"Maybe he went to the men's rest room," Gina suggested in an attempt to smooth things over.

Noah highly doubted that. Most likely, Freeman had hightailed it out of there after asking Gina to deliver the note. As Noah rounded the end of the bar, he exchanged a knowing look with Bobby.

His friend nodded in silent understanding, and said, "Go to Natalie. I'll check out front and the rest room."

Noah was grateful for his friend's assistance, but knew Freeman wasn't stupid. He wasn't going to stick around to get caught. He wanted Natalie, and he was teasing her, playing cat and mouse with her memory and her past.

The bastard.

Reaching Natalie's side, he gently grabbed her arms to pull her hands away from her face so he could comfort her, and she flinched at his touch. Then, seeing that it was him, she visibly relaxed, though the terrorized look that remained in her eyes nearly sent him over the edge with fury at what Freeman was doing to her.

Noah wanted to erase her distress, ached to make her forget the fear written plainly on her expression.

But first, he needed to collect the piece of evidence Freeman had sent to her so he knew what they were dealing with.

"Where's the note, Natalie?" he asked, his voice steadier than he felt.

"I-I dropped it," she said hoarsely.

The only thing littering the floor was a napkin, and he picked it up. He read the threatening words the other man had written for Natalie, which left no doubt in Noah's mind that it was just a matter of time before merely stalking Natalie wouldn't be enough for her ex-boyfriend. Noah jammed a hand through his hair, hating that Chad was so close to Natalie, knew where she worked and, quite possibly, knew where she was living. The man was so brazen in his pursuit, so depraved, Noah suspected he'd dare just about anything at all.

A shiver of foreboding slithered through him. He wrapped his fingers around Natalie's arm and guided her toward the back storeroom so they could talk in private, without worrying about prying eyes and listening ears. As soon as he shut the door behind them, Natalie turned around, looking too damned vulnerable for his peace of mind.

"I don't understand what's going on," she said, her gaze searching his for answers, her posture rigid. "Why is he doing this to me?"

He? Startled by her choice of word, he frowned. "You know who sent this note?" he asked cautiously.

She nodded jerkily and wrapped her arms around her middle, as if trying to hold herself together. "It was the same guy that I ran into at the restaurant."

He narrowed his gaze, wondering how she'd made the connection. Had part of her memory returned? "How do you know it's the same guy?"

"That-that note," she spat, waving a hand at the offending napkin Noah still held. "The words that he wrote were some of the same ones he said to me at the restaurant. When I bumped into him, he said for me to be more careful of my surroundings." Her voice rose a frantic notch, her eyes wild with frustration and fear as she paced back and forth in the small, confined space. "And what does he mean that he's watching me and waiting to make me his again? Dammit, who is he?"

She still didn't realize that the man following her was Chad Freeman. Her ex-boyfriend. A man intent on terrorizing her and doing a damn good job of it. Her mind and memory still suppressed that traumatic time in her life. Noah clenched the note in his hand. And that left her too damn defenseless and susceptible to Chad's mental and emotional game.

Noah stuffed the note into the front pocket of his jeans, knowing that he needed to tell her what was going on with Chad, just enough so she could be more aware of her surroundings and protect herself. Her doctor had suggested that Natalie remember things on her own, but considering how easily Chad had reached her tonight, Noah would be a fool to believe that he could keep her safe at all times. If he armed her with the knowledge of what she was up against, she'd at least stand a better chance of defending herself if the need arose. But he'd rather have that intense conversation at home, rather than here at her work.

He reached out to her, gently wrapping his fingers around her upper arms to stop her agitated pacing. "Natalie, I need you to calm down."

"How can I calm down when nothing makes sense in my life but you?" She shuddered and slipped her arms around his waist, clinging tightly to him with her face buried against his neck. "Everything else feels like a disjointed dream where I'm lost and I can't find my way back, and I hate feeling so helpless and weak!"

Tonight, when he revealed her past, he hoped all that would change, that she'd feel stronger and better equipped to handle the threat against her. But one concern weighed heavily on his mind. As she learned about her past, would she come to realize that he'd lied about their relationship? And would she hate him for the deception?

For Natalie's sake, it was a chance he had to take.


By the time Noah escorted her into his house, shut and locked the door behind them, then set the alarm, Natalie was wound up tight. The awful tension from the night's events spiraled within her, demanding some kind of release. Knowing the one way she could escape all the conflicting feelings wreaking havoc with her psyche, she poured all her anxiety into sexual aggression and focused it on the one man who could make her forget, at least for a little while.

Not giving Noah a chance to refuse her or what she wanted, she threaded her fingers through his thick hair and pulled his mouth down to hers before he could anticipate what she intended. Their lips met, and she instigated a deep mating of tongues that was as demanding as her hunger for him. From there, it took only seconds for her fears and uncertainties to manifest themselves into a searing need that couldn't be denied. Aching to feel his heated flesh against her, she grabbed at his shirt and pulled it from the waistband of his jeans, nearly ripping the cotton material in her haste. But before she could shove it up and over his head, Noah grabbed her wrists, stopping her.

He groaned deep in his throat and pulled back just enough to break their kiss and so that she could see his eyes, dark and hot with suppressed lust. "Natalie- we need to talk."

Conversation was the last thing she wanted. Despite his authoritative tone, she could sense his control wavering. Could feel him hanging on to reason by a tenuous thread, and she took advantage of his weakness.

"I don't want to talk or think right now, Noah. What I need is you." She touched her fingers to his lips, so soft, warm and wet from their kiss. "I want to feel your hands touching me, your mouth on my breasts, my belly, my thighs. I need you, deep inside of me." Her request was explicit and shameless, but she didn't care. Being brutally honest with Noah was the only way she could make him understand the fierce need to be possessed by him. Not gently, but physically branded, so she knew she belonged to him and no one else.

"Make me your love slave," she whispered huskily, tempting and teasing him with a reminder about their bet at the bar.

His breathing deepened, his nostrils flared, and she watched in pure female fascination as his discipline snapped, unleashing a dark, dangerous kind of passion she welcomed.

The next thing she knew he had her pressed up against the wall in the foyer. With her trapped against his hard, unmistakably aroused body, his mouth came down on hers, swift and demanding. The kiss was rough, wild and unrestrained, and it excited her all the more to know that Noah wasn't going to hold back with her tonight.

Adrenaline spiked in her blood, rushing through her veins like a heated aphrodisiac, spurring her to a higher level of arousal. This time when she attempted to remove his shirt he let her, and with a little help from him, hers wasn't far behind. Her bra followed as his lips and teeth grazed her neck, and as soon as her breasts were freed, his mouth was there, drawing a nipple into his hot, wet mouth. He flicked the aching tip with his tongue, then suckling her strong and deep, instigating a slow burn in her belly, between her thighs.

She shifted restlessly, her entire body pulsing, demanding more. The air around them crackled with intensity, and she smoothed her hands over his taut arms, dug her fingers into the muscle and sinew along his shoulders. Releasing her nipple, he knelt before her. She sucked in a quick breath as his teeth scraped along her ribs and then his tongue found her navel and dipped inside, probing in an erotic, sexual way that made her squirm and groan and grow impossibly wetter.

Deftly, he unsnapped and unzipped her jeans. Curling his fingers around the waistband of her pants and underwear, he dragged both down to her knees, exposing her to his gaze. Without hesitating and instinctively knowing what she craved, he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to her mound and unfurled his tongue along her cleft with a long, heated stroke that made her gasp and tremble.

The pleasure of his intimate kiss was immediate and electric, and she tangled her fingers in his hair, unconsciously drawing him closer still. She tried to spread her legs wider, but couldn't because of the constricting jeans. Desperate, she tilted her hips, angling toward his sinful mouth for better contact. His breath was hot on her sensitive flesh, and his tongue slid deeper into her sex, finding her clitoris with unerring accuracy and stroking rhythmically.

She twisted mindlessly against him, seeking an end to his sensual torment. Then it happened, and her head rolled back, his name escaping her throat on a low, ragged moan as her orgasm ripped through her. A rush of liquid desire swamped her system and scorched her nerve endings, leaving her dazed.