She understood what they needed emotionally and wasn't afraid to share her own personal stories to put them at ease.

Minutes later she was lost again in the demands of the patrons. The atmosphere in the bar was casual, and she chatted with the regulars she'd developed a friendly rapport with over the months. It was especially nice that most of the customers that frequented the establishment were blue collar, and a good percentage of them worked in law enforcement, which made for a safe environment in Natalie's way of thinking. Bobby Malone was a detective, and even Noah was a private investigator who worked at his brother's agency, Sommers Investigative Specialists.

She placed a plate of potato skins on a table between a couple on a date and shivered at the thought of Noah uncovering all her secrets. And what about the erotic fantasies she harbored involving him? He'd either be very shocked or very pleased to discover her private thoughts with him in the starring role. Not that he'd ever find out how she truly felt about him.

After nine months of looking over her shoulder, she was just starting to feel safe and secure with her life. The last thing she needed to do was allow sexual urges to lead her astray, despite how much Noah's flirtatious behavior beckoned her to take a chance on him, to be a bit wild, reckless, and adventurous for a change.

It couldn't happen.

She delivered kamikaze shots to a trio of guys in a corner booth, took more orders for drinks and appetizers, refilled bowls of peanuts, cleaned tables and collected generous tips along the way. Once she had the customers in her section of the lounge taken care of for the moment, she headed into the gaming area and stopped at Noah and Bobby's pool table first.

"Hey, boys, I'm getting ready to clock out in about ten minutes." She picked up their empty beer bottles and swiped peanut shells onto her tray. "Can I get either of you a refill before I go?"

Bobby smiled her way and racked up the billiard balls for a new game. "I'll take another Miller."

"You got it." Jotting down his request on her pad of paper, she glanced toward Noah, who was watching her in that wholly masculine way of his that made her pulse race. "How about you?"

He gave his head a quick shake. "No refill for me. I've hit my limit for the night."

Two beers was Noah's max, and she respected that and him for knowing his limit and sticking to it. His older brother, Cole, was the same way, though it had been a while since she'd seen him in Murphy's for an evening out with the guys.

She tipped her head, meeting Noah's striking blue eyes. He was one of the few men who actually looked at her face instead of her chest or body, but she found his stare equally unnerving. And too damn arousing. "Would you like anything else?"

A disarming grin slid into place. "Now, Natalie," he chided in a lazy drawl that did crazy, delightful things to her insides, "you should know better than to ask me a question like that. You know exactly what I'd like, but I don't think a date is on the menu."

She laughed lightly. "No, it's not." The man was an outrageous flirt, and because he'd never made an improper advance toward her, she let herself enjoy his charm while she worked. He made her feel feminine and desired, and while a part of her instinctively curbed those reactions, she couldn't deny that those sensual feelings were still there beneath the surface, struggling to overpower their restraints.

Lord help her if those provocative cravings ever broke free with this man.

Noah chalked his cue stick for the opening break shot, his movements slow, sure, too sexy. "Then I guess there's nothing else I want tonight."

Which left every other night ahead wide open, she read in his gaze.

She had to admire his determination. Most men would have given up on her the first time she'd turned down a date. Noah was made of stronger stuff than most.

Noah bent over the pool table to line up his shot and cocked his hip for a better position and leverage. His stance drew her gaze to the muscles along his shoulders and down his back, which flexed with his every movement. The tips of her fingers tingled at the thought of touching all that virile strength, of smoothing her hand down the slope of his spine and testing the heat and texture of his skin.

God, it had been so, so long-

Her throat grew dry and she swallowed hard. A change in subject was definitely in order. "Where's Cole been lately?" she asked, clearing off a nearby table that had been recently vacated.

A loud, solid crack rent the air as the cue ball made contact, sending the rest of the colored balls scattering across the table. Three made it into pockets-two solids and a stripe.

"Solids," Noah called to Bobby, then said to Natalie, "Cole's got something better to do with his evenings than hang out here with us confirmed bachelors."

"Oh, and what's that?" she asked, curious.

He moved around the table, and spying a straight shot into the corner pocket, he lined up his cue. "Spending it with his fiancee, Melodie." He scored another point.

She crumpled up damp cocktail napkins and stuffed them into the empty glasses on her tray. "That's right. Aren't they getting married soon?"

"Next Saturday, actually." He glanced up before making his next shot, his expression heated and hopeful. "Care to accompany me to the wedding?"

There was that temptation again, and she steeled herself against his sensual allure. "Sorry, but I have to work that night."

He hit the cue ball, which barely grazed a solid. He sighed, the sound tinged with the barest hint of defeat. "Can't blame a guy for asking." He moved away from the table to give Bobby his turn, and strolled slowly over to join her where she stood in the corner of the room. "One of these days I might get lucky and you'll say yes."

"Gina would be happy to go with you," she suggested without thinking, and nearly bit off her tongue. While she knew she'd never accept a date with Noah, she hated the idea of him getting close and intimate with anyone else. God, she was pathetic! She had no claim to him, other than her nightly erotic dreams.

He stopped inches away, so close she could feel the warmth of his big body, could smell the scent of his woodsy after-shave. It struck her just how big he was, how tall. How overwhelmingly male in every way. And if he so much as inhaled a deep breath his chest would graze her full breasts and taut nipples.

She held her own breath.

He bent his knees until they were face-to-face, his mouth a kiss away. His dark blue gaze locked with hers, and in a low, rumbling voice he said, "Sweetheart, it's not Gina I'm interested in."

Her legs turned to rubber, and her heart thumped hard and fast, pumping with a need that was almost painful. He hadn't touched her physically, so why did she feel as though he'd caressed her intimately with his hands, from breasts to thighs?

She managed a smile, along with a stubborn tip of her chin. "Then it looks like you'll be attending the affair solo."

He lifted a brow at the subtle challenge in her tone, but before he could say anything more, or seduce her completely senseless with his eyes and voice, she slipped past him. Shaken, she made her way back to the bar, asked Gina to deliver Bobby's bottle of beer, and received the okay from Murphy to leave for the evening.

She headed to the storeroom to get her jacket and purse, grateful that her shift was over. And so very disappointed that she couldn't bring herself to say yes to Noah.


"Better luck next time, buddy," Bobby said, and slapped Noah's back in a show of sympathetic male camaraderie.

"I wouldn't count on it." Noah pulled his gaze from where Natalie had disappeared down a short hallway to the storeroom, certain his luck wasn't going to improve anytime soon where she was concerned. "Melodie put a curse on me, and I'm beginning to think she's a true witch." His tone was wry, but the words his soon-to-be sister-in-law had spoken to him months ago haunted him now.

Bobby chuckled and continued their game of pool, sinking a striped ball into the side pocket. "Why do you say that?"

Thrusting his fingers through his thick hair, Noah alternated his gaze from his friend to the back hall, waiting for Natalie to reappear. "One day a while back when Melodie was trying to get my brother's attention, she took her frustration out on me. Not only did she call me a rake, but she also said she hoped I'd find a woman I absolutely had to have, and that woman makes me work for her affection." Some woman who'll reform you and your playboy ways, she'd added.

His stomach knotted at the recollection. At the time he'd been amused with Melodie's comment and had responded with a teasing,"It's a novel thought, isn't it?" But now that he was in that exact situation, trying to get the attention of a woman who aroused and intrigued him beyond his normal span of interest, his predicament wasn't so funny.

Natalie had gotten under his skin and kept him coming back to Murphy's on a regular basis. For months now he'd flirted with her, trying to coax her into a date, but she always turned down his invitations, despite the subtle longing he'd seen shimmering in her eyes. Initially, he'd been baffled because no woman had ever resisted his advances for so long, and admittedly his male ego had taken a direct hit. Then she became a challenge to him, and now an obsession.

One he couldn't seem to shake.

And at the moment, his randy body was making that fixation known. Just standing near enough to touch and kiss her had made his blood run hot and his groin tighten in awareness. It had taken every ounce of willpower not to taste her parted lips, and judging by the desire he'd seen flash across her features, he knew she hadn't been immune to their close proximity, either.