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Looking back on it, I’d never be able to explain why the man, who not two seconds ago nearly made me wet myself with terror, suddenly feels like a safe thing to cling to, but my panicked animal brain doesn’t give a single flying fuck.
I don’t manage to move the mountain of a man closer to me—instead a ripping sound and a heavy metallic clonking on the floor suggests I’ve torn his cuffs.
“All right,calm down,”he rumbles, and some small part of me instantly does calm. However, it only amplifies my need to not be alone in the dark.
Sobbing unintelligibly, I take a step and bump against his body, again grasping at his suit in an attempt to get closer still.
McCain, possibly realizing I’m about to shred his expensive suit in my efforts to climb him like a monkey, quickly wraps an arm around my body and arms, immobilizing me against the bulk of his torso. “Breathe. It’s just a power outage.Calm yourself.”
Ooh, he’s warm.
I breathe in a lungful of his heady cologne, and instantly I begin to relax.Mm, he smells like… rum-spiced chai and a cozy sweater on a cold winter’s day.
I breathe again, about to bury my nose in his chest and shamelessly sniff him, when he mercifully releases his grip on me and takes a half-step back to fish his phone out of a pocket.
The shock of our separation and the faint light from his phone allows enough of my brain to reactivate that I finally realize what I’m doing.
God, Eve, you absolute psycho!
I jerk back until I hit the wall, suddenly wishing the damn elevator would plummet to the ground and take both of us to our deaths in the process.Mortifieddoes not begin to describe what I feel right now. What thehellwas that? He’s a stranger—no, worse than that—he’s my boss’ boss’ boss’ boss’ boss, and here I amsniffingthe man? What iswrongwith me?
“It’s McCain. Is the power out everywhere? Right. I’m stuck in the executive elevator, around third floor. I expect to be out in five minutes, tops."
A beat. And then, "I don’t care. Make it a priority.”
I grimace at the alpha barking orders into his phone—if I’d gotten a say, I’d have voted to bea lotnicer to the maintenance team currently holding our fate in their hands, but at least being stuck in here with the CEO should mean a swift rescue. Even if his manners are appalling.
McCain switches off his phone with an annoyed grunt, and the elevator is once again cast in complete darkness.
I draw in a shuddering breath and dig my nails into my palms in an attempt at keeping myself in check.Donotsniff that man, Eve. Sniffing random alphas willnotmake this situation any better!
“I’ve never met a grown woman this afraid of the dark.”
I don’t even care that he’s not so much as trying to keep the disdain from his voice; he’s talking, and for some idiotic reason, my brain finds it calming.
“I’m not.”
He scoffs. “My report and cufflinks would suggest otherwise.”
“I’m fine when it’s not in such a confined space hovering God-knows-how-many yards above the ground,” I bite.
I can practically hear his eyeroll, but he doesn’t say anything else.
The silence is awful. I know he’s in there with me; I can still smell him, still hear his slow breathing and sense his huge mass filling up the space, but the quietness makes my all-too trigger happy anxiety rear its head again.
I almost ask him about his Christmas plans at least five times in the long minutes we wait in silence, but despite my fervent wish that he’ll speak again and magic away this awful, clawing terror in my gut, I manage to restrain myself.
Eventually, when it’s definitely been more than five minutes and I don’t think I can take it anymore, I squeak, “How long did they say it’d take?”
“They didn’t.” He sounds agitated—waymore agitated than before, and I swallow thickly at the stutter at the base of my spine.
Angry alpha.I don’t care how civilized we all are, I dare anyone stuck in a tiny cube with a cranky alpha to not feel at least a sliver of primal unease.
Growling a low curse, he pulls out his phone and hits the redial button.
I hear the muted sound of the phone ringing, but it doesn’t connect.
“Fuck!” he snarls, hurling the device to the floor. The distinctivecrunchof dead electronics plunges us into darkness once more. “Goddammit!”
