Going Down Easy (Billionaire Bad Boys) (8 page)

“Yay! Dress funky,” Becky said as the elevator opened. “We’ll get toasted and have fun.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” She really was.

These women were doing their best to make Lexie feel welcome, and she appreciated the effort more than she could express. It had been a long time since she’d had a group of girlfriends of any kind, and she promised herself she’d do everything in her power to show up, be present, and not have to leave early for a Kendall rescue.

To Lexie’s relief, Kendall’s appointment went smoothly. Her sister really seemed to want to feel better and had taken the initiative by scheduling a meeting with her doctor. For the first time in a long time, Lexie had hope that her sister would improve.

She wasn’t sure what hope she had for any kind of relationship with her boss. For the rest of the week, they communicated by text or email, and he grunted thank you for his morning coffee. She picked up his dry cleaning and dropped it off at his apartment after work, to find he wasn’t at home. She made sure his lunch was prepared the way he liked it and sat in on meetings with potential investors for the app. But there was no real communication between them, their relationship barely professional.

By Friday, there was no thaw or change. It bothered her on all levels because she didn’t like living or working in an armed-camp-like state. What frustrated her most of all, however, was that her anger at him didn’t dull the desire she experienced every time she looked at him. It wasn’t just that he oozed sex appeal, but she remembered their kiss vividly and knew what kind of chemistry they shared. None of that mattered, however, because he was her boss. Even if they were getting along great, she couldn’t cross that line again.

She was glad Becky and Tessa had invited her out tonight. She needed a break from routine. It would be good for her to go out, have a drink or two, and just have fun for once in her structured life. And if she was really lucky, she wouldn’t think about Kaden Barnes at all.

*     *     *

Kade let Luke
and Derek drag him out to his favorite steak house for dinner. They hit this place at least once a month, and Kade always picked up from here on Helen’s day off, when he was responsible for his own supper. He’d planned on hanging out in front of the television tonight, but the guys insisted they go out. For a prime porterhouse cut, he’d give up his planned solitary evening.

“A toast,” Luke said, holding up his glass of single malt scotch.

Derek raised his glass and Kade did the same. “What are we toasting to?” he asked.

“To one full week with the same personal assistant. I haven’t decided if that means we should be toasting you for your achievement or Lexie for her ability to put up with your shit.”

“I’ll drink to both,” Luke said, treating Kade to a shit-eating grin before tapping Kade’s, then Derek’s glasses and taking a long sip of his drink.

“Fucking comedians,” Kade muttered. The last person he wanted to discuss was Lexie.

Over the delicious meal, they talked about moving forward with their company, careful to avoid discussing Julian and his lawsuit in public. Never knew who might be lurking nearby for a story. Somehow Kade made it through dinner. He didn’t want to discuss the fact that he’d struggled to cut the meat, had needed help, and was generally frustrated by too many things at the moment.

He downed the rest of the alcohol in his glass and signaled the waiter, planning to top off his steak with another drink.

“What can I get you?” Andrew, their usual waiter, asked.

“A refill,” Kade said, lifting his tumbler. “Macallan 18, neat, filled three-quarters of the way full,” he reminded the man. Although he served them every time they came in, Kade left nothing to chance. “I’ll also take a fresh bottle of natural spring water, room temperature, and a straw please.”

“Of course.” The waiter tipped his head discreetly and headed for the bar.

“You’re really going to do that straw and water thing again?” Derek asked.

“You know he is, so why bother questioning him?”

Kade shook his head. “Four or five drops of water helps a whiskey—”

“Open up in the glass,” Derek and Luke said, repeating his often-used refrain at the same time.

“If you remember, why ask?” Kade posed the rhetorical question.

They did it to give him a hard time as only they could. Because they knew he liked his scotch a certain way, compounded by his need for routine. Only these two men could get away with making fun of him.

The waiter returned and placed Kade’s fresh drink, bottle of water, and straw beside his plate.

After the waiter poured the fresh spring water in a glass, Kade used the straw to deposit exactly four drops into his drink. Too much diluted the whiskey. This, at least, he could do without too much help. He’d had an appointment with an orthopedist, who’d merely confirmed the ER doctor’s diagnosis and had given him the same talk about not overdoing things. Though he’d said he’d take another look in a month and consider removing the splint then.

Derek placed his napkin on the table. “I’m not ready to go home yet. I heard some people from work say they’re hanging at Lights. Want to stop by for a drink?”

Kade hadn’t planned on going out late, but he couldn’t say heading home alone right now appealed to him either. “Why not?”

“I’m in,” Luke said, signaling to the waiter for a check.

“Who’s going to be at Lights?” Kade liked to know what he was walking into. “Is that where the coders hang out?”

Luke accepted the folder with the check from the waiter before turning his gaze on Kade. “Actually it’s Tessa and Becky,” he said, flipping open the billfold.

Kade’s stomach twisted at the mention of their personal assistants, who, he’d noticed, Lexie had grown more comfortable with over the course of her first week of work.

He glanced from Luke, who was busy putting the company credit card down, to Derek, who, as usual, had a guilty look on his face.

Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask.
“Anyone else?” he asked, hoping that was vague enough to keep his friends from giving him a hard time.

“Let’s go find out,” Derek said, meeting Kade’s gaze with an amused one of his own.

He should have known better than to underestimate his friend and had a feeling he was in for an interesting night.

*     *     *

Lexie didn’t own
funky clothes, so she borrowed an outfit from her sister. Dressed in a short black leather skirt and red bustier—she figured if she was going out, she was going
all out
—and her own pair of heels, she joined the other women at Lights.

She walked into the club to flashing lights and mirrored walls. All that was missing was a disco ball. Still, with the music flooding around her, her mood lifted even more. Her sister was having dinner with a friend, a guy Lexie knew and liked, so she was here with a clear mind and intended to enjoy it.

She joined Tessa and Becky, who already had a table and were sitting with their drinks. “Hi, ladies.”

“You made it!” Becky, wearing a black dress with a deep V and cut-outs on the sides, jumped up from her chair. “Here, sit.” She gestured to another seat and Lexie slid into it.

They pulled their chairs closer together, easier to be heard over the loud music.

“Nice outfit,” Tessa said, raising her drink in approval. The blonde wore a royal-blue bandage skirt and white cropped top.

“You two look great,” Lexie said.

Tessa flipped her long hair off her shoulder. “Thanks! Let’s order you a drink. You need to catch up. We’re on our second.”

The cocktail waitress walked over, and Lexie, who hadn’t had alcohol in a good long while, ordered an old standby, an apple martini.

While they waited, they talked about office gossip and other benign subjects, before inevitably the conversation turned. “Any idea how your boss hurt his hand?” Tessa, who Lexie had already determined enjoyed gossip the most, asked.

Lexie blew out a long breath. She’d come out tonight to have fun and not dwell on Kade, the man who frustrated her in two distinctly opposite ways. She wanted to throttle him for the way he was treating her … and she wanted him because he was just too damned sexy for his own good.

It didn’t help that she couldn’t stop thinking about the more intense, serious parts of Kade, the wistful one when looking at his brother, and the hurt one over an untrue accusation that threatened his entire world. Unfortunately, it was becoming harder to remember the man she could relate to because the jackass seemed to surface more often.

“I heard he was jealous over a woman and slammed his hand into a wall because of her.” Becky shrugged. “At least that’s what Ava in HR said.”

“I heard the same thing, but he’s usually so self-contained I just can’t see it,” Tessa mused.

Becky swirled her drink in the glass. “Do you know anything?” she asked Lexie, who wasn’t about to take part in any conversation about her boss.

“Actually I don’t.”

Becky leaned in closer. “But you took him to the hospital, right?” she pushed, clearly not satisfied with Lexie’s reply. “He had to have said
something.
”

“Besides
this hurts
and
when the hell will I get taken back
? he didn’t say a word.” Which was true, as far as their visit to the hospital went.

What happened back at his apartment was an entirely different story and one that would never leave her lips. Not just because she’d signed that damned NDA.

Lexie was loyal. She wouldn’t want people gossiping about her that way. And no matter how angry she was at how Kade had handled the situation, she felt for the circumstances in which he now found himself. A rape accusation had to sting. And again, regardless of her frustration with the man, it didn’t change her perception about the story he’d told her. The situation had been a grab for cash.

The waitress returned with Lexie’s drink, and she gratefully took a long sip. The tart, sweetened liquor slid down her throat and warmed her insides on the way down to her stomach.

Over the next hour, they talked about clothes and makeup, hit on politics, discovered they disagreed and changed the subject, then moved on to where they’d gone to college and other get-to-know-you topics.

Lexie had finished her second drink and agreed to one shot of vodka for good measure, when a good-looking, blonde-haired guy asked her to dance. She had a solid buzz going, was feeling no pain, and loved dancing to the beat of the music. Her partner had good rhythm, a hot, surfer-boy look that any woman would find attractive.

The music tempo grew faster, and her partner stepped in closer, their bodies moving in sync to the rhythm. Between the good high she had from the alcohol and concentrating on moving to the music without missing a beat, she finally had what she’d been looking for tonight. A distraction from thinking about her hot, frustrating boss.

Chapter Six

K
ade walked into
Lights, a nightclub that lived up to its name, and immediately turned around to leave. The glare, heavy strobe lights, and neon flashing were enough to put his anxiety into hyperdrive. He liked things calm and predictable. Between the massive amounts of people and the bursts of light piercing his eyes, he was anything but at ease.

Nothing could make him stick around.

“Lexie’s on the dance floor,” Luke said, stopping Kade’s retreat with a hand on his shoulder.

Except that.

Kade drew a deep breath and turned around, wanting to see Lexie in a different atmosphere than work. Ignoring the triggers around him, he followed Luke through the crowd and toward the center of the club. Music pulsed around him, adding to the feeling of overcrowding in his brain, but he pushed on, expecting to see Lexie with the other women from the office. Instead he found her in the arms of another man.

Kade blinked against the flickering glare of the lights, trying to process the view. Lexie,
his
Lexie and personal assistant, dressed in a black leather skirt that ended mid-thigh and a tight red top with her breasts near to bursting out, moved like a goddess to the music. All rational thought fled from his brain as he watched her gyrate her hips and shake her curves against a surfer dude with wandering hands.

“Go easy,” Derek said, standing beside him.

Kade shot him a dirty look. “Would you?”

“When you put it that way, far be it for me to get in the way now that you finally realized what you want.”

“Maybe he should say
who
,” Luke added, both their voices loud to accommodate the pounding music.

Kade ignored them and strode onto the wooden dance floor, headed straight for Lexie. Just as he reached her, the song changed to one with a faster beat. She squealed in delight, looking up at the ceiling and lifting her arms in the air, swaying to the song.

Before her partner could grab her around the waist, Kade stepped between them.

“Kade!” Lexie exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of him.

Things had been strained between them all week, so between the exuberant greeting and the glassy look in her eyes, Kade figured she’d been drinking. Which gave him a legitimate reason to get her off the dance floor and away from this guy.