Free Going Down Easy (Billionaire Bad Boys) by Carly Phillips

—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