She pauses, looks up from her company-issued tablet, and bites her lip ring before responding.
“May I have access to the server room for a few minutes?”she asks.
I blink and will my mind to work as I yearn to taste her sweetness and feel the smooth metal between my lips again.When I finally rip my gaze away from her delicious mouth, I clear my throat and pull my collar away from my overheated flesh.
“The door auto locks and requires proper clearance to unlock from either direction after thirty seconds, and an alarm sounds if it remains open for—”
“Longer than fifteen minutes so the temperature remains below sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit.Yes, I know.I’ll be less than that.Promise,” she says.
I can’t erase my playful smirk.
“Of course you know, Ms.Miles.I’ll leave you to it, then.”
After scanning my badge and propping open the door, I step into her path before she ducks into the server room.She stops and cranes her neck to pierce my soul with her sparkling hazel eyes.
“Thank you, Penelope.”
Shock widens her eyes.
“What?Why are you thanking me?I haven’t done anything yet,” she says.
“You’ve done more than you know, pipsqueak,” I say through the emotions clogging my throat.
Seeing her so much like her old self is a balm to my soul, and after swimming in euphoria from our first kiss, I can’t even begin to name the emotions stampeding through me.Whatever she went through during our years apart, I yearn to heal her and help her flourish.Having her by my side is the most precious gift she could ever give me.
Her brows scrunch.I tuck her hair behind her ear and ghost my finger along her jawline before dropping my hand to my side.
She didn’t flinch.Hope and pride flow through me.
“I’ll see you upstairs in a few minutes,” I murmur before stepping out of the doorway.
I stride down the aisle and peek back at her as I turn the corner.Her puzzled stare fills me with mirth.With an exaggerated movement, I check my watch.
“Fourteen minutes and twenty seconds,” I announce.
She jumps and starts forward while mumbling under her breath.The blush on her cheeks makes me want to rush back and pull her into my arms for another drugging kiss, but I exit into the hall and force myself back into the elevator.I retrieve a clean suit coat and tie from my office, change in my private bathroom, then ride to the floor with the board’s preferred conference room.
Work consumes my attention.The meeting runs for over an hour, and afterward I spend time with a smaller group to delegate more specific tasks.When I finally return to my office, almost three hours have passed.
Penelope isn’t at her desk, but I respond to a few pressing emails before stepping out onto the main floor and asking her whereabouts.
When I realize no one has seen her since the impromptu meeting after lunch, instinctual panic floods my veins.Alarm bells ring in my head as I replay her promise.She should be back.If she’d decided to stay in the main equipment room longer than anticipated, she would have contacted someone to let them know.No matter what, she wouldn’t keep the door to the server room open beyond the fifteen minutes, and she wouldn’t stay inside knowing she couldn’t get out.
Right?
Sixty-five degrees isn’t deadly, but she wasn’t dressed for the chill.
I rush to my desk, push my chair aside, and type my pin onto my keyboard as my body skids to a halt.As quickly as my oversized hands can work the mouse and keyboard, I pull up the security feed to the main equipment room.
Penelope isn’t there.The doors are shut, all the electronics seem in working order, and the chairs are pushed under the tables, so I move the mouse to check the hallway, but a black shape under the desk catches my attention.I squint and move closer.
The strap of Penelope’s bag dangles from the seat of the nearest chair.A shadow moves behind the tinted viewing glass of the server room.
Adrenaline floods my veins.My heart pounds in my ears.
Mr.Thomas calls my name, but I push past him and shoulder through the door to the stairwell.Taking the steps three at a time, I sprint down to the proper floor and yank the door open so hard and fast it slams into the wall.The sound reverberates through the stairs and hall like a gunshot.I scan my badge, dart through the main equipment room, and fumble with the door handle to the server room until it opens.
Penelope sits curled in a ball on the floor with her back against the nearest tower.Pale and shivering, she breaks my heart by lifting terror-glazed eyes at me.
