Mine to Have (Mine #5)(47)

Staff. I have fucking staff now.

Elizabeth was at the bar. She turned toward him.

I have everything now.

He stared at her a moment, lost in the sight of her. Did she even know all the strings Victor had pulled so that Elizabeth wound up there—with me?

Everything had been set up, everything manipulated so that he could be with her. To protect her, hell, yes. But…more.

“M-Michael?”

His new name. One that he didn’t want to hear from her. He shook his head and very deliberately shut the door behind him. “It’s just us.”

Her back pressed to the bar. His gaze swept over her, from those sexy shoes up to the silken expanse of her legs, then up, up to the curving breasts that thrust toward him. His gaze finally settled on her face.

The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

And if she knew all the things he’d done, she’d probably run screaming from him.

I can’t ever let that happen.

He took a step toward her. “When we’re alone, call me Saxon.” Because he liked the way his name sounded when it came from her.

He took another step toward her.

Elizabeth seemed to tense. “What if someone comes in?”

“Then I might fucking fire them.” Because he needed to get his hands on her. She had no clue how bad the last two weeks had been for him. The doctors hadn’t cleared him to travel at first—he’d had to wait and stay away from her for too long.

“You wouldn’t,” Elizabeth whispered, shaking her head.

Oh, but he would.

He stopped when he was right in front of her. His hand lifted and brushed back the locks of her hair that had slipped over her cheek, then his fingers slid under that soft curtain of her mane as he tilted her head back. “I need a taste…”

Not of wine. Of her.

Her lips parted and his mouth closed over hers. This kiss wasn’t frantic. Wasn’t wild. Because he was trying to show her that he could be more. So much more. For her.

He licked her lower lip, then his tongue thrust inside of her mouth. She gave that little moan—yes—and she arched toward him.

But he still kept the kiss controlled. Sensual, but not desperate. He savored her. He caressed her. Even when his erect cock shoved at the front of his pants, his hold on her was light—just his hand, holding her through the curtain of her hair.

He kissed her. He licked.

And he wanted so much more.

That was why he finally stopped. His head lifted so that he could gaze down at her.

Elizabeth’s eyes blinked open.

“You taste better than the wine.”

Her tongue slipped out and swept over her lips. “So do you.”

She did not play fair.

“Let me take you home,” he said. Because if he didn’t. He just might wind up fucking her there. Right in that shiny new tasting room. He’d had the place remodeled when he took over, and it had turned out just as he’d hoped.

I can have everything I want now. Provided, that Elizabeth stayed safe.

Elizabeth hesitated. “Are you offering to take me home…as my lover? Or as my FBI guard?”

“I’m doing it as both.” Because that was what he was. Guard and lover.

“We’re safe here,” she said. It almost sounded as if she were trying to convince herself of that. “In this perfect place you’ve made, we’re safe, right?”

“With me, I promise, you’ll always be safe.”

Her lips curved in a faint smile. “I believe that, you know.”

Because she trusted him so completely.

“But you can’t take me home, I came in my own car.” Her smile stretched and tempted him to smile back at her.

So he did. “In that case, I’ll follow you.”

She nodded.

I’ll follow you any damn place.

***

Victor strode out of the prison. As soon as she saw him, Tracy hurried forward. “Sir?” Tracy called. “How did it go?”

She’d been cleared—after the FBI had ripped her life apart. They hadn’t turned up any sign that she’d been working with Gary. No bank transactions, no unaccounted absences, no whispers of impropriety at all.

But we thought Gary was clear, too.

Victor’s bosses had insisted he put Tracy back in circulation, provided, of course, that he kept one very close eye on her.

“It’s going,” he said simply. He didn’t want to tell her about Zoe Peters. He wasn’t going to tell anyone but Saxon about that woman. Because Saxon is the only one that I trust one hundred percent.

“A call came in while you were inside,” Tracy told him, the words a little breathless, as if she were nervous. “Gary Warren wants to talk with you.”

Wait, now the guy wanted to talk? Before Victor had left Miami, the guy had still been giving the old silent treatment to everyone. How was that for shit timing?

“So we’re going back down to Florida now?” Tracy asked.

“Not yet.” He marched toward their car. Tracy hurried to keep up with him. “Gary can damn well wait for me.”

“But—”

“I have other business to tend to first.”

He climbed into the car. Tracy started to follow him. “No,” he said flatly. “I called you a cab.”