He reached for the button, then paused. Gods, how he hated that tight, square thing.
And the thought of being in it alone…
Looking around, he saw a flight of stairs. Without a second's hesitation, he headed for them instead.
Grace was trying to find Rachel's file in her briefcase when she remembered she'd left a couple of folders in her backseat.
"Where is my mind?" she snapped at herself. But then, she knew. Her thoughts were scattered between the two men who had completely altered her life.
Aggravated at herself for not being able to focus, she took her briefcase and followed after Julian.
"Where are you going, Dr. Grace?" Lisa asked.
"I left a couple of files in my car, too. I'll be right back."
Lisa nodded.
Grace went to the elevator. She was still rummaging through her briefcase in search of the missing files when the doors opened.
Without looking up, she stepped inside, and automatically pushed the lobby button.
It wasn't until the doors closed that she realized she wasn't alone.
Rodney Carmichael stood on the opposite side, staring at her.
"So, who is he?"
Grace froze as waves of fear and rage tore through her. She wanted to tear him to pieces! But even though he was small for a man, he was still a head taller than her.
And very unstable.
Hiding her rising panic, she spoke calmly. "What are you doing here?"
He curled his lip at her. "You didn't answer my question. I want to know whose clothes were in your house."
"That's none of your business."
"Bullshit," he shrieked. He was teetering on the brink of insanity, and the last thing she needed was for him to fall over it while they were trapped in the elevator. "Everything that concerns you is my business."
Grace tried to take control of the situation. "Now listen to me, Mr. Carmichael, I don't know you and you don't know me. I can't imagine why you're fixated on me, but I want it to stop."
He pushed the button to stall the elevator. "Now you listen to me, Grace. We're perfect for each other. You know it as well as I do. We were meant to be together."
"Okay," she said, trying to calm him down. "Let's discuss this in my office." She pressed the button to start the elevator.
He stopped it again. "We'll talk here." Grace took a deep breath as her hands started shaking. She had to get out of here without making him any angrier. "We'd be more comfortable in my office."
This time when she reached for the button, he grabbed her hand.
"Why won't you just talk to me?" he asked.
"We are talking." Grace inched toward the call box.
"I bet you talk with him, don't you? I bet you spend hours laughing and doing God only knows what with him. Now, tell me who he is."
"Mr. Carmichael-"
"Rodney!" he shouted. "Dammit, my name is Rodney."
"Okay, Rodney. Let's-"
"I bet he's had his filthy hands all over you, hasn't he?" He cornered her by the buttons. "How many times have you slept with him since you met me, huh?"
Grace trembled at the feral look in his beady eyes. He was slipping. She reached behind her to pick up the phone, but before she could get it to her ear, he grabbed it.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.
"You need help."
He smashed the phone against the buttons. "I don't need help. I just need you to talk to me. Do you hear me? I just need you to talk to me!" He punctuated each word by bashing the phone into the control panel.
Terrified, Grace watched as the phone splintered. Then, he started pulling at his hair.
"He's kissed you, I know he has." He repeated the words over and over again as he wrenched his hair out by the handfuls.
Oh, God! She was trapped with a lunatic.
And there was no way out.
Julian returned to Grace's office with her Palm Pilot. "Where's Grace?" he asked Lisa when he didn't find Grace at her desk.
"Didn't you see her? She went down to the car a few minutes after you left."
He frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. She said she left some files or something."
Before he could ask anything else, an attractive African-American woman walked into the office dressed in a conservative black suit and holding a briefcase.
She paused inside the doorway to kick off a shoe and rub her heel. "It's definitely a Monday," she said to Lisa. "I just had to walk up eight flights of stairs because the elevator is stuck between floors. Now what wonderful news do you have for me?"
"Hi, Dr. Beth," Lisa said cheerfully, running her hand down the book on her desk. "Your nine o'clock is with Rodney Carmichael." Julian went cold.
"Oh, no, wait," Lisa said, "that's Dr. Grace. Yours-" "Did you say Rodney Carmichael?" he asked. "Yeah. He called to reschedule." Julian didn't wait for her to finish. He tossed the Palm Pilot on Lisa's desk, then ran out of the office toward the elevator. His heart hammering, all he think of was getting to Grace as fast as he could.