Wishing I still had him on my arm, I made my way to the bar in the middle of the ballroom. Half a dozen bartenders worked in white uniforms, and as soon as I stepped up, one of them asked me what I wanted. They told me the specials, one of which was pink champagne with strawberries. I opted for that, and two minutes later, I continued wandering around the party while I sipped my cocktail.
I kept a watchful eye on Storm, who wore a smile that I knew wasn’t genuine. In the moments I had spent with him this past week, I’d seen his real smile, and I’d also seen this one—the smile he wore when he felt he had to. It was tighter, and it didn’t touch his electric green eyes. He was acting the part.
Or he was terribly stoned and didn’t know what he was doing with his face.
I chuckled to myself as I weaved between bodies and sought out a good place to sit down and put my feet up for a moment.
On my way to a plush velvet sofa tucked away from the crowd on a fluffy white rug, someone slender and tall clipped my shoulder. We both turned to apologize to each other and smiled when we recognized one another.
Jennika laughed airily. “Laila! I should have known you’d be here. It’s so nice to see a familiar face. I’ve been trying to escape all these greedy businessmen for the last hour.”
Not a single man had approached me since I walked into the party. I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that I’d arrived on the arm of Storm Thornton himself.
“I was about to sit and take a breather. Care to join me?” I gestured to the sofa.
Jennika and I sat down. Within seconds, a waiter with a tray came by offering white wine. Jennika took a glass and sipped it delicately. Everything she did was delicate and graceful. She had more poise and class in her pinky finger than I had in my entire body. I’d always envied the way she moved like she was underwater, all long limbs and gentle sweeping movements.
Jennika tucked her pin-straight black hair behind her ear and turned her rich brown gaze to me. “You and Storm look like you’re getting a little more familiar with each other. Did you blaze before you came in here?”
“What? You can tell? Is it that obvious?”
Jennika laughed. “Well, I know Storm pretty well, and I noticed almost as soon as he walked in. And you? I had to look a little harder, but I can tell. Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone else would think anything of it.”
I grimaced. “How embarrassing. It was an accident.”
“Sure it was.”
“We didn’t know the gifts sent to our room were edibles!”
“You’re sharing a room?”
I hesitated and closed my mouth. Nothing I said right then would come out right anyway.
Jennika gave me one of her most charming smiles and put a hand on my knee. “Laila, please don’t feel like you can’t talk to me about Storm. He and I had our thing a long time ago.”
It might have been the brownie, but it also might have been my desperation to talk to someone about what I was feeling. Either way, the words started pouring out of me. “I don’t really know what’s going on with us to be honest. I really like spending time with him. In the moments where nobody else is around and he’s just being himself, it’s like I can see the real Storm. But on the other hand he can also be a totally insensitive ass.”
Jennika giggled behind her hand. “Yeah, that’s why I broke up with him.”
Awkward. I looked at my feet.
Jennika sipped her wine. “There’s no bad blood between Storm and me, Laila. If you’re curious about him, don’t hold back on my account. Seriously. Trust your gut, but be careful. Okay?”
“Careful?” My head still buzzed pleasantly and the silk of my dress still felt glorious, but the word careful set off quiet alarm bells in my head. What did I need to be careful of when it came to Storm? His wealth? His reputation? His vanity?
Jennika went a little quiet and looked into the depths of her wine glass as if she were watching a memory of her and Storm dancing within it. “Storm is a good man at heart, but he has his own demons that he needs to work through. I want to believe he’s worked said demons out, but… well, I’m not convinced he’s done any of the self-work required for that kind of change. I’m pretty sure he’s still ripe with self-loathing.”
Self-loathing?
“Doesn’t Storm love Storm more than anything else?” I asked.
Jennika gave me a smile that almost seemed sad before rising slowly to her feet. “He has a lot of experience hiding, Laila. Don’t let him pull one over on you.”
Jennika left, and I gazed across the ballroom, spotting Storm shaking hands with a new group of men and giving them that same rehearsed smile of his.
Drumming my fingers on the side of my champagne flute, my mind spun with questions.
What sort of demons could a billionaire have anyway?
CHAPTER 17
STORM
Garrett pressed a rum and coke into my hands before clamping a hand on my shoulder and squeezing. “Storm has been impressing all of us back at Thornton Enterprises.” He turned his white grin to all the men crowded around us—investors, partners, future brands we might work with, you name it, they were there. “He’s taking the industry by storm, let me tell you. No pun intended.”
The men all laughed.
I poured half my rum and coke down my throat.
Garrett, like my father, had an uncanny habit of boasting about me when he was in circles he deemed favorable, but shit-talking me behind closed doors or in the company of his own people. Garrett was like an uncle to me more than anything, but sometimes I wanted to punch that smug grin off his face.
Even stoned, he managed to get under my skin.
Where the hell was Laila? She’d help shake the chip off my shoulder.
I peered over the heads of the crowd, using my height to my advantage, and spotted her in her silky gown speaking with a group of people she seemed to know.
The men around me barked my name and asked me questions.
“What are your plans for Cupid’s Arrows?”
“Who’s the dark-haired babe in all those campaign pictures with you?”
“How many models have you gotten with?”
“You’re living the dream life, Storm.”
Garrett laughed. “Business is business, gentlemen. Storm is keeping himself in check. Isn’t that right, buddy?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Whatever you say, Garrett. Be right back.”
I was too stoned for this, not to mention not in the mood for Garrett and his two-faced tendencies. Abandoning the group, I finished my drink, left the empty glass on a passing tray, and moved through the crowd to find the one person at this party I actually wanted to spend time with.
Only I didn’t get to her before someone else stepped in my path.
I stopped. “Jennika.”
My ex smiled pleasantly and nodded past me at Garrett and the others. “Is Garrett still the same jerk he used to be?”
Shrugging, I slid my hands in my pockets. “Sometimes. It comes and goes. Maybe it’s seasonal.”
She laughed, and I couldn’t deny she looked dazzling. Her dress hung from her slender shoulders, a sheet of twinkling silver that went all the way down to the floor. Her long hair was pinned behind her ear on one side with a clip that looked like vines and tiny flower petals.