Read Online Lovers at Heart by Melissa Foster - Free Book Online Page B

The deliveries weren’t supposed to come for another hour. “Patron, delivery, or sponsor?”
    “Hold on.”
    She heard a muffled conversation that she couldn’t make out.
    “He says none of the above.”
    Max stopped walking. Treat . “Um, is he really tall?” She held her breath. Please say no. No, please say yes. Oh God. Don’t say anything. Just let him go away.
    “Freakishly.”
    She closed her eyes as her heart raced, and every nerve in her body pulsed with the memory of his touch.
    “Max?”
    She touched the earpiece. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m busy. Send him away.” Then she remembered her purse. Damn it . She needed her purse. “Hey, does he have my purse?” she asked.
    “No. Hands are empty.”
    Confused, she headed for the office. “Send him away.” Where’s my damned purse? Why doesn’t he have it? What’s he doing if he’s not here to give me my purse? She clicked off the earpiece and read Kaylie’s text again.
    How was hottie?
    Didn’t end up seeing him, she texted back. Out of sight, out of mind. If she was going to make it through the foreseeable future, that’s what she’d have to strive for.

    THE AFTERNOON DRAGGED by in slow motion, with each issue taking twice as long as the last. By dinnertime, Max was exhausted, hungry, and in worse mental shape than she could ever remember experiencing. Is this what liking and hating a man at the same time feels like?
    She tried to eat her leftover salad, but even the sight of it turned her stomach. She guzzled more coffee and decided to duck into a theater for a few minutes. Maybe she could close her eyes and no one would notice. The minute her butt hit the only available seat in the theater, her earpiece buzzed. She hauled herself back out into the cool evening air.
    “Yeah?”
    “Max? Delivery for you.”
    “I’m not expecting any deliveries. Who’s the vendor?” She walked to the fence at the edge of the property and stared into the rear lot. There were no delivery trucks.
    “Forget it, Max. I’ll have someone run it up to the office.”
    “Thanks.”
    Chaz was texting when Max entered the office. She relaxed into the couch. Her head fell back and she closed her eyes. Chaz’s phone buzzed three times in quick succession.
    “Text fight?” she asked.
    Chaz sighed. “No.” He responded to the texts, and his phone continued to buzz several times in a row.
    She lifted her head and opened her eyes. “Anything I can do?” she asked.
    He finally put the phone down on his desk and looked at her. “Max, we’re so slow tonight. Why don’t you take off?”
    She snapped to attention. “What?”
    “You heard me. Just take off early. We’ve got this covered.”
    Adrenaline drove her to the edge of his desk. “What’s going on? I’ve never left a festival early, and you know we’re anything but slow tonight.” Max rubbed her temples. “You know you can’t handle it without me, either. So what the hell is going on?”
    “You’re exhausted,” he said.
    “Yeah, so? I’m tired, so what? I can still do my job. Look, I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries by being so worn out. I take full responsibility, but there’s no reason to make me leave early.” Shit. I’d better pull it together .
    When he didn’t respond, she said, “I love my job, Chaz. Have I done something wrong?”
    “Relax. No. Even when you’re tired, you do twice the work of anyone else.”
    Max felt unexpected tears pushing at her eyes. “Then what is it? Why do you need to get rid of me?”
    There was a knock at the door, and Max moved to answer it. “Hi, Mark. What’s up?”
    Mark was one of the temporary festival staffers. He carried an enormous white box into the office and set it on the table.
    “Just got this delivery,” he said on his way back out the door.
    “Were you expecting something?” Chaz asked.
    She shook her head and lifted the lid. The smell itself was enough to send her stomach into a flurry of desire—and not the sexual kind.