She nodded but couldn’t speak or bring herself to let go of his hand as he reached over with his other hand to push the emergency contact button on the brass panel. She looked down at his hand holding hers; she’d never touched his hand so intimately and was surprised at the hard feel of his hands. Where would a man who spent his life in offices and meetings manage to get calluses?
A few moments later a male voice acknowledged their call and assured them that the engineer would be dispatched immediately.
“I guess we wait then.” Her voice still trembled slightly.
“Hmm, better make ourselves comfortable.”
She gulped as he dropped her hand and pulled off his suit jacket to spread it out onto the floor and gestured for her to sit.
He joined her on the floor of the lift and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his tanned, toned forearms and a vintage watch with a black alligator leather strap.
She’d often wondered how he managed to have such a trim, highly toned body. Even through his custom-made designer suits she couldn’t help but notice his fine physique. No woman could and she’d been aware of it since she was twelve and hormones had flooded her body. But Jumal always seemed to be at work, never taking much time off save for his passion for riding his horses and horse racing. Surely you couldn’t get a body like his from just riding horses? Did that have something to do with the calluses on his hands?
Good, she decided, this was a great distraction—thinking about his magnificent body stopped her from focusing on how completely freaked out she was being stuck in here. In this dark, windowless coffin. She swallowed again nervously and shook her head to clear her thoughts. On the downside it was making her rather hot and bothered and she was already starting to notice how warm the small, enclosed space was getting before thinking about her boss.
Oh crap, how long would the air last?
Her dive into a full-blown panic attack was postponed as she became acutely aware that Jumal’s forearm was now brushing up against hers. Had she ever been more aware of another person’s body innocently touching hers and causing shivers? If she had she couldn’t recall and damn it but he was most likely completely unaware of the effect he was having on her—unless of course he could hear how fast her heart was suddenly racing…
“How are you?” he asked, nudging her arm gently.
She blushed and answered somewhat unconvincingly, “What, oh er yeah I’ll be fine.” As soon as I stop thinking about your hot bod.
He wasn’t fooled by her response. He knew she was distressed and needed a distraction.
“So what did Matt do to you exactly?” Hmm, he chastised himself silently, great distraction there, Jumal—make her talk about the reason she’s claustrophobic—genius. You should think about running your own international company.
“We were playing hide-and-seek—or rather I’d nagged him to play with me and he eventually gave up and told me to go and hide. I had the perfect spot all picked out in the attic, an old wardrobe that hadn’t been used for years. You know, like something from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; anyway he knew exactly where I’d gone and locked me in using a brush through the handles. I screamed for him to let me out but he’d gotten distracted when some girl had called round for him and he went out. Forgot about me. It was hours before they finally found me.” She rubbed her arms in comfort.
“How old were you?” he asked.
“Five.”
“Jesus.” He clenched his fists at his sides.
She offered a tight-lipped smile and tsked. “Well you can imagine how that went down. I know he meant to let me out after a while. He was so upset but since then…” she paused and he sensed a cold shiver reverberate through her body “…I’ve never liked confined spaces, but fifty floors up is fifty floors up and I’m not that much of a fitness freak so…” He felt her shrug her shoulders.
Jumal quickly calculated that Matt would have been about eighteen. The same age as you’d have been, he reminded himself needlessly. Next time he saw his friend, he’d have a thing or two to tell the fool, but she interrupted his thoughts.
She chuckled softly and he glanced over to watch her face. “You should have seen Mrs H chasing him around the