Page 52

He stared down at her. “Take your hand off me, baby,” he advised softly.
Fear spiked through her. “No. Where are you going?” The picture of his NYPD mugshot flashed through her mind. She knew how badly he’d hated himself for losing control two years ago. “Please, don’t do anything…”
She caught a glimpse of Warren walking toward them at the same moment Noah did.
Dislodging her hand, Noah lunged through the French doors, grabbed Warren by his lapels and dragged him to the balcony.
Noah’s first punch landed with a sickening crunch on Warren’s jaw. With the element of surprise on his side, he got another punch in before Warren started to recover.
Years of Bartitsu and Wing Chun had rewarded Warren with quick reflexes.
He kicked out with his foot, but Noah reacted quicker. Sidestepping the other man, he delivered a powerful jab to Warren’s ribcage.
Warren coughed once and went down. When Noah started to reach for him, Leia caught his arm.
“Noah, stop! Oh God, stop. Please!”
He planted his foot on Warren’s throat, exerting enough force to keep him down. Then his eyes sought hers, a puzzled look in them. “Excuse me?”
An usher, heading their way bearing a tray of drinks, braked to a stop when he witnessed the spectacle unfolding. Leia shook her head frantically at him, and he beat a hasty retreat. “Please, Noah. Let him go.”
Warren gripped Noah’s ankle and started to struggle.
Noah pressed harder, exerting all of his lean muscle strength into blocking Warren’s windpipe. “You want me to stop? You sure about that?”
Her breath shuddered out, her fear for him making her heart stutter. “Yes.”
“Think about this carefully.” Despite his easy stance, she couldn’t mistake the deadly threat behind the words. “I let him go, everything changes for us. Are you ready for that?”
Her heart hammered. “Noah?—”
“Those are my terms. You want me to spare this piece of shit despite him putting his hands on you, I will. But there will be consequences.”
He didn’t have to spell them out. His eyes blazed with an all-encompassing dominance that told her once she stepped into his orbit, there would be no going back.
A shiver drenched her from temple to toes. “Let him go. Please.”
His gaze raked her face slowly, imprinted the force of his will on her until she feared she’d drown in the sheer magnitude of it. Coolly, he stepped back, straightened his bow tie and cuffs.
Warren rolled over to his side, coughing and sucking in desperate breaths. One corner of his mouth trickled blood, and his jaw and throat were red and swelling.
Reaching into his pocket, Noah extracted his phone. “I have some trash that needs taking out. South side entrance.” Icy blue eyes met hers. “Discretion preferred but not completely necessary.”
Two men appeared minutes later, one she recognized as the driver from the night before. They lifted Warren like a sack of potatoes and headed down the stairs to where a dark grey SUV idled on the driveway. Still caught up in how fast everything had gone down, she stood dazed as Noah followed them. Hands on his lean hips, he watched them push Warren into the back.
The SUV executed a tight turn and accelerated down the driveway.
Noah stormed up the stairs toward her. “We’re leaving.”
She shook her head. “We can’t. You’re the keynote speaker. You’re due to give your speech in ten minutes.”
“Fuck the speech. Look at me, Leia.” He held his hands out to her. They were trembling. His rapid pants heaved in and out as if he couldn’t catch his breath. “How the hell am I supposed to stand up and talk about giving juvenile offenders a break when I’m feeling fucking homicidal?”
“But… you can’t just leave…”
“Watch me.”
Tugging his phone out again, he spoke into it. An usherhurried out and Noah passed him a note from his pocket, presumably his speech.