for sign of Bethany. To his relief, she was sitting in the corner of the lobby, the doorman and the security guard flanking her.
A smile quirked his lips when he saw that she was holding a Styrofoam cup of coffee and that the doorman had engaged her in light conversation. As if seeing a barefoot woman fleeing a building in winter was an everyday occurrence.
Her gaze flickered over him when she saw him approach and fear brewed in the brilliant blue depths. He felt sucker-punched. She was afraid of him.
“Bethany,” he said in a calm voice. “Let’s go back up now and leave these two gentlemen to their work.” Then to the two men he said, “Thank you both for seeing to my Bethany. I wouldn’t want her out in the cold dressed as she is.”
“No, of course not, sir,” the doorman said briskly. Then he smiled warmly at Bethany. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Willis. I hope to see you again soon. If you ever have need of anything, do not hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you, Roger,” she said with a smile.
Jace lifted one eyebrow. He’d lived here for some time and he’d never had the occasion to know the doorman’s name. He was ashamed of that fact now, given that she’d learned Roger’s name in less than five minutes.
The security guard gave Jace a short nod and then smiled in Bethany’s direction before returning to his post. Bethany sighed and rose, thrusting the cup toward Roger.
“Thank you,” she said again. “It was foolish of me. Thank you for stopping me and for being so kind.”
Jace tucked Bethany’s hand in his and pulled her toward the elevator. He didn’t say anything to her on the trip back up. Just held her closely, melded to his side. He liked the feel of her against him. Soft and pliant. A perfect complement to his much harder body.
But then he frowned as he realized she was pliant because she was . . . defeated.
Oh hell no. She wasn’t going back into his apartment as some whipped puppy.
As the elevator doors slid open, he tugged her against his chest and tipped her chin up so she was forced to look at him.
“You come into this apartment, you do it with your chin up and your shoulders back,” he said. “You don’t come in here beaten down or scared. This is your place. Your sanctuary. This is the one place, above all others, where you are absolutely safe from the outside world. From judgment and harm. Got it?”
She stared at him a long moment, her eyes somber and thoughtful. But what hurt him the most was that for a brief moment, hope flickered in her gaze and just as quickly shut down. Like hope was such a foreign concept that she wouldn’t allow herself to have it.
Then finally she nodded and whispered, “Got it.”
He kissed her forehead, feeling her tremble against him. “No, you don’t get it, baby. But you will. I promise you that.”
He tugged her into his apartment and let the elevator doors close behind them. She looked exhausted. Physically and emotionally. It was relatively early by his standards, but at the moment he couldn’t think of anything more he’d like to do than to take her to bed and let her sleep in his arms. He wanted her to feel protected. Safe. Most important, cherished. Like she mattered.
She didn’t have any experience in any of those. That much was evident in the painful retelling of her childhood and her adult years. He couldn’t change her past, but he could sure as hell change the present and alter the course of her future.
“Let’s go to bed. You’re wiped,” Jace said.
Her gaze skittered nervously up to his. Her eyes were wide in her face, giving her a haunted look. She really was too thin but her beauty . . . it shone like a beacon. There was something arresting about her eyes and her face. He couldn’t explain why he’d been so inexorably drawn to her that very first night he’d seen her across the room at Mia’s party. But he’d known even then that she was his.
“Baby, I’m not going to jump you,” Jace murmured.
He took her hands and rubbed his thumbs up the backs, working in soothing circles.
She swallowed and then nodded. “I’m tired.”
“You’re wiped,” he repeated.
Still holding her hand, he pulled her toward his bedroom and once there, he closed the door behind them. Then he turned and grasped