noah shoved the bastard back. "you don't touch her. you don't even talk to her again, understand?"

colby harrison blinked as he stumbled back a bit more. his gaze was full of rage and hate. "you know what she did?" he shook his head then yelled, "she ruined my boy's life! twisted him! made him-"

"from what i hear," noah's voice was still low, but grating with fury. "your ethan was a twisted bastard all along. you knew that. instead of getting him help, you just covered up for the asshole." he closed in on colby harrison. stood toe-to-toe with the guy. "i know who you are. the question is...do you know i am?"

the ex-senator frowned at him.

"noah york," the other guy whispered from behind colby. "he owns this place. now, boss, come on, we need to get out of here."

colby's shouts had attracted too much attention. that just wouldn't do. not only because noah just didn't allow shit like this in his hotels but because-

claire can't be upset.

"if you don't get the hell out of here in the next five seconds," noah told him, holding colby's stare, "then i'll have my men throw you out." he smiled and knew the sight would be grim. "or maybe i'll just do that part myself. because i don't give a shit how old you are or who you used to be. when i look at you, i just see garbage that needs to be tossed away."

colby sucked in a sharp breath. "she should've lost her freedom. just like him!" he tried to crane his neck and see claire. "she seduced him. made him kill. that woman is evil!"

noah was done. he grabbed the guy's shoulders and pushed him toward the door.

"you can't do this!" colby yelled. "i'm a senator! i've got powerful friends in this town!"

two members of the hotel security team rushed toward noah. he didn't let go of colby. he wanted the pleasure of tossing the bastard into the street himself.

"knew this would happen," the younger man said as he hurried behind them. "knew it..."

noah didn't stop until he was on the sidewalk in front of his hotel. he still had a tight grip on colby's shoulders. "i don't care who your friends are. you come near claire again, and no one will be able to save you." he leaned in close because he wanted to make sure colby understood exactly what he was saying. "you so much as look her way, and i'll destroy you."

then he dropped his hold. colby stared up at him, fear flickering in his gaze. good. the guy had gotten the message.

"i'm, um, sorry," the dark-haired fellow began.

noah whirled on him. "who are you?"

"vincent finch. i'm the senator's...i'm his manager."

what the hell ever. "keep him away, finch, or go down with him."

noah turned on his heel and marched back into the hotel. claire stood just a few feet in front of the elevator, exactly where she'd been moments before. her head was down. when he looked closely, he could see that she was trembling.

screw this.

he didn't want claire cowering from anyone or anything. people in the lobby were whispering as they gazed at her. he was pretty sure he'd even caught sight of a reporter with a camera. gossip and d.c.-the two were always locked together.

noah didn't hesitate. he stalked right up to her. "claire."

her head snapped up. "i-i'm sorry-"

he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

chapter three

shock froze claire. noah's arms were around her, he had her pressed tightly to his body, and his mouth-

his mouth claimed hers.

her lips had been parted when he kissed her. his tongue slipped inside her mouth. there was nothing hesitant about the way noah kissed her. he just...took.

and ignited her.

her hands rose. curled around his shoulders. she should push him back. she should do something, anything but-

pull him closer.

kiss him back.

fear and shame knotted within her, fighting with a tide of hot desire that caught her by surprise.

noah's hands were on her hips. holding her so tightly and he was-

pushing her into the elevator. still kissing her, but guiding her movements.

she heard the elevator ding, and claire pulled away from noah. for a moment, she stared up at him, lost.

"will that be all, sir?" the question came from the man standing near the elevator doors. he had his hand up and was holding the elevator open. chuck collins. claire had met the hotel manager earlier. as she stared at him, chuck cleared his throat and asked again, "will that be all?"

noah glanced over at him. "not quite." his words were low and lethal. "that asshole never comes into the hotel again."

chuck nodded. "understood." then he dropped his hand and the elevator doors slid closed.

claire was still in noah's arms. still shocked and lost and aching in a way she shouldn't be.

"you can...you can let me go," claire managed to say.

noah shook his head. his eyes were on her mouth. "i knew one taste wouldn't be enough."

it wasn't enough for her, either. noah tasted good. very good. good like the kind of wine claire had when she saved her money and splurged. not that she'd done any splurging, not in the last year. like the wine, he also made her a little drunk.

"ask me to kiss you again, claire."

he wanted to keep kissing her? after what had just happened in that lobby?

"let me go." she pushed against his chest. the elevator was rising, and she didn't even remember noah hitting the button on the control panel. but she knew where they were headed.

the top floor, of course. what she was thinking of as his floor.

the faint lines around his eyes deepened, but noah let her go.

claire rubbed her arms, chilled without him. "he shouldn't have been here. i'm so sorry-"

"apologize again, and i swear, claire, you'll push me too far."

her breath caught.

he nodded. "good. here's the deal. colby harrison is your past, got it? he doesn't matter. what he says...doesn't matter."

"but all of those people...they saw. they heard." they'd all been staring at her. when she'd lived in alabama, she hadn't even been able to walk down the aisle at the grocery store without people stopping to stare and whisper.

did you hear...that's the girl...she seduced that poor boy...made him crazy...

got him to kill her folks...

claire shook her head as she tried to make those voices vanish. they'd haunted her for too long.

"i don't care about those people."

"it's your business. your hotel. you should care." she'd been so worried about doing something to tarnish his image. and now...

"scandal sells, baby, or haven't you realized that?"

claire flinched. she hated scandal. she wanted...secrecy.

the elevator doors opened.

"so much for dinner," she muttered.

he caught her hand. brushed his fingers over the ribbon on her right wrist. she'd learned to be creative over the years. when people saw the scars there, well, there was no mistaking them. you got scars on your wrist-those long, thin scars-from one act.

claire had wanted to die when she was sixteen. when she stood at her parents' graves, when it seemed that the whole world hated her, she'd wanted to escape.

to be with my mom and dad again.

people had spray painted her home. written words like "whore" and "killer" on her windows. senator harrison had done a massive job on the local media. he'd worked so hard to convince everyone that his son was just the poor, misled boy.

and claire was the evil seductress.

he'd told her, time and again, that she should be the one to suffer. the one to be punished.

i just wanted to escape.

the scars would always be there. she covered them so she didn't have to see the curiosity, the pity, in the eyes of strangers.

"come back to me."

claire blinked and focused on noah.

he had lifted a dark eyebrow. "i told you, the past is over." anger pumped in his words. he pulled her toward his room. not just a room. a suite. one as big as the place he had in new york.

he opened the door. kept his hold on her and pulled her over the threshold. when the door closed behind them, claire exhaled slowly as relief hit her.

safe.

"he's the reason, isn't he?" noah asked her. "the reason you lose your other jobs. the reason you move around the country so much."

claire nodded. her gaze was on the d.c. skyline. she'd wanted to walk through the city at night.

but harrison is out there.

"he...i think he hires someone, a detective maybe, to watch me. each time when i feel like i might have a life, colby harrison comes in. reveals my past. gets me fired." an endless cycle.

"he won't be a problem any longer." noah's voice was grim.

claire glanced over her shoulder at him.

"he's done, claire. done. he won't ever get near you again." he yanked a hand through his hair. "nine years? jesus, you put up with this for nine years? why didn't you get a restraining order against him? why didn't you-"

"he's never physically hurt me." there were so many other ways to hurt. like when she'd been nineteen and her grandfather had been struck down by a heart attack. she'd flown back home to bury him. and at the funeral, colby harrison had been there...telling everyone that the whore was back in town.

"never again," noah vowed.

she wished it could be that simple. "noah, he's not going to stop. not until i'm dead or-or he is."

noah held her gaze. nodded. "he's done," he said again, simply.

a chill skated over claire's spine.

his stare drifted over her face. down her body. lingered on her legs. "i was supposed to wine and dine you tonight."

she'd never been wined and dined.

his golden eyes lifted. locked on her mouth. "i knew one taste would do it for me. claire, sweet claire, you taste like candy."

she could still taste him.

"no lover? not in nine years?" he stood about five feet away from her.

claire shook her head. "the people in the lobby-"

"i told you, what they saw doesn't matter."

"they saw you kiss me. the other-the other york towers employees. they'll all think-"

he took a step toward her. "that i'm fucking you."

"yes."

he took another stop. "i told you, i don't fuck my employees."

he had said that but... "you kissed me."

another step. "nothing would have stopped me from kissing you then."

he hadn't turned from her in shock or disgust. hadn't been embarrassed. after everything, he'd...wanted her. "you don't think i did it? you don't think i seduced ethan harrison into killing for me?"

"no."

her lips trembled. they'd crossed a line downstairs. she knew that. she also knew exactly what she had to do.

they saw us kiss. i can't keep working for him now. coming to noah...taking the job...it was a mistake. one desperation had led her to make.

and perhaps she was about to make another mistake. but claire found she didn't care.

"i want to kiss you again," noah told her.

he took another step toward her.

so little space separated them. claire shook her head.

noah's face hardened.

"i want more," she told him, then claire pulled in a deep breath, grabbed tight to her courage and asked, "will you fuck me?"

"you shouldn't have gone to the hotel," vincent murmured. "th-that was a mistake, sir."

"the mistake was made years ago," colby snapped back at him. "when that girl wasn't charged along with my son." sure, ethan had been troubled. he'd been a little wild, but he'd never killed.

not until he'd gotten involved with claire kramer. a little cheap piece of ass who'd destroyed colby's world.

vincent shifted uncomfortably beside colby. they were in the back of a cab, heading to their hotel. once, colby had only ridden in limos. he'd had the d.c. folks jumping to do his bidding.

but he'd lost his congressional seat after the trial.

nearly lost his fortune in the legal battles over the years.

he would have lost it all, if it hadn't been for his other son. austin has saved him.

austin was the only good thing he had left.

because claire took my life away.

"uh, sir, i read the newspaper articles. ethan tried to kill claire-"

the bastard dared to say that to him? "because he couldn't live with what she'd made him do! ethan told me the truth. he couldn't stand what she'd done, how she'd used him, and he was just trying to stop her from hurting anyone else."

claire kramer. not some sweet innocent girl. she was a lying, manipulative whore who'd destroyed his boy.

it was a good thing colby's wife hadn't lived to see the tragedy that hit his son. but lily had died when ethan was just three years old. she'd slipped from colby's life too soon. his perfect lily-gone.