“Go. Talk to your brother.” Laney was a damn smart woman. Turned his brother’s ass upside down and around.
Was that possible for him?
Leaning against the dark gray Trex railing still misted from the morning dew, he watched Tristan amble toward him. Slow and measured in a golf shirt and khaki shorts. “What’s up?” he asked, folding his arms.
“About last night.”
“Yeah, I get it. You’re now in love with Alexis. Your assistant.” His voice had a hard edge that cut deep. “One side of you does, anyway. You were screaming it.”
“I was going to say thank you.” He let his blue steel gaze get the point across if his words were meaningless. “Thank you for being there for me.”
“You’re welcome.” His brother seemed confused for a moment. “Don’t forget to thank Gray, too.”
“I will and yes.”
“Yes, what?” Tristan asked, jamming his hands in his pockets.
“I do love Alexis. We had sex in Chicago. But not because I couldn’t stop myself with my assistant. There’s more to the story.” He breathed in a gulp of moist morning air. He enjoyed the sweet smell of blooms growing from the flowers all around him. “I slept with her the Friday before you hired her.”
“You made a woman you slept with apply for the internship?” The look of shock on his brother’s face said, I didn’t even think you’d go that low.
“You’re kidding? You’re going with that one?” He pushed off the railing. “This was all you. It was your sleazy buddy at Fordham who found her, pushed her on us so he could have a place to screw her behind his wife’s back. I had nothing to do with it.”
“It’s just a coincidence that a woman you slept with showed up for an interview three days later?”
“Given all the women he slept with one was bound to show up for a job,” Gray said, sauntering up to them with a steaming mug of tea. “Is this what we’re talking about? How Luke better get his ass in gear about Lexi?”
“She works for us, Gray,” Tristan snapped.
“Then fire her, Tristan. Give this poor bastard a break.” Gray acted like he was taking the control Luke couldn’t. “Let him have the woman he wants. No one tried to keep you from Laney.”
“Stop!” Luke huffed and turned to Gray. “Hey, I appreciate you helping me out with my nightmare. And thank you for getting Lexi on the phone.”
Gray brought the mug to his lips. “Your girlfriend was very nice to me. She told me I had value. Something you two seem to overlook.”
“Lexi isn’t my...” Luke stared Gray down. No, he didn’t want a girlfriend. He wanted Lexi as his...wife. Which really sucked since she didn’t even want to be friends with him. “Whatever the hell Lexi said to you I’m sure was one hundred percent correct.”
“I agree,” Tristan said, nodding.
Luke shook his head, lost in where he wanted the conversation to go. He just felt relieved that Tristan wasn’t angry at him.
He took a steadying breath and met Tristan’s eyes again. “I just wanted you to know what was going on. She’s a decent person. Whatever this is, she won’t hurt us.”
“Fine. I don’t think she would either.” Tristan thumbed his chin, then looked to the sky. “Um, so how did the trip go?”
A flicker of relief washed over him. “Good, really, good. We gotta make some additional changes to the hotel...” He launched into a rundown of what had inspired him the most this past week.
Every sentence in the conversation included Lexi.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Lexi
Luke stayed in Florida for two weeks, so Lexi took over the CEO office. Her dark and dreary cubicle annoyed the hell out of her. With Luke not using the executive suite, there didn’t seem to be a reason for her to work uncomfortably.
The Monday she’d gotten back into the office, she launched into conference call negotiations with Chevalier. Daily grinding calls with their general counsel. Luke would have been so proud of her holding her own. No one had asked her if she were a licensed attorney, so she chose not to tell the Chevalier GC she was only a law student.
After a few nights, she began dreaming about this contract. Red-lined marked up clauses that the GC wouldn’t change floated around in bubbles she couldn’t break, often making her wake up in a cold sweat. Every night without Luke holding her and kissing her was a whole other form of torture and those dreams were dark and terrifying.
The hotel felt empty without the Hart brothers in residence. The magic she normally felt in the air had vanished. Every step through the lobby had no meaning because never would she look up and see Luke strutting around, being his fabulous self. Even the grand columns and gold leaf finishes, marble floors, iron railings, high curved ceilings with painted frescos, and crystal chandeliers all looked dull without Luke there.
That morning, Lexi spent an hour looking over the last draft sent by the Chevalier lawyers. With a catch in her throat, she dialed up the general counsel to tell her they had a deal. They’d agree to everything Luke had wanted. He was right, when she asked for twenty-four months to comply with the required amenities, they came back with eighteen. Since The Dynasty had gotten their renovations done in eight, according to their facility manager, a ten-month cushion made Tristan and Laney feel more comfortable.
After finalizing the last few details with the GC, Lexi said, “I’ll have this ready for Luke to sign when he returns from Florida.”
“I’ll make sure to tell him how great you’ve been to work with,” the GC commented. “You’d make a great general counsel for him. You deserve a promotion.”
General Counsel of The Sterling. Hmmm.
“Luke’s been the acting general counsel. I was just hired as a temporary resource to help him.” Keeping the emotion out of her voice when saying his name had become her superpower.
“Where will you end up?” the GC asked.
She took a breath not believing the segue had been so seamless. “Since you’re asking... My mother owns a resort at the Jersey Shore. Her partnership application with Chevalier keeps getting rejected. Three times now, I believe.”
“What’s the name of the resort?” There was tapping on the other end of the line.
Yes!
“Portside Inn,” she answered and held her breath.
“Hang on.”
Lexi thrummed her fingers along Luke’s desk blotter, noticing little indentations everywhere. These were the signs of his life. She ran her fingers along each one desperate to feel any part of the man again.
“I’ve got it here,” Chevalier’s GC came back on the line. “Hmmm. Oh, Alexis. We’ve gotten along so well until now, I’m afraid I’m about to ruin our relationship.”
Oh no.
“No, Stephanie. This is my personal business and has nothing to do with The Sterling. It’s just that I want to invest in the property and I’m hoping for a straight answer about our chances to join. I know Luke would be open to cross-promoting us. Many tourists visit the Jersey Shore when they leave Manhattan.”
“The notes from the last inspector were not kind.” Stephanie’s voice sounded so grim, Lexi’s heart sank.
“The place is a mess. It’s dated,” she said with a frustrated exhale. “It’s a catch twenty-two because my mom never had the capital to invest. After my father died on 9/11, she—”
“What?”
“My mom never had money to invest.”
“Your father died on 9/11?” Stephanie’s voice took on that tone of dread.
“Oh, um, yeah. He was a New York City fireman.” She swallowed the other batch of words that stung the inside of her mouth.
“Did your mom own the resort when he was alive?” More tapping on the other end.
“Yeah. His salary put food on the table in the winter months. That’s one of the things I want to turn around for the resort. Encourage winter bookings. It’s such a charming town, I think with the right marketing, the place can do well all year long.”
&nb
sp; “These were details the inspector didn’t know.”
“We don’t trade on my father’s death,” Lexi remarked with firm resolution in her voice.
“I appreciate that. Let me look into this.” Tap, tap, tap. “I’ll personally work with the inspector.”
“Oh Stephanie, that would be so great.” Her stomach unclenched. “The inspectors would come and we’d never get any feedback. Tell us what renovations you want done and I’ll figure out a way to make it happen.” She had an ace up her sleeve. Even though she wanted a Hart.
“I don’t doubt that.” The trust came as a welcomed surprise.
“Thank you. Thank you, so much. Can I follow up with you directly?” Her feet tapped the floor in a sitting happy dance.
“Absolutely. I’ll be in touch, Alexis.”
“I look forward to it.” The call ended, but Lexi kept the phone in her hand until the buzzing stopped.
Getting her head together, she studied the picture on Luke’s desk. The same shot of him and his brothers that Tristan had. Like a field of beautiful wild flowers, Lexi zeroed in on the most perfect stem of flawless petals. Luke.
Straightening in Luke’s chair, Lexi made the final updates to the agreement and then printed out two copies for Luke to sign with a set for Tristan.
“This place won’t feel the same without you,” Jessie said, sitting at Tristan’s desk, taking his set of copies from Lexi.
“Good luck with nursing school, Jessie. I worry Tristan would miss you terribly.” Lexi still couldn’t believe she was leaving.
“He’s so easy to work with, someone else will just slide right in.” Jessie waved her hands, dismissing her worth.
She’s young. She’ll learn, too that a woman always owns up to her value.
Back in Luke’s office, Lexi clipped his package together and marked the signature blocks with torn Post-It notes that she scribbled with sign here, instructions. Tears escaped her eyes, dampening a few. These flags signaled the end of her time at The Sterling.
Her work there was done. Luke still needed an assistant. A real one. But that wasn’t her problem anymore. All she was doing now was keeping a job from someone and putting Luke into a perpetual state of angst.
She loved how he wanted to make his brother happy. Something must have clicked after three years of screwing around as the playboy CEO. Luke would make it work with the next assistant, for sure. She had faith in him.
Even with her heart torn open, her future never seemed clearer at that moment.
Two hours later, she checked out of room 702. The reservation clerk took her key cards back and remarked how much they would miss her.
“Luke’s been so different since you got here. He’s been nicer,” the clerk whispered.
Lexi smiled. “A good assistant can keep a bossy billionaire in his place.”
“Will we see you here again?”
No. “Anything is possible.” She gripped the handles of her luggage and counted the clicks of her high heels across the marble floor until she reached the revolving door.
On the street, Tom offered her the limo, and the doorman asked if she needed a cab. Lexi kindly refused both, even though she’d stuffed her flip flops in her zipped-up pile of luggage. The sun felt strong, and the air smelled like summer was so close. A few blisters would hurt less than smelling Luke’s cologne in his limo for four hours.
“Nah, I’ll walk.”
Luke
THE STACK OF PAPERS on Luke’s desk made his heart hurt. He got a message through Tristan that the deal was done.
Chevalier formally accepted The Sterling as a partner. Thanks to Lexi’s hard work.
Two mornings earlier, he and his brothers had brought their mother home from the hospital. Gray chose to stay an extra week to make sure the visiting nurse and the new live-in housekeeper they’d hired worked out. Their mom deserved to take it easy and having someone around to watch over her had been a tense, but non-negotiable argument.
While it already felt unsettling not having Gray around, nothing compared to the emptiness in his heart not seeing or speaking to Lexi the last couple of weeks.
Luke’s executive swivel inched out away from his desk and he pictured her sitting there. Several torn yellow strips stuck out from the contract. He opened one of his drawers and smiled looking at the formal red signature flags untouched.
He sat down and opened the contract to the places she had labeled and his heart stabbed seeing her sloppy handwriting, sign here.
“No kidding,” he spoke to himself.
She had a lot to learn, but she had him wrapped around her finger. He peeled off the first sticky note and feeling silly, like her, he stuck it on his forehead.
One by one, he signed and peeled off her little nondescript notes he was sure had some hidden meaning behind the simple words: sign here.
Take me.
He picked up his phone and took a selfie with all the yellow torn strips still stuck to his forehead. Then a few more making a funny face. Like how she crossed her eyes to make him laugh when Tristan had introduced them.
Luke wanted so much to send these pictures to her. It didn’t feel right for her to just disappear. Then again, she came into his life out of nowhere.
What if he hadn’t been in that restaurant?
What if the trains hadn’t been delayed that night?
What if Fordham got her name right?
He assumed if he and Lexi were meant to be, something else would bring them together. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. But would he get a second shot at a chance meeting with the woman he knew was his soulmate?
He removed the torn sticky flags from his face and lifted the stack of papers. With every step through the offices the emptiness grew. Knowing he wouldn’t see Lexi.
“Here.” He dropped the signed contract copies on Tristan’s desk. “Get the money to Lexi right away.”
Tristan looked up at him. They hadn’t talked about Lexi since that awkward confrontation on his mother’s back deck.
His brother took a folder from his top drawer. “She gave me a copy of her last tuition bill that never got paid. Thirty-two grand, rounded up.”
“Double it.” Luke leaned forward and poked his finger into the center of the yellow faded tissue-like paper.
Tristan got his judgmental face on. “Why the extra money? I’m just curious. You slept with her. I can’t have it look like a payoff.”
“She was living at home. Taking the train back and forth.” He kept his anger on simmer, even if he hated having to explain himself. “This way she can either live in campus housing or get an apartment.”
“Here in the city?” Tristan dipped one eyebrow with an assessing smirk. “In your reach.”
“We have a fucking plane.” He loved his brother, but sometimes Luke wanted to smack him. “I can get my hands on a helicopter, too, if I want her in my reach.”
Tristan nodded. “Good point.” He grabbed a blue sticky note, marked it up, and stuck it to the copy of her tuition bill.
Luke chuckled wanting to stick it on his forehead, too. Maybe two silly Hart brothers would melt Lexi’s heart. His last resort? Gray.
“Do you want a helicopter?” Tristan asked, closing the folder.
“Not yet,” he said, striding out of his brother’s office.
Not wanting to be in the closed-off back offices, he strutted down the escalator to get some air outside. Looking out at his lobby, he fantasized about those long sheer drapery panels hanging from his ceiling. Like the ones he’d seen at The Dynasty. Lexi had emailed the pictures to Laney, who immediately got to work on a gossamer prototype. The sample had utterly blown him away.
Laney designed a family crest with a sword and axe crossed over a swirl of flowers topped with a crown. The strong and the soft. Hart Brothers in Arms was embroidered into a ribbon on the bottom and across the top, Luke, Tristan, & Grayson. The pattern was intricately woven with thick gold thread and the silky fabric reminded hi
m of Lexi.
After seeing that crest, he couldn’t ease the burn from his stomach that Tristan and Laney were starting the next Hart generation before him. That was his job, to produce the first heir. Over the thumping of his heart, he heard the front desk clerk welcoming a new guest.
“You’re in room 702, the elevator is to the left of the lobby bar,” the clerk said.
702. No fucking way.
He barreled over and reached across the counter to snatch the key cards away. “No. Not that room. It’s... Offline.”
Miriam, the clerk, stared at him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hart. I didn’t see it offline.”
“It is now. Mark it,” he said, through pressed lips.
“Yes, sir.”
He faced the customer and let a smile cross his face. “I’m sorry about the mix-up. Your drinks are on me tonight. Miri give them the comp tickets.”
“Yes, Mr. Hart.”
With 702’s key cards in his hand, Luke marched to the elevator and growled inwardly at the crowd. Instead he hiked up the stairs. “Damn, this stairwell is dark.”
His long legs burned when he reached the seventh floor. He didn’t know what he expected to find in Lexi’s room. Panties. Those silly flip flops.
Her scent. God, he wanted to inhale her feminine scent one last time. After living at The Sterling for more than a month, he hoped the room would still smell like her. Opening the door, he got hit square in the chest with the smell of cleaning chemicals. Nothing. There was no trace of her. How was that possible?
But it was for the best, wasn’t it? Her scent would bring him to his knees. She rearranged his heart. The blood rushed through his veins differently. He breathed differently. He walked smoother. Slept...
His sleeping was a mess. Except, when he was with her.
She calmed him.
Lawyers married other lawyers.
Lawyers married non-lawyers.
People figured out how to make relationships work.
He had billions of dollars at his disposal. Money couldn’t buy love. But it could buy all the tools necessary to make the woman he needed his. Planes. Trains. Automobiles, namely his limo.
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