CHAPTER 2

          Amara placed a plate of potato chips on a table between a couple on a date and shivered at the thought of Reece uncovering all her secrets, being a private investigator…

          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, Amara 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 Reece’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 tequila 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, Amara headed into the gaming area and stopped at Reece and Andy’s pool table first.

“Hey, guys… I’m getting ready to clock out in about ten minutes.”

          Amara picked up their empty beer bottles and swiped peanut shells onto her tray.

“Can I get either of you a refill before I go?”

          Andy smiled her way and racked up the billiard balls for a new game.

“I’ll take another beer.”

“You got it, Andy.”

          Jotting down his request on her pad of paper, she glanced toward Reece, who was watching her in that wholly masculine way of his that made her pulse race.

“How about you, Reece?”

          He gave his head a quick shake.

“No refill for me. I’ve hit my limit for the night.”

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

          Amara tipped her head, meeting Reece’s striking dark 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, Amara,” he scolded 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, Reece, it is not.”

          The man was an outrageous flirt, and because he’d never made an improper advance toward her, Amara 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…

          Reece chalked his cue stick for the opening break shot. His movements were slow, sure, and so damn sexy.

“Then, I guess there’s nothing else I want tonight, baby.”

          Which left every other night ahead wide open, she read in his gaze. Amara had to admire his determination. Most men would have given up on her the first time she’d turned down a date. Reece was much more determined than most.

          He 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.

          Goodness, it had been so, so, so, so long. 

          Her throat grew dry and Amara swallowed hard. A change in subject was definitely in order.

“Where’s your brother 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,” Reece called to Andy.

          Then he looked at Amara.

“Bryce has got something better to do with his evenings than hang out here with us confirmed bachelors.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” she asked, curious.

          Reece moved around the table, and spying a straight shot into the corner pocket, he lined up his cue.

“He is spending it with his fiancée, Claire.”

          He scored another point. Amara crumpled up damp cocktail napkins and stuffed them into the empty glasses on her tray.

“Oh, that’s right… Aren’t they getting married soon?”

“Next Saturday, actually.”

          Reece glanced up before making his next shot. His expression was heated and hopeful.

“How about you’d be my plus-one at my brother’s wedding?”

          There was that temptation again, and she steeled herself against his sensual magnetism.

“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.

“Well… You can’t blame a guy for asking…”

          Reece moved away from the table to give Andy his turn and strolled slowly over to join her where Amara stood in the corner of the room.

“One of these days I might get lucky and you’ll say yes.”

“Tiffany would be so 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 Reece, Amara hated the idea of him getting close and intimate with anyone else.

          God, she was so pathetic!

          She had no claim to him, other than her nightly erotic dreams. Reece stopped inches away, so close she could feel the warmth of his magnificent body, could smell the scent of his breathtaking after-shave.

          It struck her just how big Reece was, how tall… how overwhelmingly male in every way possible. And if he so much as inhaled a deep breath, his chest would graze her full breasts and taut nipples.

          Amara held her own breath. Reece bent his knees until they were face-to-face, his mouth a kiss away. His dark gaze locked with hers.

“Precious, it’s not Tiffany I’m interested in,” he replied in a low, rumbling voice.

          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 wedding solo.”

          Reece lifted an eyebrow at the subtle challenge in her tone, but before he could say anything more, or seduce her completely senseless with his eyes and voice, Amara slipped past him.

          Shaken, she made her way back to the bar, asked Tiffany to deliver Andy’s bottle of beer, and received the okay from Frank 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 Reece.

                                                         *****

“Man, she’s a tough cookie… Well, better luck next time, bro,” Andy said and slapped Reece’s back in a show of sympathetic male camaraderie.

“You think so? Hmm… I wouldn’t count on it, buddy.”

          Reece pulled his gaze from where Amara had disappeared down a short hallway to the storeroom, certain his luck wasn’t going to improve anytime soon where she was concerned.

“Man, oh man… My sweet soon-to-be sister-in-law put a curse on me, and I’m beginning to think Claire is a real witch.”

          His tone was wry, but the words his brother’s fiancée had spoken to him months ago haunted him now. Andy chuckled and continued their game of pool, sinking a striped ball into the side pocket.

“And why do you say that?”

          Thrusting his fingers through his thick dark hair, Reece alternated his gaze from his friend to the back hall, waiting for Amara to reappear.

“One day, a while back when Claire was trying to get Bryce’s attention, she took her frustration out on me. Not only did she call me a degenerate, but she also said she hoped I’d find a woman I absolutely had to have, and that woman makes me sweat blood for her love… Some woman who’ll reform you and your ladies’ man ways, she’d added.”

          His stomach knotted at the recollection. At the time, he’d been amused with Claire’s comment and had responded with a dry: ‘Not a chance in hell! I’m a wild spirit that doesn't need to be tamed…’

          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 words were so far from the truth.

          Amara had gotten under his skin and kept him coming back to Frank’s grill bar on a regular basis. For months now he’d flirted with her, trying to coax her into a date, but the gorgeous Amara 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 a pure, mind-blowing, perfect obsession.

          One he couldn’t seem to shake.

               And at the moment, his randy body was making that fixation known loud and clear. Just standing near enough to touch and kiss Amara Rafferty had made his blood run hot and his groin tighten in awareness.