Mine to Have (Mine #5)(19)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“I’m sorry.”

So was she. “My mother was a lawyer and my dad owned an accounting business.  They were having dinner, going home one night and—well, they never made it.” She had originally planned to be at that dinner with them, but a last minute stomach bug had kept her home. “They were on a secluded road when their car crashed. Their…their bodies weren’t found until the next morning.” She’d had to go in and identify them. No, that can’t be my parents. They…they shouldn’t look like that.

“It’s harder when they love you.”

Now it was her turn to frown.

“Because then when you lose them, it’s like someone cut into your chest. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.” His hand lifted, and those scarred knuckles of his brushed over her cheek. “My dad cut out on me when I was five, and my mom couldn’t wait to kick me out.  I lived on the streets for too long after that, and by the time I finally heard that my mom had overdosed, I don’t think I felt anything but numbness.”

He was alone, too.

“But you knew that your parents loved you,” Saxon said. “That matters. You have to always hold on to that.”  

A tear leaked from her eye. He caught it—on those scarred knuckles.

“Knowing that should make the memories easier.” Now his hand slid down and pressed right over her heart. “And I think in time, it should make you feel, I don’t know…stronger. Better.”

Her own hand rose and curled around his.  “Thank you.”

“Getting easier to say that to me, huh?”

She shook her head. “I don’t…I don’t quite understand you.”  There were so many layers to Saxon. Elizabeth had the feeling that she might never fully understand him. Talk about a man of mystery.

“That’s fair. I don’t understand you, either.”

And she realized she was holding his hand to her chest. She was still just wearing his shirt, and the bed was a few feet away.

Elizabeth hurriedly stepped back from him. “I, um…” Think. “Should you go check in with Victor? I mean, with Agent Monroe?”

“Not for at least another hour.”

An hour…he’d wanted an hour with her.

In an hour, he’d call Victor. Get an update. And then, she could be walking away from Saxon. She might never see him again.  The thought left her feeling oddly…bereft. That didn’t make sense, of course. There was no point in missing someone that she’d just met.

But Elizabeth knew she’d never forget Saxon.

“What was it like the last time you had sex?” Saxon asked her.

She frowned.

He laughed. “Sweetheart, if you frown, then that means it wasn’t good.”

No, it just meant…she couldn’t remember. Had it been a year? Longer?

“Pity,” he said as his hand pulled slowly from hers. “I could have given you an hour that you’d never forget.”

She believed him.

He turned his back on her.

“Saxon.”

His shoulders stiffened.

“I’m not going to have sex with you because you saved my life.”

“Twice.”

“Twice,” she muttered. “I don’t trade sex for favors. I don’t trade sex for anything.”

He walked toward the window. “Message received.”

Her heart was pounding too fast and her palms had started to sweat.  Saxon wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met and…no one else is here. No one to judge. No one to know. It’s just our time. “And the truth is…” Because she’d agreed to play this game. “The truth is that I’d give you an hour that you’d never forget, too.”

His hands flew up and grabbed the wooden frame around the window. “Don’t.” That one word was close to a snarl. “Don’t play games with me. I’m not the kind of guy who—”

“I won’t have sex with you because I’m grateful to be alive. I won’t have sex with you because I’m trying to trick you into getting my freedom.” She’d used that technique when she’d kissed him in the alley. “I’ll have sex with you…because I want you.” Because she kissed him and—Bam.

He whirled toward her.

Elizabeth took a deep breath.  Her hands went to the hem of the t-shirt she wore and she slowly lifted the shirt up…and then she tossed it to the floor.

***

The FBI agents and the local cops were swarming the little motel on the edge of Miami.  He watched from a distance, making sure not to get too close.  Elizabeth had vanished, and he couldn’t have that. The woman was too much of a loose cannon out there.

He believed in tying up loose ends.

I should never have involved Taggert. But he’d been trying to keep his hands clean.  He’d forgotten, though, that blood could wash off so easily.  Getting back into the business of killing—it had been like riding a bike. I’ve still got the skills.

Elizabeth Ward was a piece of unfinished business that he would be eliminating.  And when she was dead, he’d be able to go back to the life that waited for him. A life he’d been living for two wonderful years. Ever since he’d put Elizabeth’s parents into the ground.

But Elizabeth might have remembered me…I couldn’t risk her putting the pieces together.  

His gaze fell on the swarm of cops around the motel. Really, why the hell were folks making such a big deal out of these kills?  Those three men—Haines, Mayo, and Gustav—hadn’t exactly been innocent victims.  They’d been at that motel with a mission to kill, too.  Only they’d become his prey.  He’d gotten there just minutes after Saxon and Elizabeth cleared out. Minutes. Taggert’s three bozos had still been in the room. He’d demanded information. They hadn’t given it to him, so they’d died.

Simple.

The young desk clerk at the motel…his death had been unavoidable.  The fool had seen him when he went to leave. He’d chased the kid back inside the little office. Before he’d killed him, he’d tried to learn where Elizabeth and Saxon had gone.

The boy had remembered seeing them leave in an old, gray pick-up truck.

He’d shot the helpful fellow after learning that tidbit.

After all, he’d learned never to leave witnesses alive. If you did, well, those people would just come back to haunt you in the end.