Frustratingly, the guard hounded him out the door before Kat got back. He didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her or anyone else, though he caught a vengeful glare from Susan on his way out.
“You don’t plan to keep that roll of tape, do you?” asked Lambert. The guard watched as Alex secured the trash bag of belongings to the back seat of his motorcycle in the parking garage. Sadly, he had neither saddlebags nor a backpack today. This was as good as it would get. But it would’ve been easier to make sure he didn’t leave tape residue on the leather seat without Lambert pressuring him.
“Is that why you followed me out here?” Alex asked. “Seriously? The roll of packing tape?” He kept working, eager to just make his exit.
“Yeah. That and making sure you don’t find any other women to harass on the way out.” Lambert had a few years on Alex, along with a few more pounds—both muscle and otherwise. With a blond buzzcut, thick black-rimmed glasses, a torso spreading slightly over his Sam Brown utility belt and a canister of pepper spray on his hip, Lambert was somewhere between mildly intimidating and sadly comical. Alex couldn’t decide which.
“Dude. This is the fifth floor of the parking building. I’m not gonna harass anyone out here.”
“No, you’re not,” Lambert glowered. “Because I’m gonna watch you ride your little scooter out of here and never come back.”
Alex bristled. He understood Lambert’s hostility. The guy thought Alex was a creepy, woman-groping bastard, and Alex had no chance of convincing him otherwise. It wasn’t even worth the attempt. But willfully calling his motorcycle a scooter wasn’t so forgivable.
He tossed the roll of tape down on the ground behind Lambert. “I’d ask what kind of self-respecting hipster gets a job as a security guard,” Alex scowled, “but self-respecting hipster is an oxymoron anyway, so the hell with it.”
“Least I’ve got a job,” Lambert countered.
He had a point there. Alex didn’t have a comeback for that.
“Alex,” said a woman’s voice behind him. He didn’t recognize it and didn’t want to stay and talk to anyone anyway. Alex retrieved the helmet off its hook on the side of his bike. “I’ve been looking for you.”
That earned more of his attention. Alex turned around. She stood only a few feet away, dressed a long tie-dyed skirt and what Alex subconsciously labeled as a hippie hoodie. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, revealing bright blue eyes and a strong, lovely face. She stood to his same height, perhaps even slightly taller. He didn’t recognize her immediately.
And then he did.
Oh no, he thought. Seriously?
“We had a terrible first meeting,” said Diana, “and an even worse parting.”
“Ma’am, this guy’s being escorted off the premises,” said Lambert. “Turns out he doesn’t conduct himself well around women.”
Diana ignored the security guard. So did Alex. “That was a pretty shitty night for me,” Alex frowned.
“Yet you accomplished all you set out to do,” Diana nodded. “I didn’t think you could. I underestimated you, and your friends. I didn’t even know you had friends there.”
“I’ve got lots of friends.”
“I can see why.” Diana took a step forward, offering a cool smile.
“I can’t,” Lambert chimed in.
“Shut up,” Diana told him without so much as a glance. Alex took a step back. She followed. “You’re brave. Intelligent. Handsome. Loyal. Deadly.”
“Yeah, I try not to focus a lot on that last bit,” he replied guardedly. He shifted his grip on his helmet, now holding it low by the chin guard so he could use it as a weapon if necessary. He didn’t find the hungry look in her eyes comforting at all.
She struck an appealing image. The modern hippie look usually did little for him, but Diana made it work. Unfortunately, he remembered their first meeting all too well—and, in particular, her presumptuous offers and the fact that behind that pretty face was a towering furry rage monster that could tear his motorcycle in half and beat him to a pulp with it.
Now here she was, a month later, cornering him in the parking lot at his job.
Somewhere out there, Alex considered, was a campaign or a charity that worked to protect women from stalkers. They had just earned at least half of whatever he had coming to him in his last paycheck, because this creepy shit right here just sucks.
“I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since we parted. As soon as I recovered, I began searching for you. And now here we are.”
“Yeah,” he swallowed. “In the parking garage. At my job.”