Mine to Hold (Mine 3)

“We should go inside.” He fought to keep his voice level, his control in place. If the PI came back, Noah didn’t want the guy overhearing anything else that he and Claire said.

Claire glanced toward his beach house. The lights were on and glowing brightly. He stepped toward her.

Claire flinched.

He held up his hands. “Let’s go inside and talk.” Claire was at the edge of her control. He could see it.

I did this to her.

He wanted to wrap her in his arms, but he couldn’t. Not yet.

Her head nodded jerkily, and she hurried to his house. He noticed she made sure to keep a careful distance between them. When they were inside, he secured the door.

“It all seemed so perfect before,” she murmured, her eyes on the table in the kitchen. On the plates that were still there. Their half-made dinner waited steps away. “I don’t…I don’t get perfect, though. I should’ve known that.”

Hell, no, he wasn’t perfect. He never would be.

Claire squared her shoulders. “There was no trip to Vegas.”

“No, there wasn’t.”

“You lied to me.” Pain whispered through her words. “I thought I could trust you.”

“You can.”

Her eyes lifted to meet his. “You went down to Alabama.”

He nodded. “Trace got me in to see Harrison.”

“Ethan.” Her whisper was stark.

He forced himself to take a long, deep breath. That breath didn’t calm him worth a damn. “The senator was dead, but I needed to make sure that Ethan understood exactly where he stood with you. With us.”

Her eyes closed. “Did you kill him?”

“I didn’t set the bomb in that car.” He could say that with absolute honesty.

After a tense moment, her eyes opened. Her confused gaze was on him. “I’m just a woman you had sex with. Drake says there are plenty of us.”

There was only one Claire.

“Why would you go all the way down there? Why would you—”

He had to touch her. Noah wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “You’re not like anyone else. You never could be.”

Her breath caught.

“I went down there because I needed to see him. He’s the bastard who ruined your life. The one who put the fear and the shadows in your eyes.”

When her eyes widened, he nodded grimly. “Yeah, baby, it’s still there. It’s always there. You look out at the world as if you’re just waiting for people to strike out at you. You’re beautiful…and you’re scared, so scared. He did that to you.” His hands slid down her arms. Down, down to her wrists. His fingers curled over the scars. “He did that,” Noah repeated.

“I did it,” Claire fired back, her words surprisingly strong. “I let him into my life. I’m the one who picked up the razor, I’m the—”

“Stop it!” His fury erupted.

Claire tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let her.

“He’s a sick, twisted freak. He locked onto you, and he was going to do anything and everything in order to keep you with him.”

“He was in jail,” Claire said with a shake of her head. “He couldn’t—”

“He had photos of you all over his cell.” He hadn’t intended to tell her, and if that asshole PI hadn’t shown up…She never would have known. “He was as obsessed with you as ever. He had plans, Claire.” Plans that won’t ever happen. “He was counting down the days until he would be free, and then he would’ve come for you again.” Noah knew that Ethan would have killed her.

His fingers were caressing the skin along her wrists. Claire wasn’t speaking. She was so stiff and still.

“I wasn’t going to let Ethan hurt you. I went down there to tell him, to let him know that you weren’t alone. If he came after you…he’d find me in his path, and I would kill him then.”

Her lips trembled. “How can you talk about taking someone’s life so easily?”

“Because Ethan Harrison wasn’t a man. He was a monster that needed to be put down.”

She tugged against his hold.

“I didn’t do it, Claire.” But he would’ve. And maybe that was what she feared the most. What he was capable of doing. Noah let her go. “I didn’t kill him, but that’s just because someone else beat me to the punch. If he’d come after you, if he’d tried to hurt you…” It was better for her to see him exactly as he was. No lies. No masks. “I would have killed him in an instant.”

She stood before him. Her eyes too wide. Her face too pale. “I don’t want you to be like him.”

Fury poured through his blood. “I’m not.”

“I knew he had a darkness inside, I knew it from the very beginning, but I wanted him anyway.”

“Claire…”

“You have a darkness, too. I can feel it. I want you, Noah, more than I’ve wanted anyone, but you scare me, too.” Her hand raked through her hair.

“I know.” But she’d wanted him despite her fear.

And he just—wanted her.

“More than that…” She licked her lips. “I’m scared of the way I feel with you. Like the control I have, the life I’ve got…I could lose it all.”

“I’m not going to let you lose anything.” Why couldn’t she see that he wanted to protect her? To help her? “I didn’t kill him,” Noah said again. “But I would kill to keep you safe.” He backed away from her. “I want you. And you need to decide…you have to decide, if you want me, too.” The rest had to be said so he forced himself to add, “You have to decide if you want me more than you fear me.” Noah took another step back.

Claire wrapped her arms around her stomach.

“And when you do decide, you come find me.”

Then, before he gave into the primal urge to touch her, to take her, to make her see what they had…Noah turned away from Claire. He went upstairs to his bedroom. The rage he felt had his hands shaking.

Claire shouldn’t have learned about his trip to Alabama. He’d screwed up. He’d be more careful next time.