Going Down: The Elevator Series (7 page)

I coughed as loud as I could to stop her from talking. It worked, but she seemed more irritated than ever.

“Ms. Carrington
, Cole will be your right hand from now on”

Cole certainly took over some of my right hand’s duties a few hours ago.

I made no move to further acknowledge either of them, so Maggie soldiered on . “Well, against my better judgment, I will leave you two to get acquainted. Mr. Danvers, please don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything you need.”

“Ms. Vincent, please call me Cole. And thank you so much for helping me get everything set up this morning.”

I remained immobile, my eyes still glued to my desk. The less I moved, the less they could see me, I foolishly reasoned.

“It was my pleasure, Cole, and you can call me Maggie. We’re like a family here. We think everyone should be welcomed into the fold and treated with courtesy and respect.”

I didn’t have to look up to know the last comment was directed at the top of my hat. She offered us both a good-bye and left us in silence as she closed the door.

Being a normal person, Cole broke the silence first. “Ms. Carrington, can I just say it’s a real pleasure?” He paused, but I didn’t dare look up. “Oh, did you know your tape dispenser is on the floor? Let me get that for you. I think we’re going to make a great team, with me working under you.”

I started to choke on air, coughing with such violence I was in danger of hocking up a lung. He ran around my desk and began thumping me on the back, but I waved him off. I leaned over, reached into the trusty bag stowed under my desk, and pulled out a bottle of water. I downed half of it in one pull.

“Are you all right?” Cole asked, rather alarmed.

I laid my forehead on my desk. “Not even a little bit,” I answered into the wood. This day was not exactly going to plan.

Cole started to say something, but was interrupted by my door swinging open and banging against the adjacent wall.

Oh good, a visitor. This day just keeps getting better.

I didn’t even lift my head to see who it was. Unless it was a ninja coming to rescue me it didn’t really matter anyway.

“Cici, babe.” an obnoxious male voice called as someone approached my desk.

Barry.

I really hate Karma right now. I wish I could kick it in the nut sac.

“I got us front row tickets to the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island and don’t make up some excuse about having standards because—Hey, are you going to the beach today? Can I go? I’ll bring my laptop.”

I prayed that if I just sat here silently long enough, face down on my desk, everyone would leave.

“Cici, babe, are you sick?” I could feel Barry’s revolting presence inside my personal space.

Clearly, my Good Luck Cat and his lying liar of a fortune cookie were no longer answering my prayers. Barry was one of those people who somehow coasted through life, defying the odds of natural selection. Despite English being his first language, he couldn’t seem to grasp my plainly worded rebuffs of his frequent advances. The concept that he wasn’t the best the human race had to offer eluded him. Even if I lived for a million years, his entrance couldn’t have come at a worse time. Taking advantage of my catatonic state, he snatched the hat from my head and spun my chair around, causing the sunglasses to fly off. With unnatural precision, the glasses pegged Cole square in the chest.

“This can’t be happening,” I breathed.

“You look really pale, sweet tits.” Barry sucked in his stomach and licked his teeth. “Do you want me to give you mouth-to-mouth? I saw a YouTube video, so I know how.”

Barry’s voice sounded a thousand miles away. All I could see was Cole as he recovered from taking my eyewear to the solar plexus. I could catalog the emotions as they flitted across his gorgeous face: confusion, shock, joy, more confusion, anger.
Oh no, it looks like he’s settled on anger.

“Cici?” Cole asked, confused yet incredulous.

I opened my mouth, but nothing brilliant spewed forth, so I closed it again. Barry was still rambling somewhere to my right.

“ ‘Sweet tits’? ‘Babe’?” Cole’s nostrils flared and his mouth pinched into a flat line as he glared back and forth between Barry and me.

Where’s a good sinkhole when you need one?

I attempted speech again, but only a sound akin to a dying moose came out.

Barry, who was still valiantly offering his oral services, noticed Cole for the first time. “Who are you?”

“Who am
I
? Who are
you
?” Cole stood taller while Barry picked something out of his teeth. Cole’s jaw was set in a way I could only assume meant he was furious. His hands flexed and balled into fists.

This is going so well.

The two started talking over each other, their voices escalating. Unable to elicit a coherent answer from Barry, Cole turned his attention to me.

Not good. Not good. Not good.

“Is there anything you would like to tell me, Cici? Or should I say,
Ms. Carrington
?”

After an interminable absence, my sense of self-preservation kicked in and my voice returned. Jumping up, I snapped, “Barry! Out!” I pointed to the door like I was sending an errant child to bed without dinner.

“Cici, honey—”

“Barry, if you value your life you will leave without another word.” He hesitated so I added, “Now!”

He slinked out, pouting and mumbling to himself, and closed the door behind him.

I had been waiting for a lightning bolt from the sky to tell me how to fix this. I would’ve even accepted a burning bush or a voice telling me to build and they will come, but it appeared I was on my own here. I stared at Cole staring at me. The tension in the room was so thick it felt like a third person. If one of us didn’t speak soon I’d have to name it and claim it as a dependent on my 1040.

“Um, hi.” I tried to will moisture into my mouth with no success. My IQ having dropped one hundred points in the last hour, I added a tiny wave to my greeting.

“
Hi
? Is this a joke to you, Cici?” His jaw was still tense and I could almost read his elevated heart rate from the vein in his forehead. He started pacing across the length of my office.

“Huh?” was the best response I could muster.

Oh good. I’m monosyllabic again. This really rounds out my morning.

“Am I the butt of some kind of sick office joke?” He ran his hands through his perfect hair as he started to pace. “Did you know who I was all along? I thought we had a real connection, but maybe that was just part of the new hire orientation. Tell me, does everyone get the Cici Carrington treatment?”

The last statement jarred me out of my muteness so fast I fell back in the chair. Briskly recovering, I lunged out of my seat and rounded my desk. If I couldn’t kick Karma in the nut sac I might as well settle for the next best thing.

“How dare you?” My enunciation was off the charts. “How dare you imply that I would put out for just anyone, particularly for someone as revolting as Barry! I didn’t know who you were until
after
I knew you in the biblical sense.” I descended upon him like a lioness on a gazelle. At least he had the decency to look afraid. “Furthermore,” I continued, “you were the first foreign invader of my castle in an embarrassingly long time. That was the best date I’ve ever had, and you had to go and ruin it by being my subordinate! Damn you and damn the way you wear a suit!”

I was getting extra irate because my body clearly missed the memo about how we hate Cole now. The man really could wear a suit. I’d like to rip off his pork sword and throw it out the window, but I think my lady bits would swan dive after it.

Ignoring the tingling sensation his proximity caused, I jabbed him in the chest with my index finger. “If you think for one minute—”

“Best date?” He grabbed my hand before I could finish my sentence. A smile spread across his face, making me want to slap him. Then bang him. My body might be more confused than my brain.

“What are you talking about?” I tried to maintain my angry demeanor. His change in tone had me off balance. He had insulted me, but I wasn’t exactly above reproach as I stood in my disguise after running away from him.

“You said our time together last night was the best date you’ve ever had.” He looked so young and blithe, caressing my hand.

In the blink of an eye I went from prowling lioness to embarrassed, timid girl. “I—I, well, yes. And then you—you with your working here nonsense.” I pulled my hand away from his so I could gesture appropriately without maiming anyone. “And I’m your—ugh! I’m not supposed to ride you like Seabiscuit, Cole!”

“Jesus, Cici! Is that what all this is about?” He gestured in a big arc to encompass the discarded remnants of my foolproof disguise. “You’re worried about us working together?”

“Of course, Cole!” My shrill voice surfaced again. “I don’t want to lose my job! I don’t want you to lose yours! I would be doomed to a life of robbing liquor stores and ripping the tags off pillows. I’d get caught for sure because I’m obviously no good at disguises. What happens when I go to prison? I can’t go to the Big House! They wear horizontal stripes, Cole! Horizontal!”

“Cici, calm down. I think it’s a little premature to worry about jail time just yet,” he said soothingly as he took my hand again. “You might be overreacting just a tad bit.”

“I have Netflix, Cole. I know what happens in prison. I won’t last a day—”

My hysterical ramblings were cut short by his mouth on mine. My hands instinctively latched onto his hair so I could pull his face closer and deepen the kiss. He responded with equal fervor, grabbing my hips and melding us into one. Spinning us slightly, he lifted me up by the ass and deposited me on the edge of the desk. Never breaking the kiss, he moved between my legs, grinding his hardened manhood into my center.

I probably should’ve told him he’d placed me on top of my stapler, and I’d likely have
Swingline
tattooed on my backside forevermore, but I couldn’t find the will to stop. There were a lot of things I couldn’t find in that moment: My anger, my fear, my hesitancy.

“Cici.” He pulled away, panting.

“Huh?” I was still in a lust-induced haze.
Oh good. Eloquent Cici is back in the house.

“I’m sorry.” He did that thing again where he looked me in the eyes and I felt like I was in my birthday suit.

I could hear the words, but was unable to process them as his oral skills had disengaged my brain again.

“For earlier,” he said in response to my confused look. “My comments were out of line. I apologize. I’m just a little out of my depth here. I met this great woman who ran off before I could get her number, then my new boss turns out to be the aforementioned mystery woman, but there’s some pathetic guy pawing all over her, and well, it’s been a very confusing morning.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled. “I believe the apology line forms behind me. I’m sorry for damn near everything. I think we’re both out of our depth, but maybe we can figure it out together?” I put my hand on his face and he leaned into it. “Why don’t we just forget this entire exchange this morning?”

His lascivious smile came back with a vengeance. “The
entire
exchange, Cici?” He kissed across my jaw and down my neck. “There were some portions of this day that I really liked.”

I could feel how much he liked it, and I wanted to explore this topic in great detail. My legs wrapped around his hips of their own accord.

“Cici!” Maggie’s voice shrieked from the phone intercom.

I jumped about a foot in the air and only remained vertical because Cole was still holding me. He actually appeared completely unfazed by the interruption and continued lavishing my neck with attention.

“Can I unbutton this?” he whispered as he moved his hand to the top button of my blouse and then nibbled my earlobe.

It was like his mouth was an EMP blast to my brain. I knew there was some reason we shouldn’t be doing this, but I would worry about that later. “Yes, please,” I moaned.

He unfastened the top three buttons and followed the descent with his lips. I was panting harder than an asthmatic in a marathon.

“Ciciiiiii!” My phone literally vibrated on the desk from the volume of Maggie’s caterwauling.

I leapt again like the guilty tramp I was and spun to hit the intercom button. “What?” I growled into the phone.

“Don’t ‘what’ me! Aren’t you supposed to be in a presentation? You remember, the one you’ve been carrying on about for two weeks now? A bunch of suits are sitting in the conference room. Where is your head today? What are you doing?”

“Nothing!” I yelped.
Smooth
.

Maggie didn’t even have the decency to muffle her huff. “Cici, don’t you ‘nothing’ me! Can you put your game face on and get your ass down here?”

“Yes, Mom,” I retorted.
Good job, Cici. That will show her.

“Smart ass. You didn’t run Cole off with your insanity, did you?”

I looked back at the gentleman in question with his carnal grin, his hands still gripping my hips. “Nope. He’s definitely still here,” I replied dryly.

“Well, do whatever you have to do to make him feel welcome. I mean it.”

Cole winked at me and massaged his hand along my thigh. “Now get your ass down here. Oh, and so help me God, if you’re still wearing that hat they will never locate your body. Over and out.”

“Damn it, Maggie! How many times do I have to tell you this is an intercom, not a CB radio? I don’t care how often TBS reruns
Smokey and the Bandit
. No one talks like that in real life!”

“Quit bitching and just do your line, Cici.” Her voice was back down a few octaves.

I glanced back at Cole and his lascivious grin had been replaced with a shit eating one. He mouthed; “
Line
?” but I ignored him. His hands still roamed freely over the lower half of my body, making it very hard for me to focus.

“Maggie, I have work to do. Good-bye.” I let go of the intercom button and cringed, knowing what was coming.

“Damn it, Cici, do your line!”

I knew Maggie wouldn’t let this go, so I swallowed my pride and capitulated.