Mine To Hold (7 page)

I want the pleasure.

But Claire didn’t think she’d scream. Not
even for a lover like Noah.

“Yes, I will.” His lips pressed to hers.

Her eyes closed. She leaned into him.

His tongue glided over her lips. Into her
mouth. Noah knew how to use his tongue so well. He wasn’t wet or
rough. He was…savoring her.

She wanted to devour him.

His hands slid over her shoulders. Touched
the straps of her dress.

Then the dress was sliding down to pool at
her feet.

And he was kissing his way along the line of
her jaw. Down her throat. Over the pulse that raced so frantically.
His tongue licked over her skin. She felt the light score of his
teeth on her.

Claire gasped.

“Like that?”

She liked everything that he was doing.

“What I like…” Noah muttered, desire heavy in
his voice. “I like the fact that you didn’t wear a bra. Claire, I
like that
a lot.
”

A bra wouldn’t have fit under the bodice of
that dress and—

He eased away from her. Stared down at her.
The lights in the suite were on, shining all around them. There was
no darkness.

There was only Noah.

“So perfect.” He lifted his hand. Caressed
her right breast. Her nipples were hard. Aching. And his touch sent
a surge of arousal straight to her sex.

I’m wet for him. Already.

She reached out to Noah. “I need you now.”
Her fingers fumbled with his belt. “Noah, we can—”

“No.” He caught her hands. “Not yet.” He
pushed her hands back to her sides. “I’m just getting started with
you.”

Sex with Ethan had been fast. So quick. In
the back of a car or—

“
Claire.”

Her lashes lifted.

“Claire, I’m going to give you so much
pleasure you won’t ever think of anyone else.” Then he lifted her
into his arms. The move surprised her and she grabbed tightly to
him.

But he didn’t carry her far. Just a few
steps. Closer to the window. To the big, leather couch that waited
right beside that glass.

He spread her out on the couch. She started
to cover her breasts, but he caught her wrists. Lifted them above
her head. “Don’t move them.” He swallowed. His gaze burned her.
“You look sexy that way.”

She’d been hurt badly in Chicago, and she
bore the scar from that attack, but Noah didn’t seem to see it at
all as he gazed at her. Noah didn’t seem to pay much attention to
any of her scars.

I’m the one who can’t see past them.

But Claire shoved her doubts away right then.
She was going to have this moment with him. No matter what…
I’ll
have this.

She still had on her black panties. Panties
that
she’d
picked up back in New York before their flight
had left. And she wore her heels. Heels that were higher than
anything she’d worn before.

Noah bent his head. His lips closed around
her breast. He licked. Sucked.

Claire arched against him. She wanted to grab
onto him and hold tightly, but she didn’t move her hands. She kept
them above her head, fisted.

His fingers worked her other breast. Lightly
tugging at the nipple. Stroking her. Her hips arched again,
helplessly. She felt so empty, and she wanted Noah to fill her. She
wanted him to thrust deep inside of her.

Then she could pretend that she was just like
every other woman. Having sex with her lover. Enjoying
pleasure.

“
With me, Claire.”

His hand slid over the plane of her stomach.
Down, down his fingers went until he was at the edge of her
panties.

Her eyes were on his hand.

“If I pull these off, they’ll just get stuck
on your shoes,” he murmured. “So…”

He ripped her panties. Tore them in two and
tossed the scraps away.

“That’s what I wanted.” His fingers slid
between her folds. “Ah, baby, you’re so ready for me.”

He positioned his body between her legs. He’d
thrust into her soon, she was sure of it. He’d—

He slid a finger into her.

Claire jerked toward him.

“So tight. You’re going to drive me out of my
mind.”

He was already driving her out of hers.

“But you have to be burning up. You have to
need me more than breath.” He withdrew his finger. Moved her legs
farther apart. The couch was massive, so there was easily room for
them both on it and he was—he was—

Noah put his mouth on her.

Claire flinched. She hadn’t expected that
move. Her hands flew down to his shoulders.

“No, Claire,” the words growled against the
most sensitive part of her body. “Hands up.”

Then his tongue, that wonderful, wicked
tongue of his, stroked her. Slid over her. Slid
into
her.

Her hands flew back up and locked around one
of the pillows on the couch. Her hips were arching, so he grabbed
them and held them tightly. And he kept tasting her. Licking her.
Kissing her. Taking her breath away as she gasped.

Every muscle in her body seemed to tense.
Claire heard herself crying out Noah’s name.

Her release was close. She could feel it. No
roughness. No fast groping.

This was sex. This was what it should be
like. Hot. Consuming.

His tongue thrust into her.

Claire screamed when the climax hit her. Her
eyes squeezed shut, and her body bucked beneath him. The pleasure
rolled through her, seeming to crest again and again, and Claire
shuddered with the powerful release.

“That’s a good start.”

Her eyelashes lifted. Her breath heaved
out.

“I like it when you scream for me, Claire.”
He put on protection. Settled right back between her legs. “Let’s
see if you can do it again.”

He drove into her. His hands lifted and
pinned hers in place. His eyes locked with hers.

He filled her so completely. Stretching every
inch of her, and Claire froze, caught between pleasure and
pain.

“I wanted to fuck you from the first moment
we met.”

She tried to suck in a deep breath.

“You feel so good.”

He still had his clothes on. She was naked.
In only her heels, and he was fully dressed.

That knowledge made her feel vulnerable,
exposed and—

“Will you scream for me again?” He
withdrew.

She wanted him back inside, as deep as he
could go. Her legs flew up and locked around his hips.

“So…damn…good.”

He thrust into her again.

Withdrew.

She met him, thrust for thrust. The rhythm
became wild, so hard. He was in her so deep.

No pain.

Only more pleasure.

So much pleasure that the whole world seemed
to explode. She wasn’t sure if she screamed or not. She only knew
that after years of being cold, it felt as if she were in an
inferno.

One that swept her up, hollowed her out, and
left her aching for more…more pleasure.

More…of Noah.

His hold tightened on her. He drove into her
again. Her sex was contracting around him, aftershocks from her
release.

“Nothing like this…never like this…” He
heaved into her. Tensed.

She was staring into his eyes when he came,
and Claire actually saw his gaze go blind with pleasure.

“Claire!” He kissed her. “Mine…” Noah
whispered against her lips.

His hands still held hers pinned. She was
spread beneath him. Filled with him.

Surrounded by him.

Mine.

***

Claire woke when she heard the squeak of the
bedroom door. Noah had carried her to the bedroom after he’d given
her that mind-numbing, world-altering orgasm.

He hadn’t undressed. He’d put her in the bed.
Held her.

She’d fallen asleep with his arms around
her.

Only now he was…leaving?

“Noah?” She sat up, pulling the sheet with
her as she glanced over at the bedside clock. The numbers glowed,
showing her that it was close to midnight.

He was a shadow in the doorway. “Go back to
sleep, Claire. I just have a little business to attend to.”

“Wh-what kind of business?” Business at
midnight?

“I have to meet with the manager. We need to
upgrade the security here.”

Because of her.

The sheets felt cool against her body.
I’m
still naked.

“Harrison won’t ever be let in this place
again, and I want to make sure every staff member knows that. Chuck
is waiting for me now.”

Chuck would know—as would everyone else who’d
seen them enter the elevator—that they’d slept together.

I don’t fuck my employees.

“Thank you,” Claire softly said.

“You don’t need to thank me, baby. If I’d
realized that SOB was in the city, hell, I never would’ve let him
get within thirty feet of you.”

What had brought the man back to D.C.? She’d
thought Colby stayed close to his place in Alabama these days.

“Get some sleep,” Noah told her from his
position near the bedroom door. “I’ll be back soon.”

She climbed from the bed. The lush carpeting
swallowed the sound of her steps as she went to him in the
darkness.

“Claire?”

Her hand lifted. Pressed to his chest. She
would’ve liked to see him naked. His shoulders were so wide. So
built. He probably had a six pack.

She swallowed. “Thank you,” she said again,
and she rose onto her toes. Her lips skimmed the hard line of his
jaw.

But then his fingers sank into her hair. He
tilted her head back. Took her mouth. Kissed her long and deep.

Her nipples tightened as they pressed into
his chest.

“If you really want to thank me,” Noah rasped
when his head lifted, “you’ll stay in that bed and be ready for me
when I come back.” He let her go. “I
will
be back soon,
Claire.”

She believed him.

She stood there, in the darkness, and a few
moments later, she heard the sound of the suite’s main door
closing.

Her body was so sensitive. He’d touched
her—everywhere. Claimed her. Marked her.

Taught her about pleasure.

Claire knew she wouldn’t have much time, so
she dressed quickly. She yanked her hands through her hair. Rushed
to the smaller room she’d been given when they checked in.

She grabbed her bag. Wrote him a note.
Because she suspected that he would look for her, and she didn’t
want Noah to worry.

She also didn’t want to throw her troubles
onto his doorstep. He’d been too good to her. He didn’t deserve to
be yanked down into her hell.

Her note was simple. Short.

Then Claire rode the elevator down to the
lobby. Even at midnight, there were still plenty of people milling
around the hotel. She didn’t see Noah or Chuck, so she dashed
across the lobby and hurried outside.

She paused to talk with the bellman, just for
a moment. When he offered to get her a taxi, Claire refused. Why
waste the money? Claire turned away and marched down the
sidewalk.

And she didn’t look back.

***

A hard knock pounded against the hotel room
door.

Colby Harrison jerked at the sound. Who the
hell would be coming to see him at this hour?

Muttering, he climbed from the bed. He’d just
gotten to sleep a few moments ago.

He shuffled toward the door.

The knocking came again. Harder.
Almost…desperate.

Colby weaved a bit as he reached out for the
knob. He’d been drinking. The drinks helped him. They always did.
Without them, he couldn’t sleep at all.

When he tried to sleep, he thought about
Ethan. Poor Ethan. Wasting away in that prison.

He squinted as he tried to see through the
peephole on the door. He couldn’t see a damn thing.

A rough knock had the door shaking.

Furious now, Colby jerked open the door.
“What the hell do you—”

His visitor’s hand flew away from the door.
Had that hand been over the peephole?

Colby frowned. “I sure as hell didn’t expect
to see you here—”

A gun was shoved into his face.

Terror flooded through Colby as he stumbled
back. “Y-you can’t do this!”

Laughter. Then… “I can do anything.” The door
was kicked shut. They were sealed together in that room.

The gun’s barrel was too long.
A
silencer.
Colby licked his bone-dry lips. Tried to think. “I
didn’t mean—”

The bullet blasted through his head before he
could finish.

“I know exactly what you meant.”

Colby’s knees hit the floor.

“At least I didn’t make you beg.”

Colby slammed face first into the carpet.

Chapter Four

“Claire?” Noah opened the suite’s door,
frowning as he called her name. He’d been gone longer than he’d
planned, but there hadn’t been any help for that delay.

He’d had to be careful and not rush his
return to her.

“Claire?”

She didn’t answer him. Noah figured Claire
was probably asleep. He strode into the bedroom, but the bed was
empty. The covers had been carefully arranged, re-made, and Claire
was gone.

No.

He spun on his heel and nearly ran from that
suite. When they’d checked in, Claire had been given a separate
room, and he was in front of that room moments later. He had a key,
and he opened the door, not bothering with a knock. He was too
pissed for a knock. The woman didn’t get to just run out of his bed
in the middle of the night.

Her room was smaller than his, and in an
instant, he knew she wasn’t there. The bed hadn’t been touched. Her
bag was gone.

Hell, no.

The woman wasn’t about to pull one of her
disappearing acts on him. Not when he could still taste her on his
tongue.

Not when I want more.

Then he saw the note. Folded, right in the
middle of her pillow.

He scooped it up and instantly recognized the
hotel stationary. He should, he’d picked that shit out.

A flowing, feminine handwriting told him…