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“You’re impossible.”
“How are you this morning, Rainbow? You seem like you’re in an even better mood than usual.”
Urgh. Killing him would be illegal, if satisfying.
Although if anyone knew what she suffered around him, she was certain they’d forgive her. Surely, she’d be able to cop an insanity plea with the way he liked to torture her.
“My name is Aston, not Rainbow.”
She hated that nickname.
There was nothing rainbowlike about her.
And he damn well knew it.
“And obviously, I’m just peachy now that I’ve been doused in boiling hot coffee.”
“Boiling hot?” He frowned. “Did you burn yourself?” He reached for the top of her dress, as though he was going to start undoing the buttons that ran down the front.
She jumped back. “What are you doing?”
“Checking your skin for burns. Why aren’t you using a travel mug? That would have been way smarter.”
Now he was insulting her intelligence?
“I lent it to someone, not that it’s any of your business. And now, because you couldn’t even wait ten seconds for me to get out of the elevator before you barged on in, I’ll have to get changed. And I’m going to be late for work. So thanks.”
“Whoa, Rainbow, you’re the one who walked into me.” He held his hands up.
“I did not.” Had she, though? She’d had her gaze on her feet, which was pretty typical for her.
She’d learned a long time ago that it was better to keep her head down and her mouth shut—less chance of someone noticing her that way.
“You did. You bumped into me, spilled your coffee out of your mug, and then tried to blame me.”
Had she done that? Fudge. Maybe.
Crap. Now, she felt terrible for accusing him.
He leaned around her, hitting the button to open the elevator doors again. “Come on, you need to get out of those wet clothes before you get a chill.”
“I’ll wait until it comes back down.”
He shot her a look that, even with his glasses on, she could tell was filled with impatience.
“Get in, Aston.”
She scowled as she stepped into the elevator. Wait. How did he do that? She prided herself on not letting anyone boss her around. She was her own boss now.
But one deep command from him and suddenly, she was following him around like a lamb to the slaughter.
And yes, maybe she was being slightly dramatic.
Unease filled her, so she made sure that she stood as far away from him as possible.
“What’s wrong?” he asked with a grin. “Worried I’m going to bite?”
“Yep.”
“I promise, if I bite, you’ll like it.”
“Ew.” She made herself look disgusted, but the truth was that heat lit her from the inside out. What was up with this man that he could affect her like this?
That she could both dislike and be attracted to him?
Perhaps part of it was that she didn’t really dislike him . . . not deep down.
But she wasn’t going to admit that.
“Now, now. Don’t judge until you’ve tried it,” he chided.
“That will never . . . eek!” An embarrassingly high-pitched scream escaped her as the elevator suddenly stopped, the lights cutting out.
Shoot. Fuck. No.
Everything suddenly closed in on her. The darkness was so thick it felt like it was pressing in against her.
She couldn’t breathe.
There was no air in here.
Calm down, Aston. You’re being ridiculous.
“Hell,” Maxim muttered. “The landlord is going to get a fucking earful about this. I told him to get this piece-of-shit elevator serviced.” Something lit up. His phone. “No service. You got any, Rainbow?”
Got any . . . got any . . . she tried to think what he meant, but her vision zeroed in on his cell phone. Well, the light coming from it. She was trembling from a mix of fear and the chill of her wet clothes against her skin.
Her brain tried to figure out what he wanted.
“Rainbow? Why are you breathing like that?”
Like what? Like the way everyone else in the world breathed? But the words stayed trapped in her brain, unable to get them out because she couldn’t seem to take a decent breath.
Her lungs grew tight as the world around her disappeared.
All that existed was the light and him.
“Fuck, you’re having a panic attack.”
Was she?
Oh yeah. She was. She and panic attacks were old friends. Although it had been a few months since her last one.
Damn you, old trauma.
Bad enough that it had reappeared when she’d thought she was finally burying that crap down deep, but it had to reappear in front of him.
“Hey, Aston, you’re safe. I know this is scary, but I won’t let anything happen to you.”
What kind of bullshit was that? He couldn’t stand her, so why would he want to protect her? And it wasn’t like he could protect her if the elevator suddenly plummeted, plunging them to their deaths.
Fuck.
Her legs gave out on her and she slid down the elevator wall to sit on her ass.
