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although admittedly, that had gotten his attention first. It was the intelligence and humor that sealed the deal.
    And of course the physical stuff.
    That was history now, he thought, slipping unobtrusively out the door. He was going to be smart and stay away. If Dev wanted his input, he’d give it, but that was all. He was going to keep a healthy distance from Ms. Mallory Carson. Certain things were unforgivable, and one of them was sleeping with a friend’s little sister, he thought, as an image of his own sister, Shana, rose in his mind. Especially when you were supposed to be watching out for her.
    Out on the sidewalk, Shay shoved his hands into his pockets and tried to ignore the ache in his belly. Just for a moment there, she’d had him. Despite his best resolutions, he wouldn’t have been able to stop for his life. The interruption had saved him from doing something he’d really have been sorry for. Walking away had been the easy part. Convincing his body that the time for fun and games was past was a little tougher.
    Nice behavior for a local businessman, he thought sourly. Yeah, he’d really make points at the next Chamber of Commerce meeting if word got around that he was entertaining young ladies in backrooms.
    Not a young lady, he corrected himself. A woman.
    A woman who was going to be on his mind possibly for the rest of his life.
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    â€œN IGHT , M AL . S EE YOU tomorrow.”
    â€œSee you,” Mallory echoed, locking the door behind the departing Belinda. The lights were on, the harsh illumination giving the bar a very different feel from the intimacy of the night. Scars on the wood and floor showed up, as well as the odd spill. She made a face. Thank heaven for Doug the magical custodian. Cleaning and restocking the bar was one thing—in its own way, it was sort of soothing. However, the ideaof facing the men’s room after a night of rowdy drinkers was enough to make her shudder.
    She went behind the bar and began checking the bottles of liquor, refilling them when necessary, or bringing out spares for the shelf. Truth be told, she was glad of something to do. Even though hours had gone by since her interlude with the stranger, she was still restless, distracted.
    He’d walked away on her. They’d been on the verge of having each other right then and there, and he’d walked away like it was nothing. She shook her head like a dog shaking off water. That wasn’t the way it went in her world. Men didn’t walk away from her. She did the walking away. The one thing she’d learned before she’d even learned to read was that the one who could walk away held the power. The lesson had been branded into her consciousness. She’d learned it and remembered it, and she’d gotten very, very good at it.
    The hell of it was, her body still wanted him.
    She found herself staring into space and shook her head to clear it. Enough, he was gone, she’d never see him again, and that was that, she thought irritably.
    All things considered, she was probably lucky they’d been interrupted. She was a business owner and she had better things to do than make out with strangers in her basement. It wouldn’t do much for her authority over her staff if they came across her and some customer, especially since she’d always decreed that customers were hands-off. Sure, there might have been times in the past, but no more. Certainly not with a guy who’d just walk away like she was nothing. Not that she was, of course. She was the one in charge. That was how it went.
    The door to the cellar opened and Randy, her behind-the-bar gofer, came out wiping his hands on his jeans. “Okay, I’ve stocked the cold room. There are a couple of spare kegs for every line.”
    She nodded and fixed him with a stare before going back to stacking tequila bottles on the shelf in back of the bar. “So where were you tonight just before the fight? One of