LOVING LEX: A Billionaire Romance (NIGHT OF THE KINGS SERIES Book 6) Read online

  LOVING LEX

  A Night of the Kings Novel

  Shayne Ford

  Copyright © 2017 by Shayne Ford

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, organizations and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features mentioned in this book are the property of their respective owners and have been used without permission and in an editorial fashion only, with no implied endorsement.

  The publication/use of these trademarks is not associated with, approved of or sponsored by the trademarks owners.

  This book is for entertainment purposes only. The author and publisher disclaim any and all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly in relation to this book.

  This book is intended for mature audiences only.

  Written by Shayne Ford

  www.shayneford.com

  Twitter:@ShayneFordBooks

  Cover design by Shayne Ford

  The image on the cover is a licensed stock photo, and it is used for illustrative purposes, any person who may be depicted on, is a model.

  Created with Vellum

  This is to you my dedicated, loyal readers who share my passion for deep, emotional stories. Because of you, I love these books even more.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  EDWARD Excerpt

  Also by Shayne Ford

  About the Author

  1

  DAHLIA

  “Give me the car keys!”

  The valet, a young man sporting thick eyebrows and a concerned look, searches my eyes.

  Frozen.

  “Miss,” he says with a faint voice.

  I clear my throat and try something different.

  “I am the designated driver. I work for Alexander Harrington. Here. You can call and ask him,” I say, retrieving my cell phone from my clutch.

  I punch in the password and hand my cell to him.

  He takes a step back, afraid to touch it as if it was poisoned.

  “I believe you,” he says suspiciously.

  Clearly, he doesn’t believe me, but that’s beyond the point. I snatch the keys from his hand and nearly breaking a heel, I walk around Lex’s Ferrari, mentally crossing my fingers while hoping that I can figure out how to drive his car before I give myself away and the valet stops me.

  Sensing my turmoil, the man keeps his eyes rooted to me as questions badger my mind.

  What if I can’t open the door? Or worse, what if it hits me in the face when it lifts? What if I can’t start the engine?

  This is a smart, powerful car that can put me to shame at any given moment.

  I’ve had a hard time fixing my seat belt. How can I possibly imagine that I can drive this thing?

  Damn you, Lex.

  And your fucking cars.

  And your shitty secrets.

  Nervous, I fumble with the key and before I know it something happens.

  I must’ve pressed on something–– by mistake I muse, since the car greets me, turning the lights on and sliding the door open.

  There you go.

  The valet’s eyes stay on me as I slip into the seat.

  Pretending that I am not unsettled by his stare, I shift my gaze to the door. This thing has to come down now. Panic flows through me and rivulets of sweat form on my neck as scenarios cross my mind.

  Let’s work on the seat belt first. I should know how to handle it since I’ve spent a lot of time fiddling with it. If I get this right, maybe the valet will tear his gaze away from me, ceasing to fuel my nervousness.

  Trembling, I try to recollect.

  I shove the key into the ignition and after a couple of failed attempts, I manage to bring the door down. The familiar rumbling of the engine drifts through the air, filling my ears, and drilling my brain while making the adrenaline surge through my blood.

  A good thing perhaps is that I no longer feel much. The only thing I struggle with is an urgent need to pull away from this place and scream my lungs out.

  If I think long enough and hard enough… I can see what just happened.

  Smashed, my heart bleeds inside, drowning in darkness.

  I see the walls of disappointment rising, and I feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I envision a difficult road to recovery if there is such a thing.

  This was a bad, bad idea.

  How could I let myself fall for him so easily?

  Right from the beginning, I knew what I was getting myself into. He is not a man who gives you a hangover you can cure with a pint of ice cream and a Friday night hookup.

  But even if I was inexperienced and naive, how could he do this to me when he knew the truth all along?

  How could he not care?

  “When. He. Fucking. Knew. It,” I burst out, my voice bouncing around his posh car as my fist hits the steering wheel.

  I lift my gaze.

  Shit.

  The valet is still here, watching me. Now moving, and walking around the car.

  I roll the window down.

  He bends at the waist and looks inside, searching my eyes, and flashing justified concern while swiftly inspecting the car over my shoulder and looking at me as if I stole it, which is not so far from the truth.

  I plaster my best fake smile on my face.

  “Is everything okay?” he asks.

  We both know that nothing is okay right now, especially when an amateur like me pretends that knows how to drive Lex’s car, but luckily for me, he doesn’t feel courageous enough to question me.

  “Yes,” I say, pairing up my sweet voice with a girlish smile. “I’m sorry. I need to go now. Mr. Harrington is waiting for me at the main entrance.”

  He studies me suspiciously, just as my phone flashes a light and vibrates in my lap.

  I glance down, and he does the same. Lex’s name pops on the screen.

  I pick up the phone, flip it so he can see it, and grin charmingly.

  “See, my boss. He’s anxious to see me and his car at the front,” I say, pointing over his shoulder with my phone.

  Reluctantly, he tears his hands off the door frame and pulls away while I do my best to back away without bending Lex’s Ferrari.

  The phone rings for the second time.

  I power it off and shove it into my purse.

  It takes all the strength I have to roll the car out of the parking lot and pull away from the crowd without hitting anything or harming anyone.

  As soon as the road clears, I step on the gas.

  I manage to keep
my emotions–– and my fury in particular, under control until I hit an open field, and then I let the car dash ahead with all its force.

  My tears start running down as the flashbacks of the evening start playing in my head.

  Every little thing hurts. I feel everything with heightened intensity.

  Every little gesture or smile he had for Rain drilled a hole in my heart.

  To make things worse, I finally get a sense of how he really is and what he has been hiding.

  And that makes things ten times worse because now I know how tender he is. And how loving he is. And how heavenly he can be if he’d be mine.

  It has finally become clear to me why I’ve been longing for his heart all this time.

  Tonight I got a glimpse of it while he has opened up to her in a way I’ve never seen him doing it before.

  No matter how close we have gotten, and how much I thought I knew him, I never got to see that side of him.

  He never let me see it for fear I might’ve learned his darkest, deepest secret. The one that could’ve crushed my heart. The secret he most likely isn’t proud of.

  All this time the truth and his heart were only a whisper away from me, and yet he hid everything from me. His heart was never fully his.

  And yet, that hasn’t stopped him messing with me.

  No matter how honest he pretended he was, he couldn’t stop himself from making me fall for him. He fucked me and loved me, and then he fucked me some more.

  But it was all there.

  That’s how I got entangled, blindsided, and shackled.

  He buried in his touch what he couldn’t stream through his words. He must’ve loved seeing me falling.

  But why would he do it when he knew he couldn’t give me more?

  Damn you, Lex.

  Every time he smiled at her, his affection for her flashed in his eyes. It felt as if he’d stolen something from me.

  He never led me into this.

  That’s true–– for the most part, and he was honest to a certain point.

  But was he? After all, he left out the most important thing.

  The fact that he’s still very much in love with her despite the fact that he lost her to his best friend. Regardless that she deeply loves James Sexton, her future husband.

  Come to think about it, that’s what keeps her memory alive and gives her so much power over him. The fact that he can’t have her, and she remains up to this day the perpetual tease.

  The woman on a pedestal. The impossible dream.

  He got caught in this story so good, he can’t find his way out.

  Perhaps that’s why he relished the idea of me. But see, I wasn’t strong enough to pull him away from her. To shatter her imagine. To unchain his heart. To free him of her.

  So what was I after all?

  A hot fuck?

  Probably.

  A game?

  I sure was.

  I growl and grit my teeth.

  Fuck you, Alexander Harrington.

  “Fuck you!!”

  My voice scrapes my throat as it lifts to the air, the curse echoing in the silent night as I speed across the open space in the middle of nowhere.

  “Ugh!!”

  I wail again, desperately hitting the wheel with my fist while my eyes get blurry with tears. Lights start to dance in front of my eyes as I get closer to the next town.

  I grab the wheel with both hands and tug at it, and that’s when I hit a slippery patch of wet pavement, and I lose control of the car.

  It jolts sideways as it starts slipping. I try to stabilize the wheel, but the car is too heavy for me and has a lot of speed.

  I press the brakes, and things get worse.

  Before I know, it begins to spin. Once. Twice. It goes off the road, and slides into a ditch, smashing the rear into a tree.

  A thud falls in my ears as the force of impact courses through me.

  Everything comes to a stop.

  The car. My thoughts.

  It all turns silent.

  LEX

  Moments earlier

  “What made you say yes?” I ask, curling my arm around Rain’s waist, and slowly twirling with her on the dance floor.

  She lifts her gaze, her eyes filtering so much warmth and love. Her lips tilt with a grin that brings sparkling lights in her eyes.

  “What makes you think I was the one who’s had a hard time saying yes?”

  “I know James well. Once he makes up his mind, he is unstoppable.”

  Briefly, she looks away, a mysterious smile clinging to her lips.

  She shifts her gaze back to me.

  “But he doesn’t believe in marriage,” she says, testing my logic.

  My gaze dips to her mouth. She catches that. I quickly flick my eyes up.

  “No. But he believes in everything that comes with it,” I say, and another grin lights up her face again.

  Mesmerized, I watch her eyelids slowly sliding down.

  Her slight tan gives her skin the sheen of warm, light amber honey. Her hair breathes Italy’s sun too, the golden strands threading through the mane of dirty blonde.

  “I do too,” she says so softly I can barely hear her.

  “Are you happy?” I ask.

  She locks my eyes and smiles. The answer is right there in that soft, endearing look.

  She nods.

  Tenderly, I cup the back of her neck and kiss the top of her head.

  I pull away slightly and look back at her. Her cheeks get flushed with a rush of blood.

  “I told you he’d make you very happy if you helped him heal. He has a big heart, but he was broken for too long,” I say, and her chin starts to tremble as she fights back her tears. “I’m happy for both of you,” I add softly. “I truly am.”

  Her eyes glisten with more tears.

  A lump forms in my throat.

  She curls her arms around me, and I pull her closer, sensing her whole body trembling.

  A moment later, we break our embrace, but we keep dancing.

  “What about you? Are you happy?” she asks, searching my eyes for a few moments, genuinely interested in hearing my answer.

  “Yes,” I say.

  Sadly, I don’t sound convincing enough.

  Quickly, she registers the hesitation in my voice.

  “The girl you have with you tonight...”

  “Dahlia.”

  “Yes... She’s beautiful,” she says.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Are you in love?”

  I stay silent.

  “She’s in love with you,” she says.

  I quietly laugh.

  “What makes you say that? She works for me.”

  Amused, she tips her head to the side.

  “You know me better than that,” she says.

  I look away, trying to hide my lopsided smile.

  “She’s hot,” she says.

  “Yes, she is. But why would you think she loves me?” I ask, shifting my eyes back to her.

  “Anyone can see it. Besides, I know exactly how she feels. I walked in her shoes. Remember?”

  Her eyes stay on me. I have to lower my gaze.

  “Yeah... I do remember.”

  She splays her fingers on my chest, slowly brushing the lapel of my tuxedo.

  “Don’t play with her, Lex,” she says. “This is the kind of thing you might regret later on,” she adds as the song comes to an end.

  I give her another hug and a soft kiss on her cheek before we break away from each other. She joins her friend, Eve Malone, while I start looking around.

  James hasn’t come back. Dahlia’s nowhere in sight. Ed’s missing.

  I head outside.

  I spot James not far from me, surrounded by the mayor, the Livingston brothers and a couple of bankers. I fish my phone out of my tuxedo jacket and call Dahlia.

  Twice. She doesn’t answer.

  I call Ed.

  He answers right away.

  “Where are you?”


  “Right behind you.”

  I slide my thumb across the phone screen and spin around.

  His hair is tousled. His face is flushed.

  “Where were you?” I ask.

  He grabs me by the elbow and pulls me to the side.

  “I took care of some business,” he says, running a hand through his hair, combing it all back in place.

  “What the hell happened to you? Did you get caught in a twister in the hallway?” I ask.

  He turns his back to me and motions for a drink, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

  “Mind your own fucking business, Harrington.”

  “Well. It turns out you are my fucking business. Let me guess...” I mutter and swivel my head, looking for clues.

  I glance in James’s direction, and then I scan the men he’s talking to. It takes only a couple of moments before revelation hovers over me.

  Quickly, I shift my eyes to Ed. Half turned to me, he brings his glass to his lips and examines me as he takes a swig.

  “Are we back to the same fucking problem?”

  “What problem?” he mutters, hiding his smirk behind the glass.

  “Is his wife here?”

  “Whose wife?” he asks, crushing a smile.

  “You know whose wife. Don’t play cute with me,” I say motioning over my shoulder. “The banker.”

  He stays silent, his eyebrows slowly lifting. He’s hardly hiding his smile.

  “What the fuck is your fucking problem, Preston?”

  He smirks.

  “I didn’t do fucking anything. She pursued me.”

  “And you’re like what? Fifteen?”

  “Leave me alone, man,” he says, laughing.

  “How can you fuck her in James’ house? Her husband is right there. You’re so fucked up. And she’s worse than you.”

  “Hey. I can’t take her on a date.”

  “Do you want to?”

  He chuckles.

  “No, fucking no.”