Nora was looking at the San Diego County map, red circles marking the locations of crimes thought to be committed by their reckless perps, when her cell phone buzzed. She picked it up, flipped it over, and fought a smile when she saw that the text was from Kane.

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO, BEAUTIFUL?

She glanced across the table at Mike, engrossed in one of the crime scene reports. They’d spent lunch going over the case files and had passed the rest of the afternoon running down leads and calling sources. They’d reconvened after work at Marty’s, one of the Bureau’s favorite local dive bars. With tall booths that were well-suited to private conversation and plenty of noise for cover, it was the perfect spot for post-work commiseration and a nice change of scenery after long hours in the office.

She typed a reply into her phone.

AT MARTY’S WORKING ON A NEW CASE. YOU?

His response came less than ten seconds later.

DYING TO SEE YOU.

Any hope of stifling her smile was lost to the words on the screen, the man behind them.

SAME.

“What are you grinning about, Murphy?” Mike asked.

She turned her phone over on the table and looked at Mike. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

He studied her for a minute. “Agent Murphy, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve got the hots for someone.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, returned her gaze to the map in front of her. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I hope so,” he said. “Because I’ve been waiting for a shot myself.”

The words didn’t surprise her; getting Mike Shields in bed would have been as easy as crooking her finger. But it wouldn’t have been because Mike wanted her. Because he knew her. She would just be another conquest for him, albeit a friendly one.

And it wasn’t Mike she wanted. It wasn’t Mike she’d ever wanted.

She’d hoped his attraction to her would remain unspoken, a harmless office flirtation on his part routinely and predictably met with good-natured rejection on hers.

Now they had to talk about it, and that inevitably made things weird.

“You know I like you, Mike. You’re one of my best friends at work.”

He chuckled but his jaw was tight and she knew he was checking his disappointment. “So I’m friend-zoned.”

She pushed down the resentment that was turning to a slow boil under her skin. Friend-zoned: what an asinine term. Why did guys always think it was some sort of syndrome when you weren’t into them? Like there had to be a complex psychological explanation for the fact that you didn’t want to date them when more often than not, the chemistry just wasn’t there?

She forced herself to breathe through her annoyance. Mike was a friend, and he was just looking to save face. She settled on a version of the truth.

“It’s just… you’re right. I am seeing someone.”

“Anyone I know?”

She was weighing her answer when she saw Mike’s gaze pulled upward to the space behind her. When she followed his eyes, she was surprised to see Braden standing at her shoulder. He bent down, kissed her on the cheek, slid into the booth next to her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“There you are.” Braden’s voice was as warm as the sun on her skin. He turned to Mike with a nod. “Shields.”

Her cheeks grew hot, a guilty flush spreading throughout her body even though she had no reason to feel guilty. Braden didn’t even work at the Bureau anymore, and she was a grown woman. She could see whomever she wanted.

She looked up at him. “What are you doing here?”

He draped an arm across the back of the booth. It was a possessive move. A way to mark her as his in front of Shields. The knowledge sent a shiver of excitement through her body even as the reasoned part of her feminist brain called her an idiot.

“I was in the neighborhood.” He looked at the files on the table, their contents spilling onto the scarred wood. “What’s all this?”

She hurriedly stuffed everything back into the folders. Now that he was out of the Bureau, she wouldn’t be able to talk with him about her work.

“Just a new case,” she said.

“Classified,” Shields added, obviously enjoying the opportunity to keep Braden on the outside.

Braden held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Of course.”

Shields narrowed his eyes at Braden, and Nora watched as his face transformed from the easygoing flirt into something harder and meaner. The moment went on too long for her comfort, the two men staring each other down like Desperados facing off over some kind of damsel in distress.

She was no damsel, but she also knew better than to get in the middle of their pissing contest. These kinds of competitions were never resolved through negotiation by an outside party.

They had to play themselves out.

Finally, Shields finished his beer and gathered up the files. “I’m heading out. See you tomorrow, Nora.”

“Bright and early.” She hated herself for sounding so cheerful, so desperate to keep things on an even keel. She waited for him to clear the booth before she turned to Braden. “Was that really necessary?”

“Just making something clear,” he said.

“And what is that?”

He pulled her closer, his fingers stroking the bare skin of her upper arm where the sleeve of her T-shirt ended. Then he turned his face to look at her, his lips only inches from hers as he stared down at her.

“That I’m going to make you mine, of course.”

“You are?”

There was a touch of the devil in his smile. “Unless you plan to object.”

His fingers stoked a fire under her skin, the embers spreading from her bare arm to her chest, down to her belly, his gaze lighting a fire at her core.

“I don’t,” she said.

He touched his mouth to hers, parting her lips gently with his tongue, exploring her mouth slowly. His free hand came up to her cheek, stroking it softly while his kisses grew more urgent, his tongue more demanding. She lost all sense of time and place. There was no bar full of people. No possibility of being seen by coworkers from the Bureau.

There was only Braden and his fingers and body and mouth.

By the time he pulled away, they were both breathing hard, and she was practically on his lap in the booth.

“Come on,” he said, his voice gruff. “I’m taking you home.”