He couldn't be so selfish with his needs, not when there was so much more at stake-foremost the risk of her regretting their lovemaking once she regained her memory. With his hormones rallying in protest of his decision, he strove to let her down gently, in a way she wouldn't construe as an outright rejection.

"I'm expecting a call from Bobby." Unwinding her arms from his neck, he placed a kiss in each of her palms. "You get some rest and I'll be back up in a little while, okay?"

An adorable pout puffed out her bottom lip, but she issued no argument, just sought for a kernel of reassurance. "Promise?"

He nodded, unable to refuse her simple request. "Yeah, I promise," he said, sealing his own fate when he'd originally intended to crash on the couch downstairs for the night.

Satisfied that he'd return later, she snuggled deeper beneath the blankets, sighed and let her lashes drift shut.

Unplugging the phone in the room so Bobby's call wouldn't disturb her, Noah went back to his office, knowing it would be hours until he joined Natalie in his bed. He wanted her deep asleep and unaware of him before he dared to slip under the covers with her.

Ten minutes later Bobby called back with the information Noah was waiting for.

"This guy isn't stupid," Bobby said, a thread of disgust in his voice. "He paid cash for the flowers and gave the cashier what I highly suspect is a bogus name and an address that isn't his."

Surprised, Noah asked, "You ran a check already?"

"Yep, and you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you."

Feeling distinctly uneasy, he stabbed his fingers through his already mussed hair. "Give it to me straight, Malone." The request was unnecessary. Bobby wasn't one to bullshit around with something so serious.

"The guy who placed the order used the name Richard Haynes, who just happens to be a prominent surgeon in San Francisco who is squeaky clean, so I'm fairly certain that isn't the perp's real name, though I'll follow up on that tomorrow." He paused for a moment, then revealed, "And the contact address he used on the form came up as none other than Natalie's apartment."

Noah's stomach cramped as though he'd been sucker-punched. "He used her address?" he asked incredulously.

"Appears so. How's that for being ballsy?"

Noah rubbed his fingers across his forehead. "It's goddamn unbelievable."

The guy, whoever he was, knew where Natalie lived. The knowledge stunned and infuriated Noah, and while he hated the helpless feeling of not knowing the true identity of the stalker, he was grateful that she was safe with him at his house.

"Thanks for the info, Bobby," he said, grateful, too, for his friend's connections and support. "I owe you one."

"Buy me a beer once all this blows over and we'll call it even. In the meantime, watch your back. And Natalie's."

"I plan to." He hung up the phone, and turned his attention to the Reno, Nevada, address he'd confiscated from Natalie's place earlier that day.

He booted up his computer, jumped on the Internet and did an extensive search on an online database and a private network he belonged to that narrowed down her old address to an apartment complex. He scribbled down the manager's name and phone number to call on Monday, then spent the next few hours making notes on the various sources he wanted to contact to get a lead on her background, as well as information on the kind of life she led in Reno-where she worked, who she dated and what had prompted her to move.

It was after midnight when he finally dragged himself back upstairs to his bedroom. He slipped into the darkened room quietly, squinting to see his way to the opposite side of the bed where Natalie had fallen asleep. He felt his blood chill when he realized the covers were thrown back and the bed was empty. The light in the bathroom wasn't on, either, and a dozen unpleasant scenarios flew through his head before he could stop them.

There was a movement by the window, a flash of white that captured his attention. His muscles tensed, ready for action, his mind already contemplating the short distance to his gun tucked away in his dresser.

"Noah?"

Natalie's soft, husky voice reached him just as she stepped out of the shadows by the window and came into better focus. He relaxed a fraction, bewitched by the moonlight streaming into the room that silhouetted her body beneath his white T-shirt. Her blond hair was tousled around her shoulders, and a silvery, shimmering light haloed her head. She looked ethereal, and too damned sexy for his peace of mind.

He cleared his throat and stepped deeper into the room. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. "As good as can be expected, I suppose. I was just going to come looking for you."

"You should be in bed." Stopping in front of her, he narrowed his gaze to better take in her features, wondering if she was in any pain. "Do you need another Motrin for your muscle aches and your head?"

"No, I'm fine physically." A small smile touched her lips and her eyes shone with uncertainty. "It's the mental stuff that keeps throwing me for a loop."

He gently rubbed his hands up and down her arms, warming her skin, causing his own to tighten in response to touching her. "Give it time," he said softly. "You're not going to regain your memory overnight."

Her brows puckered in frustration. "I know that, but when I try to sleep, my dreams are fragmented and confusing, and there's so much I don't understand. I see shadows and I feel like I'm running from something or someone, but I can't grasp what the threat is, or if it's even real."

Her voice quivered, and he suspected her subconscious was trying to break through with the truth. Her big blue eyes stared up at him as if he held the answers to her secrets and the key to all her hidden depths. He wished he did, but he was learning about her past right along with her.

"I know it's difficult, but the doctor said not to force yourself to remember, because that can possibly suppress your memories deeper."

"I can't help it." Moisture glittered in her eyes, and her voice caught with emotion. "I feel so lost, and there's only one thing I'm sure of at this moment."

"And what's that?"

Her gaze held his, the vulnerability etching her expression so heartbreakingly real. "My desire for you." Stepping closer, she placed her hands on his bare chest and rubbed her soft, cool palms over his hot flesh. "What I feel for you is so intense and overwhelming, and I know you're trying to be a gentleman because of the accident, but right now I crave you, Noah Sommers. I need to feel alive, and I don't think I could bear it if you turned me down right now."

In a move that stunned him, she peeled the shirt she wore over her head and dropped it to the floor. Sliding her arms around his neck before he could back away, she aligned their bodies from chest to thighs, and nuzzled her lips against his throat. "Make love to me, Noah," she whispered huskily.

The blood in Noah's veins sizzled and his shaft thickened against her belly through his sweatpants. Her full, naked breasts and all her smooth bare skin seared him, wreaking havoc with his conscience and personal ethics. He fought his own weakness, but in the end he didn't have it in him to say no to her sensual plea, not when she needed this physical connection in a way that superceded mere sex. He could give her the intimacy her body and soul yearned for, even knowing he'd be sacrificing his own pleasure for hers.

Without a word, he led her back to the bed, pressed her down onto the mattress and positioned himself so that he was half on top of her. With his chest pinned against her lush breasts, he wedged his knee between her thighs and pushed his fingers through her hair, capturing her lips in a hungry, greedy kiss.

She opened to him with a sigh of abandon, welcoming the thrust of his tongue deep inside and meeting it with her own. Ready and willing. Wild and wanton. It was a kiss as seductive as the night, as electrifying as the attraction they'd resisted for too long.

With his free hand, he began a slow, tentative exploration, seeking erogenous zones and all those sensitive feminine places women loved to be stroked and caressed. He trailed his fingers along the silky skin of her neck and shoulders and felt her shiver in response. His hand skimmed lower, until he finally cupped a smooth, firm breast in his palm. He kneaded that generous swell of flesh he'd admired for months now, savored the exquisite feel of her, then rasped his thumb across the pearled tips of her nipples.

She moaned low and deep, and grasping his hair in her fists, she tugged his head down. Knowing instinctively what she wanted, he obeyed her silent command and buried his face between the soft fullness of her breasts. His teeth scraped over one perfect swell, followed by the slow, wet, luxurious lap of his tongue all the way to the burgeoning crest. She gasped in delight, her fingers biting into the muscles of his upper arms as she arched her back, silently begging him for more.

Opening his mouth wide, he suckled her hard and deep, and laved her nipple with the flat of his tongue. Sliding his hand along the curve of her waist and around to her bottom, he rilled his palm with one delectable cheek. He squeezed gently, then slid his fingers to the crease of her knee, pulled her leg over his hip, and rocked slowly, rhythmically against her.

Their position was as intimate as making love, his shaft hot and heavy against the juncture of her thighs. Yet judging by her restless movements and the anxious, needy sounds she made deep in her throat, it wasn't enough. She was on fire, desperate for release, and he sought to give it to her in the most erotic, carnal way possible-for his own pleasure as much as her own.

Moving quickly, fluidly, he sat up and knelt between her sprawled legs. He looked up the length of her gorgeous body to her face, searching for any signs of apprehension, and found nothing but passion and need. The trust she offered him with her body was humbling. She lay there, seductive as sin itself, her lashes half mast, her lips moist and parted, and her white cotton panties drenched with desire. For him. His nostrils flared as he inhaled her heady, arousing scent. He felt huge, hot and throbbing, and he feared he'd come just by looking at her.

"Touch me, Noah," she said, her voice a low, caressing sound that made him a willing slave to her every desire."Please."

Needing a moment to regroup and calm his own racing heart, he lightly strummed his fingers along her flesh through her damp panties, and stopped when he felt her tremble in response. "With my fingers?"

Her breathing deepened, and she nodded. "Yes-"

Grasping the back of her knee, he leaned down and placed hot, damp kisses all the way up her thigh, and stopped short of his ultimate goal. "How about with my mouth?" he said, breathing hot, moist air on her skin.

She squirmed and clutched the sheets in her hands. "Oh, yes."

"What about my tongue?" Moving a bit higher, he delved the tip of his tongue into her navel in lazy, sensuous swirls that made her moan and thrash. "Do you want me to use that, too?"

"Oh, yes-" An impatient sob escaped her. "Noah, stop teasing me, please."

Knowing he'd tormented her enough, he pulled her panties down her long legs and off, tossed them to the floor, and slid his palms back up the insides of her slender thighs until his thumbs finally grazed the outer folds of her feminine flesh. He looked his fill of her, so plump and pink and glistening. And so uninhibited he knew she'd allow him anything at all.

It was a heady, dizzying thought. He raised his gaze to her face, taking in her flushed cheeks and those unwavering blue eyes waiting for him to make her feel alive, and cherished, and desired. It was a simple task from his perspective, and he separated the slick folds of her sex with his fingers and stroked her slowly, seductively. A deep, throaty, on-the-edge moan escaped her, and her body undulated for a more explicit touch.

Done toying with her, he settled himself between her spread thighs, slid his hands beneath her hips, and pressed an intimate, openmouthed kiss at the very heart of her. He nibbled her delicate flesh and gently suckled her swollen clitoris while his fingers continued to explore. She was incredibly sweet and tender, so open and responsive, he knew he'd never get enough of her.

At the first heated, silken swirl of his tongue, her entire body bowed and trembled on the precipice of an orgasm. With the second and third strokes she came with a gut-wrenching and very vocal climax that rippled through him, as well. He ruthlessly took her over the edge, reveling in her satisfaction, in the ecstasy he alone had given her.