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‘Doesn’t it?’ I murmur shortly, so easily provoked into outrage all over again. ‘What? Don’t tell me you’re some poor little rich boy now seeking my sympathy?’
The curve of his mouth deepens. ‘Right now I’ll take anything I can.’
I shake my head. ‘You’ve got enough from me already.’
‘Oh, I disagree,’ he counters softly.
I glare at him but at the same time I’m almost helplessly drawn to him. He’s more good-looking than most. Honestly, he’s more everything than most.
‘I’m glad you’ve finished work early. Now I’m allowed to talk to you,’ he adds.
‘Allowed?’ I echo. ‘As if you pay attention to the rules anyone else abides by?’
‘You really think you have me nailed, don’t you?’
The most appalling flush swamps me. I’m so hot I can’t even swallow. It’s a replay of that moment in the storeroom when I stood too close to him and he held me against him and time stilled.
An ominous clunking sound breaks the searing spell between us and the cabin sways awkwardly. Startled, I glance out of the window. Usually the view is spectacular when the moon and stars cast a glow over the lake but tonight the celestial elements are obscured by clouds. That clunk is replaced by a sharp metallic screech.
I’ve no idea how long we’ve been in the cabin or how far we’ve descended but I know we have to be some distance from the bottom still. Meaning we’re suspended above a rocky mountainside and if the cable breaks we’ll smash down and likely won’t live. Just then the sky lights up—yet illuminates nothing. The lightning just bounces back from the thick cloud. The storm has hit sooner than predicted.
‘I—’
The cabin light flickers before cutting out completely.
‘Um...’ Dain pulls his phone from his pocket.
As he studies the screen I hear his smothered curse.
‘We’ve lost reception,’ he says.
‘It doesn’t seem like there’s power in town,’ I mutter, pointlessly peering out of the window.
I hear the wind whistling around us. How did I not hear it pick up so much during the descent? I’ve been too distracted by him. But this is a major problem. We’re suspended in a tin can, high above a jagged mountain in a major weather event. My pulse skitters.
‘You feeling okay?’ His query is soft.
I nod, then realise he can’t see me but even in this darkness he’s sensed my rising nerves. I don’t want to think about how far we could fall. How we’d smash to smithereens. ‘Yeah,’ I lie. ‘Are you?’ I squeak.
‘I’m hanging in there.’
I smile weakly. ‘Tragic attempt at a pun.’
He turns his phone’s torch on, sits it between us and smiles at me. It’s a gorgeous smile and it humanises him and with him half hidden in the dark he feels more accessible.
‘I feel wobbly,’ I say. ‘Like the ground has vanished beneath my feet.’
My joke is even more feeble but it’s better to challenge my brain to come up with puns instead of staying fixated on his attractiveness. But my brain does that anyway. Relentlessly.
There’s another sudden jolt and the cabin sways in a way it isn’t supposed to. I draw a sharp breath. Dain’s phone slides off the seat and lands on the floor, lighting the corner instead of us. He doesn’t move to retrieve it. Instead he puts his hand on mine. I’m so unashamedly grateful I twist my fingers to grasp his and cover his wrist with my other hand. Just like that I’m clinging and I don’t care.
‘It might take some time for them to get power back online,’ I worry.
‘There isn’t a generator?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t usually work up there. I was just helping out a friend.’
‘You enjoy your work?’ he asks calmly.
