I’m breathing heavily. I don’t like the dark. It’s making me nervous.
“Let’s get you upstairs.” Cannon jumps down from his side of the SUV and comes around to mine.
By the time he opens my door, I haven’t moved an inch. I’m still ramrod straight, practically hyperventilating, the seatbelt still securing me.
He reaches across me to unfasten the belt and picks up my backpack from the floorboard.
I grab it before he can remove it from the car.
He releases it and offers me a hand. “You’re safe here, Eloise,” he repeats.
I take his hand and let him help me out of the car, hugging the backpack against my chest. For some reason, it’s like a lifeline. It’s all I have in the world. This isn’t the first time I’ve clung to this bag as though it were the only thing tethering me to Earth. I’m actually surprised no one has ever taken it from me. With my luck, somewhere along the line, someone could have tossed it into a fire pit and laughed while my only personal belongings burned.
Cannon guides me to an elevator and pushes the button. He turns to me while we wait. “I live on the fourteenth floor,” he reminds me. “This elevator is designated for the fifteenth and sixteenth, so we’ll take it up and walk down one floor. That way we won’t encounter anyone.”
I say nothing. I’m trembling. I hug my bag with one hand and tug on my shirt collar with the other. I really hate the dark. There are plenty of lights on, but I’m still bothered. Or maybe it’s more a matter of claustrophobia from being underground. What I really hate is that I can’t see out.
Cannon keeps a hand on the small of my back as we enter the elevator and keeps it there all the way up. When we exit, I see a woman at a desk through a glass door, but Cannon turns me toward the stairwell and opens it. “One floor down, and then we’ll be home.”
Home… What a weird word. It has no meaning to me.
He doesn’t rush me in the stairwell, but I want out of it almost as badly as I wanted out of the garage and the elevator. He told me four of his coworkers live on this floor, and sure enough, there are four doors in the hallway.
Seconds later, we’re inside his apartment.
I blow out a long breath when I see that one wall of the great room is mostly glass, and it’s still daylight outside. It eases my panic. I move directly toward the windows. I need to see out.
Cannon follows me. “Sometimes I forget to pay attention to the view,” he says. “The city has become a backdrop to me. I rarely stand and look out anymore. I used to when I first moved in.”
“It’s alive,” I whisper.
“The city? Yeah, I guess it is.”
I can’t imagine ever growing tired of looking out this expanse of windows. I love the view already. It makes me feel like a voyeur in other people’s lives. They’re all hurrying down the sidewalk below like ants. Each on their own mission. I could stand here and make up stories about where they’re going and live vicariously through them.
I’ve never been in a building like this. I’ve seen them on television, but that’s not the same as witnessing it myself.
“I have a guest room you can use, Little one. Do you want to see it? Maybe you’d like to take a shower or a bath?”
I glance at Cannon. “Alone?”
His brows furrow. “Uh, yes? I can’t tell if that idea relieves you or upsets you.”
I turn back toward the window. “I don’t know,” I say softly. It’s true. I don’t have a clue why I asked. I was just curious.
“Eloise, things are going to be awkward between us for a while because we don’t know each other. We’ll talk and learn things about one another, and then it will be more relaxed.”
“Do you want to sleep with me?” I ask bluntly. I need to understand what his motives are. Before he can answer, I turn to him. “Why did you bring me here?”
Cannon leans against the window and crosses his arms. “First of all, I brought you here because you need help, and I’m capable of providing it. That’s the most important thing. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not attracted to you. I’d have to be blind not to be. Not your looks exactly, but your soul. It calls to me. I’m magnetically drawn to you in about ten different ways. Yes, I’m interested in you beyond the altruistic aspects. But I’m a good guy, Eloise. I would never presume or pressure you in any way.
“So, your questions are loaded. I want you to be safe. I will make sure of it. I want you to learn to trust me and open up to me. I want to know what you’re so afraid of, who you’re running from, and the details of your life so far. I would never take advantage of you or rush you or try to convince you to feel things you’re not feeling. For now, you’re here as my guest. I want you to be safe, fed, clothed, and housed.”
He’s so sincere that I believe him. “Okay.”
He nods across the room.
I turn and look around. I was so focused on the window that I didn’t pay attention to anything else when we entered. Now, I take in his apartment. It’s huge. We’re standing in a giant room that’s both a living room and a kitchen. One side has a large kitchen island and a table and chairs. The other side has a sectional that would easily seat eight people, I think. It’s facing the biggest television I’ve ever seen.
