Chapter 2
DANNY
I don’t know why my very existence seems to annoy the crap out of Holly Vincent, but it does. Always has. Since that first day she banged on my door a couple of weeks ago and yelled at me to stop playing my drums, I’ve had a hard-on for her.
She was covered up that day as well, in some kind of fluffy-looking dressing gown that went from her neck to her toes, and there’d been a blanket mark on her face. But her dark hair had tumbled all around her face and she’d glared at me with her weird amber eyes, and I knew I wanted her.
Knew I was going to have her, too.
Just maybe not today, as she glowers at me from the back corner of the elevator, wrapped up like Kenny from South Park.
‘I cannot be stuck in this elevator.’
Her voice is 100 per cent pissed off as she stalks towards me, the duvet she has swathed around herself sweeping the ground.
I love seeing that spark in her eyes. The spark she had that first day she yelled at me.
It’s perversely pleasing to see Little Miss Cool all fired up, especially considering how much time I’ve spent wondering just how fired up she might get between the sheets.
Of course, it’s only me she’s cool with. She’s a regular ray of sunshine with the other residents. Opening doors, carrying bags, putting up vaccination clinic flyers and always giving free medical advice.
‘You’re not one of those panicky women, are you?’
I ask because I know it’s going to piss her off even further, and she doesn’t disappoint. She stops in front of me and glares.
‘Do I look like the panicking type to you?’
Her voice lowers but it’s still vehement enough to be heard over the alarm. And there’s a vibrato to it, which I’m fairly sure comes from rage rather than panic.
I bet she’s awesome when she’s angry-fucking.
‘I’m just sayin’.’ I inject a little redneck into my accent because it seems to piss her off even more when I act dumb.
She doesn’t need to know that I graduated business school.
‘There’s no need to worry. It’s a big elevator, and there’s only two of us.
We’re not going to run out of air or anything. ’
She rolls her eyes, and I suppress a smile. ‘I know that. I have a medical degree.’
I laugh. Some guys might be insulted by a woman lording it over them because she thinks he’s a little lacking in the brains department. Not me. I’ve seen her checking me out the times our paths have crossed, and I didn’t get to twenty-nine without knowing when a woman is interested.
She’s not as immune to me as she wants me to think.
Sure, she’s all haughty and brainy and you-can’t-touch-this, and she looks at me like I’m too blue-collar for her. But sometimes a woman likes a bit of rough – any drummer can tell you that – and I’m happy to be her piece of rough.
I’m happy to be whatever the fuck she wants.
‘Of course, if the building catches on fire, we’re toast.’
She gives me a not-funny look. ‘Have I mentioned how tired I am?’
‘Right.’ I turn to the panel next to the buttons and pull open the door. There’s a phone with emergency use only emblazoned on the handle and a button for the alarm. I pick up the phone and push the button, and the noise cuts off as abruptly as it started.
Silence falls, and I swear I hear Holly sigh.
The phone is ringing in my ear as I settle back against the wall again, and I watch her surreptitiously out the corner of my eye.
A female voice chirps a greeting and between the two of us, we quickly ascertain that this elevator isn’t going anywhere in a hurry, given the demands on emergency services at present.
I hang up, and Holly says, ‘Well?’
It’s impatient as hell, and I try not to be either insulted or turned on by her eagerness to be out of here.
I know she wants to be back in her bed. But I also know there’s more than that going on.
I know she doesn’t want to be trapped in here with me because she has a thing for me.
And she’s frightened she might act on it.
A situation I certainly wouldn’t object to. We do have several hours to kill, after all. My dick is already on board with the idea.
‘They don’t know when they’ll be able to get here. Probably not for a few hours.’ She opens her mouth to interrupt, but I don’t give her an opening. ‘Services are already badly stretched. There are actual real life-and-death emergencies going on out there.’
I don’t need to tell her that, of course. As she’s fond of saying – she’s an ER doctor. She’s probably been dealing with them all night. ‘Two healthy people stuck in a large elevator for a few hours are not a priority.’
She huffs out a sigh. ‘Yeah.’ It’s the most dejected yeah I’ve ever heard.
‘But they know, and they’ll get to us when they can, and she’s going to keep us up to date. And if the electricity comes back on and the elevator starts working again, she wants to know so she can cross us off her list.’
Holly nods, then slides down the back wall until she’s sitting. She bends her legs up, or at least I think she does. It’s hard to tell under all that bulk.
‘Sorry.’ I don’t know why I’m apologising. But she looks exhausted. Even in the reduced lighting I can see the tautness of the skin around her eyes. I hadn’t slept last night either. But I’d just been banging drums all night, not saving lives.
She drops her head back against the wall. ‘It’s not your fault.’
‘You have to work tonight?’
‘Nope.’ Her head rocks back and forth along the wall as she shakes it. Her eyes flutter closed. ‘Three days off.’
Which is probably just as well. I doubt she could get in tonight, anyway. For damn sure city officials won’t want her out there on the roads trying.
Covering the distance between us, I too slide down the wall to sit beside her, leaving a few feet between us. Her eyes, big and amber, blink open. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Sitting.’ I smile because the answer obviously irritates her.
‘There’s plenty of wall space.’
‘I thought you might like to lie down.’ I pat my thighs. ‘Horizontal is always better, and I’m reliably informed they make a very good pillow.’
She gives a soft snort and somehow, even though her head only comes to my shoulder, she manages to look down her nose at me.
‘I bet you have been.’
I laugh. ‘Just sayin’.’
She shuts her eyes again. ‘I’m a shift worker. I don’t need to be horizontal. I can sleep standing up. I can sleep at a desk or lying on a hard, cold floor. I could sleep hanging upside down like a bat if I had to.’
That’s an image I don’t need in my head right now. The things I could do to her in that position… ‘Have it your way.’
But she doesn’t answer, and, when I look closer, her lips have parted and there’s a slackness to them that tells me she’s fallen asleep. Impressive. She really can go to sleep anywhere. Even, apparently, mid-conversation.
It only takes a minute, though, before she starts to sag and slide towards me. She jerks briefly awake a couple of times, muttering as she rights herself, but eventually even that’s beyond her, and she slides all the way down.
I grab her before she face-plants into the floor and shuffle my ass towards her a little, sticking my leg under her head.
She makes no protest, just squirms for a bit once she’s fully horizontal, her head shifting around into my lap.
My cock appreciates her subconsciousness trying to find a position of comfort, but cracking wood is hardly appropriate in the situation.
I hold my breath and think of plunging my dick into a snow drift until she stops wriggling and relaxes into sleep.
I have no idea why it’s so damn interested, anyway.
She looks like a giant pig in a blanket.
Not one curve or flash of skin exposed, just her pink little face amidst the lumpy duvet, a ratty pair of Uggs, and a pink pop-pom cap.
So I ignore my idiot dick and close my eyes, my head falling back against the wall behind. I could use some sleep too, and it’s that or get wound up about a sleeping woman I have no intention of touching anyway.
She wants me. I want her. And for damn sure I’m going to explore that a little more while we’re both stuck in here if I get the time. But now, she needs to sleep, and I’m going to be the perfect fucking gentleman and let her.
‘Oh God, I’m so sorry.’
I’m woken by a whispered, scandalised apology, a quick intake of breath and a sudden lightness in my lap. Holly sits bolt upright and blinks at me, owl-like, from within her bundle of covers, like she can’t remember how she ended up in my lap.
Her face is flushed but I’m not sure if it’s from sleep or embarrassment or heat. It’s stuffy in here now, the air warm. She must be overheating like crazy.
‘What time is it?’
She looks around as I dig my phone out of my hoodie pocket. I can’t believe it’s not even been a full hour since she drifted off. ‘Nine-thirty.’
‘Is that all?’ When I nod, she seems to consider it for a few seconds, then pushes the duvet off her shoulders to reveal a puffy jacket and some sweatpants.
‘It’s hot in here.’ She grabs the rail and hauls herself to her feet, walking to the door.
‘Is it hot in here or is it just me?’ She turns back and looks at me for my answer.
‘It’s a little stuffy,’ I admit. ‘But you are trussed up like you’re about to head up a dogsled team.’
She looks at herself and grimaces. ‘You’re right.’
Unzipping her jacket with one hand, she pulls the beanie off with the other. I open my mouth to protest – she looks damn cute in that beanie – but then her dark hair tumbles down over her shoulders, and the heat that left my groin when Holly removed herself from my lap surges back.
Not content to stop there, she shrugs out of her jacket and tosses it aside. The sweater she has on also goes as she toes off her Uggs. Suddenly, she’s a lot less bulky. There’s just a ribbed Henley that moulds to her tits and her stomach and maybe something else underneath, but not a bra.
I don’t need to be an expert in boobs – although I am – to see that.