Prologue
A WHILE AGO
(Maya)
The elevator doors opened.
I took a deep breath and saw nobody standing outside the doors.
My eyes looked to the buttons.
I needed to get to the top floor. Like ASAP.
I stepped forward to peek out and see if someone was there or if a ghost hit the button and was already in the elevator with me.
Great, Maya, just what you need. As if elevators aren’t crammed and creepy as it is… now you’re going to think a ghost is with you.
I leaned forward and the doors started to shut.
A hand appeared, grabbing the doors, pushing them back open.
I froze in place and looked up at…
“Wow.”
That’s what I whispered when I saw him.
He was tall. In a nice shirt that hugged muscle that wasn’t afraid to be known it existed. His hand around the elevator door was so big. Thick, strong fingers. A large watch on his wrist.
The smell of his cologne blanketed me.
It wasn’t like other guys who I swore took baths in that stuff.
This smell was potent, yet inviting and subtle.
He looked down at me, a pair of reflective aviators on his face showing my reflection.
The good news was that my tongue wasn’t hanging out of my mouth.
The bad news was that I hadn’t moved, meaning I was blocking his way.
Now, to be fair, the guy could have picked me up with his pinky to move me.
But he stood there.
With his dark hair, nice tan, and aura of sex hovering around him.
“Going up or down?” he asked, grinning, knowing there was only one reason he would say something about going down.
“Uh, sorry,” I said. I stepped back. “I didn’t see you, then the doors opened…”
Each step I took back, he took one forward.
The doors slowly shut behind him and the elevator jerked and started to move.
He side stepped and turned his back to the rear of the elevator.
He lifted his sunglasses up and looked at me. “What’s your name, darling?”
“Uh… Maya.”
“Uh Maya,” he said. “I like that name.”
“It’s just Maya.”
“What are you doing on these elevators?”
“What are you doing on these elevators?” I asked, finally gaining enough mental capacity to talk properly. And flirt.
“I’m supposed to be somewhere,” he said.
“Me too.”
“That’s good,” he said. “We’re two people going someplace.”
“That’s what life is,” I said.
“You have a good attitude.”
“This isn’t a forever thing for me,” I said.
“Riding elevators?”
I smiled. “No. I’m starting a new job today. It’s not a forever job.”
“Ah,” he said. “What’s the gig?”
“Secretary,” I said. “Better than nothing.”
“Well, if this isn’t the forever thing, then what’s the real gig?”
I looked at the elevator.
I was almost at my floor.
He must have followed my eyes because he stepped forward and punched in the current floor to get the elevator to stop.
The doors opened and he stepped into the door path and blocked it.
“There,” he said. “So we can talk more.”
I let out a goofy sounding laugh as my cheeks turned red.
A man this hot? Talking to me? Wanting to keep talking to me?
I mean, I wasn’t ugly or anything. But I also wasn’t the type to wear some tight dress with my boobs crawling over the top. I wasn’t a fan of attention. And this guy oozed attention. And all of his attention was on me.
“What’s the dream, Maya?” he asked.
“I’m a writer.”
“A writer. That’s good. What do you write?”
“Books.”
“Mushy romance? Or wild porn stories? Whips and chains and candle wax… right?”
My face was red hot. “Not quite that.”
“You don’t like that?”
“That’s a little personal,” I said. “You could buy me a drink or dinner first.”
Go, Maya, go! Get that hot ass, girlfriend.
He took his sunglasses off and his eyes were a smoldering, melted chocolate color.
Fuck.
“Well, it is kind of early for a drink and dinner, Maya,” he said. He winked. “But you can keep talking. I like your voice.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I like your… voice.”
“I bet you’re liking more than my voice.”
“Oh? Confident?”
“I can see your eyes moving, darling,” he said.
“Maybe I should borrow your sunglasses then,” I said.
“Sure,” he said. “Here you go.”
He handed me his sunglasses and I put them on. “There.”
“You look good in those.”
I started to reach up to take them off and he waved a hand.
“Those are yours now,” he said. “I’ll get them back some other time.”
“What?”
He stepped back and slipped his hands into his pockets.
When he smiled, I felt warmth rush from my cheeks through my body.
Down, down, down…
Fuck.
The doors started to shut. “Wait. I don’t know your name! When can I meet you again?”
“Let’s let fate do its job, Maya,”