Chapter 3
Damon didn't need to be told twice. Everything about Grace drew him in. Her big brown eyes and full lips. The way she wrinkled her nose. Her sass and wit. Her courage and spunk. He loved that she wasn't afraid to defend her desire to be a wife and mother or call him gross and crazy.
He leaned toward her, then paused mere millimeters from her lips, giving her the chance to change her mind.
She didn't. In fact, she closed the gap. Her lips were warm and soft and felt oh so amazing.
A tingling warmth spread through him as though he'd just slid his aching body into a hot tub. One he never wanted to leave. He lifted his chin, applying a little more pressure to her silky lips then rocked to the side in a gentle caress.
He wanted to pull her into his arms and fully taste her mouth, but that didn't feel appropriate under the circumstance. He pulled back slightly, lessening the pressure. He didn't want to end the kiss, but he let her know she could if she wanted to.
Apparently, she didn't want to, because she leaned into him, keeping the contact.
So Damon slid his hand into her hair and pressed his lips more firmly against hers.
A soft sigh escaped her as her lips parted.
He accepted her invitation to deepen the kiss, and something shifted in him when he tasted sweetness and perfection.
He'd dreaded kissing a stranger in an elevator for months. He never dreamed he'd get trapped with a woman who was as mysterious as she was beautiful, and that kissing her would feel so incredibly right. So much so the bottom dropped out of his world, and he was falling.
Grace jerked away with a shriek. She gripped the front of his shirt in her fist.
Then it hit him. The lights were on, and the elevator was going down.
"We're moving," Grace squealed.
They were still scrambling to their feet when the doors opened. Damon took in the harried middle-aged maintenance worker, who wore a surprised look as he watched Grace blow out the candle and shove everything into her massive basket.
"It looks like I finally found you. It took me forever to figure out which elevator you were stuck in, then I had a devil of a time trying to override the elevator's back-up battery and get it to accept power from the generator."
"Thank you for not giving up." Damon shook the man's hand. Although he wouldn't have minded spending another hour trapped with Grace.
"Yes, thank you." Clutching her over-sized bag and her basket, Grace looked over her shoulder at Damon as she headed down the dimly lit hall toward the entrance of the hospital. "It was nice meeting you, Damon. Thanks for keeping me calm."
"Grace, wait." Damon hurried after her. He couldn't let her just walk away. Not after that amazing kiss. "Can I carry your basket to your car for you?"
She didn't slow her pace. "That's sweet, but I'm not as fragile as I'm sure I appeared in the elevator."
"No, that's not what I meant. I just thought I could walk you to your car."
"That's not necessary." She kept moving as though she couldn't wait to get away from him.
The wail of a distant siren added to Damon's urgency.
"You should add Kiss a Stranger in an Elevator to your bucket list, so you can check it off." He joked as he kept pace with her.
Her face reddened as she shot him a quick glance and quickened her pace even more. "I checked that box years ago."
"Seriously? I've got to hear this story." The woman was an intriguing mystery he desperately wanted to solve.
"I don't think so. I don't share that story, just like I won't share our story."
Our story.
Their story was about to come to an abrupt end, if he couldn't get her to stop and talk to him.
"Can I...can I buy you dinner?" Desperation laced his words.
Finally, she stopped walking. Her eyes widened as indecision registered on her face. "Uh...I don't think that's a good idea."
"Will you at least give me your phone number. I'm going to be in Washington for the next two weeks, and I'd like to see you again."
"Um...I'm not sure I—"
Her phone buzzed in her purse. Again, and again. She nearly dropped the basket as she fished it out.
They must both have service now, because his chimed too. He ignored it. He didn't dare take his eyes off Grace for fear she would disappear, and he would never see her again.
"Shoot, I have a dozen missed texts and six missed calls." She scanned her phone. "Gabe is fit to be tied. And my mom is worried sick."
"Gabe?" The name rang a loud bell with Damon. His cousin, whose wedding he'd flown home for, was marrying a Latino guy named Gabe. And Gabe had a sister, although he couldn't recall his cousin Paige ever mentioning the sister's name.
Could it be the same Gabe?
"My brother." Grace didn't lift her head from her phone as she started walking again. "Just like I feared; Paige told Gabe I didn't show for my dress fitting, and everyone has been blowing up my phone ever since."
Paige. Bingo!
It was all Damon could do to keep from shouting and punching his arm in the air. He would most definitely be seeing Grace again.
"I'll let you go then. It was nice to meet you, Grace. Thanks for helping me with my bucket list." He tamped down a smile as he motioned to his rental car. "This is me. I look forward to seeing you again."
She stopped walking again and looked at him, a hint of panic in her eyes. "There's very little chance of that happening."
Feeling almost giddy, he winked at her. "Oh, but there is a chance."
The panic intensified on her face before she turned away and hurried to a white Toyota Camry.
Grace's whole body trembled by the time she'd stowed the gift basket in her backseat and got into the car. She sucked in a deep breath.
What is wrong with me?
She couldn't decide if her reaction was from enjoying that amazing kiss or the realization that hit the moment Damon deepened the kiss. Things could have gone south real fast if he wasn't the gentleman she hoped he was.
Having the elevator suddenly move and the doors open felt like a lifeline. But then he had to go and ask for her number and offer to buy her dinner. The only reason she'd kissed him was because she'd never have to see him again.
But a part of her wanted to.
He said he was only going to be here for two weeks, though. What was the point in getting to know him? If he was as nice outside the elevator as he was inside, spending time with Damon would be fun, but she could see herself falling for someone like him. And where would that leave her when he left?
With a broken heart.
Because she couldn't leave Providence. Not with her mother so sick, and Gabe, her only other family, living there. Besides, if Damon knew about her past, he might reject her the way Alan did.
It's better this way.
She looked out her window at the red Nissan that Damon climbed into. It was still there. He was probably checking his messages or returning phone calls, which was exactly what she should do.
She started her car, made sure her phone was connected to Bluetooth, and called her mom. Gabe and Paige were likely with Mom, so this was the fastest way to assuage everyone's concerns at once. She would only have to tell the story once.
"Mija, please tell me you're okay." Mom's voice, laced with panic, filled her car.
"I'm okay, Mom, I swear. You'll never believe it, but I just spent..." She checked the time on her dash. She'd been trapped with Damon for over an hour, yet it had felt like fifteen minutes. "...the last hour trapped in an elevator that got stuck when the power went out."
"She's okay. She was stuck in an elevator this whole time, the poor girl." Mom's voice was faint, and Grace assumed she was talking to Gabe. "I'm putting you on speaker, Mija, so Gabe and Paige can hear too."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Gabe's deep voice, full of concern, came through her car speakers.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Grace finally put her car into reverse and backed out of her parking spot. "There was some big power outage that caused the elevator to get stuck."
The red Nissan followed her as she pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
"We heard about that," Mom said. "When you didn't answer any of our calls and texts, Gabe called the Richland police."
Of course he did.
"They explained there was a widespread outage, and they would do their best to try to locate you, but it was obvious you weren't a high priority with everything going on."
"It's all over the news," Gabe jumped back in. "Apparently a single prop airplane crashed into one of the city's sub stations."
"Oh, wow!" No wonder the maintenance guy sounded so stressed.
"My cousin Robert," Paige spoke up. "He's the sheriff, in case you've forgotten who's who. Anyway, he's been tracking some of the police reports. With all of the streetlights out, there’s been a rash of accidents."
"Sounds like I was lucky to get stuck in the elevator after all." If she'd left the hospital five minutes earlier, she could have been involved in one of those accidents.
As Grace drove, she noted the absence of lights. It wasn't full-dark yet since the sun was still setting, but there were no streetlights or stop lights. Even the gas stations and store signs were dark. The familiar city streets felt foreign and eerie. A little shudder rippled through her.
Get used to it, girl. Providence doesn't have any stop lights, remember?
Lights flashed in her rear-view mirror. The red Nissan, flashing its high beams. Damon waved his hand in the air as though he wanted her to pull over.
"Don't hospitals have back-up generators?" Paige asked, pulling Grace's attention away from the Nissan and its driver.
"Yes, but they're meant for emergency, life-saving equipment. Apparently, the elevator was supposed to have a back-up battery, but it failed, lights and all."
Mom gasped. "You were stuck in the dark that whole time? That must have been terrifying."
"Were you alone?" Paige asked.