And now, after a regular workday where he hadn’t shown up, she wondered for the billionth time where he was. She imagined that he was back in the Keys, but she wasn’t at all sure. A tiny, ridiculous feminine hurt tried to rear its ugly head, but Maria refused to let it take hold. Her therapy to keep her mind from him was to stay busy, and that’s exactly what she’d done all day.
Staying busy hadn’t been a problem, with electrical problems blacking out part of the building, causing temporary chaos and meaning that she’d ended up stretched to the limit. She’d give anything right now for a scented bath, some candles and some alone time, and certainly being alone seemed to be on her agenda, as Garrett still hadn’t shown up yet.
So now, as she was riding the service elevator up to her suite after her long stressful day, she was attempting to keep at bay the claustrophobia she always felt when she stepped into an elevator. She was alone inside, and she watched the numbers rise while she tried to breathe steadily. You can do it this, Maria. Remember, you do it every single day.
Just as she thought she had the fear conquered, the elevator came to an abrupt stop with a grinding lurch, and the lights went off. In an instant, she was transported back to the dark shed of her terrifying childhood experience; logic went out of the window. Her heart started pounding, and she practically choked on her own breath, debilitating panic overcoming her as terror wrapped around her and gripped her in waves, refusing to let go.
Chapter Seven
Garrett walked into the hotel that evening just as one of the maintenance workers shouted across the lobby. Annoyance was his first feeling, wondering why in the hell the man would break from protocol and send a possible upset through any guests who might be within earshot.
Already anxious to see Maria, he glanced around, knowing instinctively that if there were a problem in her hotel, she’d be right in the midst of it all. When he saw another maintenance man join the first, with still no sign of Maria, he walked over to them. “What’s going on?”
The first man, the one who’d shouted, was a much older, no-nonsense looking guy with a nametag that read ‘Dan’ on his coveralls. “The elevator doors are stuck.”
“Any guests on it?” Garrett asked.
“No. Service elevator. “ Dan answered shortly, turning away abruptly as if he didn’t have time for questions.
The slight insubordination hit Garrett the wrong way; there was no question that the employees here knew that he owned the place. “Then why exactly would you shout across the damn hotel like the place is on fire? You purposely trying to upset the guests?”
The man turned back with fire in his eyes, “Because Maria’s on it, that’s why. And that’s all I give a shit about at the moment, not the hotel and not the guests.” The words were pissed, as if someone was trying to slow him down from saving his own child.
At Maria’s name on the other man’s lips, Garrett reared back as if he’d taken a hit. “Is she okay?”
“Hell, no. The girl’s got the worst case of claustrophobia I’ve ever seen. And she’s been stuck in there by herself for a good twenty minutes already.”
“Claustrophobia?” Why the hell hadn’t he known she had claustrophobia?
“Damn near debilitating. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get her out of there, okay?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Fine, let’s go.”
The men vaulted up the stairs and worked on getting the doors open with a vengeance that was telling. The people here loved Maria, that had been more than obvious to Garrett since the day he’d arrived, and now, they worked like madmen to release her from her confinement.
When the doors finally opened, Garrett almost lost it at the sight that greeted him. Maria was sitting in the back corner, on her butt with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her head was bent forward, her face pressed tightly against her knees with her eyes screwed closed, and tears were streaming down her pale cheeks. Her shoes were off and lying beside her, her hair was a tangled, damp mess, and she was moaning in the back of her throat, rocking her torso forward and then back again.
“Goddammit,” he barked, making an immediate move for her. Before he could take two steps forward, Dan put a proprietary hand on his arm, indicating that he’d be the one to see to her first.
Rage, unlike anything he’d ever felt before, boiled up from Garrett’s throat and clawed itself out in a display of emotion that, had he retained a bit of sanity, would have astonished him. With a move that pushed the older man back against the elevator wall, Garrett snarled, “Back the fuck off. Understand me, old man? She’s mine. My woman, my responsibility.”