Mine to Keep (Mine 2)

“Uh, I—”

“Did you watch me?” Her voice rose. “How many guards did I have? How many eyes have been on me?” For how long? She couldn’t suck in a deep enough breath. She couldn’t breathe at all—

“Skye.” Trace’s voice. Quiet. Calm.

He shouldn’t be calm. Not when she felt as if she were about to explode.

“I’ll, um, give you two some privacy.” Noah backed away. “I’ll see if I can find Drake.” He edged away a few more steps then muttered, “Asshole that he is.”

Skye focused on Trace. Sara, Trace’s assistant, wasn’t at her desk, and the woman was usually close. Maybe Trace had ordered her to clear out—the better for Sara not to catch the show that was coming.

Trace lifted a hand toward her. “Come into my office. We can talk.”

She wanted to scream. Instead, Skye walked forward. When he tried to stroke her shoulder, she jerked away from him. An instinctive move. She just couldn’t be touched right then. An explosion was too close to the surface for her.

She’d first walked into this office just weeks before. Back then, she’d been terrified. Desperate. Skye had known she was in danger, and Trace had been her only hope.

The door shut softly behind her, with the faintest of clicks. She stood in front of Trace’s desk and braced her hands on the surface. Part of her didn’t want to know the truth. Part of her wanted to pretend everything was okay.

But hiding does no good.

She straightened her shoulders and turned around to face him. “I met Drake Archer today.”

Trace gazed back at her. His blue eyes were unreadable.

“He told me…he said that he’d been one of my guards, back when I was in New York.” She shook her head. “Tell me he’s wrong.” Did it sound like she was begging? Skye was very afraid that it did.

Because she was begging, and it felt as if her heart was breaking.

But Trace didn’t tell her anything. He just kept looking back at her.

“Trace.”

“For a time, Drake did watch you.”

No, no, no. “Why?”

“Because I wanted to keep you safe.” The words were said softly, but she saw his hands clench into fists.

“You didn’t even talk to me for ten years! You left me, you joined the military. You vanished from my life, until I came looking for you—”

“That’s not true. You already know I came to see you dance in New York.” A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I could never stay away from you.”

She whirled away. Her movements were jerky as she headed toward the massive window on the right side of his desk.

His desk. She looked down and saw the framed photograph there. The only photograph.

One of her. Smiling.

He’d taken that while they were in the Keys.

Pain rose and threatened to choke her. “How long did Drake Archer watch me?”

“Three months.”

Her eyes closed. “Then you sent someone else, right? You kept sending someone, to watch—” Skye broke off. She started to laugh then, but the sound was brittle. “Oh, dear God, that’s why you looked so shocked when I came to your office that first time.” She forced herself to turn back and stare at him, even though looking into his glittering stare just seemed to hurt her more. “When I came to you and said, ‘Someone’s watching me,’ your whole body stiffened.” She hadn’t put the pieces together then, how could she? “You thought that I’d found out about your guards, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t have guards on you then,” he snapped out the words from behind clenched teeth. “Maybe if I had, then you would’ve been safe. That bastard doctor would never have gotten so close.”

Her lips parted but she had no words. He hadn’t just said that. He couldn’t have.

“I have enemies.” He took a step toward her. When she stiffened, he froze. “Dangerous enemies who would like nothing better than to hurt me. But you see, for some men, just hurting isn’t enough. They like to destroy people. Wreck them completely.”

She was as frozen as he was. The ice was back, thicker than ever.

“Do you know what would destroy me?” Trace asked her.

Skye wasn’t sure if anything could.

“If someone hurt you, if someone killed you, that would fucking end me.”

Tears stung her eyes. “So you put guards on me—”