“Can we speak for a moment?” Jennika nodded toward an open door that led onto an outdoor patio.
Nodding, I followed her out. Together, we breathed in the crisp night air and moved to the railing. Down below, the hotel courtyard and the lush green gardens were lit up with well-placed lights and water features.
Jennika wrapped her arms around herself. “I know it’s none of my business, Storm, but I… well, I can’t help myself, I suppose. Laila is a special person and I just want to make sure someone is looking out for her best interests.”
What the hell had I stumbled into? What was this about?
She turned to me. “Be careful with her, please? She’s a good girl with a huge heart, and she doesn’t deserve to be jerked around by a playboy who has no intention of protecting her heart. I know you, Storm. Once you get what you’re after, you’ll hang her out to dry and someone else will have to pick up the pieces and put her back together. Laila breaks differently. Quietly. If she’s hurt, she won’t let people help her, and I don’t want her going through it alone.”
Ouch.
I struggled for a moment to find the right thing to say and realized the weed was numbing the anger growing inside me.
“I’m not using Laila Hunt,” I said finally.
“Maybe not on purpose.”
“Jennika, if this is about you and me, then—”
“It’s not. I can assure you, it’s not. This is about Laila. My friend. And you. I know you, Storm. I might know you better than you know yourself. I know how this is going to end. All I ask is that you don’t take too much from her before you get bored and move on to the next chase. Okay?”
And just like that, the remaining pleasantness of the weed melted away. The fuzzy edges in my mind were replaced with sharp, broken ones.
Turning from the railing, I stepped back toward the party.
“Storm?”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt you or stir anything up. I just—”
“It’s fine, Jennika.” It wasn’t fine. It hurt like a motherfucker. Maybe it hurt the most because she was right. She did know me better than most. “I get it. You’re just looking out for your friend.”
She gave me a thin, sympathetic smile. “I consider you a friend, too.”
I wanted to tell her off. To yell at her. To tell her that a real friend wouldn’t say such things. But none of that would change anything, so I just nodded before slipping back inside.
This party had run its course. I needed out. There were too many businessmen who wanted a piece of me, and Garrett was sucking all the air out of the room. And now that my high was gone and the alcohol was sinking in, I just wanted to go someplace calm and quiet.
With Laila.
I searched high and low for her before I spotted her at the bar with a man in a bespoke gray suit.
Garrett.
“Naturally,” I grumbled before pushing through the crowd and approaching the bar, coming up behind Laila and resting a hand in the small of her back. It might have been a dick move—and a protective one over a woman who wasn’t mine—but I couldn’t help myself. Garrett was looking at Laila like I looked at her, and he was just as much a playboy as I was despite the fact that he was married. He and my old man had been more alike than anyone else.
Garrett lifted an eyebrow at me. “Where’d you disappear to?”
“I was having a word with a friend.”
Laila leaned into me a little, resting her hip against mine. “I was hoping you’d come find me.”
“Were you?”
Her hazel eyes glittered, and her lips parted as if she were about to say something, but Garrett beat her to the punch.
“Storm, you should make another couple of rounds. I doubt you’ve had a chance to speak with all the people of influence in attendance. I know for certain Mrs. Cruze is waiting for her moment with you. Last I saw her, she was over near the acrobat enjoying the show.”
“I’ve already spoken with her,” I lied. With the hand at Laila’s back, I guided her away from the bar. “I’ll make another round. Don’t drink too much, Garrett. Your poor wife won’t know what to do with you if you go home.”
The if dripped off my tongue like venom.
Garrett prickled and finished his drink.
Laila let me guide her away from the bar and turned her face to me. “What’s going on between you two?”
“We have a lot of history. Sometimes we don’t see eye to eye. He thinks he’s my superior because he’s got thirty years on me, and every now and then he needs to be reminded who is actually in charge.”
“And he’s married?”
“Unfortunately for his wife, yes. I’m sorry if he was putting moves on you.”
Laila glanced over her shoulder to where Garrett was presumably still watching us from the bar. She looked away quickly, confirming my suspicions. “He was. Pretty shamelessly, actually.”
“Sounds like Garrett.”
We didn’t make it twenty feet before someone else wanted to talk to me. Laila stood beside me, offering everyone a beautiful smile and her hand to shake when they approached. She was an incredible wing-woman. She told harmless jokes and laughed at others made by men my father used to be chummy with even though they weren’t funny. She dazzled everyone like a falling star. I could tell by the way that some of the men looked at her that they saw what I saw. She was a rare woman, and certainly not a woman whose heart I had any intention of breaking like Jennika so plainly suspected.
Her words still stung.
After more schmoozing, I finally muttered in Laila’s ear that I wanted to get the hell out of there. “Come with me?”
Laila twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Where will we go?”
“Back up to the room? Or to get some fresh air?” We could get out of these uncomfortable clothes and put our robes on and just relax for a bit before I went home for the night. All I wanted was her company to soothe away the irritation simmering inside of me.
Laila slipped her hand into mine. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that jacuzzi.”
The irritation fizzled out and vanished. My pulse fluttered. My cock woke up.
“The jacuzzi it is.”
CHAPTER 18
LAILA
Storm locked the hotel room door behind us and slumped against it. “Sometimes, I fucking hate parties.”
“I had fun.”
“Of course you did. You were the most beautiful woman in the room. On top of that, you didn’t have to rub shoulders with the hyenas.”
“Oh, the hardships of being Storm Thornton.” I sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed one leg over the other. Storm pushed off the door and took off his jacket before loosening his tie. I uncrossed my legs only to switch them when my lady bits started to tingle. He knew he was damn sexy, but I doubted he knew that it was all the little things he did that really turned me on.
“Being in the jacuzzi with you will save the night from being a total bust.”
“Do you ever stop word-vomiting pick-up lines, or is this actually your natural state?”
Storm laughed and crouched down in front of the mini fridge, where he retrieved two tiny bottles of vodka, two bottles of rum, and a can of Coca Cola. He tossed me one of the mini vodkas and unscrewed the cap on his.