Two Months Later.

When she woke up, she reached for him.

Cat found the empty space almost immediately, and, slowly, she came completely awake to the sinking feeling in her gut.

What was wrong with her?

Sitting up, the young woman ran a hand through her dark hair as she exhaled a long breath. It was barely dawn, with tendrils of sunlight sneaking in through the blinds over her window. In about an hour, the sun would be up and she’d be forced to go downstairs and face her mother.

Again.

Cat groaned at the thought, burying her face in the closest pillow. It wasn’t enough that she had to come crawling home to her mother and explain, why, exactly, she had fled from London before she finished her project. Of course, the older woman had been utterly shocked to find her daughter on her doorstep a full two months early and she demanded to know what had gone wrong.

Cat still didn’t have the heart to tell her.

How could she? Her mother, who believed in the power of love and that one’s dreams always led the way to success and fruition? In Cat’s case, the regretful adoration that burned in her gut – even two months after she had parted from Elias, was merely frustrated. It kept her from returning to her work at the corner store and being content with her life. Kept her from remembering what had happened in London with anything other than a bittersweet longing that brought her so close to tears that she found herself embarrassed in the middle of the day for no good reason.

Elias.

Good riddance to him. She should have known better than to entangle herself with Elias from the start, and this was what she got for hoping that she could be a special goddamn snowflake.

Rising from bed, Cat stalked across her bedroom to stare in the mirror above her dresser. An ordinary young woman with lank black hair and startling green eyes stared back at her. How Cat had ever believed that Elias might want her to stick around now seemed absurd to her. The man was a notorious womanizer, known for his willingness to use gifts as fodder to ease the pain of parting.

Only this time, Cat had saved him the trouble.

As she showered, Cat closed her eyes, indulging in the feel of each and every drop of hot water sluicing over her body. She was, she reiterated to herself for the tenth time in the past week, completely justified in what she’d done. She didn’t want to be used, and so she’d acted before she didn’t have the strength to. Cut things off before she could look like a fool.

But if that was the case…why had Elias looked so damned desolate when she told him that she was leaving? Like she’d stolen something from him – ripped it right out of his ridiculously talented hands.

And why couldn’t she keep her thoughts from drifting to him whenever she had a spare moment? Even now, as she ran her sponge over her water-slick skin, she remembered the way Elias had touched her. The way his hands had skimmed over her hips and belly…the way he had kissed her…

All at once, the woman shook her head furiously, droplets of water flying about the shower. “Stop it,” she warned herself loudly, her eyes snapping open. This wasn’t going to help anything. Pining over Elias wasn’t going to make what they had any more real. While she’d been developing a bevy of feelings for the man, he hadn’t wanted to so much more than screw her and the sooner she accepted that, the better off she would be.

Before she actually entered the kitchen, Cat poked her head in to see if, somehow, she’d gotten lucky – but her mother was like clockwork. She got up at six a.m. every morning to make breakfast for herself and her daughter, and this morning wasn’t any different. Taking a deep breath, Cat straightened her spine and trudged in to sit at the kitchen table – close to where her mother bent over the stove making pancakes.

For a long moment, an uncomfortable silence stretched between them. When her mother finally did speak, Cat winced in anticipation of what she would say. “You know, another batch of letters from school arrived for you yesterday.”

At the mention of her mail, Cat flushed slightly.

A sense of empty longing wasn’t all Elias Johnson left her with in the wake of their time together. She had worked with the man on a major project, a large amount of which was televised. International paparazzi had followed her around for weeks. Now it seemed as if everyone in the world knew her name.

For the first few weeks that she had been home, the scandal that surrounded her leaving London had been all the media could talk about. They speculated and re-speculated on the reasons she might have left – shoddy building, lover’s quarrels and the like – and Cat was perfectly at ease letting them speculate. She knew that without anything to feed their fire for a while, they would soon burn out.

And that was exactly what had happened. Two months later and she barely had to dodge any more calls. What did keep pouring in, however, was the bevy of mail from architecture schools.

Before Cat was chosen to go to London and meet Elias, all she had under her belt were a few architecture classes at a community college and a natural talent that she had never really thought much of. Since watching her assist one of the greatest artists in the world, it seemed that every major architecture school in North America wanted her to join their ranks.

Cat had received more than fifty letters in the past six weeks from a plethora of schools, all of which wanted to offer her full scholarships, no strings attached, for the entirety of her schooling. When the first one arrived, the young woman had been completely and totally flabbergasted. She and her mother had screamed, jumping up and down together, and for the briefest moment, the older woman forgot to question her daughter about the man she left behind.

And then the letters started pouring in – so many that Cat didn’t know what to do with them all. The easiest thing would have been for her to simply pick a school and get cracking. She could have selected some of the best in the country – they were after her blood.

But, somehow, she found she couldn’t. Working on projects – even in her head – were enough to drum up memories of Elias and how they worked together. And those memories were painful. The gorgeous sketchbook the man had given her sat, untouched, under her bed, and Cat was ashamed to admit, even to herself, that she was nervous to touch it, let alone draw in it.

He told her she was great – an amazing talent.

Now, she had to wonder if that had all been to further his purpose. If all that bullshit about respecting her had simply been for the purpose of having her in his bed.

It hurt.

And all of a sudden, architecture hurt. The prospect of engrossing herself in what she loved, what Elias loved, was too much for her.

And so, she remained at home in the center of her bustling city, working at the corner store for pennies. It was the easier option. The safer one.

And her mother wouldn’t stop lamenting over her making it.

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll take a look at them later.” As Naomi set a plate of pancakes in front of her, the elder woman merely eyed her daughter skeptically.

“Like you looked at all the other ones, I’m sure.”

Cat suppressed a groan. She was twenty-six years old and still fielding her mother’s passive aggressiveness. The smart thing would be to move out – but that would require money that she wasn’t making at a corner store. “Mom, please don’t make this about London. It has nothing to do with London.” If anyone knew when she was lying through her teeth, it was her mother, and Cat knew that even as the falsehood passed her lips.

If she expected Naomi not to call her on it, she was sorely disappointed “Cat, sweetheart, you need to stop lying to me.” She set her own plate down directly across from Cat’s dropping into her seat with a flat expression. “And you need to stop lying to yourself.”

Cat merely scowled, choosing not to answer in favor of shoveling a bite of her breakfast into her mouth and making a great show of chewing it. Ever patient, Naomi merely waited until she was finished before continuing. “Something happened between you and Elias Johnson.”

Even though Cat opened her mouth automatically to deny the statement, her mother cut her off abruptly. “I think it’s already pretty obvious that you won’t tell me what that something is, but it has you moping around the house and hesitating when the entire world is being offered to you on a platter. That’s not like my daughter at all, and, frankly, I’m worried about you.”

Cat opened her mouth, and then shut it.

She hated when her mother looked at her like that – with a mixture of expectation and sympathy that she never seemed to be prepared for. Worse, just now, that particular expression reminded her of how she felt the day she let Elias. How part of her – a large part of her – hadn’t wanted to leave him. The look on his face had almost been enough to do her in. The way that handsome visage had crumbled…it tugged on her heartstrings so hard she could all but see herself leaping into his arms.

But still, she left.

While she wanted desperately to be with Elias, she couldn’t bear the thought of him sending her away when everything was said and done. She couldn’t imagine looking him in the eye, knowing he was in her heart, and realizing that he couldn’t feel the same.

She had to end it.

To her embarrassment, Cat felt her eyes beginning to glaze over with moisture. Elias was everything she ever wanted – he was intelligent, witty, kind, and driven. He could be an asshole sometimes, but he was an artist devoted to his art, and in Cat’s mind, there was nothing more beautiful in the world.

“Mom, I…” Her breath hitched on a sob as she pushed her breakfast away, raising her hands to cover her face as she tried to pull herself together.

And found she couldn’t.

Not once, since she left London, had Cat allowed herself to cry. What, she asked herself numerous times, was there to cry about? She had ended whatever was between her and Elias like an adult, and she should be proud of herself for being so mature about it.

So why did it hurt so goddamn much?

With a shuddering breath, she folded into herself, letting the tears finally fall. Even when her mother rounded the table to take her into her embrace, all Cat could do was cling to her, crying out all of her grief in a deluge that felt as if it would never end.

She’d tried to be strong for what seemed like eternity…now she just needed to let go. Then, perhaps, she’d finally be able to start healing.

**

It wasn’t what he had imagined.

His mouth drawn into a thin line, Elias stared at the structure before him. He remembered when it had just been framing – and before that, when it had just been lines drawn on a piece of paper. Lines that caught his attention and made him remember what it was like to feel the rush of designing.

But now, when he looked at the building he and Cat had worked on together, he found himself assaulted by a plethora of emotions – most of them unpleasant. He remembered the day she left him – the hurt on her face as she told him that he didn’t need her anymore. He remembered watching her leave the hotel and convincing himself that she would come back.

And the disappointment that came when he found that she hadn’t missed her flight.

All it took was twenty-four hours, and Catherine Harris had put four thousand miles between them – just like that.

At first, Elias stayed in the hotel. He couldn’t bring himself to leave when her scent still lingered on the sheets of her room – when he remembered making love to her on every available surface in both his suite and hers. But after a week, eventually, the scent had faded – even if the memories hadn’t.

And he went home to his flat.

The spacious English house was one of the first things he’d ever designed for himself, and throughout his career, Elias had prided himself on just how much space there was. Over four thousand square feet for him to breathe.

Now the bloody thing felt too damned huge. He could barely stand to spend any length of time in it – let alone waking up to the cold, stark walls and the silence that surrounded him. He tried to tell himself it was simply because he’d gotten used to the paparazzi following his every move during this whole contest venture, but that wasn’t it.

No, somehow, he’d become used to more intimate company – and he’d been robbed of it.

As Elias watched the landscapers work on the large swathe of bare land around the house, he let his thoughts wander.

Why had he been so disturbed lately? He hardly slept at all at night, and going through the motions of his day was suddenly so difficult that he’d stare at the ceiling for at least a half hour every morning before getting out of bed. Since the impromptu end of the contest, things had gone back to business as usual for the architect. He was called for new projects almost daily, most of which he fielded to a staff of people who worked with him for screening. In Cat’s absence, he’d become decidedly less hands on – and the time that he didn’t spend overseeing the final stages of his new residence was spent moodily mulling over the state of his life.

And why he felt so bloody…off.

The feeling got to him so much, in fact, that he found himself booking in an appointment with Michael in hopes that his friend would be able to tell him what the source of his discontent was. Perhaps there wasn’t enough iron in his diet or he needed to take vitamin pills. Taking up a daily form of exercise might serve him well – as well as get his mind off the past six months.

And the woman who had consumed him for almost the entirety of that time.

Mike, however, merely took a full panel of blood work, gave him a quick, thorough physical exam, and then pronounced him perfectly healthy.

Elias only glared at him accusatorily from his position atop the examination table. “What do you mean, ‘I’m fine’?”

Mike sighed, pushing back from his patient to remove his stethoscope from his ears and drape it around his neck. Elias saw the man so often outside of his doctor’s garb that it was almost strange to see him in his white overcoat and scrubs – strange enough that he didn’t quite get what the doctor told him the first time.

“Exactly what I said. There’s nothing physically wrong with you. Your levels are bloody brilliant and you’re in peak physical condition for a man in his thirties.” The elder man arched a brow. “Do you want there to be something wrong with you?”

“So, you mean to say that all this lethargy – the not sleeping, the lack of appetite…there’s no medical problem attributing to it?”

Mike shrugged. “Not that I’ve found. I can admit though…you have seemed a bit peaked lately.”

Elias’ gaze immediately narrowed defensively, and when he answered, his voice snapped sharply through the air. “What the hell do you mean, ‘peaked’?”

Michael, however, was one of the few people on earth that went uncowed by Elias’ displays of temper. He merely sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. “You walk around like you’ve constantly got your knickers in a twist, Elias. You snap at people for no bloody reason, you’ve told me to bloody boff myself at least three times this week alone, and you look as if you’re waiting to lose your mind on the next person to ask you a question.”

At this sparkling assessment of his recent mood, Elias’ rage deflated somewhat.

Goddamn it. He wanted to deny every word that spilled from Mike’s mouth, but the man was right. He’d been even more of a prick than usual lately, and that much was evident in the way his staff cowed from him every time he attempted to speak with them. Not to mention, when he visited the job site for his new home, everyone working lowered their voices, speaking in hushed whispers.

Which was goddamned ridiculous, considering that they were running heavy machinery.

They were obviously afraid of him…like they’d never been afraid of Cat.

But then, Cat had always killed everyone with kindness. She listened to everyone’s concern, no matter how big or small, and addressed the problem as readily as she could. She had a patience that he had never possessed – and that was one of the reasons he admired her.

Had admired her.

Elias didn’t know if he could continue to admire anyone who just walked away from their work. He’d be massacred if he ever acted in such a way.

“Elias.” He was snapped by his reverie when Mike spoke his name lowly, his tone concerned. “Psychology is not my area of expertise, but if I had to give my input, I’d suggest that this problem has more to do with your head than anything physical.”

Elias’ expression was skeptical. “You think I’m a loon?”

At the suggestion, Mike snorted with laughter. “Hardly. But I do think something is bothering you. You’d have to be blind not to see that.”

The way the man looked at him suggested that he expected Elias to volunteer the information readily. The architect had no idea how he was supposed to do that when he couldn’t even figure out what was wrong with him. He was irritable, tired, and felt as though he couldn’t escape memories of Cat, no matter where he turned. “I have no idea what the bloody hell is wrong. Just that I can’t stop thinking of…her.”

Mike immediately arched a brow in inquiry. “’Her who?”

“You know very well who,” Elias returned succinctly, beginning to redo the buttons on the crisp cotton shirt he wore. “Catherine Harris.”

“Ah.” Michael stood, removing his gloves to drop them in a nearby waste bin before returning to his friend’s side. When he spoke, his tone was tentative. “Do you…want to talk about what happened with her?”

Elias scowled. “What’s there to talk about? She up and left in the middle of the project. Said I didn’t need her anymore.”

“And…did you need her?”

Elias just stared at him. Though his first impulse was to be angry, the longer he stared at Michael, the more his temper cooled.

His friend asked a valid question. Had he needed Catherine? Certainly, the frame of the house was already erected and he had all of the relevant plans to continue the project without her. Truth be told, he didn’t need her.

At least, not for help with the architecture.

When the young woman left, a decidedly odd chasm remained where she had been. It wasn’t that he hadn’t needed her anymore as much as he simply wanted her to stay – and that much he’d told her.

But none of that had mattered to Cat. She simply looked up at him with those large, emotion-filled brown eyes of his and said goodbye. He watched her walk away.

And ever since she’d gone, he felt empty. There was no one with whom he could speak about his designs. No one to walk the city with him and appreciate buildings that had been around for hundreds upon hundreds of years. Now, when he went to dinner, he went alone, annoyed by ravenous women who batted their eyelashes at him and tried to pass him their phone numbers with his checks.

Catherine had never acted so crassly. Her desire had been a slow building burn that had eventually threatened to consume both of them – and he liked nothing more than to be drawn into her delightful web of desire.

Christ, he wanted her so much he could barely breathe. He missed her in his bed, in his office – her smell, her presence, all her mannerisms…he craved them like a man dying of thirst in the desert. Each day he forced himself to go about the motions he had before, hoping that the next would be better – even as he was continually disappointed.

Never, in his entire life, had Elias craved a woman the way he craved Catherine Harris. He had never missed a woman once he left her and usually had no difficulty moving onto the next one to spread her legs for him. Now, the thought of sleeping with another woman disgusted him. Catherine was in his blood…and he let her go.

“She walked away from me.” His statement was low and firm, his eyes cast dejectedly towards the tile floor of the examination room. “She didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

“Somehow, I highly doubt that.”

Elias’ head jerked up at the suggestion in Michael’s statement, his eyes widening.

“What are you on about?”

Mike merely sighed, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. “She was absolutely smitten, Elias. The way she looked at you when she thought no one was watching…it was as plain as day on her face. The girl probably gave her heart to you a long bloody time ago.”

If Elias’ eyes had been wide before, now they nearly popped from his sockets. “Gave her heart…you mean she loves me.”

Mike stared down at him, his expression one of disbelief. “Are you really so thick that you didn’t notice?”

Notice? What Elias had noticed was that she gradually opened up to him the more time they spent together. That she wasn’t afraid to call him on his bullshit and stand up for what she believed in. He noticed that every time he saw her she seemed to become more and more beautiful, and she shined the most when she was doing what she loved.

Catherine Harris had been somewhat of an obsession for him, and somehow, he hadn’t noticed her feelings for him?

With a groan, Elias remembered what she asked him the evening before she left – if she might stick around once the project was finished. Not, he realized now, to look over the project itself.

But to be with him.

And he had rejected her. Despite how he felt about women – what he had believed to be true with every single one until he met Cat – the realization that his words sent her away came down on Elias like a physical blow.

He had wanted her to stay.

And not just for the two months that it took to finish the project. In fact, Elias found that he couldn’t ever think of a time where he wouldn’t long for Catherine’s nearness. He was, he realized, so used to pushing people away that he had responded to the prospect of inviting one in with callous refusal.

And Cat had taken it to heart.

“I’m a bloody fucking idiot.”

Mike chuckled lowly at his profession. “Being a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

But Elias wasn’t listening. He slid off the examination table, straightening his cufflinks as he headed for the door. “I have to go after her.” He would buy the next ticket to her city, and he wouldn’t stop until he found her.

He needed her in his arms and in his life.

Elias wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

**

Cat stared at the barren walls of the bedroom she’d slept in her entire life. It was almost like an out of body experience, to see it now versus mere forty-eight hours ago. In that time, the young woman had packed all her things in boxes in preparation to move out of her mother’s home.

And into her own apartment.

Cat’s head was still spinning with the speed with which everything had happened, and a strange mixture of elation and trepidation tightened her chest.

She was leaving – going away to architecture school. It was what she had always wanted. Something she never thought she’d have the opportunity to do since the contest in London began to open doors for her.

Since she’d come back, Cat had been afraid. Speaking with her mother had helped her to realize just how short she’d been selling herself. People wanted her talent. Much like Elias had, they believed in what they saw, and they were prepared to nurture her and help her grow.

She’d been so wrapped up in remembering how Elias made her feel – how architecture was when they were together – that she failed to remember what it had been like before Elias. The rush of completing a drawing – of imagining how it would be built, from frame to final execution, in her mind’s eye. Before she had the tools of the trade at her disposal, Catherine just had herself.

And “herself” had been fine.

Closing her eyes, the dark-haired girl sank down onto her bed, exhaling a long breath. The bed was one of the only things that would remain in her room after she was gone. The school that she’d chosen offered her one of the best packages a student could imagine – an apartment off campus for housing, a monthly stipend, transportation…she would want for absolutely nothing.

Except him.

Biting her lip, Cat reached underneath the bed and finally unearthed the sketchbook that Elias had given her. After eight weeks, it was a bit dusty, but a few rounds of wiping with the sleeve of her hoodie revealed the gorgeous, glossy leather cover beneath. Holding her breath, she undid the leather band that held the book shut to take a look at the first, blank page.

It was so gorgeous she almost didn’t want to write on it – but after rooting through her bag for a pencil and taking a deep breath, she made the first strokes. Cat found that, as nervous as she’d been about starting her drawings anew, once she put pen to paper, designs spilled out of her in a deluge. It was as if everything her creative mind had been holding back for the past two months suddenly came rushing forth, and she couldn’t stem the flow.

For over an hour, she drew, her most prominent ideas covering the first three pages of the sketchbook in a mixture of drawings and notes. Several ideas had taken root in the back of her mind in the past few days in particular, and now, they began to come to life. The first was a house for her mother. Naomi Harris had rented the same two-bedroom brick apartment since Cat was a child, and though she had fond memories of growing up in the space, she knew a hard-working woman like her mother deserved something more.

Her own small house in the country, with a host of modern amenities. She knew her mother would love the bold, current design juxtaposed with a gorgeous piece of country land – land that Cat would have the money for once she completed her training as an architect. Then, there was her own studio.

Like Elias, Cat aspired to one day have her own workplace and business. The building would be a simple single story, with high steel arches and sharp facades encircling the main space. Every time she looked up from her desk, Cat would remember how far she’d come – and how far she had left to go.

When it came to the third piece, however, she hesitated. This was a building Cat knew would never come to fruition. It was a design she would keep in her mind, and in her heart – but never beyond that.

It was a house – for her and Elias. One that combined both of their unique architectural styles into one structure. While Cat knew that Elias favored wide, open spaces, she preferred something a little more intimate. She’d want to see him when they were in different parts of the house so she created an open floor plan with glass edged staircases and sharply slanting roofs. As she drew, she could imagine what it would be like.

Elias bent over the kitchen table, working on his most recent design while she tidied up their bedroom from their night’s most recent exploits. Then she would come down and point out to him the details she liked, suggest materials, and he would playfully rib her about her choices. They understood one another, and the house would be a reflection of that.

The only one she would ever have.

When she finally finished her drawing, Cat stared down at it, her heart heavy. It would take time, she knew, but eventually, she would get on with her life. Her mother was right – she had a bright future ahead of her. She was talented and independent. She didn’t need Elias Johnson.

Even if he wanted him with every fiber of her being.

“Call me. Every day.” Standing in front of her apartment building, Cat flushed slightly in embarrassment at her mother’s show of emotion. Truthfully, she should have had her ‘going off to school’ moment a decade ago, but here she was, finally getting there at age twenty-six. With a warm smile, she embraced her mother, and found herself oddly on the edge of tears.

“Hopefully, I’ll be too busy studying to call you every day,” she whispered softly, giving the older woman a final squeeze before releasing her. “They say that once I take a few remedial classes, I’ll be able to finish the program in under two years.”

“Oh, I know you will, darling.” Naomi wiped moisture from her eyes with a low sniffle. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Though Cat knew it had been a long time in the making, it was hard for her to get on the bus and leave the city she’d grown up in. Still, she felt the same, almost childlike sense of wonder that she’d felt when she was on her way to London. She was going on a new adventure, and she would relish every single day.

And, bit by bit, she would let go.

One hand still clutching her sketchbook to her chest, the young woman gazed longingly out the window. Even if she’d never see him again, he had made this all possible for her.

“Thank you…Elias.”

**

This was utterly ridiculous. None of the streets here made any sense.

As Elias traipsed down the avenues of a large, very badly organized city, he fought his mounting frustration. It had been hard enough for him to figure out exactly where Cat had come from. Despite the name of her city and her address being on countless numbers of her application forms, the city itself was a maze.

Absolutely nothing like British cities and, therefore, impossible to navigate. Once he’d arrived, jetlagged and irritable, he’d attempted to take a cab to the right neighborhood, only to have his driver drop him off in what he was sure was the middle of nowhere. After calling Mike no less than five times to have him double and triple check the paperwork back in London, he finally found himself somewhere he believed to be close to Cat’s address.

And Elias didn’t like what he saw.

The neighborhood was run down – the buildings crumbling - and there were a number of decidedly questionable looking characters milling around. While he knew he was supposed to be finding the object of his affections, all he could think was that Cat had grown up in a place like this? A small girl like her?

When he had her back in his arms, he’d make sure she never had to go back to living in such poverty again. He’d take her and her mother back to London with him, where they’d never want for anything. Where he would spend the rest of his life making up for the pain he’d caused her.

He just had to find her first.

Within twenty minutes, Elias found himself at the front door of a large brick apartment building. While admittedly better-cared-for than its neighbors, the building still looked as if it had seen better days. Cat’s apartment was on the top floor, and Elias buzzed without any hesitation.

“Hello?” The tiny voice that came from the speaker, however, was not Cat’s…leaving him to assume that it was her mother.

“Mrs. Harris?” he inquired. “Naomi Harris?”

There was a surprised pause. “Yes, this is Naomi Harris…is this Elias Johnson?”

Now it was his turn to be surprised. She knew who he was without even seeing his face. “Yes,” he replied. “Yes, it is. I’ve come to speak to Catherine.”

There was a low clicking noise as the intercom cut off and Elias just stared, his eyes wide. Had she hung up on him?

His fears were assuaged, however, when, less than two minutes later, there came the din of footsteps from the cement stairway in the apartment building’s lobby. A woman of about Cat’s stature came into view, with her same brown eyes and dark hair. Naomi Harris, however, was no Cat. The fire in her gaze spoke of decades of living experience, and, if Elias wasn’t mistaken, no small amount of irritation.

The elder woman was still clad in her sleeping things – a velour dressing gown and a long robe – and when she came to eye him through the metal door grating, it was with no small amount of skepticism. “What do you want with Cat?”

It was very obvious, in an instant, that he’d hurt Cat deeply. The evidence was all over her mother’s face.

“To speak with her,” he replied carefully. “About what happened in London.”

Naomi frowned deeply. “I know all about what happened in London. And I know who you are, Elias Johnson. Billionaire playboy talent who travels the world, leaving a string of women in his wake. Well, we thank you for all you’ve done for her, but Cat has moved on.”

Elias’ eyes widened at the words, and when he spoke, his answer was low and tight. “Moved on?” What the bloody hell was that supposed to mean? Had she a new boyfriend? A man who filled the void that he left? Who comforted her when he’d broken her heart?

The thought was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

“Yes, moved on. She left. She’s gone away to architecture school to finish her education properly.”

Elias jumped on the opportunity in a trice. “Where? Where did she go?”

Naomi just glared at him, her mouth a thin, stubborn line.

She thought she was protecting her daughter, but Elias didn’t want to hurt her anymore. He simply wanted to make things right. Perhaps if he got Naomi to see that, she’d divulge to him.

“Naomi, I adore your daughter.” Pressing his hands against the metal door that separated them, Elias spoke in a low, firm tone. “I let her walk out of my life two months ago and I can say, with assurance, that it’s one of the worst decisions that I’ve ever made.” He took a deep breath before continuing to divulge what he’d told no one – what he had barely admitted to himself. “Catherine is not just another…conquest. She taught me things. I was supposed to be teaching her, but she taught me. Ever since she left there’s been something missing…and I came all this way to get her back. Please.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d begged anyone for anything, but he was begging Naomi Harris now. “Please help me.”

The elder woman stared at him through the metal grate for a long time, her expression unreadable, before her face finally softened into something alarmingly like fondness. Reaching down, she undid the door latch, admitting him inside. “Come up to the apartment, Elias. And we’ll talk.

**

Architecture school was harder than Cat thought it would be. Even with all her talent – with all the skills that Elias had imparted upon her, she still found herself struggling in her daily classes.

And she reveled in it.

From the moment she’d settled down in her apartment, the young woman found a schedule that worked for her. Since she had never finished an undergraduate degree, she was required to take remedial classes from six to ten every morning, while her classmates slept in. Far from being bitter, however, Cat merely threw herself into the material, doing her best to absorb everything so she could get to her afternoon classes.

The meat of the matter.

She had a two-hour rest from ten to twelve every day – one she should have spent doing homework but usually collapsed on her bed for the duration of – and then she was off to her architecture classes. She found that no matter how complicated the material, she enjoyed each and every minute she spent sitting behind a desk.

Because she was learning. Learning things she had once never imagined she might have the opportunity to learn. Theory of Building, Planning and Landscape Design, Mastery of Architecture – she absorbed all of the information like a sponge, and at the end of the day, only found herself craving more.

That being said, at the end of the day, when she found herself in bed and without the company of the new friends she’d made, Cat thought of home. She thought of the small two-bedroom apartment she’d spent her life in, and her mother, whose belief in her daughter knew no bounds.

She also thought of Elias. She wondered what he was doing now – no doubt working on some high-profile project in a faraway land. Using his money and influence to make the most of every opportunity he had. By this point, he would have long finished the house she had designed for him. With a small, sardonic smile, Cat wondered if he would ever actually live in it. As thrilled as she had been to be called to London to design for the man, the more time she spent with him, the more Cat recognized the contest for what it actually was: an immense publicity stunt.

Elias wasn’t the most giving of people. Sure, once you cracked through his hard exterior to get to the gold beneath, you found his dedication. You found passion and kindness. But how many people got that opportunity? The contest was a way to share Elias with the world – and it had done exactly that.

If there had been people who didn’t know his name before, they knew it now. He’d been all over every major international news outlet for months – and now he was a household name. Well, more of a household name than he’d been before.

He was getting a nice little publicity bump – which was probably exactly what had been intended. What hadn’t been intended, of course, was her falling for him. Cat could have been anybody. She could have been a fourteen-year-old boy – a middle-aged woman. But, somehow, without even seeing her face, Elias had picked her.

At the risk of sounding clichéd, it was almost like it was meant to be.

At least – what she’d learned was meant to be. The connections she’d made. Cat liked to think she was far too mature to believe in fairy tales and happy endings. She’d grown up on the rougher side of an immense city and struggled her whole life for the boon of independence. She knew quite well how the world worked.

Just as she knew exactly what she’d chosen the moment she walked out on Elias.

She was protecting herself. Ending things before she could get too entangled. The last thing Elias wanted was another weepy, clingy female. She wasn’t going to be that woman. She would stand tall and proud.

Even if she stood alone.

With a low groan, Cat turned over in her decidedly empty queen-sized bed. When she closed her eyes, she saw Elias’ confident, self-assured grin. Felt his hands tugging her possessively close and felt his even breath on her shoulder.

And it was those things that finally let her sleep.

The next day was one of the most stressful Cat had endured in a long while. She had exams in almost all of her remedial classes and a project due in her theory of building class. Though she’d been working on the damn thing for near two weeks, when she presented, she found that, oddly, she lacked the passion to really hammer home her concept.

When she received a B, she wasn’t surprised.

Just disappointed.

She decided to skip lunch in favor of starting work on the next one, in the hopes that it would eclipse the grade she’d gotten. As she stared down at her sketchbook, however, she found that no ideas came to the forefront of her mind. There was no deluge of ideas, no smattering of notes that begged to be written.

There was just…nothing.

And the prospect alarmed her.

The young woman hurried through the campus and back to her apartment where she shut herself in, her heart in her throat. What the hell was wrong with her? First, she was afraid to write because the memory of Elias lingered, and now that she faced those memories on, they tormented her.

Even though she knew that, eventually, she would move on, Cat could only find frustration in her lingering feelings for Elias. The man was gone – long gone and out of her reach. So why the hell was she still pining for him?

Because she was impulsive. Because she couldn’t help clinging to the dreams her mother was so goddamned proud of her for having.

Too bad dreams about men didn’t work out as well as dreams about literally anything else.

The next day was a literal continuation of her dry spell – worrying Cat so much that she took the time between remedial classes to simply stare at her sketchbook, praying for inspiration to come. To say the least, two hours wasn’t long enough to will her slumbering talent into awareness, and so she trudged to her first architecture class of the day in a sour mood.

Though she wanted to listen to everything her professor told her, she found it hard to concentrate. So hard that when a familiar, spicy-fresh scent reached her, she was sure she was imagining things. She’d done worse in the past three months. Waking up to reach across to the empty side of the bed, touching herself in the shower to memories of a man she should be forgetting…and now she thought she smelled him.

Cat was obviously losing her mind.

“He’s a boring lecturer.”

At the smooth, velvety accented tones in her ear, the young woman jumped, whirling around in her seat…and froze.

She was seeing things. She had to be. All the stress of the past few weeks had legitimately led her to crack. That was a far more plausible explanation than Elias Johnson being seated directly behind her.

…But he was.

There was no mistaking it. That full lipped, arrogant smile, those piercing eyes and that long, hard body of his folded into an impossibly small desk? His very nearness made both her heart and body ache, and Cat found her breath coming in short gasps as she stared at him in disbelief.

“…Elias?”

When she spoke his name, the man’s expression sobered. “Catherine. I’ve been looking for you.”

She had never, in a million years, dreamed that she might hear those words. “Why?” The question left her on a breathless whisper – that nonetheless caught the attention of her lecturing professor.

“Ms. Harris,” the balding man interjected irately. “Is there something you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

Immediately, Cat blushed darkly. She had never been a problem student and didn’t intend to start now. Before she could open her mouth to defend herself, however, Elias beat her to the punch.

“My apologies, sir.” When he stood, she could have died on the spot – though from arousal or embarrassment, she wasn’t precisely sure. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your class, but the truth is: You’re rather a dry lecturer. That being said, once I’ve spoken my piece, you’re welcome to get back to it.”

But the professor was just staring at him, his mouth slightly open in shock. “You’re…Elias Johnson.”

Elias sighed, continuing as if he hadn’t heard him. When he turned his blue gaze to Cat once more, the young woman felt warmth tingle all the way to her toes. Had it really been three whole months since she’d seen him? How the hell had she gone so long? “Catherine, I’ve been looking for you because I realized that my coldhearted words gave you…the wrong impression.”

Now, the entire class was staring at them, watching with fascinated attention, and Cat felt her cheeks flaming. Nonetheless, she couldn’t take her eyes from the man standing above her. “I told you that I didn’t think I’d need you after the project, but that was untrue. I didn’t realize how untrue until you walked away from me. I do need you in my life, Cat.” The architect bent until they were face to face, his mouth scant, sumptuous inches from hers. “I need someone to call me on my horse shit. Someone who’s not afraid of me – who I can speak to on my level. Someone who can stay by my side and temper me when I bloody well can’t…and if that means that I have to put a ring on your finger…”

And then he did it.

He pulled out a goddamned jeweler box from his pocket – small, square, and covered in dark blue velvet.

Cat began to cry. She couldn’t help it. “You…you asshole…” she managed between sobs as she shook her head. “You can’t do this.”

“I assure you, I can.” With a small smile, Elias took a step forward to drop gracefully onto one knee before her. He opened the box to reveal a perfect, modestly cut diamond band topped with a sapphire that winked in the fluorescent classroom light. “Please, marry me, Catherine. Put up with me and all my imperfections. Let me mentor you so I can take you from this bloody school and be in my bed, every night. Where you belong.”

Her cheeks flushing darkly, Cat stared down at him as her heart swelled. The man had a hell of a way of asking for her entire life. But she supposed she should have expected that. A man like Elias Johnson was used to getting what he wanted.

And this one time, she was more than happy to bend to him.

“Yes, you idiotic British show-off. Of course I’ll marry you.”

It was ridiculous. She was in the middle of her Theory of Building class, and everyone present, including her professor, was clapping and whistling as Cat allowed Elias to slip the gorgeous diamond band onto the fourth finger of her left hand. All the young woman kept telling herself was that the entire moment was insane. That it was a dream, and within seconds, she’d wake up in her bed, alone.

But none of that happened.

Instead, Elias surged up from his knee to tug her into his embrace, his mouth crashing down on hers. Instantly, Cat melted against him as all the pent-up passion from months apart surged from her. Her fingers slid through the ink blackness of his hair as his mouth devoured hers, her toes curling with want even as her heart swelled to fill the emptiness in her chest. Despite the fact that there were at least twenty other people in the room, in that instant, everyone but her and Elias ceased to exist.

When his mouth finally left hers, Cat was left staring up at him with her lips swollen, slightly dazed. Even after three months, the way his nearness got to her…and now, she’d be by his side every day for the rest of her life….it was enough to make her light-headed with joy.

At least, until, in true Elias fashion, her new husband-to-be brought her back to the matter at hand.

“Now that that’s taken care of,” he turned to her professor, “my apologies, sir, but Catherine Harris will be withdrawing from your class.” Cat’s mouth dropped open at his profession as the architect addressed the students as well. “If you have a burning urge to see her, any of you, feel free to contact her in London, where she will be under my exclusive tutelage at the London School of Design.”

Cat’s eyes nearly bugged from her head at the mention of the premier architecture school in London. One she had only ever dreamed of visiting. It was the one place Elias hadn’t taken her while they were in London, though she’d heard he was a guest speaker there several times and had been awarded an honorary degree.

Presumably, before anyone in class or her professors could object, Elias whisked her from the classroom and out of the building into the glorious early spring sunshine. As Elias took her arm, wrapping it around his, she gazed up at him in awe. “You can really get me into the London School of Design?” The question came out breathless with both surprise and anticipation, and Elias’ handsome grin answered her question.

Not a smirk, or the little smile that played about his mouth when something amused him – but a genuine, gorgeous smile that instantly floored her with his beauty.

And only made her love him all the more.

“There’s already a place waiting for you…that is…if you really want it.”

Cat pulled up short, stopping to stare up at the man she was still trying to convince herself was really there. His words were enough to make her eyes water again and she cursed whatever hormones had to be flowing through her. For, Elias, a man used to giving orders, issuing a choice was a rare thing indeed – and that was what he did for her now.

He was letting her choose. “And…if I don’t?”

He sighed, running his free hand through his hair – and not looking the least bit upset. “I suppose we’ll have to find some school here worthy of you…though I have to admit, your mother is rather hooked on the idea of going back to London.”

Cat swore, if Elias kept serving up these surprises, she might just faint dead away – and she wasn’t a fainter, not by any means. “My mother? You spoke to my mother?”

Elias merely chuckled. “Charming woman, Naomi. Rabid as a bloody wolf when it comes to protecting her daughter, but I can’t fault her for that.”

Cat blinked back her tears rapidly, trying her best to keep them from falling a second time. “My Mom is moving to London? For me?”

“Packing up her things as we speak. Perhaps if we hurry, we can catch the next flight back to help her.”

Taking a deep breath, Cat reached up to cup Elias face between her hands, and she looked at him. Really looked at him. Beyond all the glitz and glamour – what the paparazzi showed and the onus of power he emitted. Standing before her, Elias Johnson was just a man in love.

With her.

And that seemed like the foundation for something pretty damn good.

 

THE END