Mine to Take (Mine 1)

“I-I didn’t even realize the photo was still there. I just haven’t tossed it out—”

“You’re done with Skye. She’s done with you. She’s moved the fuck on, and you need to do the same.” Trace held the guy’s gaze a moment longer, wanting to make sure the fellow got the point.

Skye’s fist hit the door. “Trace, stop it!” Fear and anger twined in that demand.

Because she remembered what he was like. She shouldn’t worry so much. He was leaving the doctor in one piece. For the moment.

The sex was good.

“It might have just been good with you,” Trace said as he cast a disdainful glance at the doc. “But it’s fucking fantastic with me.”

Then he left the not-so-good doctor glaring after him.

“What did you do?” Skye pounced on him.

He shrugged. “Set a few things straight.”

Now it was time to find that nurse and confirm Mitch Loxley’s whereabouts.

The door slammed closed behind him. Trace was pretty sure he heard a fist hit the wood.

Good. The message had been received.

***

She belonged with him.

Skye had to see it. No one else would do for her. No one else could match her the way he did.

They were meant to be.

Her sweet scent still filled his lungs. Her face haunted his nights.

He couldn’t get away from her.

He’d make sure she didn’t escape from him.

There was no place that she could hide. He’d been watching her for too long. He knew all her secrets.

Beautiful Skye carried so many secrets.

She wasn’t the good girl that people thought her to be. Wasn’t the sweet sleeping beauty in need of true love’s kiss.

Skye had a dark side. That was why he was so drawn to her.

Skye’s darkness matched his own.

No one would come between them.

Not now.

Not ever.

He’d see Skye dead first.

Chapter Five

“The trip was a waste of time.” The plane flew through the air, the sound of its engines not even penetrating the lush interior. Skye’s fingers fumbled with the clasp of her seatbelt.

Trace sat across from her. His legs were spread, brushing against hers, and a glass of whiskey was held loosely in his hand.

“I told you before…none of those men would do this.” Her ex’s. Since Evan was shooting a film in Hawaii, he’d been ruled off Trace’s suspect list. At least, she hoped that he had.

Both Mitch and Robert’s alibis had checked out. Four dancers had backed up Robert. And the nurse with the too-big breasts had been quick to fill in Trace about Mitch’s recent activities.

“I needed to see them,” Trace took a long drink of the whiskey, “and their reaction to you.”

“To me? Uh, they didn’t exactly have a reaction—”

He downed the rest of the whiskey in a fast gulp. “Robert views you as a possession. His possession. A dancer that he controls.”

Yes, he did. She glanced out the darkened window. That was the reason she’d broken things off with him. Not that there had been much to break-off. They’d only been together a week when she realized she’d made a serious mistake by getting intimately involved with him.

“As for the doctor, he was lying through his teeth.” Trace sat the empty glass down beside him.

“What do you mean?” Marsha had said that Mitch hadn’t left town in over two months. Trace had seemed doubtful, but Marsha had pulled out appointment calendars that were filled with patient listings—all tying back to Mitch.

“Mitch Loxley would take you back in an instant if he could. He probably still jerks off to you at night.”

Her mouth dropped open. He had not just said that to her. “You can’t know that…”

“Sure I can. Because I did the same damn thing until I got you back.” Trace unhooked his seatbelt. Stared at her with glittering eyes. “Come here, Skye.”

She didn’t want to move. “We didn’t learn anything useful in New York.” Why had her voice gone all husky?

His hot gaze stayed on hers. “I got a chance to talk personally with the cops. I went over the police report for your accident. I actually learned a hell of a lot.”

She shook her head. “We don’t know who’s doing this—”

“Come here.”

His voice had deepened.

“I’m right here.” Her heart was pounding too hard and fast in her chest. She shifted her legs restlessly. Brushed them against his. The move hadn’t been deliberate, had it?

“That’s not close enough.” His fingers tapped against the armrests on either side of his seat. “I like that skirt on you.”

It wasn’t like she’d had a lot of clothing choices. Since he’d been the one to pack for this little trip, she’d had to take what she could get.

Right then, Skye wore a long, black skirt and matching top.

Underneath that skirt?

Thigh highs. Her garter belt.

“What did the doctor mean when he said, ‘after that night’?”

Her breath burned in her lungs. She did not want to make this confession. She needed to keep a little pride.

“Skye…”

Her head jerked. “It doesn’t matter. We’re over.”

“You and Loxley are.” He hadn’t moved from his seat. “But you and I are just getting started.” His gaze swept over her. “Why are you afraid of me?”

That question caught her off guard. “I’m not!” An instant denial.

“Of course, you are. You’ve been afraid of me since the night we met.”

She didn’t want to remember that night. “You saved me then.”

“I scared you because I was so violent. Because in that one instant, you saw the real me—the me that I try so hard to hide from everyone else.”

The man who’d walked a razor’s edge of violence. Who’d attacked with a stunning fury.

“No other woman has seen me like that.” His gaze returned to pin hers. “I try to take care with them, to make sure that I hold myself in check.”

She couldn’t look away from him. “I don’t want you to pretend to be someone else with me.”

“I don’t. Not with you.” His right hand lifted. Opened toward her. “And that’s why you’re scared. Because you know how dangerous I can be, and you still want me.”