If The Dynasty and The Sterling were built as twins, The Dynasty looked like the Arnold Schwarzenegger character. And that would make the poor Sterling, Danny DeVito. She squeaked a laugh to herself, determined to help change that.
Chicago was a magical city. Different from New York. The energy felt like an electrical current that ran the opposite way of what she was used to. The Dynasty sat right on the Chicago River and the city’s energy buzzed through the hotel.
Nothing stopped her heart at The Dynasty like the vertical embroidered sheers hanging from the cathedral ceiling. Each dramatic drapery panel sat behind a seating area of velvet slipper chairs and porcelain cocktail tables.
“Oh, I have to show that fabric to Laney,” Lexi said, taking out her phone again.
The mentioning of Tristan’s fiancé brought Luke’s steps to a halt. “Have you two been...getting along?”
She wondered in what capacity he was asking. “I’ve been getting along with everyone. She seems to always be in the conference room with Tristan going over the renovation plans. I don’t want to get in her way.”
Luke nodded, a smug smile forming on his lips. “Wanna ogle the place some more or go put our stuff away?” He took her bag along with his in one muscular hand.
The ‘our’ melted her heart, even though it was a figure of speech, since they’d be sharing a suite. Like The Sterling, suites were located at the end of each floor and provided panoramic views. Luke, being a fellow hotel mogul, Dynasty managers put him on the floor right below the penthouses.
The penthouses.
“Oh shoot,” Lexi blurted, stepping on the elevator. “Should I have booked you one of their penthouses?”
He cocked his head at her. “Why?”
“You being a billionaire, and all.” She spoke low, not wanting to advertise his status and draw more attention to him.
“I live in a penthouse.”
“Still, I should have thought about it.” She hoped she would come across as a competent assistant when they met with The Dynasty’s management team later. “I guess that’s what you meant when you said you need a real—”
“Did you set this up, Lexi?” Luke’s voice dropped an octave below what she was used to.
She froze, her fingers pausing along the elegant paneling inside the elevator cab. Pulling them into a tight fist, she said, “Do you think I’m capable of such manipulation?”
When he didn’t respond, she bravely faced him.
The rise of his lips into a half smile threw her off. “I believe you’re a woman who’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants.” He swaggered toward her, sending her back flat against the panel. “My resolve is on fumes, Lexi. But having you sleep down the hall won’t change anything between us. If I’m willing to obliterate the rules, I’ll walk over hot coals to get you in my bed.”
His words coiled inside her. “Good to know.”
He opened his mouth to say more, but the elevator stopped. Saved.
He let her out first and the trek to the end of the hall was thick with silence.
The suite made her eyes bulge wide and her jaw drop. “Is there a plan to re-do the guest rooms?” Lexi asked, taking in the elegant front sitting room.
“Yes,” Luke answered, hard and stoic, and once the door to the suite closed, she felt like a ladybug caught in a web.
He must have felt like it, too. The entire world had fallen away. The only thing between them was Luke’s conscience.
Taking in his stare, where behind his eyes she bet a war raged on, she shuffled across the carpet leaving only a few inches between them.
He swallowed hard when she put her hand on his. “Give it to me,” she whispered.
His body gave a tiny jerk, and he opened his mouth, but she couldn’t bear to hear what he’d say.
“I meant my bag. We have work to do here, don’t we? Boss?” She wanted to remind him she knew where the line was. On his pool deck in the off hours, they could be the people who bumped and grinded until they got off. The same with all her other games: the gym before work, sending him blowjob hints at the bar after work.
Lexi was now on the clock and she was nothing if not professional. There was a world waiting to eat her alive as a junior law associate. Weakness couldn’t get the better of her, either.
She slipped her bag away from him, the heat of his hands and dampness of his palms lingering on the handle. At a desk under a window with gorgeous velvet drapes, she checked her phone. “We have a meeting with the hotel’s management team in an hour. Let’s look around for ourselves with the checklist. We may want to add questions. Why don’t we get started?”
“Fine,” he said, frustration in his tone.
Without asking which room she wanted, Luke disappeared down the hall, took the north-facing bedroom, and clicked the door shut. She was expecting a slam, but Luke was classy and not prone to tantrums.
Her breakdown was on the horizon.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lexi
Hours later, an outburst made Lexi sit up in bed. She’d not dozed off completely. Just in that haze right before sleep claimed her. She and Luke had returned to the hotel after a pleasant dinner where they talked nonstop about the meeting they’d had with The Dynasty’s management team. What a score! The owner, Sara Singer, who’d taken ownership of the hotel in a divorce, agreed to cross promote The Sterling, using the relationship of the two hotels as a great hook.
She and Luke had gone straight up to their suite after dinner, skipping a nightcap in the lobby bar out of exhaustion. In the living room, he’d kissed her gently on the nose then sauntered down the hall to the bedrooms. She slogged to her own bedroom and did a faceplant onto the softest bed she’d ever slept in.
But a cry had just rung out from Luke’s bedroom across the hall.
Even though she was ‘off-duty,’ her nurturing impulse had her feet on the floor and walking to his bedroom.
She was surprised to find the door ajar. Inside, the city lights poured a cloudy blue haze into the room allowing her to see where she was going. The plush carpet kept her steps quiet, but she wished she’d made noise. Give him something to wake up to, other than her shaking him awake.
Luke was thrashing around in a king-size bed that sat against a dark paneled accent wall. He was twisting in the sheets, releasing soft moans in between piercing cries. One of which had woken her up.
She rushed to him, aware of her urgent steps.
When she got closer, he rolled onto his back. The blanket had slipped off the other side and the sheet draped flat across his body, but only up to his waist. He twisted again pulling the sheet lower.
Uh oh.
“Luke,” she whispered, stroking his forehead, hoping to pull him out of sleep. Just a blink of his eyes was all she needed to turn around, satisfied she had helped.
He’d fallen back into a deep peaceful sleep, though, his body no longer squirming. Could just her presence have calmed him? Even if he didn’t really know she was there? But on some unconscious level, maybe he did. His brain knew she was in the suite. Knew if he’d made a sound, she’d go to him.
A sheen of sweat covered his chest, even though the gentle wind Chicago was known for pushed soft breezes in the room past delicate sheers framing every window.
Luke mumbled, slid his arm under his pillow, and arched his hips forward. The sheet slid even further down. Blood pounded in her ears absorbing Luke’s roped stomach muscles, the sharp curve of his pelvis, the tip of his cock, the hard ridge laying just past the top of the sheet. The vision had her heart hammering against her ribs.
Kill me now.
The reasonable Alexis knew she should wake him up. Nudge his shoulder. He’d been screaming. She’d done nothing wrong. But she didn’t want to wake him and get into an argument about why she was in his room, staring down at his naked body.
She had to get out of there. The simple stroking seemed to have calmed him down. As she turned to leave, Luke’s body twisted in another fit,
and curled into a ball facing away from her. Shaking and twitching, he let slip a soft whine from his lips.
His smooth bare back glistened with sweat. He’d gotten worked up over something.
“Here we go,” she whispered, knowing she would regret what she was about to do.
She set her palms down and climbed up on the mattress to settle in behind him, just for a moment. Luke hadn’t budged. She blew out a frustrated breath. It seemed nothing was waking him up. If stroking his forehead calmed him down, a hug should help more.
If he was still asleep, what would a tight squeeze hurt?
Luke bellowed a roar. He rolled over quickly and before Lexi processed or plotted another move, her boss was on top of her.
He was naked and the sheet was...gone.
She’d only worn a nightshirt. A short one. Luke’s rolling maneuver had made it creep up past her hips.
And well, Lexi hadn’t slept with underwear since grade school.
Luke
LUKE BLINKED AWAKE feeling a body under him. As his eyes focused, a startled chill went through him looking down at Lexi. “Uh. What are you doing?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” she answered, catching her breath.
“You have a story that will explain why you’re in my bedroom. And in my bed?” His senses connected to his brain. “And you’re not wearing panties?” Christ, he felt...everything.
“Do you want me to explain while you’re lying on top of me?” she asked.
He hoped he would hear a doozy of a story that will somehow give him permission to be hard as a rock with Lexi’s bare ass beneath him. Yeah, let’s go with that. “Give it a shot.”
“You were...yelling. I came in here to wake you. But you calmed down right away.”
“While you were standing over me?”
Lexi drew a breath. “No, not exactly. I touched your face.”
His brothers had to bust into his bedroom and together lift him up and throw him in his shower to calm him down. And just her touch did it? “Go on.”
“Then you curled into a ball and I didn’t know what that meant, so I thought if a touch on the forehead helped, a hug would help more.” She became less and less confident of her words as she went along.
With a heave-ho, he rolled back, placing Lexi on top of him. Her legs widened. Christ, he almost slipped inside her. He was still hard, and she was, well, soaked between the legs.
“Oh,” she released a sexy yelp as he moved her, and even she seemed surprised at the new position.
Luke sat up and planted his arms behind him so he wasn’t touching her. He met her eyes. They were sleepy. No. Hooded. “Um, Lexi...”
“Yeah?”
“You can get up. If you want to.”
“I sure want to.” But she didn’t move. “Do you want me to?”
“Give me a second,” he said, biting down on his lower lip.
If she got up now, his hard cock would be on display. It felt so snug against her soft warm skin. “You’re awake now, I’ll leave.”
As she swung her legs to get up, he grabbed the sheet that had skewed off the bed and dragged it across his waist.
Panicking at the thought of her leaving, he snagged her wrist. “Don’t...go.” His brain started running a mile a minute. Lexi had dealt with his terrors perfectly. Now, he couldn’t let her out of his bed because he feared the dreams would return and be worse.
“Wanna tell me what the dream was about?” she asked, sitting on her knees.
“They’re not dreams.” He leaned against the velvet headboard, his heart still pounding in his bare chest. “They’re horrific nightmares.”
“Like snakes and stuff,” she joked.
He lowered his chin. “No, not like snakes and stuff.” He didn’t bother to tell her about the dreams he’d had where he walked in on her and Gray having sex. But watching his brother’s big dick slither into her sweet center might count as a ‘scary snake dream.’
“You were thrashing around.” Her knees fidgeted, and he got caught thinking about what lay eighteen inches further up and under her nightshirt.
Staring at her in his bed again, he realized as early as the first night an undeniable intimacy had been created between them. That bond had grown over the past few weeks. He’d been saying he couldn’t have her because he was the boss. They’d blown by that one, hadn’t they?
“The thrashing is because I’m trying to wake myself up,” he finally answered.
“Then tell me about the dreams.” She nudged his leg, and the sheet drifted lower threatening to expose his cock.
On an exhale, he said, “They’re usually different.”
She stayed silent for a moment. No movement of air between them. “Can I ask you a question?”
He scoffed, “I think we’re so beyond you asking first. What’s your question, Lexi?”
“What do you miss the most about being a lawyer?”
“Jesus.” He rolled his eyes.
“Maybe the nightmares are that side of you fighting to come out.”
Something was fighting to come out. “That’s a lot to consider at two am.”
“Okay. Do you want to get back to sleep?” she asked, her hands looking like any second they’d press down on the mattress and she’d spring away to leave him.
No. What the hell. He leaned forward took her fingers, so soft and cool in his hand. “Lexi, I want you. Please know that I do. And I don’t mean just to fuck you. You’re more than that to me now. But to sleep with you is wrong.”
“I know. You’re the boss,” she said, mocking him.
“It’s not just that. I could have pushed the issue with Tristan and made him understand. But then I realized something else. Something darker. I’m not good for you. Or... I won’t be.”
“Won’t be?”
It was time to voice the concerns that leveled him out when he’d been on the plane earlier that day. He exhaled and ran his free hand along her smooth cheek. “I’m afraid I’ll destroy you, Alexis. I’m a selfish bastard. I don’t want my woman working fourteen-hour days. Being too tired to fuck me the way I want to be fucked every night. I know me. I’ll make you miserable.” He took her face in his hands so he saw her eyes when he said, “I’m the man who would not let you get out of bed in the morning. My hotel could crumble around us and I’ll get you fired after one week. I’ll shatter your dreams because I’m a beast who made you get lost in me as much as I would get lost in you.”
She blinked like an owl listening to him. He knew he made his point. She wasn’t unaware of what the first few years of being a lawyer was like. Sure, she could get some bullshit nine-to-five job, but she’d be miserable.
Lexi had fire. She’d make an amazing attorney. Firms would bid their asses off to have her. But wherever she landed, they’ll abuse and haze the crap out of her. Torturing lawyers to see who could take not just heat, but who will walk through fire for them, got partners off.
And then he’d have to be a dick and start storming her office to curse those assholes out and ruin his reputation as a respectable lawyer.
“I know you think you’re tough,” he went on. “You have what it takes to beat anyone. Just not me. I’ll break you. Call you nonstop, harassing you to come home.” He didn’t do relationships because he wanted more than any reasonable woman could give a man. His paradox often left him wondering if he’d ever find what Tristan had. Have that happiness and most of all, fucking peace.
“I thought with us both lawyers...” she admitted with sadness in her voice.
“I’m not going back to my law firm. And you’re right. That must be the source of my nightmares. But my brain better get used to it. The hotel needs me. I made a joke of my job there long enough. Tristan and I got in there and we just were putting out fires. Neither of us intended to stay. We wanted to get it in shape, sell it, and go back to our lives. I had a ten-billion-dollar offer on the table, too. He made me turn it down.”
“Made you. I find that hard to bel
ieve.” She kissed his hand, her lips brushing against the inside of his palm.
As if a force he couldn’t control had him wired up, he scooted forward. Speaking of hard...
“Laney inspired him to keep it.” He spoke to maintain his sanity. “And they talked me into it.”
“So a woman came along and completely changed your trajectory.” She clucked her tongue. “Interesting.”
He never imagined love could shake up his fucked-up thoughts and bust through the barriers he’d put up, stopping him from having a healthy relationship.
All this time he’d been hiding from the frightening reality that if there was a woman who could break down his barriers, give him everything he needed without completely losing herself, it was Alexis Markham. He stared at her. What the hell was wrong with him?
Figuring they were already in trouble and nothing could stop this train anymore, he took her face in his hands and kissed her. His throat trembled taking shaky breaths, and she gasped from the unexpected kiss. That’s how awesome he’d been at pushing her away.
And there he was opening them up...again.
“You taste so good.” He pulled her on top of him, keeping the sheet between them. Kissing her gave him an explosive sensation rushing through every inch of his body. His cock throbbed with awareness under the sheet.
“God, so do you. Your kisses drive me insane.” Her mouth tasted like the chocolate cake she devoured earlier for dessert.
This was his dessert, wasn’t it? Better than any port wine his money could buy.
Without thinking, he popped open two buttons of her nightshirt, slid it down her shoulders until he exposed her breasts. Perfect round cushions of silky flesh with long hard nipples. He took one in his mouth while massaging the other one. Lexi ran her hands through his hair, damp from the thrashing workout. Her nails scraping against his scalp, made him cry out, “That feels good.”
“No kidding.” She grabbed his head and kissed him again.
They both kicked the sheet away. They were through the looking glass now. Time had stopped. They were alive for just this moment. He loved the feel of her silky body, and how her legs wrapped around his waist. Her feistiness was what he loved the most about her. She’d be a challenge for him. She’d make him chase her. He loved that.
Bossy Billionaire Page 17
