Billionaires in New York Boxed Set: Billionaires in the City Books 1-3 by Laura Burton (learn to read books .TXT) 📕

of yellow daisies on her doorstep. He was freshly shaven, and his dark curly hair had been styled neatly to the side. Catherine staggered back and motioned for him to enter as she yawned. Then, once she closed the door behind him, she caught sight of her appearance in the wall mirror to her left.

She didn’t look pretty.

Her hair stuck out in all directions, and she had a wet patch on her nightshirt. Probably from drooling in her sleep. Mortified was not a strong enough word to convey how she felt.

“Can you wait here for a few minutes? Help yourself to a drink, I just have to change.”

Catherine eyed Edward as he nodded quickly and sat down, the bouquet of flowers still firmly in his grasp.

It took a record-breaking eight minutes for Catherine to wash her face, change into her clothes, and tame her hair. She jumped up, yanked her skinny jeans over her hips with a huff, and fastened the button. Then she gave her reflection the once over in the mirror and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“Good morning,” she said brightly on her return. Her eyes scanned the living room, but Edward was no longer seated on the couch. Instead, he was standing at the breakfast bar, armed with a pair of scissors and snipping the ends off the daisies.

“Oh hey,” he said, his face reddening at the sight of her. He stuffed the flowers into a glass vase and cleaned up the cuttings. “How are you feeling?” he said, his eyes flitting down to her leg as he brushed off his hands and walked over to her. Catherine’s heart leapt as he reached her. His bright baby blues were like two pools that she longed to fall into.

“No harm done,” she said, offering a brave smile. Edward’s shoulders slumped with a sigh.

“I can’t believe I was such an idiot. I want you to know, I’m not usually this clumsy around women.”

Catherine fiddled with one of the buttons on his cotton shirt and raised her brows as she stared at it.

“Oh? How do you usually behave around women?” Her eyes flew up to his face, her forehead was bright red now. A small vein bulged on his left temple.

“I don’t mean –” he gave a light cough. “Is it hot in here?” He tugged at the collar of his shirt and shifted his weight. Catherine grinned.

“You look cute when you’re worried,” she said, echoing his words from the night before. She placed her hands on his shoulders and craned her neck as she looked at him steadily. “How are you feeling?”

“Me? Fit as a fiddle,” Edward replied. A little too fast to sound convincing.

“A fiddle eh?” she dropped her hands and walked over to the kitchen. “Are you hungry? I could make pancakes or French toast.”

Edward leapt over to the breakfast bar like an excitable puppy and removed his jacket.

“I’m starving.”

Catherine set about making food, as Edward did most of the talking. He covered all the bases. His favorite color was blue. He loved classical music. Pineapple on pizza was – as far as he was concerned – a crime. He wanted to be a policeman when he was a boy. Catherine learnt more about Edward in ten minutes than she had all week.

“And I want to do Nascar racing one day. I’m going to sponsor a team soon.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Catherine blurted out without thinking. “You’d need at least a million dollars to sponsor a Nascar team.”

Edward’s face turned a deep shade of violet before he cleared his throat and shook his head.

“Right,” he said with a laugh. “I wasn’t being serious.”

Catherine served up the pancakes and pulled out a jar of maple syrup. She watched with amusement as Edward took the syrup and smothered his stack until it was drowning in it.

“You’ve got a sweet tooth, I see,” she remarked. Edward’s eyes shot up to meet hers and his smile grew wide, putting his dimples on show.

“You have no idea,” he said silkily. Catherine rolled her lips inward and bit down against the smile taking over her face. Before she could think of a clever response, or find out what he meant, her phone buzzed.

“Oh,” she looked up at the grandfather clock on her wall as it chimed, and her stomach turned into knots.

“Is everything okay?” Edward asked with a mouthful of pancake. Catherine hurried across the room to the dining table and opened her laptop.

“It’s eight, I talk to my brother at this time,” she explained as she set up the call. Catherine glanced back to see Edward spin around on the barstool with his eyes lit up.

“Johnny? Great. I finally get to meet him.”

“Finally? I only told you about him yesterday.” Catherine turned back to the laptop with a shake of her head and laughed. After a couple of rings, a screen popped up with Jonny’s face beaming at her.

“Morning Cathy, how are you?”

Catherine tried to keep Edward in her peripheral vision as she spoke to Johnny. Wondering when a good time would be to announce that she was not alone. It was surprisingly difficult to get a word in edgeways. Johnny had news to share.

“You remember I went into the city? I went to my interview and the lady was really nice. She liked that I knew so much about the animals. She offered me a job right away.”

“That’s great news.”

Catherine jumped at the sound of Edward’s voice. Johnny’s eyes widened and he moved to the side, as if it would help him get a better look at Edward, who was off camera.

“Who said that Cathy?”

Catherine waved Edward over, he stooped down and smiled broadly to the laptop, his cheek hovering close to Catherine’s.

“I know you,” Johnny said with glee. “You made me a video.”

“Hi Johnny. It’s great to meet you pal. Congratulations on the new job.” Edward’s body heat burned Catherine’s cheek and warmed other parts of her body. She listened as Edward answered Johnny’s many questions, and