Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (16 page)

BOOK: Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories)
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“Alderholt?” Riley asked, taking her hand.

“Yes.”

“Alderholt Lending?” Mr. Farr asked.

“Yes sir,” she said with a curt nod. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you dare be sorry,” he said, still beaming. “In fact, if you show any guilt or think about not taking it, I may have to fire you.”

She smiled at him and took a quick look around the shoe store. Her head was reeling and the feel of Riley’s hand in her own anchored her as well as it could, but it was all still so surreal. How did I get here? she wondered, a smile plastered to her face.

“Mr. Farr,” Riley said. “I wonder if I might add one stipulation to our agreement from this morning.”

“What would that be?” Mr. Farr asked, a bit suspiciously.

“I ask that you accept Lauren’s resignation right now. Her time here is over as of this moment. I’d like to take her with me for the day.”

“Done,” Mr. Farr said. He then turned to Lauren and said, “Just come to the opening of the new store in a few months and say hi, would you?”

“Of course I will,” Lauren said, giving her ex-employer another hug.

Shelly and Brittany hugged her next and when Brittany pulled slowly away, she whispered: “You need to teach me some of your magic, girl.”

She fought away a few tears and gave several more hugs and well wishes before she actually walked out of the shoe store doors. In the parking lot, Riley led her to his car and she had to lean against it for support. It was all just too overwhelming.

“You okay?” Riley asked, gently rubbing her shoulders.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s just a lot to take in.” She looked him in his eyes and added, “You did a remarkable thing by letting him keep his business. Most men wouldn’t have done that.”

“I would have been one of those men three days ago.”

“What changed it?” Lauren asked.

“You.”

“How?” she asked. “Why me?”

“I honestly don’t know yet,” Riley said, placing his hands on her hips and drawing her close. “But I hope you’ll let me find out.”

He kissed her softly and deeply and she was again reclining against the car, only for a different reason. When he broke the kiss, he opened her door for her and ushered her into the car.

“Congratulations on your new job,” he said. “I believe a celebration is on order.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise,” he said, closing the door and then walking around to the driver’s side. When he was behind the wheel, Lauren reached out and took his hand.

“I don’t like surprises. So just tell me where we’re going.”

“Sorry. I can’t. Just trust me when I say that you’ll like it. Do you trust me?”

She was surprised to find that she did…without any reservations. So she nodded and the smile he gave her in return spoke volumes.

“Good,” he said. “Then let’s go.”

She didn’t know where they were going and, quite frankly, she didn’t care. This man had come to her as if straight out of a fantasy and since then, her life had been totally turned upside down in the best of ways. So yes, she trusted him and for now, she would lead wherever he asked her to follow.

He drove towards the interstate and as they picked up speed, she looked to her little nameplate, still pinned to the shoe store uniform. She plucked at it and slowly removed it from her shirt. Smiling, she kissed it lightly, placed it on the dashboard, and looked ahead at whatever lay ahead of them.

 

***********************************************************

Chapter 4: New Beginnings

The field looked like something straight off of a scenic calendar. There was only wheat and the occasional speck of weeds as far as the horizon. And there, at the horizon, the sky looked flawless; even the afternoon clouds were perfectly shaped and sculpted.

This is more beautiful than the ocean, Lauren thought. How did I even get here?

The answer, of course, was in the form of the man standing beside her.

Riley was holding her hand, looking out towards the horizon with her. It was hard for Lauren to believe that it had only been this morning—just nine hours ago—that she had been standing in Mr. Farr’s shoe store, listening to Riley’s gracious gesture towards Mr. Farr. Looking back on it was like flipping back to the beginning of some elaborate fairy tale book.

This field was the place that Riley had wanted to take her…the thing he had said he wanted to show her when they had been leaving the shoe store that morning. He hadn’t dropped any hints along the way…not in his car on the way to the airport, not in his private jet on the way to Idaho, and not during the forty-minute car ride from the Idaho airport to this beautiful field.

He’d said nothing about the field and absolutely nothing about the small table, decked out with chairs sitting in the middle of it. They had walked at least three hundred yards before they came to the table. Sitting on it was a bottle of wine, two steaks, and a plate of delicious-looking veggies.

“How in the hell did you pull this off?” she asked. She was sweating a bit from the walk but was beyond caring. This moment was beyond words and she wasn’t going to let a little sweat ruin it.

“I made some calls,” he said.

“This is…too much,” she said.

“Some might say so,” Riley said as they reached the table. He reached out and pulled her chair out for her. The wheat of the field lay down beneath the chair. When she sat down and he pushed her chair in, his hand brushed her collarbone and it made her ashamed that such a gentle touch could push her over the edge.

“What’s this for?” she asked.

He sat down opposite of her and opened the wine. As he poured some into their glasses, she could tell that he felt very awkward giving an answer.

“Far too many of my relationships with women have been quick and meaningless. I admit that and if I’m being quite honest, I have no regrets. But there’s something different here and that sort of baffles me. I won’t say it scares me, but it’s something like that. I wanted to make some sort of gesture to you…a way for you to know that this is not some quick and fleeting thing for me. I feel things for you that are new to me…that are a little overwhelming. I wanted to do this for you so you know that I’m here to stay…if you’ll have me.”

“It’s easily the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me,” she said. “And as soon as I can accept the fact that a man like you wants a woman like me, then of course I’ll
have you
, as you put it.”

He only smiled in response. He started cutting into the steak and looked out towards the horizon. Lauren saw the glimmer of happiness in his eyes and couldn’t stand the mystery any longer.

“Where are we, anyway?” she asked.

“Well, I grew up about thirty miles that way,” he said, stabbing at the dusk air with his fork. “When I was fifteen or so, I discovered this field while driving around one day. It struck me as peaceful…as a place that seemed out of place, you know? I always came here to think, to sort out life. Even in college and after landing the bigger jobs that got me to where I am today, I came here to think when a big decision needed to be made. It’s a place of peace and insight for me. I’ve never shared it with anyone before.”

“Why me, then?” she asked.

“Because you’re a pretty good source of peace for me, too,” he said. “I know that sounds cheesy, but I’m beginning to understand that.”

Lauren thought she might cry at that response, so she did her best to distract herself with the gorgeous sunset over the field. And again, that same question was in her head even thought she had the answer right in front of her.

How did I get here?

 

***

 

Dinner ended as the first fireflies began to glow over the field. They walked along the edge of the field afterwards, heading back to the road to where Riley had parked his car. She wanted to ask him more about what his childhood was like; he had offered a few minor details during dinner, recalling memories of discovering the field and how he would sometimes ditch his friends just to come out here to be alone. But Lauren feared that digging for more information after he was so willingly giving up some personal items might seem like prying, so she kept quiet for the moment.

It was completely dark when they reached his car. He had parked on a small dirt track that had fed off of the secondary road the field sat along. There was very little traffic on it, but the buzz of the highway less than half a mile away could be heard.

At the car, Riley moved to open the door for her but when Lauren reached for it, he took her wrist, turned her to him, and kissed her. The kiss had heat, but there was something else there as well. Call it passion, desire, whatever…all Lauren knew was their bodies were starting to sync now. She pressed into him, gently pushing him against the car and pressed her body to his. The kissed like that for the better part of five minutes, their hands exploring and their lips as busy as ever. It made Lauren feel like she was in high school again. It made her feel more than wanted. It made her feel
young
again.

Riley was the one to break the kiss. Lauren could have stayed there forever, kissing him and having their bodies tease one another. They stood nose to nose, Riley still pressed against the car

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m just wondering…do we fly back tonight or get a room for the night?”

She ran a hand along his chest and smiled at him. “Would we have privacy on the plane?”

He grinned, understanding what she was insinuating. “I can make sure we have it, yes.”

“Then let’s go home,” she said. “I start the new job on Monday and I’d like the weekend to fully rest.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll call the airfield from the car.”

She laughed out loud as she finally got into the car.

“What’s funny about that?” he asked.

“Just the idea that I’m dating a man that does things like calling his private jet from his nice rented car after flying me out of a remote field where we had a spur-of-the-moment romantic dinner. It’s crazy.”

He smiled at her. “I guess it sort of is,” he said. “But you’d better get used to it.”

With that, he gave her one last kiss before starting the car and driving back out to the main highway towards the airport.

 

***

They did indeed have the privacy they wanted. The pilot was the only other person on board and Riley led her to the back of the plane where there was a small loveseat next to a tiny bar area. Once the plane was in the air and flying smoothly, Riley came to her and they wasted no time. In the middle of it, as she was straddling his lap and reaching her climax, she looked out of the window and saw the small specks of light of some city down below and something about it seemed almost cosmic. Riley’s mouth was on her neck, biting softly as she looked to those lights and it sent her over the edge, into the most intense orgasm she’d ever had.

When they landed three hours later, she still didn’t quite trust her knees. From the airport, Riley’s private driver took them back to his house where they made love again and fell asleep.

The following morning, Saturday, Lauren slept in until eleven o’clock. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept in so late or gotten such a peaceful night’s sleep. She thought she might have slept right through until noon if she hadn’t heard Riley’s voice. He was speaking on the phone in another room, his tone a bit dramatic and filled with flair.

She liked hearing him talk like that. There was something about the idea of him being able to influence others so easily that drew her to him—which was odd because she didn’t like bossy men as a general rule.

She got out of bed and walked down the hall, into his study where he was on the phone. He acknowledged here with a smile, rolled his eye and pointed to the phone. She smiled back and took the time to take a quick tour of the parts of his home that she hadn’t seen yet.

She found the bookshelf in his small reading book entertaining. There were classics, as well as huge volumes on how to run a business and influence people, but there were also graphic novels, horror and sci-fi collections, and even two cookbooks. She was also equally surprised by his movie collection which was shelved neatly on his enormous built-in entertainment center: there were plenty of clichéd action movies, but there were also goofball comedies and even a few chick flicks. It made her wonder if some of the titles might have once belonged to other women that had spent any considerable time here with him.

“Don’t judge a man by his movies,” he said, sneaking up behind her.

“Hey,” she said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. “Sometimes, you just have to own The Notebook. I know how it goes.”

He grimaced. “Yeah…not very manly.”

“Doesn’t bother me,” she joked. “That just means that I won’t have any problem getting you to watch the rest of The
Gilmore Girls
with me.”

“We’ll see,” he said, coming to her and kissing her lightly. “Look, the man on the phone is a developer that is quite pissed that I called off the deal with Mr. Farr. I’m meeting him in about an hour to go over other alternatives. I cannot miss this meeting.”

“It’s okay. I understand. I wasn’t expecting to spend the entire weekend with you.”

“That would be nice, though,” he said. “So, I have to head out in about ten minutes. Can I give you a ride to your place?”

“Sure.”

They both went back to the bedroom where she brushed her teeth and tried to get her hair in working order. While she fussed in front of the mirror, Riley changed out of the tee shirt and athletic shorts he was wearing and into more business-appropriate attire. Lauren caught glimpses of him changing as he walked around the room, watching him in the mirror. The man was a perfect male specimen, from his washboard abs to his wide shoulders. She loved to just look at him and was still in shock that she got to touch and kiss that body whenever she wanted.

She quickly found that Riley was very punctual, as he kept poking his head into the bathroom to see if she was ready. “Sorry,” he told her after checking in on her for the second time. “One of the annoying little quirks you should probably learn about me as quickly as you can is that I’m a stickler for time. I can’t stand to be late.”

“No worries,” she said, giving up on her hair and following him out of the bedroom. He practically marched out of the front door and she had to dash down the sidewalk to keep up with him when they were outside. When they were in his car, he sped down his driveway to the point where Lauren was slightly scared.

“I guess this is an important meeting, huh?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said. “I guess it’s partly my fault. I shouldn’t have agreed to meet him so quickly. It made me rushed and I hate being rushed. Almost as much as I hate being late.”

She frowned, wondering if she was picking up a tone of annoyance in his voice.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know it was a huge deal. You should have said something and I would have—,”

“Don’t sweat it,” he said “I’ll still make it on time. But the next time I tell you I need to be somewhere at a certain time, you need to start to get moving. My time is valuable, you know.”

What a dick, she thought. Was he really being so uptight because he was being rushed? She supposed it was likely. A man of his stature had to be on time for things; it was part of his reputation. But still, did it warrant his sudden transformation from Prince Charming into this rude asshole that currently say before her?

It was too much. She had never been the best at keeping her mouth shut when she knew it was going to get her into trouble, and now was no exception.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Did you seriously just say
‘my time is valuable.’?”

“I did,” he said. “Look, I’m sorry…but when it comes to work, I have to take every bit of it seriously. Working at a shoe store, I know you punch a clock and if you’re a little late, it’s no big deal. Someone else will sell the stupid hoes and—,”

“Riley,” she said, cutting him off. “Stop right now.”

He looked as if she had reached out and slapped him. It was clear that he was not accustomed to being interrupted. He looked furious, but before he could get out a rebuttal, Lauren went on.

“There’s talking down to someone and then there’s insulting someone. Besides…you didn’t seem to mind the shoe store a few days ago when we were having lunch for the first time.”

He was fuming, but she thought he had figured out that he had gone too far. They rode on in silence until he pulled up in front of her building. She could tell even by the way he slammed the car into Park that he was pissed. But she didn’t care—she was, too. More than that, she was hurt.

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