Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ana
“OMIGOD, ANA! SERIOUSLY?”
Calling her best friend while she rode the elevator down to the lobby to check out had been a mistake. For years, this had been her routine: Call Brie to ride out her fear of heights.
Telling her about Dennis, though…
“I know! One-night stand…”
“You left him in bed? Snuck out after how many times?”
“Three. Well, for him. I think it was more like ten or so for me.”
“TEN???” If Brie screamed any louder, the public address system would pick up her voice.
“I don’t know. It was just–”
“Go back to his room.”
“What?”
“Go back to his room!”
“I can’t!”
“Of course you can.”
“No, I can’t! It would be horrifying!”
“Embarrassing, maybe, but not horrifying. Bet he’s disappointed, Ana.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. Probably does this all the time.”
“That’s morning regrets talking.”
“That’s common sense kicking in. I never do things like this, Brie! What was I thinking?”
“You were thinking ten orgasms in one night, that’s what you were thinking.”
“I couldn’t have known how good he was in bed before we slept together.”
“You just knew. Intuition. You’re a highly intuitive woman, Ana, right?”
“I’m really not.”
“You certainly are about sex.”
“Not all sex. If my intuition was that good, I never would have fallen for Harris.”
“Okay, that was a mistake. But you’re allowed to be wrong sometimes. No one’s gut check is a hundred percent.”
“Which is why I snuck out!”
The elevator began to slow at the twentieth floor and a rising sense of horror flooded her.
“No,” she gasped. “Oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?”
“That intuition you said I have?”
“Yes?”
“It’s dancing a funeral jig in my stomach right now.”
“A funeral jig? That makes no sense, Ana.”
“Gotta go. Talk later,” she barely managed to say before ending the call, because she knew.
Knew.
DING!
The doors opened on the nineteenth floor, and there stood Dennis, a full backpack over one shoulder, his hand on the retractable handle of a hard suitcase.
Their eyes met.
His expression hardened, one eye narrowing. Coupled with his slow, skeptical inhale, it was enough to make her feel really lousy, really quickly.
“So you’re not dead,” he muttered as he stepped in, eyes checking for the lobby button.
It was already lit, of course.
“I’m–uh.” In her hand, her phone screen lit up, Brie obviously trying to reconnect. Turning it off, she shoved the damn thing in her purse.
“Or you’re dead and haunting me.” He cast a sidelong look her way. “Perfect me.”
She winced. It hit the mark so hard because she deserved it. Embarrassment was too weak a word to describe what she felt right now.
“Not dead. Wishing for a giant sinkhole to swallow me whole right now, but not dead.”
Dennis looked behind her, out the wall of glass that constituted this elevator.
“Not likely here.”
Following his gaze, she realized her mistake immediately, but it was too late.
Her legs turned to rubber bands and she collapsed, Dennis grabbing her at the last second and breaking her fall.
“What’s wrong? Is it the height? Vertigo?” His voice was emotional, filled with a concern she didn’t deserve.
And he had one hell of a memory.
She nodded. “Glass. Fall. Help.”
Kneeling next to her, his hand went to her wrist, then her neck.
“Your pulse is crazy high.”
“Panic,” she said as the familiar squeeze in her chest began. Pain radiated from her breastbone.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you were afraid of heights.”
She shook her head.
“Or is this just an elaborate ruse to get me to feel sympathy for you after you ghosted on me?”
Panting, she replied, “I’m not enough of a masochist to do this to myself over a one-night stand.”
“Good thing we weren’t just a one-night stand, then,” he said, but his implication was clear.
She’d hurt him by sneaking away.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped.
“Thanks for breakfast.” His sarcasm was clear. “Last night, when I said I wanted to enjoy breakfast in bed? I didn’t mean alone.”
“You’re angry.”
“No. Just… hurt.” His voice dropped on the word hurt, making her heart squeeze a bit.
“I hurt you.”
“A little.”
“And I’m the one… who needed reassurance last night… that you wouldn’t hurt me.” Her breathing was still ragged.
“Ironic, huh?”
An answer would have been the polite next step, but Ana’s mouth opened and nothing came out. Her heart was pounding so hard, it felt like it was breaking her ribs with each beat, and white spots still filled her vision.
“Breathe,” he said to her, getting right in her face, blue eyes penetrating hers. “Breathe.”
“Can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do!”
“I see you’re going to be fine.”
She expected that to be sarcasm, but the way he said it–with a grin in his voice–made her laugh.
Which loosened her chest.
Which made it easier to breathe.
Which… made him right.
Until she looked over his shoulder as the elevator continued its death drop, and the world spun again.
“Sixth floor, Ana. Want me to stop the elevator?” Dennis stood, but her depth perception was off, altered by her panic, and suddenly, he was a giant.
“No!” About to black out, her fingertips tingled, the skin behind her knees turning electric, copper filling her mouth.
On his knees in seconds, he was with her again.
“Five. Four,” he tracked, counting down the floors.
Of all the times not to be stopped by other hotel guests.
“Three–”
His voice cut off as the car suddenly lurched to a stop. Ana’s scream was completely involuntary, her body shaking uncontrollably, and Dennis scooped her into his lap and cradled her as she trembled.
Hot breath ran across her forehead as he mumbled a curse.
“It’s fine. We’re fine,” he assured her.
“We’re trapped!”
“Are you claustrophobic, too?” he inquired gently.
“NO! Just a realist!” The thin burgundy carpet looked like old blood.
Dennis gently let go of her, stretching to reach up and push the emergency button. A long, loud ribbon of alarmed buzzing began, making matters worse.
But before he could wrap his arms around her again, it stopped.
Feedback cut through the air, adding to her near-delirious state. Dennis tightened his hold on her.
“HELLO?” someone shouted through a small speaker in the control panel.
“We’re in here,” Dennis called out. “Two adults.”
“We’re working on fixing this,” the man replied. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“This happen often?” Dennis asked, as if making small talk.
“No, sir. We have no idea what’s going on, but no one here knows how to fix it. We called a repair person and they’re on their way.”
“How long?” Dennis barked back.
“At least ten minutes to arrive, and then they have to get to the control room.”
“Ten minutes!” Ana gasped. “We’re going to die! There isn’t enough air in here!”
“We’ll be fine,” Dennis said in a soothing voice, brushing her bangs off her face. “There’s plenty of airflow.”
“You’re being very nice to me,” she said with a whimper. “I don’t deserve it.”
“You know you do.”
“I feel like an ass.”
“That’s normally my line when I’m in a mess.” He grinned at her. “Yet another thing we have in common.”
The silence between them should have been tense, but it wasn’t. Maybe because she was in his lap? Maybe because he really was as wonderful as she’d thought last night, but talked herself out of this morning?
“Dennis, can I–can I explain why I left this morning?”
“Yes. But not before you give me your phone number.”
“My–number?”
“Mmm hmm.” He pulled out his phone and gave her a raised-eyebrow look. “What is it?”
She recited the digits, and her phone buzzed in her purse.
“There. Now that the technicality is taken care of, go ahead and explain.”
“Why do you want my number after what I did to you this morning?”
“Trust me, I’ve been asking myself that same question.” He looked down at her with vulnerable eyes. “It hurt when you left like that, and the breakfast didn’t help.”
“It didn’t? It was supposed to be a peace offering.”
“Felt more like a kick in the teeth.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.” He frowned. “Did last night scare you off? Did I scare you away?”
“No. It wasn’t that.”
He sighed. “Please don’t tell me the sex sucked.”
Her own snort made her laugh, her heart like a gemstone being polished in a tumbler.
“Are you kidding me? It was–you were–phenomenal.”
The guy was already big, but she could swear he puffed up even more at that.
“Then you left because it was too good.”
“Sort of. I know it sounds bizarre, but–”
“I get it.”
“You do?”
“I think so. I’m not you, so I can’t know what you think and feel, but I do understand how meeting someone so… perfect might be frightening.”
“Not frightening. More like destabilizing.”
“If you’re looking for stability, I am definitely not your man.” His voice had an amused tone to it, but the undercurrent of truth was there, too.
“I am looking for stable. After Harris, I–well, I think I don’t trust my own radar.”
“Because he burned you so badly? You’re taking the blame?”
“The responsibility, yes. I should have seen it coming.”
“No one’s that sharp. Even con men get conned, Ana. Being a sucker isn’t always the mark’s fault.”
“You sound like the antithesis of my stepfather.”
“He blames you for being too trusting?”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“A guess.”
“Your guesses make me feel seen.”
“You’re seen, all right.” Craning his neck, he looked over her head and his chin jutted slightly. “We have an audience.”
“Audience?”
“A crowd is forming on the second floor, where the coffee shop and retail stores are. They’re all watching us.” His eyes roamed appreciatively over her body.
“Great. Not only am I humiliated by running into you, now I’m on public display.”
“I don’t want you to feel humiliated because of me. You didn’t do anything wrong by leaving.”
“I’m sorry.”
“But I will say that waking up alone made me wonder what was wrong with me. Had I read you wrong? Done something I shouldn’t have? It dredged up… a lot.”
Her stomach lurched, and the words she was preparing for a reply disappeared as she worried she would be sick.
“You really are perfect,” she whispered.
“Nah.” He reached for her hand. “Your fingers are ice cold. Can you stand?”
“Stand?”
“Let’s get some circulation going in you.”
“I’m afraid I’ll pass out.”
“If you do, I’ll catch you.”
Slowly, he stood, lifting her with him. Her body slumped against his, knees like jelly, eyes closed.
“I can’t open my eyes,” she said into his chest. “If I do, it’ll be worse.”
“I’ll be your eyes for you.”
“You’re being my everything for me.”
“And that’s okay, too. You need help. I’m here.”
“I made a mistake.” Opening her eyes, she looked up at him, her fingers on the neck of his sweater. “I wish I could take it back.”
“Take what back?”
“Leaving your hotel room this morning.”
“You’re in luck, then.”
“I am? How?”
“When I was in the Army, I worked on a secret project.” He glanced around as if he were in a spy movie, voice lowering to a bare whisper. “So secret, I have to kill people who know about it.”
“What does this have to do with my sneaking out on you this morning?”
“I am getting to the point.”
“Is this your way of saying you’re about to tell me the secret, then kill me? I am a captive, after all.”
His arched eyebrow made her laugh as he said, “That project? It was a time machine.”
“DENNIS!” She batted at his chest.
“All right, fine. It wasn’t. But how about the next best thing?”
“What’s that?”
“A do-over. A reboot. How about we pretend you didn’t wake up next to me–Mr. Perfect–and decide to sneak out of my hotel room? How about we pretend you didn’t call room service and order the guilt breakfast?
“Guilt breakfast!” She was now laughing so hard, her abs hurt.
“Tasted like bacon and regret. Your regret.” His voice dropped to a smoldering tone as he whispered, “I like the taste of you better.”
A flash of their naked bodies in bed last night made every part of her want him. Leaving like that was cowardly, but she’d convinced herself it was for the best.
Now, though, she saw how wrong she’d been.
Forgiveness was an issue she helped her patients manage, and forgiving yourself was often harder than extending that grace to others. Dennis was clearly still interested in her, even as she struggled for composure in a broken elevator, facing one of her worst fears.
Let him like you, her inner voice whispered with compassion. Second chances count for you, too. Take the reboot.
“Can I, really?”
“Reboot? Of course.” Sheer happiness radiated from his smile.
“Then I–”
Before she could finish, the elevator car dropped about five feet, sending her to her knees, the pain of the impact shooting sparks through her brain.
Shrieks she couldn’t control pierced the air before Dennis knelt beside her, burying her in his embrace.
“Shhh. It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t.
Because suddenly, the elevator car dropped again.
Even further.