Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (5 page)

Especially if she was going to be his.

“
Fine
. Are you listening to yourself, Elias? Mr “architectural perfection” admitting that you went with a design that was just ‘
fine
’?”

“The design was more than fine.” Rolling onto his stomach, Elias gazed out over the magnificent view of London that his suite afforded him. “I just happen to be more interested in the woman at the current moment.”

“….That’s not like you.” Michael’s hesitation showed very clearly just how surprised he was at his friend’s admission. Elias chuckled, shaking his head slowly.

“It’s not, is it?” He himself realized how ridiculous the entire scenario seemed. He, who was usually far too obsessed with his work to give most women the time of day, suddenly wanted to cast aside the only viable option he’d had for this ridiculous contest.

In favor of claiming the winner for far more physical pleasures. “Elias, please don’t tell me you’re going to bullocks this all up. You didn’t even
want
the girl here in the first place. Now you expect to just shag her at your leisure for the next six months?”

“Well, once I charm my way past her defenses, yes.” Sitting up, Elias grinned conspiratorially. “I know I don’t exercise it much, Michael, but you, of all people, should know how charming I can be when I put my mind to it.”

A low groan answered his proclamation. “That’s what worries me.”

The next day, Elias was up early after a decidedly restless night. It was hard for him to sleep for two reasons. One: despite the fact that he knew that this was a huge publicity stunt, he couldn’t help the thrill of excitement that always accompanied his starting a new project; and two: he kept picturing what Catherine Harris slept in.

It was ridiculously unseemly of him, he knew. Elias Johnson fantasized about vaulted arches and artistic balustrades more than anything else. But, for some reason, whenever he tried to mull over ideas for a new project, he instead found himself picturing the divine curve of Catherine’s waist down to ample hips.

Elias had met his fair share of American women in his life. All in all, he considered them brash, loud, cheeky, and far too self-absorbed for their own good. But, Catherine Harris was like no American he’d ever encountered before. Funnily enough, she seemed to be the antithesis of most Americans; which left him wondering: how on earth did she get that way?

He pondered the question on the ride out of the city, as the sun slowly rose above the horizon and the English countryside. However, after an hour-long drive to the sea, he was still nowhere closer to an answer.

Ultimately, he supposed, it didn’t matter. He would get her to divulge to him in short order.

While he himself had gone ahead of his guest to make sure that the building site was prepped, Catherine herself didn’t arrive until close to nine thirty – a good two hours after him. In that time, he managed to contact a number of contracting companies – she would help him choose the one they finally selected for the project – and obtain copies of the permits they would need to begin. Elias was, in fact, so wrapped up in the professional aspect of the job that he had almost forgotten what he had planned for Catherine.

At least, until she arrived.

The moment the diminutive woman stepped out of the gleaming Lincoln that had delivered her to the beachside property, Elias’ body responded instinctively. Today, she wore a red, loose long-sleeved sweater over a pair of jeans that clung deliciously to her lean legs. Her dark hair was piled in a haphazard knot atop her head, her face fresh and clean of the slightest hint of makeup.

He longed to bury his face in her shoulder and sample the soft skin there, but they had some business to take care of first. “Good morning, Catherine.” With a genuine smile, he strode over her, amused when she blushed at his greeting.

“It’s Cat.”

“Pardon?” When he reached her side, his brow arched in inquiry.

“
Cat
.” The young woman repeated, louder this time. “No one calls me Catherine.”

Even better, then. “Well, Cat, what do you think?” Taking her arm in a manner not unlike he had the previous night, Elias steered her firmly over the sea-slide cliff upon which they would build. For a moment, her large, almond-colored eyes gazed over the expansive space and the smear of the sea beyond. She took in the view of the nearest houses – at least a good three miles off – before assessing the dark soil and grass beneath their feet.

To his surprise, she broke away from him – not out of nervousness, but in what appeared to be concentration. Slowly, the dark-haired woman moved over the land, her eyes fixed alternatively on the ground and then the sky. Crossing his arms over his chest comfortably, Elias watched her with a growing sense of bemusement.

After about five minutes, she finally turned back to him, her expression unreadable. “Can I see a copy of the drawing?”

“Of course.” Elias headed over to the makeshift office they’d created for the site and emerged a moment later with the drawing he’d been sent – along with the modifications he’d made, of course.

He handed it to Catherine with relish, and after taking it from him, the young woman just stared.

“What on earth have you
done
to it?”

For a moment, Elias was taken so completely aback that he didn’t quite register what she’d said. “…Excuse me?”

Her full, small mouth pursing into a frown, Catherine held up the plans before her line of sight as she perused them. “You changed it.”

Well, that much was obvious. “Here and here.” The young woman smoothed her hand over the paper in quick motions to indicate the modified ceiling and ornamental front wall. “I can see why you’ve added the rotund arches here, but here? Why block the natural light?” Biting her lip, Catherine continued to go over the plan, heedless of his ever-more-incredulous gaze. “With all of the add-ons, it looks like something
you
would design.”

Elias opened his mouth to agree with her - only to realize the bold point she was trying to make.

It was
her
design. And he’d chosen it precisely because it wasn’t his own. Trying to make it into something it wasn’t…well, he’d been doing that so frequently for the past years that it came naturally now.

“Take this away.” The young woman extracted a pen from the back pocket of her jeans, uncapping it with her teeth. “And this.” She did away with the ornamental wall, as well as half of the upper floor. “Leave the entirety of the windows here.” She scribbled out another addition he’d made as Elias’ brow rose ever higher.  “This looks more like what I originally drew.”

Part of him wanted to be affronted. It was his first impulse and, had Cat been anyone else, Elias would most probably have lost his temper. He hadn’t worked as hard as he had in his career to be questioned.

But, somehow, the fact that the young woman seemed to have no regard for his additions…it intrigued him. She hadn’t yet looked up to see
what
his reaction was, she was so absorbed in the design.

Not unlike he could be himself when he was working on a project.

“Are you offended that I changed your blueprint?”

At his question, Cat seemed to realize what she might have been implying. Her eyes widened and her face flushed.  “Offended! No, I just…well…I thought the point of all of this was for you to pick an emerging talent. Certainly, I’m not questioning your taste…I just…well, if you wanted to design your own house, why go through all this trouble?”

Elias couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

For a woman, Catherine had some enormous balls.  He couldn’t remember the last time someone had attempted to make major revisions to something he’d drawn up. Over the length of his career, he seemed to have adopted an air of unapproachability.

But this tiny girl, who knew absolutely nothing about him, didn’t seem intimidated by him in the slightest. At least, not in a professional sense.

“What?” As she looked up at him, her gorgeous eyes wide in confusion, Elias merely shook his head. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing at all.” He finally managed, running a hand through his dark hair. She really had no idea what she was doing to him.

Or what was coming to her. “So you’d like to keep things simple?” He drew her attention back to the plans in her arms by wrapping his own obtrusively around her shoulders to draw her indulgently back against his body.

The young woman stiffened only slightly before he spoke in a low tone against her ear. “Take away all the additions?”

Cat swallowed thickly, but made no attempt to push her way out of his arms. “Not
all
of them.” She finally managed in a low voice, raising a hand to point to some of the more decorative features he’d incorporated into the ground floor. “I like these. They’re gorgeous.”

She
was gorgeous. And she smelled like heaven. It took every ounce of his resolve not to lower his mouth to her neck and nibble at the site of her pulse right in front of everyone present. “Then we’ll keep them. Your design, after all.”

The small smile that spread across her face was worth his enduring her feisty opinion on his work. Besides that, a part of him could see where she was coming from. Cat had intended for the design to be as simplistic as possible– even simpler than his normally unfettered mind could concoct.

And without all the bells and whistles he’d added, it went right back to what she had intended it to be: the design that caught his eye.

These next weeks were going to be even more intriguing than he’d thought.

**

“So, where did you go to school?”

Cat almost choked on her salmon.

It had taken her a good ten minutes to settle down once they’d been seated at their table in the upscale café – and at least a good five minutes after that of gawking before Elias had convinced her to look at the menu.

She knew she must look ridiculously naïve, but could she help it if she’d never been in such plush surroundings? The best restaurants she’d ever been to were diners in downtown Detroit – and that was just for special occasions.

In the week that she’d been in London, Elias had taken her to more high-class restaurants than she’d known existed. And at each and every one, he refused to even let her see the bill. It wasn’t as if Cat had brought a
lot
of money with her, but she was continually baffled at exactly
how
moneyed Elias was. She remembered a girlfriend of hers telling her that one you reached the billions, you started earning money faster than you could spend it.

Apparently, that was true. “I…um…” She paused with a decadent bite of potato halfway to her mouth as she struggled vainly for a response.

School
? Cat was pretty sure Elias didn’t mean high school, which meant that he was under the impression that she had far more education than she actually did. Clearing her throat, the dark-haired young woman forced herself to meet his searing blue gaze. Swallowing thickly, she divulged the truth.

“I…actually never had a chance to go to college.” Her eyes darted down to her plate and she could feel her face burning. As much as she had been enjoying her time in London, she never imagined she would spend so much of it alone with Elias. And in that time, be coerced into revealing rather intimate details about herself.

For a moment, the silence between them was almost deafening. Within the space of three seconds, Cat went from wondering if Elias had really been flirting with her as much as she suspected to wanting to flee in embarrassment.

“So, where did you learn to design?”

At his next question, her gaze jerked back to his in surprise. Far from looking disgusted with her, Elias looked oddly…interested.  His blue eyes were gleaming with intrigue as he waited for her to answer his question.

“I…have a book.” She finally managed, fiddling with her fork almost restlessly. “A library let me have it. There are some basic architectural concepts in it…and I had a few semesters of community college. That, plus the internet…I mean, it’s amazing what you can do these days on the web.”

She might have been playing own her efforts just a little bit. It had taken no small amount of dedication to find the answers to some of her question. She must have spent hundreds of hours of her spare time on the internet.

“So you learned how to draw like
that
…from a textbook. And a few hours in front of a computer.” It was a statement rather than a question, and Elias’ deep, sexily inflected tone only made her blush even darker than before. Cat swore to God, the man could make
anything
sound ridiculously sensual by the simple virtue of spouting it from his lips.

While other people ran all over the place, tripping over themselves in an effort to make sure he got what he demanded when he demanded it, Cat had the luxury of just being able to watch the man – every minute facial expression, the way his brow drew downward when he was upset, and the way he seemed to embody the artistry he created. Elias was complicated and complex, but at the same time, very simple: