She might have overdone it just a little bit.

Elias gave Cat a long once over that sent tingles of arousal over her skin and she felt herself flushing in a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. She immediately second-guessed the evening she’d spent shopping on London’s High Street – spending most of the little money she had on lingerie that literally made her jaw drop at the sight of the price tag. All it was, she reminded herself, was a concoction of lace and silk. It shouldn’t make so much of a difference, right?

Clearly it made a difference to Elias.

He was too busy looking at her to even pull his signature move of tugging her along by her forearm – a gesture that always gave her goose bumps. So, instead, Cat merely stepped into his room, closing the door firmly behind them.

Shutting them in together.

Tonight, she had no intention of leaving Elias’ room until she had what she wanted, and her goal had nothing to do with architectural structures.

He was dressed for bed, in a pair of loose flannel pajama pants and nothing else, and the sight of his bare chest alone was almost enough to make her swoon, but Cat kept her eye on the prize. “Did you order this?” She held up the bottle of scotch, and Elias’ eyes flickered to it. The young woman had run into the bellboy in the hall and taken the bottle from him, as well as tipped him. She didn’t want to be disturbed for a while – which was ridiculously brazen of her.

And in this moment, Cat couldn’t have given a damn.

She knew she wasn’t the most amazing seductress on the planet, but she was willing to bet that didn’t matter to Elias. He was still more interested in the sight of her breasts in the bustier that she’d bought than his four-hundred-dollar bottle of scotch. “Elias?” she repeated, slightly louder, and his gaze snapped up to her face in answer.

The scalding heat reflected there took Cat’s breath away. “Do you…do you have glasses for us?” She could barely get the words out with her heart thundering against her ribs the way it was.

In a trice, he’d taken the scotch from her to toss onto the couch. “Fuck the bloody booze.”

And then she was in his arms, crushed against his chest as his mouth devoured hers.

Every time she went without kissing him, Cat thought she remembered the taste of the man – that she could never possibly forget. And every time, she was wrong. Now, when he kissed her, it was as if she was starving for him – as if she had never fully tasted him the way she was meant to.

With a groan, Elias tongue slid out to tangle with hers and his fingers curled indulgently into her thighs, lifting her body from the ground to carry over to the nearest available flat surface.

Which just so happened to be the bed.

When Elias captured her lower lip between his teeth, she groaned, her fingers sliding through his hair. Cat arched her body against his, reveling in the solid feel of his bare chest against her own scantily clad torso. The silk and lace bustier she wore was so insubstantial, in fact, that when her nipples hardened through the thin material, she could feel the rasping against Elias’ chest through the material.

The ensuing sensation sent a jolt of awareness to the core of her and she felt herself ruining her expensive panties, as her lower lips slicked almost immediately. 

“Where,” Elias demanded against her mouth hungrily, “did you get this?”

Cat wouldn’t have been able to remember the intricate, hard-to-pronounce French name of the shop if she hadn’t been underneath a man she wanted more than she needed to breathe, and she certainly couldn’t remember it under the circumstances. “Dunno…” She breathed against his mouth, shuddering as his tongue slid across her lower lip. “Not important.”

“On the contrary.” Elias’ mouth moved from her own to her ear to nip at her earlobe teasingly. “I need to know so I can buy the whole bloody store.”

Any witty retort Cat may have had was forgotten when Elias pressed his hips down against hers, grinding the ridge of his erection against the heat at the crux of her thighs. When Cat inhaled sharply, Elias kissed her again, deeply, his hands moving to the edge of the bustier that she wore. When his fingers swept deftly over her lower belly, Cat groaned softly, the need between her legs rising to a fever pitch. She wanted nothing more than yank down Elias’ pants and guide him into her. It seemed as if she’d dreamed of nothing else for the past few weeks.

But he had other plans.

When Cat’s hands moved to the drawstring of his pajama pants, Elias caught them, holding her antsy fingers in place as he bit gently at her lower lip in reprimand. “Patience, Cat…”

That said, he certainly didn’t waste any time in reaching beneath her to undo the hooks of her bustier. The moment he did so, the garment fell loose around her arms and Elias tugged it down inch by torturous inch until he freed the globes of her aching breasts.

His eyes never leaving hers, Elias lowered his head to circle her aureoles with his tongue, one by one, before drawing a stiff peak into his mouth. As sensation lanced through Cat, she cried out, her womb clenching in hungry anticipation. Elias kneaded her breasts slowly as he sucked and bit at her nipples until she was squirming beneath him, breathless with need. No matter how incessantly she tugged at the man’s hair or bucked her hips against him, nothing she did could force Elias to increase his pace.

When he took a nipple between his teeth to flicker his tongue against the sensitive little nub, Cat arched from the bed, cursing. “Jesus, Elias…don’t torture me…”

Almost immediately, he raised his head, releasing her nipple with a soft pop to stare down at her. His expression was a mixture of intense affront and arousal that made Cat flush slightly as he glared down at her.

“Don’t torture you?” When he spoke, his voice was a soft, dangerous growl. “You don’t know the meaning of torture, Cat. That panty-wetting, delicious accent of his lowered to a low purr was enough to make her shudder in awareness. “Torture is watching a woman you can’t have prance around in front of you for weeks and thinking of her every night. Torture is knowing her room isn’t ten feet down the hall while you try to keep yourself from visiting her every hour, on the hour. Torture is working yourself into a frenzy imagining every different way you’ll have her when she does come to you. So…” Elias murmured, finally lowering his head to her breast once more to kiss her nipple with a feather light touch. “Don’t tell me of torture.”

With that, his teeth grazed at the underside of her breast and Cat moaned softly as he continued southward, his words running together in her head. She wanted to question his earnestness – the raw truth of his profession – but she was too absorbed in every hot press of his mouth that seared through her as he made his way down her torso.  Cat squirmed, a whimper escaping her, when the man’s tongue dipped into her belly button, and then, to her obscene frustration and delight, danced over the exposed line of her hip bone.

Frantically, she tugged at his hair, trying to force him back upwards so she could get him undressed, but Elias wasn’t having it. Taking hold of her wrists, he pinned them to the bed on either side of her hips, staring up at her with a disapproving scowl. “Stop it, you naughty little minx.” His blue eyes gleamed hotly in the low light of the bedroom. “I’m going to taste your sweet little cunny until you come for me and then, maybe, if you’re a good girl, you’ll get my cock. Do you understand?”

The shudder that passed through Cat was so violent she almost forgot how to breathe. She had forgotten, for a moment, that Elias was a man who gave orders and expected them to be obeyed. Clearly, that was equally true of his prowess in the bedroom. When he nipped sharply at her hip, she yelped, her heart hammering against her ribs as he repeated his demand. “I asked if you understood.”

“Yes,” she replied breathlessly, the ache between her legs a dull throb of desire. “I understand.”

Elias’ satisfied smile was utterly wicked. “Good.”

When he released her hands, Cat’s fingers curled into the coverlet and she watched, transfixed, as the man’s fingers curled into the hem of her panties. By this point, the thin fabric was dark with her arousal, and when Elias inched her panties down over her thighs, several glistening strands of moisture stretched between the lace and her bare lower lips.

At the sight, Elias groaned. “Gorgeous…”

Lowering his head, he placed a kiss against each of her bare thighs; and then, his tongue moved over the drenched crease of her in a long lap.

If Cat had any decency at all, she’d be embarrassed by the utterly inhuman sound that escaped her. Even as her hips arched from the mattress, Elias’ strong hands pinned her back down, rendering her pelvis immobile as he continued his ministrations. Elias licked over her slowly, almost lazily, before latching onto the small bead of her clit to suckle lightly. Cat gasped, her fingers flying back to his head to find purchase against his scalp as the man languidly mouthed her between the legs. He licked and sucked at her clit until her toes curled, before running his tongue over the length of her sex to tease her entrance until Cat thought she might very well lose her mind from the onslaught of pleasure assaulting her.

When Elias’ tongue nudged a spot right up underneath her clit, a sharp cry escaped her. Any attempt to buck her hips against his mouth was met by his firm hold on her – but that didn’t stop the coil of delicious warmth in her belly from winding tighter and tighter. Then, all at once, Elias’ tongue flickered against her clit rapidly and two fingers pressed deep into her slick passage way, sending stars shooting to life before her eyes.

Cat came hard, her lover’s name on her lips as her back arched powerfully off the bed. Every muscle in her body wound tight as a bowstring as she shuddered, pleasure rolling over her in intense waves drugging ecstasy that left her limp in their wake.

When Cat finally came back to earth, it was to Elias lingering between her legs with soft kisses and licks that sent little aftershocks of sensation through her. Groaning, Cat tugged at the strands of hair in her fingers. “Elias, I…oh God…. please don’t. That’s… God!” He only relinquished his treated with a gentle, lingering suckle of her clit before finally sliding his body along the length of hers to kiss her again. When Cat tasted herself on his lips, she moaned.

“I’ll get back to that later,” Elias promised darkly against her mouth. He took her wrists firmly in his hands and, this time, placed them on the ties of his pants of his own volition.

Cat didn’t need to be told twice. Within the space of three seconds, she had undone them and was pushing the garment down his legs. The moment his engorged member was free, it reared up against his stomach, thick, long, and absolutely gorgeous. It was just as perfect as the rest of him – and Cat didn’t know how she could have imagined anything different. “Elias, please…” she begged against his mouth. “I need-”

He cut her off when his tongue slid against hers, and he kissed her so thoroughly that she went lightheaded from it. Only when he was finished did he answer her. “I know what you need, Catherine.” His deep gaze burned into hers as the head of his erection slid against her slick lower lips and the young woman almost swallowed her tongue. “You need to feel good. And I’ll see to it.”

With that, the man reached downward to direct his erection between her heated lower folds – and then he was inside her. Inch by glorious inch, as Cat arched from the bed, clutching at his shoulders as her head fell back in delectation.

She couldn’t ever remember being stretched, being filled like this. The sensation was beyond words. “Look at me, Catherine.” She wouldn’t have been able to disobey him at that moment if she tried, and Cat’s gaze was drawn inextricably to the burning green one above her. As he continued to slide into her, all the way to the hilt, the dark-haired girl watched his jaw tic and his eyes slide closed briefly as she closed in around him. “Christ, you’re so tight…” She shuddered at the obscenity of his words as his hips finally pressed against hers. “So bloody perfect.”

Burying his face in her shoulder, the man bucked his hips once and Cat cried out at the sharp thrust and the intense, white-hot pleasure it sent streaking through her. Elias’ answering groan reverberated through her body as his mouth latched onto her neck. The next delicious slide of him within her made her shudder, and by the third, Cat was moaning almost desperately, her fingernails curling into Elias’ neck and shoulders as he plied her again and again.

The rhythm he set was punishing, barely giving her time to catch her breath between thrusts – and with every rasp of his body against hers, his chest perking her nipples into aching peaks and clenching her stomach, Cat thought she’d died and gone to heaven. She lost herself, moaning and gasping his name – marking up his back obscenely with the way she clutched at him, the way she took the depth of his thrusts and begged him for more.

It seemed as if every nerve ending in her body hummed with anticipatory energy as she writhed beneath him, pressed further and further to the edge of her precipice. But if Cat had thought it was Elias’ precise, devastating strokes that would undo her, she was wrong. Eventually, it was the way he groaned raggedly. The way he cursed and growled her name as his rhythm dissolved into erratic, jarring bucks of his hips that she felt against her womb. The desperate way Elias clutched at her as he pinned her to the bed with a final jack of his hips, his entire form shuddering as he came inside her – that was what sent her flying apart into a million pieces, each of them inscribed with his name.

When she came back to earth, it was to the sound of her own labored breathing. Elias was still atop her, his body covered in just the slightest sheen of sweat as it pressed into hers; and far from feeling crushed, Cat merely wanted to keep him there for as long as humanly possible. She didn’t think she’d ever felt so content in her entire life, with the warm, firm weight of Elias atop her and the warmth of her most recent orgasm still humming through her system.

A full five minutes passed – enough for her to start drifting off – before Elias finally moved up and off of her, and Cat bit back a moan at his sudden absence. The man raised himself up on magnificent arms before swinging over to sit at the edge of the bed. Cat watched with what she hoped was a mild expression. Despite the fact that man had quite literally almost hammered her into unconsciousness, she felt the beginnings of new arousal stir at the sight of his broad, muscled back and gorgeous shoulders. The sight of the red marks she’d left there, however, was enough to make her flush as she considered him.

It had to be impossible to want someone so soon after having them – and she could only hope that Elias might be down for another round…after a nap perhaps.

She watched him run those dexterous, dangerous hands through his hair before he looked over his shoulder at her, a brow arched. When she merely stuck her tongue out at him childishly in response, Elias smirked, turning around to lean across the bed on his washboard stomach so they were face to face.

“You, Catherine Harris, are asking to be punished.”

She didn’t think she’d ever wanted anyone in the world to punish her as much as Elias Johnson, and the sentiment must have shown in her eyes, because he chuckled softly. Lowering his head, he nipped at the tip of her exposed breast before rolling away, leaving her all but panting in his wake.

Instead of jumping his bones, however, Catherine just watched the magnificent, naked man strut across the room to retrieve the bottle of scotch he’d tossed aside so callously earlier. “I think I need that drink now.”

She couldn’t help but laugh as he disappeared to retrieve to glasses from the bar before returning to the bed with their drinks. “And after,” Elias clinked his glass against hers, his gaze gleaming with dark promise. “After, I’ll be glad to give you anything you might desire, Cat.”

Anything. Well, that was quite the promise. After veritable years of celibacy, Cat could think of quite a lot.

**

“Elias?”

She was going to kill him.

Even after having had Cat in his bed for most of the past morning, Elias was pretty sure that he was on the cusp of carrying her back up to the suite and mandating that they don’t leave it for the next twenty-four hours.

Currently, they were by the hotel’s massive, pristine, heated indoor pool. He himself hadn’t planned on swimming, but when Cat mentioned that she wanted to visit the facilities, he hadn’t been able to pass up the opportunity.

And he didn’t regret it. She didn’t let all her curves hang out in a skimpy two-piece – that wasn’t Catherine’s style – but the dark red one-piece she wore was more than enough to make him hard as a rock in his slacks. The wet material clung to her breasts, outlining their peaked nipples, and outlined the curves of her hips and behind lasciviously. It was almost enough to make him want to whisk her upstairs simply so no other man could see her.

“Elias.”

He was jolted by his reverie by the sharp summons from beside him and he turned to see Michael smirking at him. The doctor had taken a leave of absence from work to spend some time with his closest friend, and, as such, was using the opportunity to tease him mercilessly.

Of course, Michael would have shown up just before he and Cat had become intimate with one another. Now he had room to gloat that the advice he’d given Elias worked like a charm, and all Elias could do was swallow it.

“What?” he answered with a long-suffering sigh, and Michael merely chuckled in reply.

“You stare at her any harder and your eyes will fall out of your goddamned head,” the good doctor quipped, making Elias roll said eyes just to prove they wouldn’t.

“I’m not staring.”

“Like hell you aren’t. I’m surprised the poor girl doesn’t burst into flames. Haven’t you been getting enough of her in your off hours?”

One would think so. Since the fateful night that Cat had come to him almost two weeks ago, Elias had her to himself whenever humanly possible. While, of course, she was here to work, whenever they weren’t at the job site, he found new and inventive ways to get his hands on her.

At first, she’d been tentative. The first morning he woke after spending the night with her, he found her gone. Almost immediately, he made his way to her room to demand why, only to find that she thought she was respecting his privacy. He had, of course, showed her that wasn’t how he interpreted things; in showing her, he might have lifted her onto her bathroom counter and fucked her until she couldn’t speak properly, but he thought she might have learned her lesson. She never scurried from his bed afterwards unless he allowed her to, and that was the way he preferred it.

Cat, being Cat, had her boundaries, of course. She didn’t mind him having his way with her in any way he could conceive of when they were behind closed doors, but she made him promise that they wouldn’t show any signs of intimacy while they were working, or for any ravenous paparazzi that might exploit such a juicy story.

And for the most part he kept his word. It wasn’t Elias’ fault if he was compelled to cop a feel of her glorious behind or steal a kiss when they were in the car or alone in the construction office. Despite what one might think, he hadn’t had enough of her.

And he was beginning to wonder if he ever would.

The woman was in his blood. In the scant few hours that they weren’t together each day, all he thought of was her, and when he was with her, he wanted to be inside her. It was like no casual fling he’d ever experienced, and, if the expression on Michael’s face was any indicator, that much had to be evident to anyone with eyes.

“Has there never been a woman on your mind constantly, Mike?” he rebutted in his own defense, tearing his eyes from Cat’s dripping figure to lie back in his lounge chair. “Never had a favorite?”

“Don’t insult me.” The doctor chuckled, taking a sip of the martini he’d ordered when he arrived. “Of course. But this isn’t favoritism, Elias…and I think you know it.” There was nothing accusatory in Michael’s words, but they were, nonetheless, enough to male Elias eye him skeptically.

“She’s brilliant, she’s beautiful, and she’s here. Is there any reason I shouldn’t be enjoying her company?”

He didn’t see any flaw in it. Especially since he couldn’t ever remember enjoying a woman’s company as much as he enjoyed Cat’s. When she wasn’t staving off his incessant attentions, she was usually enticing him with her unending work ethic, or making him laugh at how flustered she got at being treated to certain luxuries that came commonplace to him. Despite the fact that he’d had her more times than he could count in the past fortnight, she hadn’t once come to him to ask for money, favors, or anything of the like.

He was completely entranced.

“Of course not.  I’m glad you’re happy. I’d just advise you, as your friend, not to rush into anything.” Mike’s words were matter of fact – succinct – as he took another sip of his martini. Elias gazed over at him, his expression carefully neutral.

“This is me you’re talking to here, Michael. I feel that if I know anything, I know how to handle women.”

Michael chuckled. “You know how to handle the women you’re used to. Wasn’t it you who told me that Cat is an entirely different breed?”

Indeed it was. And he had absolutely no problem admitting that he had never dealt with a woman quite like Cat. At his worried expression, however, Michael merely sighed, setting his glass down on a nearby table. “I’m not saying you’re not on the right track, Elias. By all means, enjoy her. She seems like a bang up girl. Just make sure to pace yourself.”

Elias expelled a low breath, nodding once, curtly.

He didn’t think he was moving particularly quickly with Cat. He could get her clothes off quickly, but when it came to romantic inclinations, Catherine and he hadn’t really discussed them. They were working together and they happened to enjoy one another’s bodies.

It was their current, common convenience, and he had to admit: he hoped things stayed that way for a long while.

**

It had been a good while since Cat had a chance to speak with her mother. In fact, as she sat down in front of her computer to turn on Skype, it suddenly seemed like an eternity. So much had happened in the past two weeks – and she could only imagine how her mom’s face would light up when she told her.

Cat couldn’t keep herself from smiling when she thought about it.

How on earth had she, of all people, ended up in a position where she could put her hands on Elias Johnson whenever she wanted?

After the first night they’d spent together, she’d floated around on cloud nine for a while, unable to believe her luck, until the man made it perfectly clear that he didn’t expect what had happened between them to be a one-time thing.

And since that night, Cat spend every subsequent one not in her own hotel room, but in his.

Of course, she had mentioned to Elias more than once that he was wasting money on her hotel room now if she wasn’t going to sleep in it, and every time she raised the issue, he merely arched a brow at her and she remembered that he had more money than he could ever possibly spend.

That much was evident in the nature of his ever-more-extravagant gifts.

Cat had never been one to expect things from men. She might have gotten flowers from a man once or twice in her life, but those relationships had never lasted long and she sensed the gifts were brought more from obligation than from actual care. She’d long learned that if she wanted something, she was more than capable of getting it for herself, and never hesitated to.

But Elias…he was a completely different animal.

When they were out at the jobsite, she had mentioned that she liked a particular tool he was using to measure a refined design and he bought her one – regardless of the four-hundred-dollar price tag. When she tried to return it to him, the man merely…distracted her until it was too late and she couldn’t remember why she was arguing in the first place. Then, there was all the lingerie.

Though she couldn’t even remember the name of the random shop she found on London’s High Street, Elias had located it and, true to his promise, had bought up half the damn store. About a week ago, five or six boxes arrived filled with thousands of dollars’ worth of gorgeous, expensive lingerie that she promised him that she would never wear. Cat just wasn’t that kind of girl. What she bought had been for a special occasion, and she couldn’t fathom the thought of constantly wearing scratching lace under everything she owned. Of course, when she brought this up to Elias, he merely told her she could wear something different with him each night.

But even if that was the case, it would take an eternity for her to get through all of the bustiers, nighties, and teddies, some of which she was too embarrassed to even look at.

Every time she so much as mentioned she liked something, it showed up in her hotel room. There was a painting in a gallery they visited that she’d been mortified to find that Elias bought for her at a staggering thirty grand, chocolates from a famed London chocolatier that they sampled on the street, and a set of charcoal pencils that had felt good in her hand but were ridiculously overpriced. It had come to the point where, when they went out together, Cat stopped telling the man when she liked things so he wouldn’t go absolutely overboard.

Still…she had to admit that it was sweet that he seemed to care enough about her to pay attention to what he liked. It let her hope that maybe, just maybe, Elias wanted more than to just bang her brains out at every available opportunity.

Though that part was nothing to sneeze at either.

When she regaled all of this to her mother, of course, the older woman was delighted. She listened to Cat describe the tale of the past two weeks (leaving out some of the more inappropriate details) and crowed triumphantly when she was done.

“What did I tell you, darling? And you were so worried that you’d never catch his eye.” The soft reprimand made Cat flush slightly.

“Well, it’s all well and good that he wants me. I’m not complaining. I just…” She trailed off, trying to decide how best to put her feelings into words. “I don’t just want him, Mom.” She sighed, shaking her head before her mother’s concerned image on the screen. “Elias is gorgeous – anyone can see that. But there’s more to him than that…much more. And I think I like all of it. Is that…bad?”

Her mother shook her head, her smile reassuring and warm. “Of course not, darling. You have feelings for the man. You wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble to get him to respect you if you didn’t! And it certainly sounds as if he respects you – in bed and out.”

“Mother.” Cat’s face flushed darkly as she buried it in her hands. “Please.”

The elder woman just laughed softly at her discomfort. “Sorry, darling. What I’m saying is: if you have feelings for the man, tell him. What could you have to lose?”

Well, that was a loaded question if there ever was one. She had plenty to lose. It had taken her weeks to get Elias to respect her, and she knew damned well that he was a man used to having women fawn over him. Elias was one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. There were probably a dozen women who professed to have feelings for him every single day – and though he probably had no problem tumbling into bed with them, that was it.

It would be simpler, she often told herself, to keep her mouth shut. She was enjoying what they had – the easy camaraderie at the job site, the way he could pull her into an alcove and ravage her senseless. If she brought feelings into the mix, that would be complicating things.

Blowing out a breath, she ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head. “Honestly, Mom? I don’t know. I really don’t.”

She was still contemplating that night by the time she came up to her hotel room to shower. Though she herself had left the jobsite early to work on some materials ordering forms, Elias stayed late, meaning that she endured the car trip back to London and the ensuing paparazzi alone. When she reached the safety of her hotel room, she breathed a sigh of relief, peeling off her clothes as she headed for the shower.

The hot water and glorious marble accouterment were just what she needed to wash the stress of her day away.

Though the weather forecast had declared clear skies that day, there’s been a torrential downpour, and as such, one of the crews hadn’t come out to the jobsite – meaning they weren’t there when a stack of beams collapsed. It had been up to her, Elias, the foreman, and a number of other builders to put things back in order, and by the time everything was said and done she was tired, wet, dirty, and sore.

As she let the hot water sluice over her body, she smirked, remembering how Elias had admonished her for getting in on the manual labor. He’d tried to send her into the office trailer not once, but twice, citing that she didn’t need to help out when there were so many builders around – and she had very politely ignored him. If there was a task to be done, she had no qualms doing it – especially since the design comparisons she’d done that day were relatively light.

Truth be told, she loved the way Elias scowled at her when she defied him – as if no one had ever dared. It was refreshing. It gave her a little zing knowing that she didn’t let him control her as much outside the bedroom as he did in it.

And God Lord did he…

At the mere memory of the previous night, her cheeks flushed and her body warmed. She had never known Elias could be so…creative in his sexual endeavors, but she certainly hadn’t been disappointed; and they’d finally found a use for some of her extra lingerie that was lying around.

Remembering how lightly the silk had chaffed her wrists made Cat groan softly as she felt herself growing hot between the legs. That man was going to be the absolute death of her.

“Thinking of me, I hope.”

Cat whirled with a shriek to see Elias leaning against the counter as he watched her through the clear shower partition, his bright blue gaze amused. At the sight of him, she exhaled, the hand she clutched to her bosom dropping as she sighed. “Jesus Christ, Elias. You scared the ever-loving shit out of me.”

“Obviously.” That self-satisfied chuckle of his should have irritated her, but instead, it only stoked the fire in her belly. How the hell did a man as large as him move that damned silently?

“I thought you were staying late at the cliff.”

“I was going to…” The man’s eyes perused her bare form through the glass and Cat remembered that she was completely naked. “And then I wanted you. So, I came back.”

His admission sent a shiver down her spine and Cat swallowed thickly as the low flame between her legs burst into a full-on inferno. “Are you going to come out?” Elias arched that imperious brow of his and the young woman merely laughed breathlessly, turning her back on him just to spite him.

“I’m in the middle of a shower. You’re just going to have to wait.”

Cat didn’t, for one second, think that she had appeased him. Squirting some of the fragrant body wash she’d bought herself onto a shower puff, she began to lather up, deliberately ignoring the man at her back. Perhaps sixty seconds passed before the shower door opened and Elias’ presence filled what had been an immense marble stall. The moment he stepped in, he crowded her against the far corner, and Cat swallowed a mixture of mirth and arousal as she squirmed, trying to escape the reach of his arms. “No, no, no! I’m busy.” Her ribs hurt from the effort of keeping her laughter in.

“Yes.” He growled against her neck hotly, hauling her back against him. “I’ll show you busy, woman.” He turned her in his arms, guiding them both back under the heated spray to wash away the suds that covered her. His mouth covered hers in the same instant that he lifted her into the air, pressing her against the cool marble wall of the shower.

As the cold flooded her system, Cat gasped, wrapping her legs around the trim waist before her as Elias probed her mouth hungrily. Had it really only been since that morning that they’d been together? It seemed like much, much longer…

Her fingers threaded through his wet hair as his mouth left hers and he hoisted her higher against the wall – so his mouth was level with her breast. When he suckled at her nipple hotly, Cat groaned, letting her head fall back against the shower wall with a gentle thunk. She bucked her hips against the man who held her, trapped between the long column of muscle that was his body and the solid shower wall.

With her opposite hand, Cat reached down blindly until she found the throbbing heat of Elias’ erection between them. When she took hold of it in her hand, the man groaned against the tip of her breast, making her shudder at the ensuing sensation. It only took a moment of her rubbing herself against him enticingly as she stroked his member for Elias to curse, yanking her hand out of the way to arrange himself briefly before thrusting into her.

Cat made an extremely unbecoming sound, and came on the spot, her toes curling as her body quivered.

As the waves of pleasure crashed over her, Elias merely held her pinned against the wall, his breathing low and ragged in her ear. It took her a long moment to recover, and when she did, it was only to the discovery that her man was still rock hard inside her. When she looked up to meet his intense, lustful gaze, Elias chuckled darkly. “That worked up, were you?”

Cat whimpered, arching against him desperately. “Don’t tease, Elias.”

The man’s fingers curled into her backside as he pressed deeper into her, drawing a tortured moan from her throat.

“Ah, Catherine… You know me better than that.”

Elias kept the momentum up and crashed against her, as powerfully as a tidal wave, all the while tensing his arms tightly as he held her suspended in the air. She thought there was no breaking him; she had already given herself over to orgasm and throttled him so hard she damn near thought she broke him. But he was fine – still the hardest man – no the hardest object – she had ever felt in her life pushing deeper and without relent. She didn’t want him to stop, she begged him to keep going, to bring her there again – to make her lose her mind for just a moment, the way she always fantasized she would for her first time. 

This man knew what he was doing. He almost seemed to anticipate her dirtiest thoughts, giving her just the suckle, just the thrust she begged for. He pounded her so hard and exerted himself so vigorously, they both began to sweat even in the shower.

Inhaling mostly steam, they were out of breath fast – but damned if Elias was still hard, and grabbing her arms, making sure she stayed put. It gave him a primal feeling, to pin her down and disallow her to move, just until he could dominate her completely. Send all of his energy into her and reduce her carefully controlled persona to a crying animal – a woman out of control and begging for release.

She felt another orgasm building softly at first, burning in the bottom of her pelvis and rising slowly, sending flames all over her lips and up to her pubic bone, which seemed to vibrate unconsciously, readying her body and mind for unmitigated agony and ecstasy. 

He couldn’t help but smile as she quaked, clenching her pelvis hard and yanking him around with her wettest folds, finally breaking his hard flex that powered his erection.

Cat’s orgasm was so loud and carefree, it tickled his senses; to see her writhe, to scream, and to pound against his shoulders with her fists – just out of pure orgasmic frenzy.

It was more than he could bear and he lost all control over himself, releasing his seed inside, his whole body careening back and forth but still holding her strong in the air. He moaned just as loud as she did and finally put her back on the ground, though he held her sweating but still body close to him.

He withdrew from her and felt an aura of energy floating above them, a euphoric moment in which they could barely breathe or hardly stop gazing into each other’s eyes.

It was a good deal later before they actually finished their business in the shower, which required them to take another shower to clean up from the first one. By that point, Cat’s legs were absolutely boneless, and the shower was more her leaning against Elias as he washed her with slow, leisurely strokes that she suspected were designed to arouse her just as much as they were to get her clean.

Eventually, however, they tumbled out into the bathroom and wrapped themselves in the terry robes the hotel had provided to order room service. Though Cat thought the man might try to coax her into round two while their food was prepared, to her surprise, he merely settled down on the bed with her, showing her the bevy of British and international channels the TV offered.

“You have time to watch TV?” she murmured, reclining on her side as she gazed at him from her position across the bed. “Aren’t you busy doing the billionaire philanthropist thing?”

“You’re hilarious, Catherine,” he replied with a smirk, before glancing over at her, and then the three-foot space she had put between them when she begged to leave to go to the bathroom. “Why the bloody hell are you all the way over there?”

The young woman’s lips curved up into an amused smile. “Why the bloody hell are you so possessive?”

In reply, Elias merely held out his hand with a scowl and Cat rolled her eyes, feigning irritation before she rolled into bed to situate herself against him.

Even though they had showered, the man still carried his familiar spicy, fresh scent, and Cat sank into it, burying her face in the front of his robe as he flipped through channels.

It was amazingly cozy.

Like this, one could almost imagine that they were an item – equals in life and love.

Love.

Christ. Cat felt her stomach twist in sudden realization as the notion washed over her. While she’d felt fine admitting to herself that she had feelings for Elias, she’d always avoided using the L-word, even in her own mind.

The L-word was dangerous.

She’d only known Elias for about six months, and half of that time been spent wanting the man so badly that she could barely think straight. She couldn’t possibly be in love with him…could she?

She admired him. Looked up to him as a fellow-architect and was constantly amazed by his skill. She found that she could speak to him about the aspirations she had for herself in a way that she could with few people, and in his own way, Elias encouraged her to follow her dreams. When she was with him, she found herself inexplicably on cloud nine – even when he was showering her with gifts she didn’t need. And when she was away from him…

Exhaling hotly, Cat lifted her head from Elias chest to look down at him. The man’s gaze was fixed on the TV, and as she looked over his structured, masculine features, her heart thudded painfully against her ribs.

It took perhaps five seconds for him to notice that she was staring and once he did, he looked over at her, his gaze inquisitive.

“What?”

When Cat opened her mouth, half-formed thoughts came spilling out before she could stop them. “You know…maybe…once your house is finished…I could stick around. You know,” she hoped her voice wasn’t trembling as much as it sounded like it was, “Just to see how well the design works out…to check for structural integrities and see how the building wears for…a little while.” When Elias merely arched that brow of his at her, her stomach clenched and she rushed on, her nerves getting the better of her. “I could move out of the hotel, stay somewhere cheaper…I wouldn’t want to burden you…it wouldn’t have to be for very long.”

She didn’t think she’d ever been so anxious in her entire life, and she was sure that Elias could feel her heart thundering against him.

The man’s clear blue eyes slid closed and a long breath escaped him before he spoke.

“I wouldn’t think there would be a need for you to remain after the structure is finished.”

Cat immediately stiffened in his arms. “Your structure is sound. I doubt there will be any issues, and we’re watching the builders every step of the way. And I could inform you of any issues via letter or e-mail, of course. I wouldn’t want you to remain in the dark.”

And there it was, just like that.

The dismissal.

Elias fully expected her to leave once their time together was up. No matter how many gifts he lavished upon her or how many times they fell into bed together, she was still just another woman to him.

While Cat might have been successful in gaining his respect, that seemed to be about all she had done.

“I see.” The words were hollow when they left her, and she immediately rolled away from him to straighten at the edge of the bed, swallowing the tide of emotions that rose in her.

Damn.

Fuck.

She knew she should be able to shake this off casually, she knew what kind of man Elias Johnson was.

So, why did she feel like she couldn’t breathe? Like something inside her had been torn away?

And all at once, Cat realized that she had made a terrible, terrible mistake. She felt hot moisture rising to well in her eyes and took a deep breath, standing to stride to the bathroom before she could fall apart completely.

Once the door was safely closed behind her, she crumpled, tears streaking down her face as she sagged against the counter.

How the hell could she have been so stupid? What could have driven her to think that Elias Johnson might want to keep her around? The infamous womanizer? A man who could have any woman on earth he wanted?

Of course he wouldn’t choose her.

She bit back her sobs, shaking her head in self-loathing. Jesus Christ, she was an idiot.

When a soft knock came on the door, she jolted, her head snapping up. “Cat?” Even in her current state, his cultured baritone was almost enough to bring her to her knees. “Are you alright?”

“Fine!” she replied, perhaps a little too cheerily. “I’ll be out in a minute!”

“…Alright.”

As soon as the man’s footsteps receded from the door, Cat allowed herself a shuddering breath. Luckily, she’d left her cell phone on the bathroom counter in anticipation of a call earlier, so now, it was in easy reach. Before she could lose her gall, the young woman picked it up and immediately navigated to a discount airline ticket website.

She needed to be on the next plane home.

She didn’t belong here.

She had never belonged here.

**

When Elias woke the next morning, he found himself alone. He was about to reach for Cat when he remembered that she’d begged off sleeping with him the previous night because she’d been ill.

Very suddenly ill.

She got up and ran to the bathroom and hadn’t come out.

Part of him wanted to call an ambulance for her, but she assured him that she was fine and just needed rest.

But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t check on her now.

The architect glanced at the clock beside his bed, frowning to see that it was only six thirty in the morning. She was probably still asleep, but he would allow himself to peek in on her.

Elias slid from bed, stepping into his pajama bottoms before he made his way down the hall to her room, remembering the night before. There had been incredible sex, yes, but there had also been questions he’d known were inevitable.

When Michael told him to watch himself, he’d taken the advice to heart. Not that he had never watched himself when it came to women, but, as his friend reminded him, Cat was no regular woman.

She would understand.

When they were together, sparks flew, but they only had a limited amount of time. She, no doubt, would soon be an architect in her own right and he…well…he didn’t want to delude her. His lifestyle waited for no one. Of all the people in his life, he imagined she might be one who would most understand that. He had to go where the next design took him, and he would always have hers to remind him of her…

All at once, Elias’ face fell.

The door to Cat’s suite was wide open, and several suitcases that he recognized as hers were stacked on a cart next to a waiting bellhop.

Immediately, his stomach twisted and he increased his stride, hurrying towards the room.

When he poked his head inside, all evidence that the suite had been inhabited was gone. There was a cleaning crew tidying up the mess of the bed and bathroom – and Cat was nowhere to be found.

Turning to the bellhop, Elias spoke to the young man in a low, fierce tone. “Where is she?”

The bellhop’s eyes widened. “Downstairs, Mr. Johnson. She’s just called a cab to the airport. Her flight leaves in three hours.”

Flight? What fresh hell was this? Cat wasn’t meant to leave for another two months – not until his goddamned house was finished!

Before the bellhop could say another word, Elias was running for the elevator, his heart pounding.

She was leaving. Why would she leave? He wasn’t ready for her to leave yet.

It seemed to take an eternity for him to reach the lobby, and once he did, the journalists outside the windows worked themselves into a frenzy, snapping pictures rapidly. Elias, however, paid them no mind. He glanced around the lobby frantically for a moment before spotting Cat’s diminutive figure at the front desk.

Bloody hell, she was checking out!

“Catherine!” When he called her from across the lobby, every one of the few occupants looked – including the target of his summons. When her large, green eyes met his, Cat flushed darkly, her expression unreadable. Elias quickly jogged over to her, running a hand through his unruly hair to clear it from his face when he reached her. “You’re leaving? Why?”

He expected her to claim that her illness was serious – that her mother needed her. Some great issue that was the only thing, in his mind, with the right to tear them apart before he was good and damn well ready, but instead, the young woman merely smiled up at him, the gesture not quite reaching her eyes.

“You don’t need me anymore, Elias. The house is almost finished. If there are any issues, you can always inform me by e-mail, like you said.”

The architect opened his mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. What the hell was going on here? “But I want you here.”

To his shock, the young woman’s eyes filled with tears. When she spoke, her words came in barely a whisper. “Until you don’t. And I can’t wait that long.”

With that, she turned on her heel to walk out of the huge, ornate doors at the hotel entrance, and Elias watched as the paparazzi took thousands of pictures of Cat – his Cat – entering a cab.

And driving away.

Forever.

What had he done?