Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (14 page)

She shuddered at his touch and, although she was frustrated, said, “Mmm hmm.”

He got up, eyeing her fully as he did so, and crossed the living room. As he did, she got her real first glimpse of it.  It was the size of her entire apartment all crammed together. There was a large flat-screen TV on the wall, a desk that looked to be for nothing much other than looks, and two large bookcases, each filled to the seams.

He retrieved the paper he had mentioned from a small mechanical device that was sitting on the desk and read it for a moment. “Ah hell,” he snapped. “This could be bad. I have to make this call. Give me a second, okay?”

With everything inside of her still throbbing in anticipation, Lauren could only nod.

She watched as he fumbled awkwardly in the pocket of his shorts for his phone. He kept looking to her with great regret in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed as he scrolled through his contacts.

“Me too,” she whispered.

She lay there and listened as he started to speak to a man that she assumed was Mark, as he said the name several times. She was never one to eavesdrop, but the gist of the conversation let her in on some of the drama that a billionaire land developer and real estate mogul went through on a daily basis. Apparently, a party that had refused to sell a property a little over a year ago was desperate to sell the property now. It had something to do with legal jargon…all stuff that went well over Lauren’s head.

She watched him as he spoke and at some point, his head cleared from the fog of lust and started to focus more on business. While this disappointed her more than she cared to admit, there was something about seeing him at work that kept her aroused. Sure, he wasn’t doing anything but talking on the phone, but he was passionate when talking about his business; his tone was fierce when it needed to be, yet conversational and almost cheerful at the appropriate times, too.

She lost track of time, and by the time he was finally off of the call and came back to her on the sofa, she was just about out of the mood. He looked to his phone and frowned. “An hour and a half,” he said. “Lauren, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she said, only partly meaning it. “It’s sort of interesting to watch you at work.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he said. “And if you’re wondering if that call was worth delaying what I was about to do to you…well, not to brag, but that hour and a half conversation is going to result in getting a check for a little over three hundred thousand dollars a few days from now.”

“Yeah, I’d say that’s worth it,” she said.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” he said, “but can we take a rain check? I don’t know if you can understand this or not, but those sorts of calls take it out of me. Besides…it’s past my bedtime and I have a big day tomorrow. Part of it has to do with Mr. Farr.”

She nodded, trying not to let thoughts of the sale interfere with what she was feeling. While she was absolutely disappointed that there would be no sex, she was also glad to see that he was so considerate. He wasn’t only interested in the sex but seemed to want something more.

“Yes, a rain check sounds great,” she said.

“You’re more than welcome to stay here, though,” he added, leaning down and kissing her softly on the mouth. “I’d like that, actually.”

“I don’t know,” she said, trying to tip-toe around giving him a simple no. “It doesn’t quite feel right. I don’t think it’s time for that just yet.”

“I understand,” he said. “When would be the time?”

“Well…if this is just some fleeting sort of thing, then maybe not at all. But if it’s something else…,”

“I think it is something else,” Riley said. “I don’t know how to explain that, but it’s not a fling. I think I knew it wouldn’t be a fling after having that first lunch with you.”

She smiled and it lured him in for another kiss. It was a lengthy one and in it, she could feel how tired he was. She broke it and sat up, adjusting her shirt and buttoning her pants back. “When can we see each other again?” she asked.

“Tomorrow night, maybe?” he said.

“Sounds good.”

“Dinner again?”

“That would be nice,” she said. “And then maybe back here, too? Maybe we can cash that rain check in?”

“Plan on it,” he said. He gave her another sleepy kiss and then took her almost lovingly by the hand. “Come on. I’ll drive you home.”

***

It was both exciting and depressing to be working in the shoe store, knowing that she could receive a call from Alderholt Lending at any minute. She felt guilty for not telling Mr. Farr about the interview but told herself that the fact he had originally suspected as much negated that responsibility. Besides that, Mr. Farr, while at work for most of the day, again remained in his office most of the time. He had spoken with her just long enough to morning to inform her that there was a hold up with something in the paperwork on his end—some stipulations in the verbiage of the lease that had been put in place by his grandfather more than fifty years ago.

The day seemed to drag on forever, as it was excruciatingly slow. Between nine in the morning and two in the afternoon, only seven customers came through the doors. Shelly was working with floor with her and was entertaining herself by having what was apparently a hilarious and risqué conversation via text on her phone with a guy she met out at a club the other night.

Lauren found herself wanting to share her own tawdry stories from the last few days. It hurt to not be able to share them, especially with someone like Shelly who had been insisting for months that all Lauren needed to do to improve her social situation was to get laid on a semi-regular basis. And having to hide who it was that she was seeing made it all that much more tormenting.

Although…she couldn’t help but wonder if Riley would mind if she started telling people. He had never explicitly asked her not to tell anyone. Probably because he knows no one will ever believe me, she thought.

She busied herself with a crossword puzzle from the day’s paper during the lulls in business, occasionally peering back towards Mr. Farr’s office door. She was debating on the answer for 39 Down when the door opened, signaled by the little buzzer bell that was installed over it.

She looked up and was floored to see Riley walking through the door. He saw her and gave her a knowing grin—a secret sort of smile that actually made her glad that she hadn’t told anyone yet. Still, he didn’t say a word to her and barely looked at her after giving her the smile. Even when he approached the counter and spoke to her, it was very informal. His eyes darted around the store, from shelf to shelf.

“Is Mr. Farr here?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. She was looking at him suspiciously, trying to figure out why he wouldn’t make eye contact with her. “In his office…”

“Thanks,” Riley said, again not so much as looking at her as he started off towards the back of the store.

Lauren watched him go, a seed of distrust wriggling into her heart. She understood the need to maybe keep whatever was going on between them a secret to some regard, but it seemed wrong to completely brush her off in such a way.

As she watched him go, Shelly came up to the register. Her eyes were also glued on Riley as he reached Mr. Farr’s office and gave a knock.

“I tell you,” Shelly said, leaning in close to whisper to Lauren. “There’s not much I wouldn’t give to remove that man’s pants with my teeth.”

Lauren felt the redness creep up into her cheeks but calmed herself with a deep relaxing breath. “Yeah,” she said simply.

Shelly gave Riley one last look, gave a cute little growling sound, and then headed back out onto the floor where she started placing up discount signs on certain shoes. Lauren watched the back of the store as Mr. Farr opened the door, gave Riley a weak smile and then invited him inside, closing the door behind them.

Lauren went back to her crossword puzzle but found it hard to pay much attention to it. She went through a wide range of emotion as she stared at the empty boxes. She felt anger because Riley has basically ignored her—and that didn’t make much sense, considering the fact that he had kissed her so publically in the restaurant last night. But on the heels of that, there was still the intoxicating excitement of having the secret that sat between them.

She managed to get the answers to two more clues down as she sorted through all of this. Just having seen him so unexpectedly had made her swoon and good grief…she was having sporadic images of hauling him into the stock room and doing unmentionable things to him. But she’d be lying to herself if she ignored the fact that he was essentially ignoring her now. Sure, it was only in front of Shelly, but still…what the hell?

Fifteen minutes later, she heard Mr. Farr’s door open up. She turned slowly, trying to look nonchalant, and saw the two men standing in the doorway. Riley’s back was turned to her, looking back into the office. She heard him laugh lightly, a throaty noise that reminded her of where his mouth had nearly gone the night before.

When he started walking towards the register, she made up her mind: she was going to stand at the counter, looking directly at him. She was going to make him look at her and see what his reaction would be.

He came up the aisle and she kept her eyes locked on him, not in a creepy way but in a praised casual stance. There was a fleeting moment where she saw the man she had been seeing over the last two days. There was intent and curiosity in his eyes, tinged with a sexy sort of glare that had let her know that he meant business.

She was also vaguely aware of Shelly standing at the other end of the counter, probably bending over strategically in the act of lifting something at just the right time. Her breasts would be pointed towards him and she’d probably look up at him with the too-sexy smile that, if Lauren was honest, even made her a little hot at times.

But if Shelly did any of that, Lauren didn’t see it. Her eyes were focused on Riley and they watched as he kept walking. He walked to her, past her, and did nothing more than give her a stiff little nod before heading out of the front door. Watching him go, Lauren thought that she could actually feel her heart start to crumble a little bit.

She watched him go out of the store and had to restrain herself from walking out after him to ask him what was going on. She literally held herself to the counter, her fingers digging into the underside of the small ledge on the cashier’s side. As she fought this, Shelly came up beside her and looked outside, too.

“You’re doing it too, aren’t you?” Shelly asked.

“Doing what?”

“Undressing him with your eyes.”

She wasn’t, but the anger that was rising up in her pushed the next comment out of her mouth before she could stop it. “No need,” she said. “I’ve already seen it.”

With that, she left the register and headed towards the back of the store to check on Mr. Farr. She barely heard Shelly give a surprised reply of “You’ve already seen what?” as he walked away.

She was so upset that she wasn’t able to enjoy the slight hint of bewilderment in Shelly’s voice. She reached Mr. Farr’s door, raised her hand to knock, and did everything she could to not start crying.

***

Lauren managed to not cry at all for the remainder of the day. She left the store at 5:00, headed for her car and anxious for a night of vegging out in front of the TV and shifting through equal measures of lust and anger towards Riley. As she got into the car, Shelly flagged her down and raced over to her car.

“You’re in a hurry to get out of here, huh?” Shelly asked.

“A little.”

“Any plans tonight?” Shelly asked.

“Nothing big,” she said.

“You okay? You seemed a little distant there at the end of the shift.”

She shook her head and said, “No. It’s just this stuff with Mr. Farr. I feel bad for him.”

“He seems okay. I think it’s the family ties that are bothering him more than anything.”

“Yeah,” Lauren said, looking to her keys and making it as clear as possible without being rude that she really didn’t feel like talking.

“Well, take care,” Shelly said.

“You too. Are you working tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Brittany, too. With all three of us and Mr. Farr here, I think we’re going to probably officially be told that we’ll be out of a job very soon.”

Lauren nodded, now feeling guiltier than ever that she had met for an interview at Alderholt.

“We’ll see,” was all that Lauren said before she started her car.

She pulled out of the parking lot, tempted to drive over to Riley’s house and confront him face to face. But that wouldn’t do any good. She still wasn’t even sure if she was angry or just confused and slightly hurt. It would probably be best to sort all of that out first.

So she set off to do as she originally planned. She went home and trudged along to her apartment. She hoped against hope that Scott wasn’t roaming the halls. She didn’t know if she had the patience to soak up his staged kindness.

Big talk from a woman that thought it was cute that he was crushing on her just three days ago, she thought. You know, before your billionaire came into the picture.

Hating herself over this just a bit, she entered her apartment, locked the door behind her, and went directly to the fridge. She had never been an emotional eater; all of her weight gains had come from choices she knew were bad, based on horrible diets and a lack of exercise. But dammit, tonight she knew she had that batch of cookie dough in the fridge and a bottle of cheap red wine that needed to be killed off.