJ
was pretty sure he had good prospects. If he continued to work hard
then he would become regional manager of the chain and then maybe
even move on up to corporate.

"Hey, Don." She said with a broad smile. "I
didn't see you there."

He ignored her.

"Move Daniel to the front counter. He's too
good for trash duty. Put him with Alison; she's the best we have so
he might as well get started with her."

"Front counter? No way, he's nowhere near
ready and Alison... uh Alison... there are plenty of other--"

"Front counter. Today. Alison. Got a problem
with that, go speak to someone who gives a shit."

He turned and left.

"God damn it." MJ hissed. “Okay Don, sure
thing. I'll take care of it." She said a little too loudly over the
mid-afternoon crowd.

Don ignored her.

"Who's the slut now?" Olivia smirked.

"He's not a bad guy." MJ said
defensively.

"For a complete dick." 

"Who cares about that? We have to focus on
what's important. We cannot let anything happen between those two.
We have to come up with something. Come on, use that man-eating
brain of yours for something other than getting your rocks off for
a change."

Chapter Four

"Let me get that for you." 

If he had said it once, he had said it a
hundred times that morning. Sebastian was watching his Ps and Qs
like never before. Besides, it was pretty easy here; not like in
the boardrooms of the Drummond Corporation. Here it was mostly all
just pretty girls in their cute little waitress uniforms. It wasn't
like he hadn't ever slept with a waitress before. In fact, for a
while he and his brother had been running a competition to sleep
with as many waitresses as they could at large functions while
other people listened to boring after dinner speeches.

The one thing he could never beat me
at. 

He was thinking about his older twin brother
Alex. There were just minutes between them but somehow it had
always made a difference. His father had always treated Alex as the
serious one, even gave him his own name while 'Sebastian' had been
chosen from a book of baby names. Then Alex had always been just
slightly better than him at everything: sports, academics, business
-- you name it.

Except for girls. Sebastian had always had
the edge with the opposite sex. 

Until Melanie.
He thought.
Weird,
that's the first time I've thought about her in days.

Usually his thoughts were filled with
memories of Melanie, comparing her with other girls, wondering what
went wrong, wishing he had done things differently. But this was
the first time she had entered his thoughts today. Up until then it
had been all Alison all along.

He didn't even notice as his pretty Italian
brunette co-worker breathlessly handed a trash bag to him.
He smiled at her and she batted her long eyelashes. But he
didn't even see her. He was in a dream.

"Hey, new guy!"

It was MJ. The one woman who definitely
wasn’t smitten with him on the Tête-á-Tête staff.

"Get your ass out front. You've been
promoted."

"I have?" He was genuinely surprised.

"Alison is going to train you up as a
barista." She said the words as though it was the worst news in the
world but to Sebastian it couldn’t have been better. The sun had
just come out to play and his day was looking happier than
ever. 

He took off his kitchen porter's apron and
peeled down the long rubber gloves off his strong arms.

MJ slapped a barista's apron into his
washboard stomach. She was surprised at how firm he was but didn't
let on.

Six pack loser.
She thought.

"Strictly business, hound dog." She
said.

"I'm sorry?" 

"You heard me. I know you have your eyes all
over Alison, don't think I haven't seen you."

He could felt his face go
hot. He was confused. He didn't know what it meant.
Am I blushing?
He
thought. 

"I knew it." MJ said watching his flush
rise. "Not so cool now, Mr. Sexy Ass."

"Sexy Ass?"

"Don't play games, lover boy. Like you
haven't heard this gaggle outside licking their chops over you.
You're lucky you left here the last three days with your clothes
still on."

"Is that so?" He couldn't help but smile.
Under any other circumstances, MJ would have been a nice little
challenge. That feisty attitude might take a day or maybe even two
to break down, but definitely no more than that.

Not now though.
He thought.
Not
interested.

"There's one girl in this joint that I
advise you to keep your paws off and that's Alison. She's taken.
Remember that."

Daniel smiled and held MJs flashing green
eyes with his own smoldering brown.

"Only one girl I need to stay away from?" He
said.

"Damn straight, Casanova."

"Is anyone else is fair game?"

"You can take your pick." She said
contemptuously. The other girls had been driving her insane since
the day Daniel had set foot on the job, running around like
chickens in a coop fighting over a handful of feed.

"I pick you." He said.

MJ was struck dumb for just a second.
Sebastian broke into a broad sexy smile.

"I'm just kidding, boss lady. But you have
to admit you walked right into it. I know you're way out of my
league."

"You got that straight." She said as she
walked past him to the locker room. Now she couldn't help but
smile. He was a penniless hound alright, but she had to admit he
did have a certain charm.

Sebastian pulled on his
barista apron and headed out front, surprising himself again as he
felt butterflies in his stomach. He never got butterflies. The last
time he felt like this he was about to bungee jump out of a
helicopter over Victoria Falls. 
First
blushing and now this.

Alison was right there in front of him. Her
beautiful blonde hair was tied modestly back behind her head. Every
line was beautiful to him; every small bump of the delicate bones
in her neck he wanted to linger over, caress, stroke, and allow his
lips and tongue to explore. Her shape was perfect: slim, but not
too much, elegance in every line, right down to her heart-shaped
ass. He had torn haute couture from a thousand debutantes over the
years but nothing would be quite as erotic or satisfying as ripping
away that small waitress miniskirt.

Stop it Sebastian, stop
it. Or you're going to greet her with a raging boner.
He grinned.
Eventually,
obviously, but not today.

He took a deep breath.

"Hi, Alison." He said. "Looks like you'll
have to put up with me today."

She turned and her eyes slowly climbed to
meet his and he held his breath. His heart missed a beat as their
eyes finally met. He watched her with dark intensity. Wishing she
was his already, willing it to be so.

She didn't say a word.

Is she okay?

"Alison?" He said.

Chapter Five

Alison turned and her eyes met first with the
well-built man’s broad chest, then rose to his strong, tanned neck,
his square jaw line, his sensuous lips. Her heart missed a beat as
she came to his eyes. His voice was so deep and masculine and yet
so kind. And then there were his dark, intense eyes.

I can't believe this guy is pouring coffee
for a living. I can't believe he's pouring coffee with me!

"Alison?" He said.

"Oh yeah, sure. No, that's good. It's uh...
Daniel, right?"

He smiled and tapped a manly hand to his
chest. She could hear the thud of his fingers against his
well-developed chest. All muscle. He was happy she had at least
remembered his name. He could feel his erection starting again. Her
ass had been perfect enough, now he could see her rack as well. As
romantic as he felt about her, there were things he wanted to do to
her that would shame a porn star. 

"That's what it says on the name tag." He
said.

God, you are
beautiful.
She thought.
I just want to do my job, not lust over your hot
bod all day long while I try to focus on orders.

"Be gentle with me." He said. "It’s my first
day on the job."

She smiled but couldn't think of a word to
say.

I'll be gentle with you. Maybe.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a daze.
There wasn't much for her to teach, as he seemed to know his way
around a barista's station pretty good already. In fact, Sebastian
had worked in most of the Drummond Corporation companies at one
time or another and that included a large nationwide coffee chain.
The truth was that he could as easily have managed the whole
Tête-á-Tête franchise as he fixed a decent skinny mocha latte with
soy. If the chain looked good, he might even suggest to his father
to buy the damn thing once he had secured Alison into his
bed. 

"Have you worked in a coffee shop before?"
She asked him.

"Kind of." He said vaguely.

It would have been boring as hell if not for
Alison being right there next to him. Her slender fingers
surrounding a coffee cup were enough to turn him on. Her small feet
under the counter, every tiny lick of her lips. If this went on
much longer, he might have to sneak to the men's room and take care
of himself before they had their break. Hell, it might be dangerous
to go on a break with her in this condition. A raging boner at
midday is hard to explain at the best of times, but especially to
the girl you’re in love with and on the very first day you spend
time with her?

Not to mention all the
other girls that seemed to be surrounding him like flies the whole
morning. 
'Hi Daniel, you look good
behind the counter.', 'Hey Daniel, looks like you're the one
teaching back there.', 'Hey Daniel...', 'Hey Daniel...', 'Hey
Daniel...'

The last couple of days it really hadn't had
any effect on him. But with Alison nearby, his hormones were
already on fire. Then with all these pretty little waitresses
flashing flirty smiles at him or pushing their cleavage up into his
face, waggling their little touches in front of him…

Jesus Christ I am going to explode in my
pants here. This is not funny.

He did his best to stay cool, just
smiling back at them in his quiet, confident way, never engaging
with them. It only seemed to make them worse, provoking them into
ever more explicit and brazen flirtation to get a response from
him. There was no way he was going to come out and play though.

Not in front of Alison. No way, ladies. I'll
go explode in the bathroom before that happens. 

It was so weird for him.
Normally he ruled the roost and could come and go as he pleased. If
he wanted to he could bang a secretary or a client in some board
room he had reserved for the purpose. But here, he was like a
prisoner to all these horny females and to the most beautiful and
tantalizing one of all, who happened to be right there next to him.
So close and yet so damn unattainable at the same time. Hell, she
was the only one
not
coming onto him. 

He needed to get out of there
fast. 

Alison had noticed the effect his presence
had on the female staff as well. It was funny at first but then as
happy as she was to have him next to her, the perpetual female
attention had begun to really get on her nerves. Especially when he
would just smile back at the girls in his quiet, confident way. He
didn't need to even say a word in order to charm the hell out of
them; just a look was enough to reduce them to giggling
schoolgirls.

I bet he just goes from one woman to the
next. 

Nevertheless, she still couldn't help
wanting to get to their next break as quickly as possible.

He's just a
colleague,
she thought,
I just need to be friendly, that's all. No crazy
desperate workplace flirting. God, even he must be fed up with it
by now.

As soon as it hit their break time, she
turned to him and looked directly up into his face, the first full
on gaze from her since they had met. It took his breath
away. 

"Need a smoke?"

His heart nearly stopped. Her pretty little
face gazing up at him nearly made his knees melt and his cock
stiffen. 

"Thanks, but I don't." He said quietly,
struggling to hold the emotions in and his snake down.

Shit. Of course
not.
She thought.

Shit. I can fucking learn
to if you want me to.
He thought, and for
the first time in his life regretted being a
nonsmoker.
 

"Me neither." She said.

"Why is there a box of Camel Lights in your
pocket?" He flashed a playful grin, his pearly whites showing
between his perfect, sensuous lips.

Damn.
He thought.
Why do I have to be such
a wiseass?

"I'm trying to give them up." She said
sheepishly.

"Here." He said putting out his hand. "Give
them to me." She looked into his eyes and couldn't say no. He
instantly crushed them and put them into the trash. "You don't look
like a smoker to me." He said with the same gorgeous, sexy half
smile. "Let's go get a breath of fresh air."