An alarm?
Oh, my god.
This wasn’t some technical glitch. It was a real-life emergency. Something had happened. Something really bad. Faintly, I could hear hurried steps, some of them pounding, but none of them seemed to stop near the elevators. Everyone would forget about the two people stuck in the elevator, because they had more pressing issues to attend to—like saving themselves. The alarm continued to blare in the distance.
To my utter shock, a whimper escaped my throat as fear consumed me.
“Oh, God.” My voice came high-pitched, reflecting the dark thought that kept circling in my mind.
I’m going to die.
The thought hit me so hard a wave of dizziness rushed over me. But, at twenty-two, I was too young for my demise, particularly because I hadn’t even started to live my life yet. I had struggled through college while amassing a vast student loan debt that had kept me strapped for cash for years.
How ironic would it be if the one job I had thought would be the answer to my prayers might just kill me?
The thought of being stuck in a confined space, missing the most important interview of my life while dying from oxygen depletion, was too much. Suddenly, my breathing quickened, and my pulse began to race hard and fast.
I realized the whizzing sound echoing in my ears wasn’t a result of my frayed nerves but a noise coming out of my mouth.
“I think I’m having a panic attack,” I whispered.
“We’ll be all right,” the guy said, and this time I noticed how smooth and deep his voice was.
Sexy, with the slightest hint of a rumble to it.
Maybe my other senses were sharpened in the darkness, or we were indeed running out of oxygen and my brain was slowly starting to play tricks on me, but in the confined space I could smell him clearly. Not just his aftershave, but him—the man who couldn’t see me. The only person who would witness my untimely death.
“I’m not sure.” I choked on my voice. “What if no one comes?”
“What’s your name?” Sexy Voice said.
“Lauren, but everyone calls me Laurie,” I whispered.
Something warm brushed my shoulder, instantly raising goose bumps across my arm, and trailed down my arm until it touched my hand. Strong fingers clasped around my hand and squeezed, not hard enough to hurt me, but the motion helped me regain some of my composure, and make me realize that I wasn’t alone.
“Okay, Laurie. This is likely just a temporary glitch. You need to calm down.”
I was calm, wasn’t I?
I’d opened my mouth to tell him that when the air whizzed out of my lungs in a hot swoosh. It sounded like someone was whistling, and not in a pretty way. And there I had thought it was the sound of the elevator, when it had been me all along.
“I can’t,” I whispered. “I can’t breathe. I feel like I’m choking.”
To my dismay, I started shaking and my breathing came faster.
“You’re hyperventilating,” Sexy Voice said, increasing the pressure of his grip. “I need you to breathe with me. Okay, Laurie?” He inhaled and exhaled deeply, his hot breath caressing my skin, and I realized just how close he was standing. Under normal circumstances, too close for comfort.
Only, these weren’t normal circumstances.
Staring blindly ahead, I followed his instructions, inhaling with him, holding my breath, and then exhaling again.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me, as tears pricked the corners of my eyes.
“We can’t even call for help. If we’re stuck in here for a whole day, we’ll die,” I whispered.
“No.” His tone was sharp. Defiant. “People know we’re in here. Security is calling for help this instant.”
“You don’t know that,” I muttered.
“Trust me. I do.”
I wanted to believe him so badly my whole body hurt from the effort. But, for some reason, his words rang empty and senseless. “People can die in elevators. I read about it last week.”
“Not us. Not today.” His hands began to rub up and down my arms, as though to soothe me, but the motion only managed to send a layer of ice down my spine.
For a while, we just stood there, rivulets of sweat running down my spine. The whole space, as small as it was, had the temperature of a sauna.
“It’s so hot,” I whispered. “I really can’t breathe.”
“You can do it, Laurie. Focus on my voice. Focus on taking slow, deep breaths through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. That’s all that matters now. Nothing else.”
I forced more air into my lungs, but even though oxygen reached my brain, somehow it didn’t have the desired calming effect on me. “The funny thing is, I’m not ready to die,” I said weakly, squeezing his hands for support.