Bossy Billionaire Read online

  “Oh, come on.” She blinked at him in surprise. “Live on the wild side.”

  He snorted. “I’m trying to lay off on wild for a while.”

  Interesting.

  “Okay, I promise...” He gave in when she held firm.

  If this was power, she adored it. “To give Lexi No Last Name the most spectacular night of no-strings sex in her life.” She snickered how they were going into this with the same last name. The less she felt like herself the better. Sleeping with a rich man she’d just met for one night wasn’t even on a secret bucket list.

  Luke dropped his hands, his face showing a war inside his head. “Are you sure?”

  “I have a lot of things to figure out.” That’s all she revealed. “This isn’t one of them.”

  “I can’t agree more,” he said, pushing a hand through his hair, the light glinting off the watch she knew now had to be real.

  He paid for that expensive bottle of wine without flinching. Luke had the potential to throw money at her problems. She didn’t want money. She wanted what he was hiding under that suit. “But I don’t want to face any of my troubles tonight.”

  “I have a lot on my plate, too. Work’s been so busy.” He brushed his hand across her cheek, heat bubbling under the trail he’d made. He lifted his lips like he wanted to say more. Something to reveal who he really was, beyond being a lawyer. Like Bruce Wayne, who was so much more than a rich man.

  “I can’t wait to say that.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t wait to be a lawyer.”

  “You’re freaking adorable, do you know that?”

  “I thought most people found lawyers to be boring.”

  “Not to other lawyers.” He moved in like he had something to prove. “When you show up to whatever office you land in, you will set that place on fire.” He tugged one of her curls.

  “Is there—” Luke’s mouth on hers halted the rest of Lexi’s question.

  Strong lips slid across hers, as his hands gripped her waist. Holy hell, he felt smooth as velvet. His tongue found hers again, and she tasted the scotch he drank. The smokey flavor heated her like a shot and burned her throat, searing the memory of this kiss in her brain. She’d not experienced a kiss like this in... Crap, forever.

  Christ, this was happening on the sidewalk. She was a goner behind closed doors. If this was how he kissed a stranger, how did this man consume a woman he loved? Take her apart piece by piece until she was nothing without him. Without his kiss.

  His lips found her ear. “You can hold me, Lexi.”

  She hadn’t noticed her arms dangling like she was a rag doll. Luke stunned her with his lips, and her brain only signaled her mouth to move since that’s where a majority of the activity had been.

  “Right.” She slid her hands up his back and even through an expensive suit jacket, Luke’s muscles rippled under her touch.

  He broke the kiss and with an evil smirk, he steered her down an alleyway between high-rises. Off in the distance, a light shined down on the narrow walkway, leading to...some place. In a patch of darkness, Luke gently pushed her back against the cool bricks. He kissed her roughly and his mouth felt lethal. A shock of fear settled in, but the tickle of excitement being kissed like this outside pushed that away. She wondered if they’d make it up to his apartment.

  “God, you feel amazing,” he whispered in her ear, then ran his lips down her neck.

  Feel, she wanted to feel everything and nothing at all. Forget and remember at the same time. “Make it all go away, Luke,” she heard herself blurting.

  “Oh baby, that’s my specialty.” His kiss tasted sweeter this time. Tender. So why was he kissing her like this? So warm and passionate. Like he... liked her or something?

  Whoa. Stop thinking right now.

  With one leg wrapped around his hips, her short dress had hiked up, the night air tingling her upper thighs. He ran his hands down her back and gripped her butt. “Mmmm,” he grunted and raised the hem of the skirt. “Can I touch you?”

  “You can have all of me.” Her answer stunned him, like it’d been unexpected.

  With a shattered look on his face, he held her chin. “How tall are you?”

  “Five seven,” she answered on a painful, lust-filled swallow.

  He growled, pushing his erection deeper against her panties, her wet center now flat against his trousers. She might even leave a little wet spot. “I love sex standing up,” he groaned and kissed her again.

  She never had sex standing up. How many positions could she talk Luke into in one night? All of them? She didn’t see sex in her future again after this. Once she got back to school her head would go right into her books and any part-time minimum wage job or jobs, she needed to pay for it all meant burning candles on both ends.

  “You want to do this here?” she asked, hoping he’d say no. She didn’t want a quickie. She wanted to feel this heat all night.

  “No.” He grabbed her hand and brought her to a steel door, hidden in the red bricks. “Come on, you. I have a bed that’s been too cold lately.”

  “Bringing me in the through the service entrance. What am I, below your station?” she joked.

  “It’s a private entrance,” he said over his shoulder, unlocking the door. A posh sparkling vestibule with a crystal chandelier changed her mind about his intentions. “This is for special guests.”

  An empty elevator waited for him like he was a king. The car was narrow and dark, but the finishes screamed high-end.

  “There’s only one button?” She noticed it wasn’t even marked. Who the heck was this guy?

  “It goes straight to my penthouse,” he said, slipping a card in the tiny slot on the panel.

  “You live in a penthouse?” Her voice gave away how out of depth she felt.

  “One of them,” he answered with a nonchalant tilt of his sexy lips.

  “How many are there?” She resisted an eye roll at this point.

  “Three.” His answer made her feel better knowing there were two neighbors who might hear her scream. If he’d been lying about, well, everything.

  As they soared high in the sky, Luke pushed her against the polished door and kissed her again. Holding her face, he said, “I’m so glad I met you. I had a shitty week, too. I needed this.” When the door opened and she almost fell, Luke caught her by the waist. “I’ve got you,” he whispered.

  Smiling, he spun her around. She expected a short dimly-lit corridor. Stupid. Beautiful plush blue carpet with gold sunbursts stretched out to the end of the long hallway. An entire wall of glass gave her one of the most breathtaking views of the city she’d ever seen. Further down, she caught sight of two other apartment doors. The idea of a neighbor hearing them evaporated away. Considering how his touch sizzled her right down to the core, it was best if no one heard her.

  Lexi planned to completely lose control tonight.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Luke

  On Monday morning, Luke tapped his pen against his pants waiting for Tristan to look up from his desk. “I don’t have all day,” he ground out and crossed his legs.

  “Just making some last-minute changes.” Tristan kept his head down and scribbled on a piece of paper. His brother’s desk was more modern, like him. Sleek. Striking. Functional.

  Watching his brother, Luke got hit with the reality that Tristan was going to be a father. Maybe. He still hadn’t said anything. Did Laney take the test yet? Luke shook those thoughts away. That was for Tristan to worry about. His brother having a baby wouldn’t change anything.

  Dumbass. He let his head fall into his hand. A baby would change everything and everybody. His mother would move back from Florida for sure. Marissa Hart looked like she couldn’t wait to be a grandmother when Tristan had told them about Laney last Christmas.

  Luke would love nothing more than to give his mother a double surprise, but he wasn’t ready to be a father. He was just getting his head on straight. But he’d made a helluva dent in his condom supply on Friday night.
Good grief, did he get his fill. He stopped counting after seven. If Lexi had told him the whole law school story was bullshit, and she was actually a professional escort, and he owed her thousands of dollars, he would have crashed his limo into an ATM to pay her. That woman was worth every cent.

  The fact that she hadn’t, made her even more incredible. They’d agreed it was one night, but letting her go ate through him. When the sun came up Saturday morning without either of them sleeping a wink, he reluctantly brought her down the same elevator. A quiet satisfaction had hummed from both their used bodies. He’d been waiting for her to give him a card, a number, a last name. Anything. She gave him nothing. Just a hot goodbye kiss. She and her tousled pink hair had floated down 47th Street smiling.

  The ambient sconces in his bedroom gave that hair, whether it was in his hands or draped across his lap while she went down on him, a diamond-pink quality. When he finally dozed off around 8 am, he did so and slept without any of his usual nightmares. Sleep had come easily and soundly the entire weekend. Only, he woke that morning agitated again.

  “So, here’s what I came up with for a job description.” Tristan handed him a sheet of paper, marked up with lots of red ink. “I called a friend from Yale late Friday. He’s an advisor at Fordham. Damon Hightower.”

  The name didn’t register. “And?”

  “I explained our situation. Leaving out the gory details, of course. Just that we’re looking for a temporary business intern for a variety of projects. I figure if you’re gonna scare assistants off, might as well make this short-term. I also spoke to Jessie, she agreed to take on more of your assistant work. So long as she doesn’t have to talk to you.”

  Now guilt crept through Luke. “Why aren’t we just promoting her? Jessie’s been here the longest.”

  Tristan gave him a look and sat back in a leather chair that looked nicer than his. “I don’t want to lose her by making her work for you.”

  He murmured a curse under his breath, but considering he’d been bleeding assistants, he didn’t have a leg to stand on. One rule held true for Luke, he hadn’t slept with any of them. But his old bossy ways from his law firm spilled over into his new role as hotel CEO. Legal assistants at his firm had been tough-as-nails, putting up with ornery partners who thought their shit didn’t stink. The admins his brother kept hiring all fell like wooden soldiers whenever he showed up for work hungover from a party the night before and couldn’t control his grumpiness. The joke was now firmly on Luke, he faced a critical project with no assistant and his brother looked like he was ready to strangle him.

  “Jessie also told Laney she’s been taking nursing classes at night. The full-time position I have in mind will mean some nights and weekends.”

  “Why did she tell Laney this?” Luke asked, nervously pinching the crease in his suit pants at the thought of the conversations everyone was having behind his back.

  “Laney likes her. Trust me, it’s good that my assistant and my fiancé get along.”

  He scoffed. “Agreed. They can plot your death together over a mani-pedi.”

  Tristan’s amber gaze burned at him. “Ha ha,” he mocked.

  “So we’re getting a list of Fordham students?” Luke asked to keep the conversation moving.

  “Recently graduated. Like it or not, bro, we’re in the hospitality business. We have a lot to offer someone as far as real-world experience. With my focus on the renovation, you’ll have more to do. And now, you’ll have help. Someone you can mentor.”

  That squeezed his heart. A mentor. He couldn’t help think of Lexi.

  Tristan looked ready to say more, but a ding from his laptop forced his eyes away. “Oh, Damon already sent me some recommendations. I asked for two men and two women. Since our Finance, HR, and Event Planning departments are all headed by women, it won’t look out of place to give this to a man. But let’s keep our intentions to ourselves.”

  “Fine.” This ‘operations’ babble had made him lose interest in running the hotel in the first place.

  “Excellent, the printout he attached listed them in order of recommendation.” Tristan studied his laptop. “All these applicants sound great. A guy named Alex Markham is at the top. Graduated, but needs a job. Whoa, 3.95 GPA. Do you want to look?” He went to turn the laptop around.

  Luke unfolded his legs to get the blood moving through his muscles again. “Nope. Just tell me when the genius is starting.” He gripped the job description notes and left his brother’s office.

  Lexi

  DAMON HAD CALLED LEXI three times Monday morning.

  What. The. Hell?

  She’d not heard from him in a year. When he’d broken her heart explaining he was going back to his wife. She would have understood and even had a soft spot for giving love a second chance. Only, his wife had also been pregnant with his baby. Which meant he’d cheated on Lexi.

  That ache had taken its sweet damn time easing out of her every thought. The blissful hours with Luke on Friday night—and well into the wee hours Saturday morning—were free of all that annoying pain. Holy crap. The man was a machine. She was still walking funny. Her mom had even noticed, but to cover the truth, she lied about twisting her ankle while running for the train Saturday morning.

  How a stranger made her lady parts sore and aching was not a discussion to have with Mom. Even now touching herself in bed, lying under a flannel comforter nude, she still felt that man’s hands on her. Hands. Mouth. Cock. He took her every way possible. Luke had looked ragged saying goodbye to her, so she must have given as well as she got. Blew him away. Literally. If leaning over her and fucking her mouth could be called a blow job. Damn, that had been so hot. Especially the way he groaned. Loving it. Loving how she swallowed him.

  The worst day of her life had turned into a wild night to remember. And one impossible to replicate. Where the heck would a relationship go if she’d spent several hours giving her body over to a man she’d just met?

  After the fifth call, Damon broke down and left a message. Great, now his voice would be buried in her phone. Growing up not only meant having one-night stands, it meant learning how to face bad news head on.

  She hit the voicemail icon and pressed the speaker. With her phone on the pillow next to her head, she closed her eyes and pretended he was lying there. Gripping another pillow, she imagined smothering the bastard. He he. She hadn’t taken an oath yet not to break any laws. Luke’s oath.

  She bolted up in bed, Damon’s voice fading in the background. Luke was an attorney. Somewhere in Manhattan. She was bound to run into him. Eventually. Her nipples tightened at that thought. They shared a secret. They knew things about each other. Sexual things the other liked. Even he admitted to taking her in ways he hadn’t thought of.

  “The Sterling, what?” she muttered, looking down at her phone.

  Did Damon just ask her to meet him at The freaking Sterling hotel? He was married and now had a baby. Boiling mad, she hit the replay icon. “Talk, asshole.”

  Alexis, hi, it’s Damon. Hightower.

  Like he had to use his last name. She shook her head, embarrassment swamping her. That opening didn’t sound like it would end in a hotel invitation.

  I heard about what happened at NYU.

  She rolled her eyes. “How?”

  Fordham keeps track of graduates with enrollment issues. When your name came across in an email, I looked into it.

  She waited for him to laugh. Only he sounded serious. Maybe he called to offer a post-grad scholarship she could tap into. Tap. Oh, did Luke tap her good.

  “Wait, what?” Rewind.

  I’m really sorry and I wish you would have listened to me and applied for the same loans every other grad went for. It was honorable of you and your mom to pay for law school out of pocket. But this is the third hiccup. You’re in your final year, Lex.

  Oh, that hurt. Calling her Lex. No one but Damon had called her that.

  Anyway, I got a call from an old Yale classmate who knows I’m advisin
g over here now. He wanted four applicants for a paid internship. I gave them your name and the highest recommendation of the four. It’s for The Sterling hotel and you should be getting a call from Tristan Hart or an HR person. Don’t make me look bad, Lex. Take this job and graduate already.

  “Asshole.” Acting like he cared. He made it sound like Fordham’s reputation rested on her shoulders. Or at least his rep. God, she hated that her chance to make money to get back to school would be thanks to him.

  Rewind.

  I hope besides all this you’re doing well, Lex. Me and, um, Kara are doing okay. The baby’s great. Keeps us occupied.

  She scoffed. “Okay?” Either he was bullshitting to make her feel better, or the man sounded miserable. A baby in the picture changed things, she got that. Damon had made his bed. This pity recommendation must have come from some kind of guilt he’d been suffering. Lexi had no other options, though.

  Next, her phone blew up with a call. A 212 exchange. Manhattan. Here we go...

  “Hello?” she answered, sounding surprised, eager wasn’t attractive.

  “Hi, I’m looking for Alex Markham.”

  She rolled her eyes. The damn name glitch that started with a genius at Fordham who didn’t know how to read or type kept making people think she was a man. “This is she.”

  “She? Oh. I see. Uh. Okay.”

  “Who is this?” For a moment Lexi wondered if this was a collection call from NYU looking for the two-cent balance due on her account.

  “Katy Renway at The Sterling hotel in Manhattan.”

  Nope, not NYU. The Sterling was a five-star hotel. By those standards, her mom’s dump should be classified as half a star. “Yes?”

  “We received your name from the Fordham University advisory office. You came highly recommended Mister, I mean, Mrs. Markham.”

  Great, now she was her mother. “Miss Markham. And what was I recommended for?”

  “We’d like for you to come in and discuss an opportunity we have with our CEO.”

  The air stilled around her. “What kind of opportunity?”