“Here, this may feel better.” And there he was taking out his cock. “This isn’t... We’re not...” His pressed the head against her clit.
Gusts of night air challenged the flaps in the cabana drapes, breezes letting him peek at the world outside their cocoon.
“I need to come, Luke,” Lexi groaned, the pulse in her throat visibly throbbing.
He rubbed his cock against her hot center, feeling the thick nub with each rush against her skin. Every stroke pulled another moan from him. The moment seized upon him, dangerous and forbidden with his brother in the pool nearby. It almost sent him over the edge.
Only, Lexi broke first. She shuddered and cried out. Damn, he made her come just by rubbing against her. How strung out had she been?
Breathing in clips, she turned limp in his arms.
“I got you. I’m here.” He tipped his forehead against hers and cuddled her. He didn’t come, but her scorching firestorm of a climax made him feel as if he had.
She was still shaking, shattering while he held her, his hand clutching a bulk of her wet hair. The hold felt so perfect, her body warm against his chest. She fit against him like no other woman had.
“My...clothes. I...” she squeaked.
Coming down from his own high, he groaned, “Got it.” He scooped the towel off the ground and wrapped her again. With a little more finesse this time. With care. With...love.
Oh, damn it.
“Be right back.”
“Wait.” She reached out and pulled him in for another kiss. This one tasted sweet and felt gentle, not lust-ridden and crazed.
He loved both sides of her.
He loved...her.
He stumbled out of the cabana keeping the curtain closed, half expecting to see Tristan standing there with a scowl. No. Just Gray in the pool, staring into the night sky doing back strokes. Shaking his head, Luke grabbed Lexi’s clothes from the chaise and breathed a sigh of relief when a frill of black lace slid out from under the skirt. Thank fuck. Although now, he had to consider that teeny no-holds-barred thong was all that stood between her sweet pussy and him ruining his life on a daily basis.
Back in the cabana, he handed her the bundle. Feminine giggling stopped the rest of his dirty thoughts.
“What in good God is funny?” he asked with a chortle in his own voice.
“Hold the towel up.” She stood and held it out for him. “That’s what my mom did with us at the beach.”
He smiled, knowing what she was talking about. Because a private fucking pool hadn’t been at his disposal either when he was young. His mom had to drive an hour to the beach and made them change out of their wet suits behind a towel tent she’d made under the cheap umbrella.
Grabbing the towel, he spread his arms to shield her. From who, though?
“Don’t look,” she said, holding her breasts. “Turn around.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Yeah, buddy. Two second rule is over.” Apparently, sharp, in-control Lexi had returned. But he loved every version of her. Especially if the wanton side of her was just for him to enjoy.
“I have news for you. That was a heck of a lot longer than two seconds.” And a lot more fun.
“I’ll walk back to my room like this.” The sternness in her voice and the imagery had his cock growing again.
He swung around and held the towel up.
Lexi was behind him getting dressed.
Gray was beating the shit out of the pool in front of him.
Luke glanced at the glass panels at the roof’s edge wondering what it would feel like to hit the pavement below.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Luke
“Holy crap,” Lexi blurted, stepping onto The Sterling’s company jet the next day acting like nothing happened twelve hours earlier.
To which Luke was grateful. The point of the two second rule, he guessed. Fine by him.
“You’re a cheap date. This isn’t even the top of the line. It was my dad’s.” He slid her trench coat off.
The olive-green suit was not a color he would have picked out for her, especially with pink hair. Yet, she looked stunning. Lexi had a phenomenal way of blending a professional elegance with her eccentric personality. That combination would shock the shit out of the lawyer world when she crashed onto the scene.
“Did you use the plane when it was your dad’s?” She ran her hands along the walnut trimmed leather seats while strolling down the center aisle.
Her question sparked a rumble in his chest. Why would she ask that? Yes, he’d been on this plane before, going back and forth to law school. A treat his father had tossed at him like a well-behaved dog.
“Um. I did. But I don’t talk about him and the relationship we had in front of Tristan and Gray. It bothers them that I kept in touch with him after he left my mom.” Something told Luke deep in his bones, he could trust Lexi to bare his soul about the burning feelings he’d had about his father.
“We’re gonna be pulling away from the jetway in a few minutes, Mr. Hart,” the pilot said.
“Thank you, Dexter.” Luke steered Lexi to one of the seating areas, a set of four tapered leather chairs with a table in between.
Each seat, the color of steamed milk, sat in front of a gold and cream granite table. After two sets of chairs, a sofa stretched out down the remaining length of the jet. Far off in the back was a wet bar he’d usually be breaking into before takeoff, but with Lexi on board, he just wanted to sit with her.
“Do the seatbelt rules apply?” she asked, dumping her butt into the aisle seat of the group he brought her to.
“I’ll do it.” He bent down to find both ends and fastened the clasp for her.
“I like this.” When he looked up at her, she added, “You buckling me in.”
Yeah, he liked it, too. Keeping her. Claiming her. He lowered into the window seat and fastened his own belt.
“You were saying it was only you who kept in touch with your dad, and not your brothers?”
He twisted in his seat. “Tristan and Gray tolerated the fact that I stayed in touch with him. It’s still a sore subject when it comes up.”
“I see. That must have caused some tension between you guys.” She rested her chin on her hand.
He exhaled, his stomach unclenching. “You can say that. He did a shitty thing. Leaving my mother out of nowhere. But when Tristan and I got into Yale, and Gray into UT, he paid our tuition. No questions asked. No demanding to see grades. The bills came in and off went the checks.”
“Hmmm.” Her mouth twisted in displeasure.
In her eyes, he saw what she was thinking: he got a free ride and yet she had to kiss his bossy ass to finish law school. “It was all out of guilt, though, Lexi. The hotel was raking in big bucks by then. The Sterling was his baby, it was all he cared about. We went without a lot of stuff while he was getting it off the ground. And when it took off, he left us.” He stared out the window questioning his judgment now, listening to him say out loud what he’d held inside for years.
“Can I be honest with you?” her voice crept across his shoulder.
“Please.” He faced her again, hiding the shame in his eyes.
“I’m surprised you stayed in touch with him then,” she said sternly, but with an undercurrent message of: I’m on your side. Just tell me where to bury the body and I’ll lie my ass off for you.
Now, that’s a partner.
“I can’t tell you what he did or said to change my mind. It was a slow erosion of my resolve.” He was prone to caving, wasn’t he? “All I kept thinking was, he was my father. My blood. He treated me differently. I was the oldest. He told me that made me special. I was a kid. I didn’t understand how fucked up that was.”
“Now that he’s gone, I guess there’s no point,” she said. “And what little I know about Tristan and Gray, it was your father’s loss. How could he not have wanted three strapping, smart, wonderful sons in his life?” She cut to the chase and didn’t blow horns at his pity party.
He shrugged. “I agree what’s done is done. He died and left us his fortune. Not some trophy wife. We took his money and the first thing we bought was a mansion in South Florida for my mother. We wanted her to benefit the most.”
She leaned her cheek against the headrest. “I love that.”
“What?”
“How you guys care about and protect your mom.”
“Yeah,” he said and looked out the window. When Lexi put a hand on his shoulder to turn him around, he finished his thought. “The last few times we spoke to her, she had a nasty cough.”
“It must be hard with her living so far away.” It was as if Lexi saw inside his soul and cut through so much crap to get under his skin, really draw him out.
“She wanted to move there.” He relaxed further into the seat. “It would be nice if she were closer.”
“She has a grandchild on the way,” Lexi started with a chuckle. “You might find a For Sale sign on her lawn soon enough.”
He laughed with her at that one. “Tristan would love that. Laney has no relationship with her mom. Doesn’t even know who her father is.”
“That’s sad.” An adorable wrinkle formed over her nose and he wanted to smoosh it, but if he touched her, they would both get initiated into the Mile High Club.
Then the guilt came over him again. “Oh, Christ. Lexi, I’m sorry. Here I am whining about my father who lived a pretty long life while your father died so young. And you didn’t even get a chance to really know him, huh?”
“That’s so perceptive of you,” she said and swallowed, the muscles in her throat looking tight. “It was a long time ago and so many firemen died that day. I don’t let it define me. I’m my own woman. I appreciated the Fordham scholarship because of it. I plan to give back once I’m established somewhere and making money. I worry about my mom, too, though.”
“Did she remarry?”
“Not even close.” Lexi scoffed at him. “I don’t think she’s even had a boyfriend.”
“Does she look like you?” He allowed himself a quick poke of her nose. “Besides the hair.”
“I have her olive skin and dark hair underneath this...” She twisted the ends of her pink ponytail. “My brother looks like my dad, fair skin, light brown hair.” She smiled all throughout the description of her family.
“You have a brother?”
She nodded. “Theo. He just got into the fire department. He’s a probie. So, I won’t see him too much for a while. The first years he’ll be running around not knowing which end was up.” If he knew her like he did, he’d also bet she didn’t want him to worry about her getting-kicked-out-of-school drama.
“I think it’s fantastic, he took after your dad.”
“You did, too,” she reminded him.
“No,” he replied sharply. “I’m a lawyer.”
“Are you sure?” Her brown eyes really studied him. “Seems like running the hotel has been tearing you in two different directions. You seem frustrated at all the administrative work that comes with being a CEO. And yet you seem anxious about pleasing your brothers. I think you’re still figuring out who you really are.” She was so perceptive, it scared him like she read his mind as he went along.
“You have no idea.” The confession felt like a relief valve had been opened.
“You’re right. I don’t have an idea. These hiccups of being in school then out of school are brutal. I feel like I get so close and something happens.” Her eyes wandered over his shoulder at the clouds passing outside his window.
“No more.” He let his finger brush under her chin. “After this, you’ll have your tuition money and you’ll finish.”
“Then I have to take the bar exam.” She sounded overwhelmed just mentioning it.
“Yeah, that was brutal.” He took a breath. “But I’ll... I mean you’ll be fine.”
It became clearer with every second, that he’d see her through all those tough steps. Somehow, someway. But he couldn’t tell her because he wasn’t sure if the road to forever with Lexi was paved in gold or landmines.
“Is it normal to get sleepy on this thing?” she said with jade-swept lids looking heavy.
“Normal for who?” he asked, leaning back, catching a wave of exhaustion in his eyes, too.
“All the women you’ve had here.”
“I don’t bring women on my plane.” His chest released a whirl of air, grateful he’d never slept with anyone on this thing. But he liked her snarky jealousy without bitterness. “The only woman who’s been on this plane is Laney.”
“Mmmm. And now me.” A pleasant smile formed on her lips.
“And now you.” God she was so beautiful. Sitting on his plane. It came alive around her. The cross-hatch pattern of blue and creams of the carpeting seemed richer against her patent leather black heels. It felt like she was made to be there. Be there for him. With all the women he’d crossed paths with in the last three years, no one had this profound effect on him.
Lexi had a long road ahead of her. Even though she had one final semester of school left. He remembered what law school was like. Gray had visited him at Stanford and said he barely recognized Luke. He’d stopped cutting his hair, shaving, and when he spoke, Gray complained about the vacant look in his eyes.
It hit him like a bolt of electricity struck the wing of the plane. Lexi would be consumed with her classes, too. Studying, finals, and then...the bar exam. He remembered cramming for that beast felt like an eighty-hour-a-week job. Could Luke compete with a textbook and study classes?
He didn’t trust himself to be understanding.
Good God, he’d be miserable because he would want all of Lexi. Then he’d make her miserable when she couldn’t give herself to him completely. That much he knew about her.
Luke could give Lexi anything money could buy. But his billions couldn’t buy more hours in a day. He couldn’t snap his fingers and make her law degree or a passing grade for the bar appear in her hot little hands.
Even if he could, she’d never agree. She had ethics and class. Lexi didn’t want something for nothing and that’s what he loved about her.
Being so close to her, breathing in her floral perfume, fresh and light, would break him while they were in Chicago. He couldn’t shake how she’d made him feel. In bed, she let him play with her like a block of fresh wet clay on a potter’s wheel, letting him mold and move her however he liked, letting him arrange that beautiful body into any position he desired.
She gave him complete control over her and, fuck, he loved that.
Pure. No games. Just passion.
Oh, crap. He loved Lexi. And he was going to lose her, wasn’t he?
Lexi
LEXI DIDN’T WANT TO step into a chain hotel ever again. The Dynasty reminded her of a castle. The similarity to The Sterling was beyond eerie with the same tiered front lounge. Lexi couldn’t help but notice how the modern furniture with sleek lines and retro classy fabrics, mostly velvet, made the lobby and bar area stun her into silence.
“Son of a bitch,” Luke murmured, taking the place in, as well.
“Please tell me this is what Laney and Tristan are planning for our hotel,” she murmured back.
Luke looked ready to damn near cry. “No,” he pushed out and when she looked at him, he said, “It’s goddamn better.”
“I’m still taking pictures for Laney.” She began clicking away with her phone until they got to the front desk. “Hi, there. Luke Hart, checking in.”
“Yes, Mr. Hart. We have your deluxe suite all prepared for you,” the reservationist said looking around her.
He nodded. “Thank you.”
“Two keys then? For both of you?” the desk clerk said to Lexi.
“Oh, no. I have a room reserved for myself. Alexis Markham.”
A wrinkle formed above the clerk’s nose. “Markham?”
“Yes. When I called to change the name of the reservation from Tristan Hart to Luke Hart, I asked them to add a second room.”
&nb
sp; “It seems we just added you to Mr. Hart’s reservation,” the clerk said, rubbing her forehead in distress.
“No problem,” she set the clerk at ease. “Can you just put me in a room?”
“I’m afraid we’re booked solid. During the week we host several business conventions. And a romance conference of some sort is in town, so we’re handling their overflow.”
She snuck a gander at Luke who stayed stone faced behind his shades. He leaned across the counter and put his hand out to shake. “Luke Hart, CEO of The Sterling in New York. I know you always have extra rooms. Check your offline inventory.”
The clerk drew a breath. “This week we had to dip into our offlines, sir. I’m sorry. We’re all filled up.”
“Can we speak to your manager?” Lexi said, her heart racing, fearing Luke would lose his shit on a poor minimum-wage desk clerk. He wasn’t obnoxious about his money, but was rather spoiled when he didn’t get what he wanted.
“No,” Luke stopped her, though. “It’s fine. Is the suite a two-bedroom, at least?”
“All of our deluxe suites have two bedrooms.” The clerk resumed processing their key cards.
“Luke, I can find another hotel,” she whispered, panic tightening her throat.
“You heard her, sounds like everyone’s filled up. It’s fine.” He squeezed her arm. The power in his voice like he was in control, put her at ease. “We’re adults. We’ll manage.”
Yeah, because they’d been doing a bang-up job so far... The gym. The pool.
Lexi appreciated this hotel was laid out like The Sterling. Her mind whirled walking through the lobby and if she had to figure out where the elevator was, she’d go flying down the front marble steps. She had to sleep under the same roof as Luke, a real roof and not twenty floors worth of ceilings in between.
Coiled up, she took more of the beauty in as they walked to the elevator in an attempt to relax. Soft tickling ivories crooned from an ebony grand piano. And the bar was all shimmering glass. The entire staff also wore black from head to toe. Black pants and black button-down blouses and dress shirts, dialing up the posh factor. The lobby was filled with beautiful people, too. Luke fit right in. No, he didn’t fit in. He stood out.
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