“Alexis,” he breathed and stared at her. “Law student.”
Yep, she was the woman he’d taken home and violated eighteen ways to Sunday. In his penthouse. Right here. In the hotel. His hotel. She wasn’t some bizarre doppelganger.
She scrunched her face up and squeezed her shoulders. She found this funny?
This was so not fucking funny.
“I’ll leave you two alone to get to know each other. I think it’s good to just jump right in. Why don’t you show Alexis the contract and make a plan for how we’ll tackle this. I also think she should go with you on your trips to see the other hotels.”
Fuck. That. Shit.
Lexi tilted her head at that one like the tour of other Chevalier hotels was news to her.
“Maybe that’s not necessary.” Luke went emotionless, otherwise he’d fucking scream.
Tristan pinched his chin. “It’s not for a few weeks. With Alexis’s understanding of law and contracts, it could only be to our benefit.” He turned to her. “That’s if you can go.”
“I’ll have to...check.” Lexi peered at him, as if she were trying to push those memories back into the forefront of his mind, how he’d made her come so easily. Again, and again.
Right. No fucking way was he taking a business trip with her. They’d never leave the hotel room.
“Oh, one other thing.” His brother’s annoying voice made him snap.
“Jesus fucking Christ, what else, Tristan?” That he said out loud.
“Luke!” His brother’s eyes blinked like he was having a stroke.
Get. In. Line.
“Hmm?” Lexi chirped with a sneaky smile. “I didn’t hear anything.”
Tristan exhaled and narrowed his eyes into dagger-thin slits.
“Sorry.” Luke stood and slid his suit jacket across his shoulders, feeling undressed compared to Tristan’s buttoned up double-breasted number and Lexi in her adorable slim skirt and tight sweater with a crisp white shirt underneath. Her hair was pulled back into an adorable bun resting at the nape of the neck he was sure he marked with his teeth the other night. God, she looked so polished now. Nothing like the wild little number he took to bed and then sent home. “What else?”
Tristan’s lips flattened and after a breath, he said, “Alexis is also going to live here at the hotel.”
“No,” jerked from his throat.
“What?”
“No...kidding.” He attempted to save himself.
Tristan checked his phone after a series of beeps. “I have an...appointment with Laney. I’ll be back this afternoon.”
Before he disappeared, Lexi caught his arm.
When she leaned into his brother, a growl rumbled in Luke’s chest. Mine.
“Good luck at the doctor.” She squeezed his forearm.
“Thank you, Alexis.” Tristan smiled and patted Lexi’s hand. Great. Those two were already fucking besties. Someone she would run to when he behaved as badly as he planned.
She had to quit. He couldn’t work with her. No. Whatever money Tristan promised her, she could have. Paid in full. Bye. Bye. She was out of here. He couldn’t be close to her. He’d come undone. Lose it. Lose it all...
If he couldn’t love her...
He’d have to hate her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lexi
Excitement hummed off Lexi. She couldn’t believe it. There he was. Luke! And now, they worked together. Okay, she worked for him, but he was the boss around here. The CEO. If he wanted to date his assistant, intern, whatever, he could.
As quiet as possible while he made her come on his desk. They’d had such an incredible night. Now, they could see each other every day and grow into a...couple. She’d not been looking for a relationship, but she and Luke had hit it off so well.
In the crisp morning light, he was even better looking than she remembered. Thick golden hair, wavy across the top, square jaw, and that scruff again. Yum. He exuded enough charm to get her into his bed. Standing there behind a desk with his dark suit and the light catching him, he looked utterly stunning and...lethal. Now, didn’t that make her panties go damp? She liked CEO Luke even more.
This was a temporary gig for her. She didn’t mind being an assistant, but her goal was to be a lawyer. Like...Luke. Wait.
“You said you were a lawyer,” she asked in her most non-accusatory voice.
“I am,” he answered with a piercing look.
Was he playing a game with her? Why? They could make a fantastic team. They had such a connection the other night. He acted like he respected her. He acted like he liked her.
“And the CEO of a hotel?” She folded her arms. “You didn’t mention that.”
“Was I supposed to?” He stayed perfectly still while she thought she’d snap out of her skin.
She released a nervous laugh. “We talked a lot that night. If this is where you’re spending your days now, yeah, maybe you should have.”
“Sorry.” The hollow answer stunned her.
Shaking her head, she bounced over to him. “Luke, what’s going on? It’s me.” She reached out to put her arms around his neck.
He jumped back. “What are you doing? This is an office. I’m your boss.”
“Not really. I’m just a temporary intern. I’m here to help you out.”
“You can help me by going to find your desk. And staying there until I need you for something.” The way he sneered at her set her back.
“You’re kidding, right?” She folded her arms like she could hide the heartbreak starting to build in her chest.
“I don’t understand how you got here.” Luke’s voice had a shaky quality to it.
“I was recommended.” She dropped her arms and leaned in on a forty-five-degree angle. “Highly, I believe.”
“I watched you walk away four days ago, thinking I’d never see you again and—”
“Thinking or hoping?” She felt like a nuisance taking up his oxygen.
He cocked a brow at her. “Do not interrupt me. Okay, that’s rule one.”
“Are there many rules?” She patted her skirt. “Should I be writing these down?”
“I can’t believe this.” He turned away, answering her with a view of his back.
Message received, buddy.
“Did I do something wrong?” She twisted her fingers to match her stomach. “Other than saying hello to a man who made me feel special a few nights ago.”
“I’m just wondering what you said to my brother to make him hire you.” He sat at his desk, a gaudy monstrosity if she’d ever seen one. “To work for me.” His tone cut her into pieces, making her feel finely chopped.
“Are you saying I conned Tristan somehow?” When Luke didn’t answer, her breathing came up short. “I didn’t know the job was to work for you. We just established you never told me about the hotel. You picked me up at a bar and snuck me in through the back entrance like a servant. And I never got your last name.”
“You didn’t think it was a strange coincidence that you slept with a man named Luke and then you get offered a job to work for a man named Luke four days later?”
He was cross-examining her. Only she did nothing wrong. She glanced around the posh office. That desk was a little over the top compared to the sleek lines of his body hidden under the incredible suit. Two wooden chairs with gold inlaid carvings sat in front of the desk. The blue tartan fabric on the seat looked pristine. Such a stark difference from the way the rest of the hotel looked. She considered throwing that in his face. Only, she wasn’t sure if that would hurt him. If all he’d mentioned was being a lawyer and kept this place a secret, the hotel must not matter to him.
Or did it? She’d save that for later. This was only round one in a long-drawn-out fight to the finish. He clearly didn’t want her here. Didn’t want her to work for him. Why, though?
“Since when do you have exclusive rights to the name Luke?” she said, realizing no one had said anything for a few seconds.
“Ehhh.”
A throaty buzzer noise came from deep in his throat. “You need to come up with answers faster than that, Alex.” He swiped a paper from his desk and tapped at it with his fancy pen. “That’s another thing, it’s pretty shady using a man’s name on your resume to trick someone into hiring you.”
Why was he being like this? “Fordham made that mistake. And I didn’t submit a resume. My...advisor sent my name to your brother without telling me. I also don’t have enough work experience to fill a professional resume yet. I’ve been in school for the last six goddamn years.” Suddenly her palms turned very sweaty.
He nodded. “No experience, yet now you’re an executive assistant.”
“Intern,” she reminded him.
“To the CEO of one of the top hotels in the city,” he said, looking down his nose at her.
“Top hotel?” she scoffed, deciding to drop her bomb since he insulted her. “Have you been in your lobby?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. Okay, that did hurt him.
Before this exploded into an all-out war, she pushed past the force field he’d put up around him, but his office door opening jerked her back a step.
“What?” Luke snapped at the woman who came in.
Unphased, she answered, “Tristan told me to show Alexis her desk.”
Luke grumbled something Lexi couldn’t make out. Heh, she wouldn’t let him off the hook.
“Hi, I’m Alexis Markham.” She swaggered over to the pretty woman and shook her hand.
“Jessie Ramirez, Tristan’s executive assistant,” she said in a sharp professional voice.
“Okay, can I just have another moment with Luke? We were discussing my, um, responsibilities.” She ignored the growling behind her.
“Sure. My desk is outside Tristan’s office.” Jessie threw a cautious glance at Luke as if Lexi may have taken him hostage.
“Two minutes,” Lexi said, smiling as Jessie left.
After she closed the door, Luke exploded. “Who the hell do you think—”
“Stop it already!” She strangled her voice, trying not to yell back. “Look. We got off on the wrong foot here. I was just as surprised to learn I worked for you. Can you imagine what I thought when your brother brought me to my hotel room and I recognized the carpet? Luke, I was shattered. I’m still shaking. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Luke let out an exaggerated sigh. “Why do you need to live here?” he pushed out, ignoring her questions.
“Because I live in New Jersey. I told you that Friday night. Your brother didn’t want me traveling so far every day.”
He stared in response.
“Do you not want me staying here?” She worried because as the CEO, she assumed he had veto power over Tristan.
Luke scrubbed his hands down his face and let out a stifled roar. “Do I want you sleeping in the same building as me? No.”
Her shoulders slumped, as if the air had been squeezed out of her chest. “Okay. This is just ridiculous. I need this job. I told you I was having money problems. Can we talk somewhere else? Can we go to lunch and just reset this whole thing now that it’s all out in the open?”
“I don’t eat with my assistant,” he sneered with derision.
When she was just a law student, and he was the seasoned attorney, he acted like he respected her. Like they were the same. Not anymore. Now, he treated her below his station.
Asshole.
Without speaking, because clearly, he could not be reasoned with, she headed for the door and slammed it on the way out. If he wanted a war, he was going to get one.
Luke
LUKE KEPT HIS EYES straight ahead storming over to Tristan’s office. Lexi and Jessie stood outside the break room. All breathing seemed to stop when he marched up and down those back-office halls.
Holy shit, that had been brutal. Being so close to Lexi. The smell of her. How great she looked. That tight skirt and cute sweater. When he’d been in his tux misbehaving at an event, he wanted low-cut dresses and tits hanging out on his arm. He wanted to parade the hottest woman around and make all the other fuckers jealous of who he’d be banging later. That pig wasn’t the real him, though.
The playboy CEO was an out-of-body experience after living with so many rules as a lawyer. He’d gone to law school to help people. Clients who needed his expertise. In international matters like Mik Leitner’s Costa Rican inheritance nightmare or intellectual property disputes where he helped Laney get the rights to all her designs from a piece of shit textile mill owner. Those were his best days, and they didn’t end with him getting laid.
With her elegant office clothes, Lexi was his mirror. His other half. And the attorney inside him, the guy he knew best, the guy he trusted, was clawing at the surface to come out when she was near.
But Tristan needed him to run the hotel right now. The renovation and Laney being pregnant, maybe, put the job he didn’t want square on his shoulders.
Didn’t want.
Lexi didn’t want this job. She needed it. Why? Money. Money.
He busted into Tristan’s office and slammed the door. “Hang up. We have to talk.”
Tristan’s amber eyes narrowed on him. “I’ll call you back, Mom. Let me know what the doctor says.”
Luke felt his chest cave in. On top of all of this, his mom wasn’t feeling well. And she lived twelve-hundred miles away. Tristan said a few more things low into the phone. Laney really was pregnant, and Tristan was telling their mother. Not him. Why? That pissed him off. What about Gray, did he know? Luke was the oldest and the fucking Sterling CEO, but apparently lying at the bottom of the Hart clan pecking order when it came to family news.
“What?” Tristan asked him, rising out of his seat.
His relationship with his brother had become tense all over again. Because of...Lexi. How could she have so much power over him? He imagined it would only get worse if she stayed. When he was a partner in his law firm, he and Tristan didn’t talk every day. They were both busy. Working together at the hotel had jump started a great relationship with his brother and now it felt like it was crumbling. His throat tightened. That can’t happen. Not over a woman.
“Get rid of her,” Luke bit out, controlling his emotions.
“No,” Tristan answered, calm like he knew this was coming.
Luke let go of a laugh. Tristan didn’t even ask who he was talking about. He could have been talking about Samantha, the Event Manager. “I don’t need your permission, Tristan. You get that, right?”
“I do.” He clicked his pen “You want her gone. Go fire her.”
Damn it, if there was one thing he hated, it was a hollow bluff. “She’s too pretty.”
“Don’t stare at her,” his brother said with an arched bushy eyebrow. He’d been waiting for that one, too. “Is that all you got? I know you better than that. You’re a lot of things, but you don’t hit on your assistants.”
And Lexi was the woman who would change that. Spectacularly. “She’s just doing this for the money.”
Tristan frowned. “Yeah, that’s why people work, Luke. They need money.”
Luke gritted his teeth. “I mean, she um, told me she just needs money to pay for school. I’ll call my law firm and send her there. I can’t imagine she’s making enough here to cover tuition for the next semester. You’re a generous guy, but—”
“I told her to get that Chevalier deal done with you and I’d pay her tuition as a bonus. I can’t believe you don’t see how perfect she is for this job. I gave you a gift, Luke.” Tristan added water to the powdered cement that would keep Lexi right where she was.
“Just write her a check. Tell her it’s a grant. Or a gift. A scholarship from The Sterling. I can do that deal myself, damn it.”
“Alexis didn’t strike me as a person who would take a handout. She never applied for a student loan because she felt guilty getting a free ride to Fordham because of her father.”
“Her father?” Why did he think this was about to get complicated?
&nb
sp; “He was a fireman who died on 9/11,” his brother said somberly.
We talked a lot that night. She’d kept her own little secrets. Why?
“Even better. Call it a 9/11 Scholarship. Write a check. Call someone over at NYU and demand they re-enroll her.”
Tristan kicked his desk chair back. “Do you seriously have no idea how illegal that is? To create a 9/11 Scholarship designed to go to one person?”
Luke felt the walls closing in, but said nothing.
“What’s the real reason you don’t want to work with her? And don’t bullshit me it’s because she’s too hot and you can’t control yourself.”
“I don’t...like her.”
“You just met her.” When Luke opened his mouth to throw another excuse out there, Tristan trekked over to him. “Man the fuck up, Luke. Be cold. Be distant. Be a robot. Talk to her through email. Say as little to her as possible. We need her. She’s smart. Let her work on this deal. That partnership is the key to our survival. Reservations are down. It’s widely known we’ve let this place go.”
“Dad let this place go.”
“Right. Because he ran it by himself. He didn’t listen to anyone.” Tristan gripped his shoulders, desperation in his touch. “We have each other. We know better. We have vital business experience to make this place sing.”
He scoffed. “You sound like Laney.”
“Good.” Tristan stepped back and fixed his jacket. “She’s the best part of me now. Why don’t you try falling in love?”
His body went still. Love. The thundering of his heart when someone was near. The anticipation waiting for a call. The dry throat watching her walk toward him. He never wanted to fall under that kind of spell, but it scared the fuck out of him because he’d felt a whirlwind hit him when Lexi came into the picture. As far as bedroom-Luke, she released the beast. Lexi handled him masterfully.
It all crashed into him. No. Not now. Not like this.
“Thanks for the pep talk, little brother,” Luke said and charged out of his office.
He smoothed his hair back and manned up enough to speak to Lexi who was getting situated at her desk.
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