Mine to Hold (Mine 3)

“Ask, Claire,” he growled out that command.

“Can any obsession be healthy?” Because she felt obsessed with him. “Do they all have to end in fear and darkness?”

“I’m not him.”

He and Ethan looked different. Night and day. But that same, dark intensity was there, just beneath the skin.

Only Noah isn’t twisted.

His eyes blazed right through her. Saw right through her.

In that moment, Claire thought she could see through him, too. Past the veneer of the polished businessman. Right to his core. Darkness and light, all tangled together. Not perfect. Not evil. Not good.

“Ask,” he whispered. His expression was stark.

“I want to be with you again,” she said. Maybe it was just for tonight. Maybe what they had together would last longer. But she wasn’t going to think of a future then.

She refused to think of the past.

“Make love to me?” No, no, that was wrong. It wasn’t about love. Obsession wasn’t love. She was sure of that. She got obsession. She didn’t get love.

He pulled her into his arms. Kissed her deep and hard, and the chill slid from her skin. The hands that had been so brutal on the PI were gentle against her. There was so much power in his body, but he kept it ruthlessly restrained when he was with her.

He kept his control.

For me?

His hands slid over her back. Caressing. Seeming to scorch her through the t-shirt. Then he yanked that t-shirt up. He tossed it across the room. Her bra followed it.

Her breasts were so sensitive they ached. The nipples were tight and flushed. Noah lifted her up, and he took one nipple into his mouth.

She felt arousal flood her sex. His strength was such a turn-on. That much power, leashed.

Controlled. In that moment, Claire realized that she didn’t need control. Noah had it.

And she had him.

He carried her toward the bed. That big, sprawling bed that was perfect for sex. A sturdy, wrought-iron bed. He hadn’t taken another lover there. He’d told her she was the only one to come to this place.

He put her on the bed. Pulled away her jeans and underwear. “I could devour you,” he said as his gaze slid down her body. The gold of his eyes turned molten when he stared at the juncture between her legs.

His hands went to the snap of his jeans.

Claire rose then, pushing up quickly. “I need to taste you.” Her fingers tangled with his. “I want to.” He was all about her asking so she did. “Can I taste you?”

“Claire…” There was a sensual warning in her name.

That warning just aroused her more. “I’ve never…” Her fingers pulled from his. Her knees sank into the mattress. “I’ve never done this, and I want to taste you. I want you to be the first.”

“The only.” His voice had deepened and hardened with possession.

Claire eased down his zipper. The hiss seemed so loud in the silence of the room.

He put his hands behind his back. “Take me,” he told her.

Her heart pounded in a double-time rhythm. Excitement and nervousness both surged through her as she slid off the bed. Her knees brushed over the carpet as she knelt before him.

His aroused flesh sprang toward her. Long and full. Hard and hot. She stroked him at first, her touch tentative. She wasn’t sure what he’d like, and this was important—giving him as much pleasure as he’d given her was vitally important.

His hands were still behind his back.

He wasn’t touching her. She was the one touching. The one with power?

Claire leaned forward. Her lips skimmed over his erection, and his cock jerked beneath her mouth.

“Take me in…” Noah growled out the sensual command.

Claire’s lips parted. She took the head of his cock into her mouth. She licked. Sucked. Savored. Slowly, still so hesitant, she began to move. To take more. To find a rhythm that had him groaning.

And had her arousal deepening.

She liked the way he tasted. Liked the way he hardened impossibly more beneath her mouth and she—

Claire was on her back in the bed.

Noah was over her. He had her wrists pinned to the bed. Damn but that man had moved fast.

He stared at her, locked his gaze with her—and took her. He filled her, every inch, and she gasped as the pleasure surged through her.

Her legs curled around his. She arched up against him.

He plunged. Fast. Hard. Deep.

Claire wanted to match his rhythm, but…he felt so good. Every thrust sent his cock gliding right over her clit, and the sensation was incredible. Powerful and hot.

His grip tightened around her wrists. “I can feel you…feel everything…” Noah groaned the words. “Should stop…tell me to stop.”

No, she never wanted him to stop. “More.”

He thrust even harder. Deeper.

She could feel all of him.

All.

Noah was trying to pull away.

No condom.

She didn’t want to lose him. Didn’t want to lose that moment. “I’m clean,” she whispered. No diseases. No lovers, not until him.

“So…am I.” Noah thrust again.

Claire was lost. She shattered beneath him as the pleasure slammed through her. Not some gentle wave. An avalanche that stole her breath and had her quaking.

And Noah was there. He thrust into her once more, the hot surge of his climax filling her, and her legs locked tightly around his hips. She held him as fiercely as she could.

In that moment, Claire realized that she’d crossed a line. For her, there’d be no going back.

She’d lived in the darkness for years, and now, finally, she could see the light.

***

Gwen Lazlo was bone-tired when she shoved open the door to her apartment and dropped her bag on the floor. Her flight had landed in D.C. less than an hour ago, and the sun still hadn’t risen above the sky.

She stumbled forward in the darkness. She wanted to crash in bed. Bed was the goal. Bed was—

Warm hands slid around her stomach and she was pulled back against a rock-hard chest.

“Have I mentioned,” Lane’s voice rumbled in her ear, “how much I hate it when you’re gone?”

Her body melted against his. “Maybe a time or two.” She turned in his arms. The lights were still off, and she liked that. In the dark, he wouldn’t be able to tell how happy she was to see him.

When did I get so attached? Gwen made it a habit not to get too close to anyone or anything, but Lane had snuck right past her defenses. “Let yourself in again, huh?”

“You have seriously got to change those locks.” His lips brushed over her neck. “Anyone could get in here.”

Her lips curved. That was Lane. He could always make her smile, even after her last hellish twenty-four hours. Her fingers curled around his shoulders. “Tell me that you made some headway on our case.”