Chapter 7 Claire
Claire
When Alec gets off the phone, he’s smoothed things over with his boss to a degree. I can tell he’s still on thin ice, and my guts are twisted into so many knots that I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“I did this. I ruined your job situation. I ruined my own. This is all my fault.”
I’m pacing and basically talking to myself, but Alec comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me before turning me to face him.
“You didn’t ruin anything. Shit like this happens all the time with Boss. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of him. And frankly...”
His words drift off, and I’m left hanging until my eyebrows rise to my hairline and I squirm against his hold.
“Frankly, what?” He frowns, and I glare. “Don’t. Okay? I can’t take this right now. You need to be honest with me. I’ve just had the most sexual experiences of my life while I’m apparently being hunted down by some asshole senator. I need you to just talk to me.”
Alec sighs, dropping his head, but then he nods. When he looks back up at me, I can see the conflict in his eyes. It’s clear that communication isn’t something he does easily.
“I don’t like the thought of you dancing. It’s not some judgmental thing. I just... it’s clearly dangerous for you, and it’s abundantly clear that you should be painting.”
I’m a little taken aback, and I lean away, regarding Alec as he still has his arms around my waist.
“This isn’t some controlling caveman thing? You want me to be... painting?”
“Well, I’m not going to lie and say I love the idea of you shaking your fine ass for other people, but as long as it was me you were coming home to, I’d be alright with it.
” Alec shrugs, but I’m still reeling from the fact that he’s clearly given this thought.
“And it is dangerous, and you should be painting. That’s what you’re going to school for. ”
“School I can’t pay for now because I’m jobless.” My shoulders droop, and everything feels like too much.
“You’ll find another job. And I’ll smooth things over with Boss.
He hates bullies, and that’s exactly what Teddy is.
” He brushes his thumb back and forth across my cheek.
“Let’s just take this one step at a time.
We’ll order some food for lunch and then take this information and evidence to the police.
With the attack last night, they have every reason to do something now. ”
I study Alec’s eyes, searching them for answers again. This is all moving so fast, but I can’t deny the connection I feel with him or the way he makes my body come alive.
“Coming home to you?” I raise my brows at him. “So, what? You’re... interested in keeping this going?”
Alec smirks, his eyes lighting with mischief. “I would’ve thought that was obvious by now. What with the whole ‘you’re mine’ thing.”
“I thought it was a heat-of-the-moment thing.”
Pulling me tighter against his chest, Alec goes deadly serious, and a chill runs down my spine. He grips my chin, forcing me to focus entirely on him.
“It wasn’t. I didn’t come here looking for this, and hell, I don’t do relationships, but you... you’re something else, Claire. And I’m not willing to just shove all this down. I don’t think I could if I tried. So, yeah. I want to see what happens.”
My heart is racing, and I can scarcely breathe. Still, I find myself nodding before I can think about it too much.
“Okay.”
Alec and I sit in the waiting area of the precinct, and for the first time in days, I feel something like hope.
We have evidence now. The knife. The bruises on my arm. Alec as a witness to the break-in. Surely that has to mean something.
I squeeze Alec’s hand. “It’s going to be okay. They have to listen this time.”
Alec doesn’t say anything, but his jaw is tight.
When we’re finally ushered into a private room, I lay out everything—the assault on the yacht, the threats, the man with the knife in my apartment. Alec holds my hand under the table the whole time.
When I finish, one of the detectives, an older guy with a coffee stain on his tie, leans back in his chair and sighs.
“Look, Miss Andrews. I understand this has been... upsetting for you.”
Upsetting. Like I’m complaining about a parking ticket.
“But Senator McDowell is a public figure. Without concrete proof that he personally ordered any of this...” He shrugs. “It’s your word against his.”
“I have bruises. There was a man in my apartment with a knife—”
“Which could have been a random break-in.” The other detective, a woman with a tight ponytail and zero warmth in her eyes, cuts me off. “Do you have any idea how many women come in here with stories about powerful men?”
“It’s not a story. It happened.”
She looks at me then. Really looks at me. And I see it—the flicker of judgment. The dismissal.
“You’re a stripper, correct?”
The word lands like a slap.
“I’m a dancer. And I don’t see what that has to do with—”
“It has everything to do with credibility, Miss Andrews.” She folds her hands on the table. “A jury would tear you apart. You’d be dragged through the mud, your entire life picked apart, and at the end of it? He’d walk. Men like him always do.”
The room tilts. I can’t breathe.
“So that’s it? You’re not going to do anything?”
The older detective slides a card across the table. “You’re welcome to file for a restraining order.”
A restraining order. A piece of paper. Against a man who sent someone to my home with a knife.
“Claire.” Alec’s voice is tight with barely contained rage. “Let’s go.”
I don’t remember walking out of that room. But suddenly I’m outside the precinct, gasping for air, and the world is spinning.
Alec spins me around, his hands gripping my shoulders. I look up at him through tears I didn’t know were falling.
“I told them everything. I had evidence. And they looked at me like I was nothing. Like I deserved it.” A sob tears through me. “No one is going to help me. I’m completely alone.”
Alec’s hands move to my face, his thumbs sweeping away my tears.
“You’re not alone. You have me.” His eyes burn into mine. “I don’t need cops or courts or any of that bullshit. If the system won’t protect you, I will. I’ll handle this myself.”
“Alec...”
“I will burn his entire fucking world to the ground before I let him touch you again.”
The ferocity in his voice takes my breath away. No one has ever fought for me like this.
“Why?” The word slips out. “Why do you care so much? You barely know me.”
Something in his expression softens.
“I know enough. I know you’re brave as hell, even when you don’t feel like it. I know you’ve been fighting alone for too long. And I know that from the moment I saw you, something in me just... clicked.” He presses his forehead to mine. “I’m supposed to be here. With you.”
Someone choosing me. Someone staying.
It’s everything I never let myself want.
“Take me home,” I whisper.
When we get inside my apartment, I slump onto the couch, emotionally wrung out. Alec pulls me into his arms.
“I really thought they’d help,” I murmur against his chest. “I was so stupid.”
“You weren’t stupid. You were hopeful.” He tilts my chin up. “And just because they failed you doesn’t mean this is over. We’ll find another way.”
I search his face for doubt. For any sign he’s going to realize this is too much and walk away.
I don’t find any.
“Alec.” I shift closer, my hand sliding up his chest. “I need to feel something other than scared right now. I want this. I want you.”
His eyes darken. “Are you sure? After everything—”
“I’m sure.” But something must show on my face, because Alec pauses.
“What is it?”
I drop my gaze. “I’m scared. Not of you. Of how much I feel. How fast this is.” My voice drops to a whisper. “I’ve never let anyone get this close.”
Alec cups my cheek, tilting my face toward his. His dark eyes are impossibly soft.
“I’m not going anywhere. I swear I’ll take care of you—the scared parts and the brave parts and everything in between.”
Something breaks open inside me. The last of my walls crumbling.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Please.”
When I climb into Alec’s lap and straddle him, there’s no hesitation. Just heat. Just need. Just him.
I gaze down into his beautiful dark eyes, my body blazing to life. The internal flames reach higher and higher.
I hover my lips over his and then brush them across his skin. They’re so soft, just like his tongue. It hits me—not for the first time—that so much of this protective man-for-hire is achingly soft against his hard edges.
Gorgeous contradictions.
The subtle touch suddenly disappears as Alec crashes his lips against mine, hauling me into his arms. Our tongues dance together as I work to get his shirt over his head.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. I don’t care. This... Alec... it’s all I’ve ever wanted.
The fabric slipping over his head forces our kisses to halt, and I admire the stark curves of Alec’s muscles, covered in a scattered array of tattoos. His stubble rubs against my skin, and then his hands are at my waist, pulling my turtleneck over my head.
I’m wearing a simple black bra, but one that’s much nicer than my typical choice. Alec’s eyes devour me as his fingers find the clasp at the back.
“So fucking beautiful,” he murmurs, unclasping the hooks. The bra falls away, and he stares at me like I’m something holy. “Every inch of you. Mine.”
His hands cup my breasts, and my head falls back on a moan.
“I need to touch you, Claire.” His thumbs sweep over my hardening nipples, and electricity shoots straight to my core. “I need to be inside you. Need to make you mine in every way.”
“Yesss,” I hiss, grinding down against him. I can feel how hard he is beneath me, straining against his jeans, and it makes me dizzy with want.
“This body belongs to me now,” Alec growls against my throat, kissing and nipping. “Every curve. Every sound. Every perfect fucking inch.”