Thrill Seeker (Sinful in Seattle)

“I’m tired and have a headache brewing. Can we skip the p

art where I ask all the scintillating questions and just get the story?”

Chelsea dragged me into an impulsive hug. “Sorry. Max was here. But he just rushed out.”

“He was?” My heart skipped a beat. I wasn’t sure I was ready to see Max. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure I had the wherewithal to handle Max right now. I was already shaky and nothing made sense. He needed to go back into his client slot and... Well, I was still thinking about other slots that had nothing to do with the restaurant and all about how he fit inside me.

“Yes,” she hissed. “He went to the back of the restaurant looking for you then stormed out. You don’t think he’s still mad about your attack? He was really steamed when he came in here this morning.”

“I can’t think about that. I’m so done with that parking garage and last night. My friggin’ brain is going to explode. In fact, I’m going home now.” My hands shook enough that I tucked them into the pockets of my cardigan. Chelsea didn’t know the shakes were from what we’d done in the parking garage, not my mugging.

“Good. You need to go home.”

“I need to go get a new phone. My purse had everything in it.”

“Oh, man.”

“Yeah. I could just scream with how many hours I spent on the phone last night canceling cards. Now, the stupid phone store. Just ugh.”

She twisted her watch. “If you go now, you’ll miss the nine-to-fivers.”

“Yeah. My thoughts exactly.”

“We’ve got this. We’ll see you tomorrow night.”

My shoulders sagged. “Thanks.”

I walked to the back of the restaurant and sighed at the two bags of trash from the bar that were sitting on the end. “Dean—” I broke off because he had three suited guys in front of him. “Never mind,” I muttered. I grabbed my purse from my locker and picked them up. It was just as easy to go out the alleyway to the parking garage.

I ducked out the emergency door and punched in a code to deactivate the alarm. When I heard the beep after me, I hustled to the dumpster and swung the bags in.

The sun was blinding and the swallows that constantly looked for our leftover bread were squawking. “Sorry guys. Nothing on me today.”

I lifted my arm to block the glaring sun. One more thing to buy—sunglasses. I turned away from the birds and screamed.

A man stood in the middle of the alley, all broad shoulders in a business suit. The same shoulders that spent way too many hours in my fantasies.

He was in silhouette because of the sun, but I definitely knew that impeccable style of hair and regal bearing.

I slapped my hand over my rampaging heart. “Jesus, Max. What are you doing?”

“I came to check on you.” His Italian shoes crunched on the gravel-strewn alleyway.

No one was out there with us and my heart was still roaring between my ears. “Then why did you leave?”

“Because I saw you were otherwise engaged.”

I frowned. “When?”

He moved forward. His speed made me stumble back against the brick building. He slapped his hand on the wall above my head. “When you were in Bellamy’s office.” His dark eyes gleamed so close to my face. He leaned down. “It seemed that I wasn’t really necessary. He had it under control.”

“What?”

“Oh, don’t be so fucking naive.”

My eyebrows shot up. “What the hell does that mean? I was with my boss.”

“I don’t have a single person on my payroll who kisses me.”