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“Told you, man. Had a work thing.”
“He did,” I defend Aiden. “We ran into each other there.”
“I see.” Corey looks me up and down. He’s not checking me out. He’s trying to sum up my worth, and, judging by his carefully blank expression, I haven’t passed muster. Yet.
Directing his attention back to Aiden, Corey asks, “Want a sneak peek?”
“Hell yeah.” He raises our joined hands. “I owe the lady a dance.”
“Nowhere better for it.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
I watch the back and forth, enjoying the casual comradery between them. It reminds me of the girls.
“Here.” Corey passes Aiden the flashlight he’s holding. “Be careful of the lift. The last thing I need is to be sued because a pair of ritzy white folks plummeted to their deaths on my watch.”
“Ignore him.”
But fear slams into my chest. “Um, it’s a little hard to ignore the wordsplummeted to their deathswhen you’re on a first date.” My voice comes out a little breathless, and, although I realize what I’ve said too late, I don’t try to backtrack.
“First date, huh?” Corey asks.
“Yes,” Aiden returns without a moment’s hesitation. Taking my hand again, he guides me through the gate and down a narrow walkway.
I follow.
“Corey’s just teasing. The ‘lift’ he referred to is actually a closed-in, six-person construction elevator. It’s perfectly safe. I promise.”
“I trust you.”
When he stops walking abruptly, I crash straight into him. “Sorry,” I whisper.
“You okay?”
“Yup.” I crane my neck around his frame. In the light of his torch beam, I see a big box that looks more like a shipping container than an elevator. “That’sthe elevator?”
“It is.” He punches a button on the side, and the big box rumbles to life, the electronic hum of a motor sounding from somewhere nearby.
When he slides open a series of gates and climbs into the elevator, I follow blindly, praying that this isn’t how I meet my end. As scared as I am, there’s also a pleasant lick of adrenaline stirring my blood. It’s that same lick Ihave before a particularly difficult client, only this feeling is more comfortable somehow.
“Stand away from the doors,” he instructs. When I do, he closes them again, enshrouding us in darkness, the only light coming from the small flashlight “It’s a little jarring at first. You might feel a small lurch. Okay?”
I nod, unable to force the words past my fear-thick tongue.
He pushes another two buttons inside. The elevator gives a little kick and a groan and then we’re moving upwards, my imagination playing out a very detailed montage of the wholeplummeting to deaththing.
“Don’t be scared.”
“This isn’t something I’ve done before.” In the dark, it’s like I canfeelthe ground getting further away. My feet are spread beneath me like an unseasoned sailor’s, my arms spread even though the ride is smooth.
When he walks to me, the elevator doesn’t jerk or sway under his weight. It continues on its way, undisturbed. “Just don’t think about the height.” Turning me around, he puts both his arms around my waist, locking me in place in front of him so that my back settles against his chest, my legs against his legs.
“Don’t say the H word.”
“Okay,” he promises, but I catch the deep chuckle as it reverberates through his chest.
We stand like that for what can only be a minute. Sixty seconds. But every second that passes pulls my awareness away from the ground, higher and higher until I am intimately conscious of the shape and feel of his body around mine. He’s so much larger, so much harder compared to me. His arms are strong and muscular. I can feel him beneath the fabric of his shirt—hair and skin and the hot flow of blood—and it excites me.Heexcites me.I feel as if I could stay right there, suspended in time, a thousand feet above the air, forever.
