Mine to Hold

“One time, then done?”

“I know that makes me sound like a bastard, but ties just screw with your head.” He’d seen it happen. First with Drake—and the man had been to hell and back because of that painful mistake. Then the same weakness had twisted Trace.

Claire’s hand pulled away from Noah, but she still stood close to him. “Why am I still here?”

Because I need you to be.

“Haven’t you satisfied the-the ‘need’ yet?”

“No,” he said, voice roughening, “I haven’t. That’s the problem with you and me.”

Her tongue swiped over her lower lip.

Yeah, that’s the problem.

“The need doesn’t stop with you. The more I have you, the more it grows. The more I want.” Until he felt like the need was consuming him. “And I don’t want gentle and easy. I don’t want rose petals sprinkled on the ground. I want you naked and moaning. I want you screaming and clawing my back. I want everything that I can get from you.”

I want to own you.

And he was starting to think…

The way you already own me.

Claire stared up at him.

“Scared yet?” Noah had to push her.

Claire shook her head.

You should be, Claire. With every moment that passes, I get hooked on you even more. He’d seen Drake spiral, he’d seen Trace sink into near madness.

And now I’m on the brink.

The suite’s phone rang. Its pealing cry seemed to echo around them. Noah didn’t move.

She still doesn’t know all that I’ve done. When she did, what would happen?

The phone rang again. Swearing, Noah headed toward it. “What?” Noah snapped.

“Sir, it’s Janelle at the concierge desk.” Her voice was soft as she said, “I know that you said no visitors were allowed up to your floor, but there’s a very insistent gentleman here right now.”

Noah glanced over his shoulder at Claire. “What’s his name?”

“Austin Harrison.”

Harrison? His hold tightened on the phone. He’d done his research. He knew Austin was the senator’s other son. Three years older than Ethan, Austin had seemed to make keeping a low profile his priority. “You’re shitting me.”

“No, no, I’m not.”

“Keep him right there. I’m on my way.” He slammed down the phone and marched for the door.

Claire beat him to that door. She blocked his path with her body. “Who’s here?”

“I’m heading downstairs for just a moment. I’ll be right back and—”

“No. No way. The last time you tried to go off on your own, a building exploded.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Who’s here?”

“Austin Harrison.”

Shock had her mouth dropping.

“And I’m going downstairs to talk with him while you, baby, are staying right up here.”

“I’m coming—”

“Concussion, Claire.” Gently, but firmly, he picked her up and carried her back to the couch. He put her down on the cushions. Pulled a blanket over her. Kissed her. “You stay here, and I’ll go deal with the bastard at the door.”

Her lips pressed into a determined line.

He wasn’t going to argue with Claire. The last thing she needed right then was a confrontation. He headed for the door. Opened it—

Talk about a bastard at the door.

Drake had his hand raised to knock.

“No one is supposed to get up to this floor.” Noah glared at the two guards near the elevator. Guards who’d been sent over from Weston Securities. Guards who were apparently damn inadequate.

“Trace told them I was clear.” Drake smiled. “Come on, you know that you can trust me.”

Yeah, he did. And that was why he yanked the guy in the suite. “Keep Claire company until I get back.”

“Uh, wait, where are you—”

Noah shut the door behind him and stalked to the elevator.

Austin Harrison.

Well, he’d met the other two members of the family. Time to see if Austin was as much of a dick as they were.

***

The guy had just twisted her into knots and walked away. Claire shoved off her blanket and jumped to her feet. She was going after him and—

“I think the idea was for us both to stay put.” Drake flashed her a broad smile. “So don’t think you can just bat those big baby blues at me, and get out of here.”

She glared at him.

His smile slowly faded. “You look like shit.”

He was always such a charmer.

Drake’s hand lifted toward her face.

Instantly, Claire stepped back.

“Easy,” he murmured as he advanced. “I just want to see the damage.”

She forced herself to stay still. “It’s just a scratch.”

“A scratch that’s got you purple and black on your temple.” His head cocked and his fingers feathered over her cheek. “And I’m guessing the bandage is covering some stitches?”

“A few.”

He whistled. “Bet that made Noah go insane.”

She pushed his hand away. “Nearly getting blown up made us both react that way.”

His hand caught hers. “Explain it to me.”

“What?”

“I’ve seen Noah touch you, and you act like a cat getting stroked.”

She did not.

“But I come close, and you tense up like you’re afraid I’ll hit you.” His voice and eyes had gone flat. “I don’t know what Noah told you about my past, but I only did what I had to do. Killing my lover—hell, no, that wasn’t my plan. She went rogue. Turned on us all—”

Wow. “He didn’t tell me anything.”

She knew Drake had killed in Chicago, but that had been a fight-or-die situation. As for his past… “Like you told me before, your past is your own.”

“So you don’t back away from me because you think I’m a monster beneath the skin?”

His words made her pause. Made her realize… “I back away because I think everyone has a monster inside.”

Wasn’t that what she’d learned from Ethan?

From herself?

***

Austin Harrison stood near the concierge desk in the lobby. Noah marched toward the guy, letting his gaze sweep over the last remaining Harrison.

The guy was tall, broad-shouldered. Dressed in a suit. Austin appeared tense, wary—good, because he should be.

His hair was a dark blond, and it currently looked as if the guy had spent hours shoving his hands through it.

“This way,” Noah said, turning sharply to the right. He wasn’t about to have a public fight with Harrison. No, it was far better to do that in private.

Where no one can see what I’ll do.

Noah took the guy back to the hotel manager’s office. The manager, Louis, had conveniently cleared out, per Noah’s orders during a quick phone call mid-elevator ride.

Austin didn’t speak until they were secured inside. As soon as the door shut, though, the guy said, “I’m not a threat to you. Or to Claire Kramer.”

“I’m not so sure of that.”

Austin swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Whatever you’re doing…just…stop, okay? I’m not going to hurt her.”

“What I’m doing?”

Austin’s gaze jerked around the office. “My father. Ethan.”

He thinks I killed them?

“I don’t want to be next on Claire’s revenge list.”

“You think Claire has a list?” Had the guy not heard about the bombing? It had been all over the news. How the hell would he have missed that?

“If I were her, I would,” Austin muttered as he yanked a hand through his hair. “I’d want revenge. Payback.”

“You aren’t Claire.” She doesn’t think like that.

Austin’s hand fell to his side. His eyes met Noah’s. “I know you’re fucking her.”

“Yes, I am.” He wasn’t about to deny something that gave him such satisfaction.

Austin exhaled on a rough sigh. “Are you killing for her, too?”

Everyone sure seemed to think so. “You should turn on the news. The radio. Read a paper.”

Austin’s eyebrows scrunched. “Wh-what?”

“But maybe you were flying up here, maybe you missed that huge story, so I’ll just brief you.” He rolled back his shoulders. “Someone tried to kill me and Claire with a bomb last night.”

Austin backed up a step. He banged into the desk.

“Claire isn’t the one who went after your bastard of a father or your sick freak of a brother. Someone else out there did that. Probably the same someone who tried to kill us.”

“Why?”

“I think we have to ask the bastard killing that particular question.” He studied the man before him. “You don’t reek of booze like your father.”

Austin flinched.

“Are you as insane as your brother?”

“I’m nothing like Ethan.”

The two looked alike. The similarity was clear as day. “You’re the older brother. So when you were growing up, did you know what Ethan was? Did you see it?”

Austin walked toward the window on the right. “I saw it. Ethan was always hurting those weaker than he was. I told my father that he needed help, but that wasn’t the way my old man worked. Harrisons don’t need help. We don’t need anything.” He looked back at Noah. “I came here because I don’t want to die.”

Noah crossed his arms over his chest. “And you thought you were next on Claire’s list?”

“It’s…because I didn’t do anything. I didn’t help her. I didn’t stop him. Ethan talked about her. So much. About how he couldn’t live without her. How he wouldn’t live without her. How he’d do anything to prove his love to her.”

Noah held his body perfectly still. “Did you know he was planning to kill her parents?”

Austin stared down at the floor. “No. Dear God…no. He was bad before Claire, he hurt some other girls, seemed to get off on the power rush, but with her, something broke in him.” Then Austin squared his shoulders. His head lifted. His eyes met Noah’s. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

Noah glanced around the room. “I just see you and me.”

“In the hotel,” Austin snapped. “If you’re here, then she has to be close. Look, the PI called me and said—”

Noah jumped on that. “You mean Sloan Hall?”

“Yes, Hall. He said you and Claire were together. I’m not paying the guy anymore. That was my father’s madness. Let Claire know that she’s free, okay?”

“Sloan Hall is dead.”

Austin’s eyes widened.

“He was shot in the head.”

A shudder slid over Austin’s body.

“So I don’t think you have to worry about paying him,” Noah murmured. “I do think you may have to worry about watching your ass.”

***

“Claire, I need a list of your enemies.”

She’d put a bit more distance between herself and Drake.

“You moved around jobs quite a bit,” Drake continued as he rubbed his chin. “So maybe you—”

“I didn’t exactly have an option on the job front. Senator Harrison made sure my past had a way of being brought to the attention of my bosses. If they didn’t fire me immediately, he just exerted a little more…pressure on them.”

He seemed to absorb that. “Senator Harrison was your enemy.”

Uh, yes. “Obviously.”

“Who else?”

“Ethan was locked away.” She shook her head. “As far as I know, there isn’t anyone else.” No one who hated her enough to kill.

He started to pace. He headed toward the door that led out onto the balcony. For a moment, he gazed at the city, then he tossed a hard glance back at her. “Come on, tell me the truth. You’ve got lovers that were burned. Maybe one of them is—”

“Noah.”

He frowned at her.

“Noah is my lover. There hasn’t been anyone else. Just Noah…and Ethan.”

“I’m supposed to believe that? Come on, try again.”

Claire heaved out a sigh. “It’s the truth. Why would I take a lover when—”

“When you can’t even usually stand to be touched.” He leaned back against the balcony door. “So why does Noah get the free pass?”

“Excuse me?”

“What’s so different about him? Because, sweetheart—”

She tensed at that endearment. Ethan had always called her that. She hated the word sweetheart.

“—if you want to talk about a man having a monster inside, Noah is your guy.”

Now he was trying to scare her away from Noah? “I’m not afraid of him.”

Silence. Good. Maybe it would last until Noah came—

“I am,” Drake said.

Her gaze flew to his face. He looked completely serious.

“I know what it’s like when a man gets too lost in a woman. When he loses his control.”

Drake was confused. “Noah isn’t…lost in me.”

“Noah clings so tightly to his control for a reason. If he breaks, I don’t want to see what happens.”

***

“I’d like to apologize to Claire.”