Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Wait, no.
It was an elevator car. I turned around to watch him pull the metal gate closed, making the old hinges whine in protest. His smile was more pleased than friendly, and I swallowed hard. He looked at me as if sarcastically wishing me luck before moving off.
It was then that I realized I wasn’t alone in the elevator.
Chapter 5
Like everyone else, the woman wore black. Her strapless corset was glossy, cinched tightly at her slender waist, and decorated with tiny buckles and a zipper down the front. Her pleated miniskirt barely existed, exposing her perfect long legs trapped in fishnet stockings. I dragged my gaze away and back up, focusing on the pretty face beneath the long strands of electric-pink hair.
She wrapped a hand around the brass handle attached to the wall and pushed it down, causing the elevator door to slide shut and seal us in together.
Shit, she was the kind of gorgeous that made a person’s heart go out of rhythm—or at least mine.
As she straightened, she brushed a lock of her pink hair back behind her ear, letting me catch a glance of the earpiece she wore. She was the first staff member of Void I’d noticed wearing one, but it made sense the operator would need it—the elevator looked like it had been installed before the first World War.
I shifted my attention to the placard beside the handle. It was faded and grimy, but I could read it enough to see the elevator went five floors up to the top of the turret and down to the basement level below the castle.
I’d expected the elevator to start moving . . . but it didn’t.
The girl didn’t move either. She didn’t say anything, and when I felt her staring at me, our gazes locked. Was there something familiar about her? No, there couldn’t be. We’d never met before—I was sure of it.
I would have remembered if we had.
She appeared to be in her late twenties, and although she had on sexy clothes and makeup, I had the strange feeling this wasn’t her. This was a costume—a part she was struggling to play.
Her gaze drifted away from mine, and her lips skewed to the side. Something was being conveyed to her in the earpiece, and judging by her reaction, it was an issue. She listened for a long moment, nodded, and then her attention swung back to me.
Her lips pressed into a bashful smile.
“Hey, so . . .” she started. “I’m sorry to break character, but I’m not really sure what else to do. We had a problem with the elevator before you got on, and now we’re behind schedule.” She gestured to her earpiece. “I’m being told we need to hold here until I get the all clear to proceed.”
I nodded in understanding, trying to obey the rule of not talking.
The operator looked at me expectantly then shook her head at herself. “Oh, right. You’re not allowed to speak. I don’t usually interact with the guests.” She tossed a hand toward the brass lever then muttered under her breath, “I just operate this death trap of an elevator.”
The smile froze on her face. She’d clearly meant it as a joke but must have realized her audience.
“It’s not a death trap,” she added quickly. “And you can talk to me. I mean, we’re going to be here for a while, just the two of us. I don’t know what else we’d do.”
The baser part of my brain immediately came up with some ideas. I pictured her fishnet legs wrapped around my waist as I pressed her against the wall, capturing her lips in a scorching-hot kiss.
Whoa. Where the fuck did that come from? My leftover adrenaline was finding new places to go, and apparently it had gone straight under my zipper. I didn’t know a thing about this girl, other than she didn’t have a European accent.
At least that gave me a question to lead with.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“I live in Brooklyn now, but I’m originally from a small town outside Chicago. You?”
I lifted a distrusting eyebrow. “Chicago.”
She didn’t notice my suspicion, and her voice brightened with excitement. “Yeah? What part?”
“The north side.” I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I was purposefully vague. I was a generally skeptical person, and since she had an earpiece, it was possible she’d been fed information on me.
“I’m from Saint Charles,” she said.
“Small world.” My tone came out flatter than I’d meant it to, and I compensated by giving her a smile. “Is everyone on staff from the States?”
“Most of us, yeah.” She evaluated me with a quick head-to-toe glance. “How are you liking your evening so far?”
“It’s . . .” How did I even answer that? “It’s fine.”
She crinkled her nose in amusement, making her shift from stunning to adorable. “Just fine, huh?”