Page 5

She gives me a not-funny look. ‘Have I mentioned how tired I am?’

‘Right.’ I turn to the panel next to the buttons and pull open the door. There’s a phone withemergency use onlyemblazoned on the handle and a button for the alarm. I pick up the phone and push the button, and the noise cuts off as abruptly as it started.

Silence falls, and I swear I hear Holly sigh.

The phone is ringing in my ear as I settle back against the wall again, and I watch her surreptitiously out the corner of my eye. A female voice chirps a greeting and between the two of us, we quickly ascertain that this elevator isn’t going anywhere in a hurry, given the demands on emergency services at present.

I hang up, and Holly says, ‘Well?’

It’s impatient as hell, and I try not to be either insulted or turned on by her eagerness to be out of here. I know she wants to be back in her bed. But I also know there’s more than that going on. I know she doesn’t want to be trapped in here with me because she has a thing for me. And she’s frightened she might act on it.

A situation I certainly wouldn’t object to. We do have several hours to kill, after all. My dick is already on board with the idea.

‘They don’t know when they’ll be able to get here. Probably not for a few hours.’ She opens her mouth to interrupt, but I don’t give her an opening. ‘Services are already badly stretched. There are actual real life-and-death emergencies going on out there.’

I don’t need to tell her that, of course. As she’s fond of saying – she’s an ER doctor. She’s probably been dealing with them all night. ‘Two healthy people stuck in a large elevator for a few hours are not a priority.’

She huffs out a sigh. ‘Yeah.’ It’s the most dejectedyeahI’ve ever heard.

‘But they know, and they’ll get to us when they can, and she’s going to keep us up to date. And if the electricity comes back onand the elevator starts working again, she wants to know so she can cross us off her list.’

Holly nods, then slides down the back wall until she’s sitting. She bends her legs up, or at least I think she does. It’s hard to tell under all that bulk.

‘Sorry.’ I don’t know why I’m apologising. But she looks exhausted. Even in the reduced lighting I can see the tautness of the skin around her eyes. I hadn’t slept last night either. But I’d just been banging drums all night, not saving lives.

She drops her head back against the wall. ‘It’s not your fault.’

‘You have to work tonight?’

‘Nope.’ Her head rocks back and forth along the wall as she shakes it. Her eyes flutter closed. ‘Three days off.’

Which is probably just as well. I doubt she could get in tonight, anyway. For damn sure city officials won’t want her out there on the roads trying.

Covering the distance between us, I too slide down the wall to sit beside her, leaving a few feet between us. Her eyes, big and amber, blink open. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Sitting.’ I smile because the answer obviously irritates her.

‘There’s plenty of wall space.’

‘I thought you might like to lie down.’ I pat my thighs. ‘Horizontal is always better, and I’m reliably informed they make a very good pillow.’

She gives a soft snort and somehow, even though her head only comes to my shoulder, she manages to look down her nose at me.

‘I bet you have been.’

I laugh. ‘Just sayin’.’

She shuts her eyes again. ‘I’m a shift worker. I don’t need to be horizontal. I can sleep standing up. I can sleep at a desk or lying on a hard, cold floor. I could sleep hanging upside down like a bat if I had to.’

That’s an image I don’t need in my head right now. The things I could do to her in that position… ‘Have it your way.’

But she doesn’t answer, and, when I look closer, her lips have parted and there’s a slackness to them that tells me she’s fallen asleep. Impressive. She really can go to sleep anywhere. Even, apparently, mid-conversation.

It only takes a minute, though, before she starts to sag and slide towards me. She jerks briefly awake a couple of times, muttering as she rights herself, but eventually even that’s beyond her, and she slides all the way down.

I grab her before she face-plants into the floor and shuffle my ass towards her a little, sticking my leg under her head. She makes no protest, just squirms for a bit once she’s fully horizontal, her head shifting around into my lap. My cock appreciates her subconsciousness trying to find a position of comfort, but cracking wood is hardly appropriate in the situation.

I hold my breath and think of plunging my dick into a snow drift until she stops wriggling and relaxes into sleep. I have no idea why it’s so damn interested, anyway. She looks like a giant pig in a blanket. Not one curve or flash of skin exposed, just her pink little face amidst the lumpy duvet, a ratty pair of Uggs, and a pink pop-pom cap.