“Oh, I do hope so.” She winked at him. “But first, you have to make the shot.” Challenge issued, she stepped back next to Bobby to give Noah the room to line up his cue.
Most men would have lost their concentration at such a provocative proposition, but Noah didn’t so much as falter as he hit the cue ball, which connected with a red solid, pocketing the billiard ball with precision.
Slowly, he straightened, a lazy, disarming smile curving the corners of his mouth and devilry dancing in his hot blue gaze. “Looks like you’re mine tonight, honey. Are you off the clock yet?”
She laughed as she picked up the empty glasses on a nearby table and wiped down the surface with a damp rag, noticing that Bobby was observing their flirtatious interaction with amusement.
“Feeling a bit impatient to be out of here all of a sudden?” she quipped, a naughty inflection to her voice.
“Damn right,” Noah growled, low and sexy, his hungry eyes watching her as she worked.
She deliberately put an extra sway in her hips just for him. “Well, you’re going to have to hold your horses just a bit longer, lover boy. I’ve got a few more minutes before my shift is over.”
Noah groaned. “You’re lucky I don’t just haul you over my shoulder and carry you out of here, caveman-style.”
“Now, that sounds tempting,” she teased, wondering if he’d truly dare to be so bold, and found herself very excited by the notion of Noah being so sexually aggressive with her.
Putting aside those lustful thoughts, she returned to business, knowing she had a few more customers to attend to before she called it a night. “Any last orders for either of you boys?”
Noah shook his head. “Nothing for me. I had my limit of sodas for the night,” he replied wryly.
“I’m good,” Bobby said, eyeing the balls on the pool table for his shot. “After this game I’m outta here, too.”
“Great.” She turned back to Noah. Her stomach fluttered at the seductive game she’d instigated between them, and at how he might take advantage of his prize. “Give me ten more minutes to finish up with my tables, and I’ll be ready to go.”
With a spring in her step, and a few erotic scenarios of her own tumbling through her mind, she returned to the lounge. The steady stream of people had slowed considerably, and she filled a few last drink orders and cleared off the tables her customers had vacated. She tossed the empty beer bottles in the trash and set the dirty glasses at the end of the bar where Murphy washed them. Finished with her cleanup duties, she glanced around for Gina to let her know that she was on her own for the next hour or so.
The other woman was heading toward her, her own tray filled with empty drink glasses. “I’m getting ready to clock out for the night,” Natalie said. “Can you handle things from here?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Gina withdrew a folded cocktail napkin from her apron pocket and handed it toward Natalie. “I have a note for you.”
“A note?” Natalie repeated, suddenly feeling wary, though she couldn’t explain why. She hesitated an extra heartbeat, then reached out and took the napkin, though she didn’t immediately open it. “Who is it from?”
“A guy sitting in my section,” Gina replied as she emptied her tray, then glanced back toward the far corner of the bar. “He’s right over there at that booth facing the window…” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. “Well, he was sitting at that table. Maybe he went to use the restroom.”
Unease prickled along the back of Natalie’s neck, and though every instinct in her rallied against reading the note, morbid curiosity won over common sense. She opened the napkin, and her gaze scanned the words written in a bold, masculine scrawl: Be more careful of your surroundings. I’m watching you and waiting to make you mine again.
“Oh, God,” she croaked, and immediately dropped the ominous note as if it were toxic. Her entire body shook uncontrollably, the tremors starting deep and working their way up to the surface.
The words be more careful of your surroundings echoed in her mind, and an image of the man at the restaurant saying them formed in her head. Had he followed her here to where she worked? And if so, why?
The questions came fast and furiously, but unfortunately there were no answers. Her head spun, an awful pressure grew in her chest, and an unexplainable fear clawed inside her, as if attempting to break loose. She swayed on her feet, desperately trying to tamp down those alarming emotions, afraid if she dared to set them free they’d strangle her.
“Natalie?” Apprehension laced Gina’s voice, and she grabbed her arm to steady her. “You look like you’re going to pass out!”
Natalie leaned against a bar stool before her legs collapsed and reached for the only lifeline she knew she could count on. The only person who might make sense of what she was experiencing.
“Get me Noah,” she whispered.
* * *
“Noah, Natalie needs you.”
The panic in Gina’s voice snagged Noah’s attention, putting every one of his personal and professional instincts on full alert. Abandoning his casual conversation with Bobby, Noah searched the room for Natalie, until he finally found her sitting at the far end of the bar, her face buried in her hands.
Without hesitatio
n he started after her, with Bobby and Gina following. “What the hell happened?” he demanded, feeling as though a mile separated him from Natalie. He couldn’t seem to get to her fast enough.