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Just let me and Sienna hold you here, Belle. He and his wife had stood on each side of her as she swayed next to Nathan’s casket. It’s gonna be just fine here, Belle. See. It’s all good, honey. We’re just gonna stand here a minute and then it will be over with.
Rick was her best friend’s husband. Sienna had stood with her, cried with her, hurt with her. And Rick had talked to her just like that. Like a child that needed a careful hand.
“Rick, meet Noah Blake.” She waved her hand to Noah as he stood against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed against his bare chest, his back turned away from her. “Rory hired him.”
Rick watched her carefully as she forced herself to her feet. She didn’t want to move. She wanted to curl herself into a ball and rock away the pain rising inside her.
“Belle, honey, your chin looks bruised,” Rick stated. “You come outside with me for a minute now, okay.”
Belle rubbed at her chin and frowned before moving to the mirror hanging on the wall. She brushed her fingers over the little bruise, then to her neck where the faint redness and another mark was now showing.
“He has his own bruises then,” she said, turning to Rick. “He bit me. And I bit him back.”
Rick’s eyes narrowed on her. She felt as though she were going to shatter as she picked up her purse and moved to the door.
“We don’t need to talk, Rick,” she told him.
“I think we do, Belle.” Rick moved between her and Noah. A buffer? She looked at Noah, saw his eyes, the warning in them. No, no one would ever get between them and survive unless he allowed it.
For now, he was just standing there, watching, waiting.
She turned back to Rick. “You interrupted a hell of a make-out session and I appreciate it.” Her smile was brittle, shaky. “But it wasn’t his fault. I think I might have bit him first. But you can ask his opinion if you like. Personally, I’m going home.”
“Belle, someone called in a report that you were being harassed by this man.” Rick caught her arm as she moved to pass him. “I have my deputies outside that door. You’re protected here, honey, you know that. Do you want me to make this man leave?”
She stared back at him in shock. “You what?”
“You heard him, Sabella,” Noah drawled. “He thinks I’m harassing you and wants to toss my ass in jail for it. Do you want to give him the chance?”
“Shut up.” Rick rounded on him, his expression tightening angrily. “Mister, I don’t know you, all I know is you’ve already caused trouble with one citizen of this town. And I don’t care who you are. But you won’t be harassing Belle.”
“He’s not harassing anyone or anything but my patience,” Sabella snapped. “For God’s sake, Rick, use your eyes instead of your suspicions. Look at his shoulders.” She gripped the doorknob and shot Noah a cold, hard look. “Arrest me for the bloody scratches there, but he hasn’t done anything you need to know about.”
This was between the two of them. Her and Noah. She knew that. She wouldn’t make the mistake of drawing others into it. Not now.
As the door closed behind her Noah turned to the sheriff and wanted to smile mockingly. Rick Grayson was a damned good man. Former marine. He believed in the law. Believed in the county he worked to protect. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t on Noah’s list to check out, or that he trusted the other man now. Noah had learned all about broken trust a lifetime ago.
“You have any identification?” Rick was glaring at him.
Noah lowered his hand, ignoring the careful manner in which Rick gripped the butt of his gun. He pulled his wallet free of his back pocket and opened it before extending it to the sheriff.
Rick took the identification, looked it over, and handed it back to him slowly.
“Belle’s a friend, Mr. Blake.” It was a warning. “We look after our friends here.”
“Do you really?” Noah arched his brow mockingly. He hadn’t seen much taking care where Sabella was concerned. “Well, Sheriff Grayson, that’s real nice to know. I’m sure it comforts Sabella at every turn.”
Rick stared back at him coolly. “Don’t hurt her, or you’ll deal with me,” he finally stated before heading to the door. Once there, he paused and turned back to Noah, staring at him hard. “Be careful, Mr. Blake, I’m a bad enemy to make. And playing games here would definitely make an enemy of me.”
Rick opened the door then and left. The door closed behind him softly, but the effects left in the wake were clashing.
Noah stared down at his hands. Scarred hands. He’d held on to Sabella as though she weren’t as fragile, or delicate, as he knew she was. He had bruised her, and in their entire relationship, he had always been careful to never mark her soft flesh.
He rubbed at the back of his shoulder, then glimpsed the smear of blood on his finger. He felt the sensitivity of his lower lip, the mark she had left on his chest. She had made him wild. They had made each other wild. As though a carefully sealed lid had been released on both their lusts.
He would make certain it was released again.
Sabella slammed into the house. The heavy oak door echoed with the violence of the act and pierced her nerve endings with a shattering surge of electric tension. She could feel the electrical sensations racing over her flesh from the back of her head, sizzling through her brain and creating an overwhelming surge of panic.
