When Lightning Strikes (The Storm Inside Book 3)

by Alexis Anne

  The way Edward kept pushing me around.

  “Plus it means you two are no longer rivals,” Greg pointed out.

  “That’s a bonus, for sure.”

  Greg took the empty wine glass out of my hand and placed it on the table beside his empty whiskey glass, and then he pulled me sideways into his lap and kissed me. His hands ran up my shoulders and tangled in my hair.

  I kissed him back, enjoying how it felt to let everything go. It was nice to have one big conversation out of the way. I hoped they’d all go this easily.

  “So, we need to talk about something else, too.” He pulled back and nipped at my lower lip. “About us.”

  Why did that make me feel crazy? “What about us?”

  “What are we? What are the rules? Are we going too fast?”

  “Good questions.” Really good questions. “I’m not sure where to start.”

  He massaged the back of my neck while staring at my lips. “Let’s start with the last one. Do you think we’re going too fast?” He looked adorably shy. If Natalie weren’t in the next room I’d wrap my legs around his waist and kiss him until he forgot we had anything to talk about.

  “When we’re together, I don’t know how to stop,” I murmured. “We could move really fast if we wanted to.” I didn’t want that.

  “So what are the rules? What do you want from me, Marie?”

  “I want to make sure we both know what we’re doing so we don’t hurt anyone. You, me, or her.”

  “I agree. The last thing I want is to hurt either of you.”

  I really believed that. “So I think no sleepovers during the week.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “But weekends are fine? I like that.”

  “Yes. We’re both so busy I don’t know when we’d see each other during the week anyway.”

  “Dinner,” he said firmly. “I want to have dinners with you both.”

  That made my heart flutter. I nodded quickly. “Okay. Dinners. Anything else?”

  He ran his tongue over his lower lip and I wanted desperately to suck it into my mouth. “Yeah. One more thing I need to clarify.”

  He was breathing harder and so was I. Was it warmer all of a sudden? “What’s that?”

  “I don’t want you dating anyone else.”

  It hadn’t even occurred to me. I had a hard enough time seeing him. Wait, was he planning on still dating? Or fucking? “This has to be a two-way street, buster.”

  “Obviously,” he said and shook his head. “I just mean, if we’re going to do this, I want to really do this. You know?”

  I nodded slowly, taking in the dark, almost possessive look in his eyes. I had a very primal reaction to that look—the kind that involved ripping off all our clothes. “Then yeah, I’m good with that arrangement.”

  His lips twitched up into a smile. “Good. Then will you also go to a party with me on Friday after work?”

  “Party? Normally Natalie and I go to a game.”

  “Rays are on the road this weekend,” he said automatically.

  “Then we go to a movie.” It was too soon to be ditching Natalie for a date.

  “I have a sleepover!” she called from the kitchen. I was so caught up in Greg that I hadn’t noticed her get up for a drink. “So you two lovebirds should go to that party. I’ll be at Clarissa’s, remember?”

  I looked at Greg. “Looks like we have a date.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “I’ll see you there?” Jake poked his head into my office on his way out the door.

  “Yep. Marie’s coming, too.”

  Jake let out a low whistle. “So this is happening? Eve is gonna bust a nut.”

  “Your wife has no nuts to bust,” I reminded him.

  “Then she’s gonna blow a gasket, happy?”

  “And why is that?” I knew they just wanted me to be happy and all, but it felt weird to have people all up in my business, even if it was Jake and Eve.

  “Watch Eve and Marie tonight. I think you’ll figure it out for yourself.”

  “What the fuck, man? Just tell me. I hate games.” I was always blunt for a reason.

  Jake opened the door a little wider and leaned against the doorjamb with a goofy grin. “She’s lonely. I mean, I’m awesome,” Jake shrugged and waved his hands at himself like he was a prime specimen. “But most of the time she gets bored at these parties. Jennie doesn’t go to them so having Marie around more often means she has someone to suffer with.”

  Jennie was Eve’s other best friend—other than me, of course. “Ah, so Eve only wants me to keep dating Marie so she can have a friend?”

  Jake waved his hand at me and started to leave again. “See ya there. And try not to get thrown out again tonight.”

  The last two cocktail hours we’d attended had ended up with me pretty damn drunk and belligerent. It wasn’t my fault I felt an incurable need to correct idiots when they were wrong. “I’ll have company with me, remember? I’ll be on my best behavior.”

  “Still…”

  I threw the tennis ball at him. He ducked away just in time and I heard him chuckling all the way out the front doors.

  Thirty minutes later I pulled up to the curb outside Marie’s office building. Since the cocktail hour was at six, Natalie went home with Clarissa, and Marie stayed at work to get things off her docket for the weekend. I was a little bit nervous seeing the great and powerful Marie in her element for the first time. I didn’t often feel inadequate—and I wasn’t sure that was really what I was feeling now—it was more like a little voice in the back of my head was reminding me that I could never be good enough for her.

  I rode the freakishly quiet elevator up to the twentieth floor where Bancroft Sports was housed. The doors slid open and a reception desk stood about twenty feet in front of me with a fresh faced twenty-something guy smiling at me with a stupid fake grin.

  I guessed a dude receptionist made sense for a sports agency, but I was still a little surprised. Or maybe it was my old fashioned stereotype at play. I assumed most of the agents were men and that usually meant there would be a young, pretty receptionist for them to ogle. Of course, this was Marie’s office so I should have known better.

  “How can I help you?” Thad was wearing a plastic lanyard with his name and picture on it.

  “Greg Hamilton here for Marie Bancroft.”

  Thad’s eyes widened and then gave me the once over. I glared back until he picked up the phone and called Marie. I was wearing my favorite blue Armani suit. I looked like a million fucking dollars. Thad better save his assessment for some other prick. “A Mr. Hamilton is here to see Miss Bancroft but he’s not on the schedule.” Thad hummed and then said, “I’ll bring him back.” He stood up and straightened his shirt. “Right this way, Mr. Hamilton.”

  I wanted to tell the kid he could call me Greg, but I kind of liked keeping him on his heels.

  The office was very nice, very posh. Massive windows made everything light and airy. Offices were partitioned with glass walls except for the back offices, which had wood paneled walls with large glass windows. Most of those had blinds drawn for privacy. I assumed the highest ranking agents and executives got those offices.

  The office was still pretty busy, even for a Friday evening. Signed memorabilia was hung from most of the walls, along with massively blown-up photos of some of their most famous clients. I noticed that Marie was usually standing in the background of every single picture.

  Thad opened the glass door at the very end of the hallway. The room was lined with bookcases and more memorabilia. An older woman in her fifties sat behind a desk. She looked up and smiled at Thad.

  “Thank you so much for bringing him back.” She stood up and came over to shake my hand. “My name is Joan, I’m Miss Bancroft’s personal assistant.” She nodded at Thad who closed the glass door and trotted back to his desk. “Can I get you anything? Water? Whiskey?”

  “Whiskey? Has Marie been telling you about me?”

  Joan smiled warmly
and I decided right then I really like her. “She alerted me to your personality and preferences.”

  “Then yes, I’ll take a whiskey.”

  “I’ll bring it right in. Miss Bancroft is on a phone call, but you can go in and wait.” Joan waved at the closed door before moving over to a bar on the wall.

  “I can wait out here if it would be better.” My damn nerves were bothering me again. This uncertainty shit did not feel good. It made me feel really off kilter.

  “No, no,” she shooed at me. “Miss Bancroft said you should go in.”

  I swallowed and opened the heavy wood door. I don’t know what the hell I was expecting to see—maybe a dark study with Marie hunched over a massive desk, forehead in her hands, as she barked at someone on the phone—but that was pretty much the exact opposite of what I saw. The room was one giant wall of windows and bright as fuck. Her desk was very simple and modern with a massive flat screen monitor on the top and neat files spread out over most of the surface. She stood facing out the window with a phone to her ear and hand on her hip. I wasn’t even sure she heard me come in, so I quietly took a seat in one of the two chairs that sat opposite her desk.

  “I want him, Emily. Pedro defecting to us would officially put Scott’s balls in a vice. Plus I want to stick it to him for that cunt remark.” She laughed at whatever Emily said. “Yeah, I’ll look into anger management classes after we get him to sign. What’s that?” she laughed again. It was a quiet, polite laugh—not the beautiful laugh I loved—but it was still good to hear her laugh. She turned and saw that I was there and smiled. “Hey Em? I need to go. But send him those cigars I emailed you about. Put my name on the card and tell him to call me, okay?”

  A moment later she set the phone back on the desk. “Hey there.”

  “Hey there. Nice to see you in your element.”

  She moved around the desk to sit in the chair beside me, but I snagged her and pulled her into my lap instead. “What do you think of the Tampa branch of Bancroft Sports?”

  “Very swanky,” I growled into her ear. I just needed one taste.

  “You like to use the word ‘swanky’ with me,” she breathed as my tongue ran up the outer rim of her ear.

  “I do. You are swanky. Your stuff is swanky. And your work is very swanky.” It was starting to sound like a dirty word. I might have to try it in bed tonight.

  My cock twitched at the thought of being with Marie. It had been a long week. Not just at work—which had been insanely busy and I barely had time to eat two dinners with the girls—but being without her touch. There was something so addictively soothing about having Marie’s skin in contact with mine. I vowed right then to not let her go once we left the office.

  The door opened and Joan quietly stepped inside with a tray and two glasses. “Don’t mind me at all. Just enjoy yourselves,” she chirped.

  “Thank you, Miss Joan,” I replied as I kissed Marie lightly on the cheek. I wanted to come off as tender, not crass. “We will.”

  Marie melted against my lips and I winked at Joan as she smiled at us. Yeah, I liked this. I liked this a lot. I could be tender and take things slow. I was only an asshole because that was how I survived my life. But nice and sweet had their definite upsides, too.

  “A toast?” Marie asked, standing up and gathering our drinks. “To?”

  “A nice night out,” I said simply. It didn’t need to be anything more than that.

  “To a nice night out.”

  We clinked glasses and took a sip. “Is this the Templeton?”

  She smiled. “I really, really liked it so I bought a case.”

  “You have some at home?” I suddenly had an image in my head of licking it off her skin.

  “I do.”

  “Don’t drink too much at the cocktail party. We’re drinking at home tonight.” Her eyes locked onto mine and she froze. Aw fuck, I’d done it again. I kept saying things that made it awkward. Home. Really? Why didn’t I just move myself in and dictate where and when she was allowed to consume alcoholic beverages?

  I seriously needed to reign in my brain. “Well, I guess you can drink. I’m the one that wants to lick lots of whiskey off your gorgeous skin.”

  I crossed my fingers and prayed I hadn’t gone and fucked the whole evening over. Luckily she let it go. “We’re taking your car, right? I haven’t eaten since eleven and this is going straight to my head.”

  I set my half empty glass down on the tray beside her and leaned in for a kiss. “Not a problem. You get tipsy and I’ll stay sober. Want to have a little fun before we go?” I ran my hand up her thigh and she sighed.

  “Yes, but no. As much as I’d love for you to do dirty things to me right now, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. Not with Joan just outside my door.”

  “The car?”

  “I think I’ve mentioned how tiny your car is before…”

  “We can take yours. I’ll still drive.”

  She shook her head at me, but she wasn’t upset. No actually, I was pretty sure she was turned on. “Just take me to this party and we’ll have fun when we get to my place.”

  “Properly.” I stood up straight and held out my arm for her. “Shall we?”

  I thoroughly enjoyed walking her out of the offices and right past Thad the Prick. It felt good to have Marie on my arm, like I’d won some sort of lottery. The cocktail party was going to be even better.

  *****

  The cocktail party was awesome. It did not go unnoticed that Greg the Asshole came with the Marie Bancroft of Bancroft Sports. I say it like that because pretty much everybody I introduced her to said it like that. I guess when you’re in a room full of season ticket holding executives and politicians, knowing a major executive like Marie was pretty standard.

  Even better than surprising everyone with my date, was the flirting we got to do. Maybe it was because she was in my world instead of hers, but Marie was much looser like she was when it was just the two of us. She grabbed my ass when no one was looking, made dirty jokes, and sent sex eyes from across the room on more than one occasion.

  Fuck yeah.

  And Jake was right—she and Eve were inseparable for a while. I felt bad that I’d never noticed how predominantly old and male these cocktail hours were. I mean, they were great for business, but holy fuck it would suck to be a woman at one of these things. Most of the men were drier than dry and most of the women preferred to talk about art fund raisers and the society pages—stuff I knew Eve in particular would rather stab herself in the leg than talk about.

  Other than a lively conversation with the head of Urban Planning, she and Marie looked bored to tears.

  But I liked how well they got along. It was almost like Marie was a missing piece of our group that we didn’t know was missing until she was there—and now I didn’t know how we’d ever worked without her.

  “Howya feeling?” I was ready to head out and have fun alone.

  “Tipsy, but good. You?”

  “I only had two drinks all night. I’m very ready for some more.”

  She grinned and leaned close enough to whisper in my ear. “And you’re really gonna lick it off me? Cuz that sounds…hot.” She breathed out that last word.

  We left quickly, somehow getting to her house, finding the Templeton Rye, and getting naked in her bedroom in what seemed like five minutes flat.

  “Where do you want me?” She didn’t have a single bit of clothing on her gorgeous body.

  Everywhere. Damn how I wanted to feel and taste every single part of her. All at once and never enough. I poured a glass and stalked toward her. I backed her right into the bedroom wall. She looked nervous and excited. Her chest rose and fell in an erratic rhythm and her eyes were wide. I stopped when she had nowhere else to go and dipped my finger into the golden liquid, running it down her throat. “Stay there.”

  She tipped up her chin, giving me all the access I needed, and I licked up every last drop of alcohol. It burned my lips and tongue and down my throat. “How
was that?”

  “It tingled a little,” her voice was throaty and aroused.

  It was a nice sound indeed. “You let me know if it ever feels bad.”

  She nodded and looked into my eyes. “Now what?”

  I dipped my finger back in the glass and ran a drop between her breasts, licking it up before the liquid had a chance to get too far. She moaned and arched her hips into mine.

  It was like we had the same needs buried deep inside us.

  I needed her. And I needed to be what made her happy.

  I held my finger over her nipple until the whiskey dropped onto the tip. She groaned like the whiskey was the good kind of bad, and then she moaned my name when I sucked her nipple into my mouth. She wrapped one leg around mine and pulled me against her at the same time she buried her hands in my hair. “Oh yes, more. Please, I want you to do that again.”

  I did exactly what she asked, savoring every moment in the process. I really didn’t even need the whiskey. She was whiskey—flooding my veins and making me feel so good it hurt.

  I tossed back the rest of the glass like a shot and then moved down her body until her other lips were against mine. I wondered if it would burn down there the way it did on her nipples.

  “Shit, that’s good. Really good.” Her hips jerked and her fingers gripped my hair. It wasn’t the way she usually moved. Marie tended to be smooth and fluid in her movements—more of a roller. These jerks and sudden movements came from surprise. The good kind of surprise.

  I licked and sucked at her until she was good and wet, then rolled on a condom and hiked her up against the wall because moving five feet to the bed was too far. I wanted to get lost inside her as fast as I possibly could.

  She wrapped her legs around my waist and sank slowly down on my dick. Her back pressed against the wall and her hands gripped my hair and shoulder like a handle. I didn’t care if she ripped my damn hair out.

  We took a moment to get used to each other all over again. Almost a week without my cock inside her was probably too long, but it was what she wanted so that was what I was doing. If I had it my way I’d be inside her every night. Marking my territory and reminding her how good I could make her feel when she let me.