Mine To Hold (6 page)

Claire can’t be upset.

“If you don’t get the hell out of here in the
next five seconds,” Noah told him, holding Colby’s stare, “then
I’ll have my men throw you out.” He smiled and knew the sight would
be grim. “Or maybe I’ll just do that part myself. Because I don’t
give a shit how old you are or who you
used
to be. When I
look at you, I just see garbage that needs to be tossed away.”

Colby sucked in a sharp breath. “She
should’ve lost her freedom. Just like
him!
” He tried to
crane his neck and see Claire. “She seduced him. Made him kill.
That woman is
evil
!”

Noah was done. He grabbed the guy’s shoulders
and pushed him toward the door.

“You can’t do this!” Colby yelled. “I’m a
senator! I’ve got powerful friends in this town!”

Two members of the hotel security team rushed
toward Noah. He didn’t let go of Colby. He wanted the pleasure of
tossing the bastard into the street himself.

“Knew this would happen,” the younger man
said as he hurried behind them. “Knew it…”

Noah didn’t stop until he was on the sidewalk
in front of his hotel. He still had a tight grip on Colby’s
shoulders. “I don’t care who your friends are. You come near Claire
again, and no one will be able to save you.” He leaned in close
because he wanted to make sure Colby understood exactly what he was
saying. “You so much as look her way, and I’ll destroy you.”

Then he dropped his hold. Colby stared up at
him, fear flickering in his gaze. Good. The guy had gotten the
message.

“I’m, um, sorry,” the dark-haired fellow
began.

Noah whirled on him. “Who are you?”

“Vincent Finch. I’m the senator’s…I’m his
manager.”

What the hell ever. “Keep him away, Finch, or
go down with him.”

Noah turned on his heel and marched back into
the hotel. Claire stood just a few feet in front of the elevator,
exactly where she’d been moments before. Her head was down. When he
looked closely, he could see that she was trembling.

Screw this.

He didn’t want Claire cowering from anyone or
anything. People in the lobby were whispering as they gazed at her.
He was pretty sure he’d even caught sight of a reporter with a
camera. Gossip and D.C.—the two were always locked together.

Noah didn’t hesitate. He stalked right up to
her. “
Claire.”

Her head snapped up. “I-I’m sorry—”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed
her.

Chapter Three

Shock froze Claire. Noah’s arms were around
her, he had her pressed tightly to his body, and his mouth—

His mouth claimed hers.

Her lips had been parted when he kissed her.
His tongue slipped inside her mouth. There was nothing hesitant
about the way Noah kissed her. He just…took.

And ignited her.

Her hands rose. Curled around his shoulders.
She should push him back. She should do something, anything
but—

Pull him closer.

Kiss him back.

Fear and shame knotted within her, fighting
with a tide of hot desire that caught her by surprise.

Noah’s hands were on her hips. Holding her so
tightly and he was—

Pushing her into the elevator. Still kissing
her, but guiding her movements.

She heard the elevator ding, and Claire
pulled away from Noah. For a moment, she stared up at him,
lost.

“Will that be all, sir?” The question came
from the man standing near the elevator doors. He had his hand up
and was holding the elevator open.
Chuck Collins.
Claire had
met the hotel manager earlier. As she stared at him, Chuck cleared
his throat and asked again, “Will that be all?”

Noah glanced over at him. “Not quite.” His
words were low and lethal. “That asshole never comes into the hotel
again.”

Chuck nodded. “Understood.” Then he dropped
his hand and the elevator doors slid closed.

Claire was still in Noah’s arms. Still
shocked and lost and aching in a way she shouldn’t be.

“You can…you can let me go,” Claire managed
to say.

Noah shook his head. His eyes were on her
mouth. “I knew one taste wouldn’t be enough.”

It wasn’t enough for her, either. Noah tasted
good. Very good. Good like the kind of wine Claire had when she
saved her money and splurged. Not that she’d done any splurging,
not in the last year. Like the wine, he also made her a little
drunk.

“Ask me to kiss you again, Claire.”

He wanted to keep kissing her? After what had
just happened in that lobby?

“Let me go.” She pushed against his chest.
The elevator was rising, and she didn’t even remember Noah hitting
the button on the control panel. But she knew where they were
headed.

The top floor, of course. What she was
thinking of as
his
floor.

The faint lines around his eyes deepened, but
Noah let her go.

Claire rubbed her arms, chilled without him.
“He shouldn’t have been here. I’m so sorry—”

“Apologize again, and I swear, Claire, you’ll
push me too far.”

Her breath caught.

He nodded. “Good. Here’s the deal. Colby
Harrison is your past, got it? He doesn’t matter. What he
says…
doesn’t matter.
”

“But all of those people…they saw. They
heard.” They’d all been staring at her. When she’d lived in
Alabama, she hadn’t even been able to walk down the aisle at the
grocery store without people stopping to stare and whisper.

Did you hear…that’s the girl…she seduced that
poor boy…made him crazy…

Got him to kill her folks…

Claire shook her head as she tried to make
those voices vanish. They’d haunted her for too long.

“I don’t care about those people.”

“It’s your business. Your hotel. You
should
care.” She’d been so worried about doing something to
tarnish his image. And now…

“Scandal sells, baby, or haven’t you realized
that?”

Claire flinched. She hated scandal. She
wanted…secrecy.

The elevator doors opened.

“So much for dinner,” she muttered.

He caught her hand. Brushed his fingers over
the ribbon on her right wrist. She’d learned to be creative over
the years. When people saw the scars there, well, there was no
mistaking them. You got scars on your wrist-those long, thin
scars—from one act.

Claire had wanted to die when she was
sixteen. When she stood at her parents’ graves, when it seemed that
the whole world hated her, she’d wanted to escape.

To be with my mom and dad again.

People had spray painted her home. Written
words like “whore” and “killer” on her windows. Senator Harrison
had done a massive job on the local media. He’d worked so hard to
convince everyone that his son was just the poor, misled boy.

And Claire was the evil seductress.

He’d told her, time and again, that she
should be the one to suffer. The one to be punished.

I just wanted to escape.

The scars would always be there. She covered
them so she didn’t have to see the curiosity, the pity, in the eyes
of strangers.

“Come back to me.”

Claire blinked and focused on Noah.

He had lifted a dark eyebrow. “I told you,
the past is over.” Anger pumped in his words. He pulled her toward
his room. Not just a room. A suite. One as big as the place he had
in New York.

He opened the door. Kept his hold on her and
pulled her over the threshold. When the door closed behind them,
Claire exhaled slowly as relief hit her.

Safe.

“He’s the reason, isn’t he?” Noah asked her.
“The reason you lose your other jobs. The reason you move around
the country so much.”

Claire nodded. Her gaze was on the D.C.
skyline. She’d wanted to walk through the city at night.

But Harrison is out there.

“He…I think he hires someone, a detective
maybe, to watch me. Each time when I feel like I might have a life,
Colby Harrison comes in. Reveals my past. Gets me fired.” An
endless cycle.

“He won’t be a problem any longer.” Noah’s
voice was grim.

Claire glanced over her shoulder at him.

“He’s done, Claire.
Done.
He won’t
ever get near you again.” He yanked a hand through his hair. “Nine
years? Jesus, you put up with this for nine years? Why didn’t you
get a restraining order against him? Why didn’t you—”

“He’s never physically hurt me.” There were
so many other ways to hurt. Like when she’d been nineteen and her
grandfather had been struck down by a heart attack. She’d flown
back home to bury him. And at the funeral, Colby Harrison had been
there…telling everyone that the whore was back in town.

“
Never again,”
Noah vowed.

She wished it could be that simple. “Noah,
he’s not going to stop. Not until I’m dead or-or he is.”

Noah held her gaze. Nodded. “He’s done,” he
said again, simply.

A chill skated over Claire’s spine.

His stare drifted over her face. Down her
body. Lingered on her legs. “I was supposed to wine and dine you
tonight.”

She’d never been wined and dined.

His golden eyes lifted. Locked on her mouth.
“I knew one taste would do it for me. Claire, sweet Claire, you
taste like candy.”

She could still taste him.

“No lover? Not in nine years?” He stood about
five feet away from her.

Claire shook her head. “The people in the
lobby—”

“I told you, what they saw doesn’t
matter.”

“They saw you kiss me. The other—the other
York Towers employees. They’ll all think—”

He took a step toward her. “That I’m fucking
you.”

“Yes.”

He took another stop. “I told you, I don’t
fuck my employees.”

He had said that but… “You kissed me.”

Another step. “Nothing would have stopped me
from kissing you then.”

He hadn’t turned from her in shock or
disgust. Hadn’t been embarrassed. After everything, he’d…wanted
her. “You don’t think I did it? You don’t think I seduced Ethan
Harrison into killing for me?”

“No.”

Her lips trembled. They’d crossed a line
downstairs. She knew that. She also knew exactly what she had to
do.

They saw us kiss. I can’t keep working for
him now. Coming to Noah…taking the job…it was a mistake.
One
desperation had led her to make.

And perhaps she was about to make another
mistake. But Claire found she didn’t care.

“I want to kiss you again,” Noah told
her.

He took another step toward her.

So little space separated them. Claire shook
her head.

Noah’s face hardened.

“I want more,” she told him, then Claire
pulled in a deep breath, grabbed tight to her courage and asked,
“Will you fuck me?”

***

“You shouldn’t have gone to the hotel,”
Vincent murmured. “Th-that was a mistake, sir.”

“The mistake was made years ago,” Colby
snapped back at him. “When that girl wasn’t charged along with my
son.” Sure, Ethan had been troubled. He’d been a little wild, but
he’d never
killed.

Not until he’d gotten involved with Claire
Kramer. A little cheap piece of ass who’d destroyed Colby’s
world.

Vincent shifted uncomfortably beside Colby.
They were in the back of a cab, heading to their hotel. Once, Colby
had only ridden in limos. He’d had the D.C. folks jumping to do his
bidding.

But he’d lost his congressional seat after
the trial.

Nearly lost his fortune in the legal battles
over the years.

He
would
have lost it all, if it
hadn’t been for his other son. Austin has saved him.

Austin was the only good thing he had
left.

Because Claire took my life away.

“Uh, sir, I read the newspaper articles.
Ethan tried to kill Claire—”

The bastard
dared
to say that to him?
“Because he couldn’t live with what she’d made him do! Ethan told
me the truth. He couldn’t stand what she’d done, how she’d used
him, and he was just trying to stop her from hurting anyone
else.”

Claire Kramer. Not some sweet innocent girl.
She was a lying, manipulative whore who’d destroyed his boy.

It was a good thing Colby’s wife hadn’t lived
to see the tragedy that hit his son. But Lily had died when Ethan
was just three years old. She’d slipped from Colby’s life too soon.
His perfect Lily—
gone.

Lily was in the ground, but Claire Kramer was
still walking around, living the high life. That was so unfair.

His hands were shaking. His gut twisting. He
yanked out his phone. Vincent was a damn idiot. He didn’t
understand anything.

Colby’s call was answered on the second ring.
“You were right,” Colby said, the words heaving out of him. “She
was here.
York
brought her here. The bastard is probably
screwing her.”

Because Claire always used her body to get
just what she wanted.

The tremor in his hands got worse as his rage
swelled. “It can’t go on any longer,” Colby said. “I’m going to
make sure she
suffers.”

As his boy suffered, every damn day in that
prison cell.

Ethan had nothing.

Claire deserved the same fate.

***

Noah’s hand lifted and curved around Claire’s
chin. “You need to be very sure. There will be no going back.”

There wasn’t any place for her to go back
to.

“I want to be with you.” Her words were the
truth. She wanted him for tonight because tomorrow, well, then
she’d begin running again.

A new city.

A new job.

Maybe this time, it would take Colby Harrison
longer to find her.

Maybe.

He leaned toward her. “I’m going to make you
scream for me.”

She shook her head. She wasn’t the screaming
type. Ethan had fumbled with her in the dark, and it had hurt, but
she knew there had to be more to sex than rough touches. Others
found pleasure in the act. She would, too.