Bossy Billionaire

by Deborah Garland

  Gray lifted his head and smiled at him. “Where did you come from?”

  “Our mother. The same as you,” Luke answered wryly.

  Lexi snorted a laugh. “I don’t think that’s what he meant.”

  “I know what he—”

  “Hey, gorgeous.” Gray reached out to touch Lexi, but Luke snapped his brother’s hand away. “Was I dancing with you?”

  “Yep. And a lot of other girls.”

  Gray huffed. “I only remember you, gorgeous.”

  “This is so embarrassing,” Luke muttered under his breath.

  “It’s one am,” Lexi reminded him. “If you think Rob has only seen him drunk, you might want to check to see if he gave HR a bogus resume.”

  Now he snorted a laugh. Those little biting quips of hers made his body sing. He never knew what she’d say next. One minute she was a vulnerable puddle, the next joking or arguing with him.

  “Hey, Lexi? Are you still here?” Gray sputtered.

  “Yes, Grayson. I sure am.” She sounded annoyed, done with him and Gray’s bullshit, and that terrified him.

  “Luke’s in love with you, you know,” his brother practically sang the words.

  “Christ.” Luke shook his head.

  “Is he now?” Lexi stared at him when she asked, Gray, “How do you know that, Grayson? Did he tell you?”

  “Doesn’t have to.” His shoulders rose and fell in an exaggerated shrug.

  “What makes you say that?” Lexi prodded. Great, she was interrogating a man who would blow twice the legal limit.

  “Because you’re here. Right now.” Gray gave an adorable sloppy smile. “And he’s banged a lot of women.”

  “God, please stop talking,” Luke said, cringing.

  “Go on.” Lexi got a smirk on that stopped his heart.

  “He’d have made you disappear if he wasn’t crazy about you.”

  “Interesting.” She turned her back again, but through the reflection on the aluminum doors, that smile stretched a mile wide on her beautiful mouth.

  Lexi

  WHAT. THE. HELL?

  Gray’s insight on his brother’s feelings for her picked at the scar she built up from Luke’s rejections. When they reached PH2, that wall of glass with the glittering city below stung her heart. She’d not buried the memory of being there with Luke deep enough.

  Lexi hadn’t realized when Luke asked her to ride all the way up to the penthouse how it would feel. To be back there. On that floor.

  It’d walloped the hell out of her and she found it hard to breathe. Mostly because she’d felt so giddy and alive the last time she was up there.

  Gray murmured a few expletives and busted out of Luke’s hold. With an astonishingly poised and elegant gait, he sauntered to his apartment and slammed the door shut.

  Luke stared down the hall, his body screaming with concern. Drinking was a symptom of another problem. It was obvious what Gray’s issues were. Depression. Self-esteem. He chose a tough profession where every day he faced rejection.

  If she lost a case, or if she didn’t get everything she wanted in a contract, it wasn’t because some arbitrary force had decided against her. Her failures would be her own. They were opportunities to learn and grow.

  Luke strolled back toward her. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry, Luke. Your brother is an adult. I’m an adult. I came down to the bar to help him of my own free will. Under all that nonsense, he’s a great guy.”

  “I know he is.” He leaned against one of the steel panels between the glass wall, the golden lights of the city around him. “Gray needs a win.”

  “He seemed excited about the PR job when we talked about it earlier.” She nodded, wanting to stroke his chest. “Don’t worry, I didn’t RSVP you to any more parties.” She punched his arm.

  “Good. I’m wiped and now I’ve got to go out of town to...” He stared at her for a moment, just breathing between them. “Come with me,” he blurted.

  “To Chicago?” Her heart sped up.

  “Yeah. You were right.” He snorted a laugh. “You’ve been right about so much. I can’t seem to get my head out of my ass.”

  “Stop beating yourself up. You didn’t create this situation. Tristan forced it on you.”

  All he had to do was ask her into his apartment. She’d go because she had no will power. And didn’t want it. Kicked it to the curb.

  “After you’ve been dealing with all of this... And we’ve...” He rolled his eyes. “I just don’t feel right with you as my assistant.”

  “I’m not your assistant.” She waggled a finger at him. “I’m your temporary intern. I’m here to help you with this deal.”

  “But I need a permanent assistant, Lexi.” He then grumbled, “Among other things.”

  “Like what?” she whispered, her breathing ragged.

  “You’re my ticket to getting Tristan’s respect.” He gazed down at her looking lost behind his blue eyes. Looking like he needed comfort. “I screwed up in the past. That’s why this has to stay professional.”

  “I get it.” She nodded, hating it. “Close your eyes,” she whispered and leaned against his chest, sliding her hands inside his tux jacket again. The rich smell of his cologne and the heat of his body rocketed through her. But she just held him.

  Just gave him that connection.

  “Lexi,” he breathed into her hair, and held her tighter.

  Getting her fill, she let the embrace fade. “That’s all. Sometimes, we just need a hug.”

  “God, it’s so late.” He looked at his watch. “Let me walk you back to your room.”

  “Okay.” She lost the ability to push him away when he wanted to do the simplest things for her. If this tiny effort made the man feel better, well at least one of them would be enjoying life.

  The main elevator came, but in the corner of the hallway, she spotted the private one. The one he kissed her in.

  Inside the main guest elevator, the only thing Luke’s fingers touched was his forehead. “Have Jessie give you our pilot’s information as soon as you can for the trip. Send him the itinerary, he’ll square all the details away.”

  “You have your own pilot?” She rotated, facing him.

  “If you have your own jet, you need your own pilot.” He managed a smirk.

  Luke

  GOD, HOW THAT SOUNDED.

  Lexi blew out a breath, looking out of her depth. He’d been raised the same way as her. Having a boatload of cash thrown at him had been jarring, but he had his brothers to weather the storm with him. Seeing all of his wealth through her eyes, when she needed money right now must be upsetting. Like taking a jet was wasting money she could use on her tuition.

  He’d earned his excellent salary as a lawyer. He hadn’t asked for this hotel and God knows he’d done his share to screw with his reputation by being an out-of-control playboy.

  “When did you set that visit up for?” he asked.

  “Next week.”

  “Okay.” He took out his phone, but next her hand was on his. The warmth sent a spark up his arm.

  “I’ll add it to your calendar. I have...access.”

  “I saw that.” That’s how he knew she was having drinks with Gray earlier.

  She leaned against the wall of the elevator car. “You have access to my schedule, too. It goes both ways.”

  She went every which way in his bed. God, why couldn’t he get that night out of his head? Or the close call in the gym? Test. Test. This was a test of the Tristan Emergency System.

  Don’t fuck up. Again.

  “Fine,” was all he pushed out. Was it Monday yet?

  “After our visit, we’ll agree what changes we want,” she said, her voice going raspy, probably because of the late hour. “Then I’ll finish marking up the contract and I guess we can send it back to them.”

  He just had to get through the next week without breaking down and ruining everything. Because once he signed that agreement, Alexis Markham
might be out of his life. For good.

  The car stopped and when the door slid open, she walked out, clutching her middle again. But there was no hesitation in her steps. No lingering. “Good night, Luke.”

  “Good night, Lexi.” He watched the door slide closed, and he sneered at his reflection. “Idiot.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Lexi

  Lexi found it satisfying being an assistant. Not just Luke’s assistant. Keeping a busy man on schedule. Working magic behind the scenes. She would remember how hard an assistant worked when she got to a big firm and had an assistant of her own.

  Would it be wrong of her to want a male assistant?

  She chuckled, strutting past the front desk and greeted the reservation clerks with a wide smile. When eyes fell upon her, burning questions came through in the stares. Was she sleeping with Luke? When would she be leaving next? Was there a bet going on?

  Sighing, she continued her quest to find Luke and remind him they had a conference call in a few minutes.

  Tristan and Laney had come by earlier and dragged him out of his office to talk about a new layout for the guest business center.

  Spotting Luke walking toward the front desk speaking to Tristan made her heart do a little flip. That navy suit of his and gold tie were her favorite look for him. The blue reminded her how dark his eyes got when he was turned on and the gold reminded everyone, he was the king around here. He even swaggered with a powerful I own the world gait.

  With all her might, she sent him a mental signal, look at me.

  He glanced away from his phone, but only to notice Tristan had caught someone’s attention. She followed Luke’s curious gaze and her heart crashed into her stomach.

  Damon.

  Here. At the hotel. Why?

  For her?

  As Tristan and Damon exchanged handshakes, Lexi spun around, wanting to escape. A convoy of luggage carts collected from around the hotel blocked her path. Strung together like trolleys chugging along through a parking lot, they trapped her in place.

  “Lexi.” Damon’s voice had thrilled her at one time. Now, it made her skin itch.

  Slowly, she turned around. She’d not seen him in a year when he brought her to a crowded restaurant after hours of lovemaking to tell her he was getting back with his wife. Because Kara was five months pregnant with his baby. The ole ‘dump ‘em in a restaurant’ move to prevent Lexi from making a scene had summed up to her in an instant who Damon Hightower really was.

  Saying hello to her in a crowded hotel lobby and in front of her boss froze her fiery tongue, preventing her from delivering the outburst he deserved.

  “Lexi, are you all right?” Luke asked, his eyes skating from her to Damon.

  At one time, she thought Damon was the most handsome man in the world. His dark skin and full lips had thrilled her. Standing next to the Hart brothers who towered with graceful pride in the lobby of their beautiful hotel, Damon paled in comparison. In height and looks. Catching that fever, Lexi set her shoulders back and felt taller in the grandeur around her, the splendor she was now a part of. Damon’s position and power had perhaps hijacked her senses years back. Her feelings for Luke had nothing to do with his money or his title, but the man inside. Whether a lawyer or a CEO, Luke was a pillar of integrity and Damon had failed the honor test miserably.

  “Damon,” she said, plastering a smile on her face.

  When he tried to hug her, her body jerked back. “Whoa, Lex, just saying hello.” Beady gray eyes skated to the men watching them.

  “But I’m working.” She brushed a hand down the back of her neck, feeling the soft fuzz of a few escaped tendrils of hair she kept neat and professional while working, whether in a chignon or a ponytail.

  “Thanks to me.” He jammed his hands in his pockets, even the cut of his suit looked cheap compared to the custom threads Luke paraded around in every day.

  With the tension levels rising from her discomfort, Luke cocked his head and his eyes found Tristan, who stood there cautiously watching them, too. Lexi clutched her throat. The awkward ex-lover reunion could not play out in front of Luke. In his voicemail, Damon had mentioned he and Tristan had been friends since Yale. His sleaziness may make Luke’s brother reconsider who his friends were. But she didn’t want to be the reason a long friendship crashed and burned.

  Despite her and Luke’s vague and muddy relationship, she had a feeling he was sizing Damon up. Luke was pure muscle, compared to Damon’s sinewy build. He wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Breaking the wall of unease, she said to Damon, “You’re right. Let’s go grab a coffee.” She brushed past Luke, loving how he leaned into her touch as she flitted off to be with another man. She even heard a hum of jealousy on his skin.

  As she led Damon past the bar area, he rested his meaty hand on the small of her back. “Don’t.” She jutted her hip out of his grasp.

  “What are you so mad at?” he snapped at her, pulling her behind one of the massive marble columns.

  “I told you. I’m working.” She fiddled with her ID card.

  “Yeah, this is a hotel. You’re supposed to be hospitable.”

  “I’m Luke’s assistant. My job is to keep him happy so he can be hospitable. Someone pawing at me, will—”

  “I miss you, Lex,” Damon said, his face suddenly close to hers, his coffee breath an unpleasant shock.

  She jerked back “What?”

  He straightened his tie, tan, boring. “You can’t imagine what it’s been like for me.”

  “What it’s been like for you? Being married,” she hissed. “Having a woman you love in your bed every night. Taking care of a little baby. Yeah, sounds awful.”

  “I did the right thing,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

  Her jaw slacked open. “You had to do the right thing because you cheated on me with her. All the while you would have worn two condoms with me if you were big enough to get them to fit right.”

  He shook his head. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

  “Talk? About what?” That wasn’t rhetorical. She couldn’t imagine what there was to talk about.

  “Are you...living here at the hotel?” he asked, moving close again. “Do you remember the nights we had at the W?”

  Oh, dear God. “You recommended me for this job so you could come here and ask for sex. Did you really think I’d bring you to my room and let you use me?”

  “What the hell is going on here?” Luke’s voice boomed into the conversation.

  He’d watched her walk off with Damon and went looking for her. That was a heck of a lot better than looking at her, wasn’t it?

  She spun around and gave her best hostage video smile. Help. He caught on. “Lexi, please get on that conference call for me.”

  “I’d like to talk to her some more,” Damon challenged Luke like a moron.

  “She’s working right now.” He stared down at Damon.

  “She doesn’t get a break?”

  “To be dragged off to one of my hotel rooms, so some married man with a kid can take advantage of her?” He shoved Lexi behind him. “You’re lucky I don’t call Fordham and Yale. If you come back here—”

  “Forget it,” Damon spat out and shot a look of hatred at Lexi before storming off for the entrance.

  “Jesus, are you okay?” Luke turned around and gripped her shoulders.

  “Physically, yes. Mentally...”

  Luke glanced in the direction Damon had gone. “Are you in a relationship with him?”

  “No. I...was. It started my last year at Fordham.”

  “When he was your advisor?” Luke’s sympathetic eyes felt like warm honey on her skin.

  “He helped me so much,” she squeaked. “He pulled so many strings to get me into NYU.”

  “Because he wanted to sleep with you.” Luke choked a harsh laugh.

  “Can you appreciate that I wanted to believe he helped me because he had a professional duty to do so? And that he wanted to sleep with me for
me?” She couldn’t believe she was defending him. But it was more in defense of herself.

  “I guess. I’m sorry. I saw your face,” he said with a heavy breath. “The look of panic made me crazy.”

  She brushed her hand against his chest. “Thank you. I’m fine.”

  A quiet energy hummed around them, noticing the giant column they were hiding behind was the same one Luke had kissed her against. Another corner of his hotel keeping their secrets.

  “Oh, we have to get on that call.” Lexi snapped out of the memory of Luke’s lips on her in that very spot.

  “Do you need a minute?” he asked her with tender care in his voice. “I can ask Jessie to reschedule it.”

  Laughing to break the tension, she said, “She may have already canceled it since neither of us are there.”

  “You’re right.” In a rare move, he fingered the long ponytail slung over her shoulder. “Do you want a few hours off? Go upstairs to your room and relax?”

  “No. I want to take care of some things before we leave tomorrow.” She pinned him with a stare. “I just need a few minutes to catch my breath.”

  “I know just the place.” He took her hand and brought her to the elevators. Her heart pounded thinking he was bringing her up to his penthouse. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

  When he put his card into the PH2 slot, she said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t want to go to your apartment now.”

  “Is that so?” he answered with a sneaky smile. “We’re going to that floor. But not my apartment.”

  They rode in silence. On the private penthouse floor, Luke hooked a right out of the elevator, away from his apartment.

  At a metal door, she said, “I thought you told me to stay out of the stairwell.”

  “Not if you’re with me,” he said in a strong, sexy voice that had her heart going wild. He jogged up a flight of stairs and using a key, he opened another steel door.