Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

J une 18 TH

One month of work/life bliss. Until today. Until Timothy West. I am determined to find a way to work with him, or I might scream. He’s so arrogant. He’s so demanding. He’s such a prick. He even mansplains to me, my ultimate ick. I want to tell him off, but one of us has to be professional, even if we are enemies.

Paige had ditched the crutches two weeks earlier. Work had been going great. She’d pitched her first book club book to Jack who’d actually called Kendrick and Amanda into the meeting to discuss drinks big on the club scene right now in order to find just the right one.

They’d come up with the perfect pairing, and it was going to launch next week. But now, it was time to meet with Timmy to set the final plans for the launch of Mimi’s book in August. It was time to plan book signings, TV appearances, and to show him the media campaign. Timmy had tried to schedule the appointment with Jack, but Jack refused the call and told Amanda to forward each call and email from him to Paige. Eventually, Timothy West, a top agent under thirty, got the hint, however reluctantly.

“Everything is set up in the conference room,” Kendrick told her. “And Mr. West has arrived in the lobby.”

Paige stood up and ran her hand down the front of the navy A-line dress. Her hair was up in a twist, she was wearing her best fake pearls, and she was ready to impress the hell out of that cocky agent.

Paige took the elevator up to the conference room on the top floor of the Griffin Building. Their offices were on the floor below, but the top floor was meant to impress and it did. Mahogany wood, floor-to-ceiling windows, marble flooring. This floor housed board meetings, author and agent meetings, and press interviews.

Paige got off the elevator as Kendrick walked ahead of her to make sure the room was perfect. Paige turned, and only seconds later, the second elevator opened.

“Mr. West,” Paige greeted, only for him to hold up his finger and shush her.

“I don’t care what they say. They’re publishers, not agents. They don’t know the first thing about film rights.” It was then Paige noticed the earbud.

Mr. West strode right into the largest conference room, never once looking at her.

“Should I tell him that’s not the room we’re meeting in?” Kendrick asked.

“No. He’ll figure it out sooner or later.” Paige turned and headed for the more intimate conference room she’d set up for their meeting and took a seat.

“What do you want me to do?” Kendrick asked .

“You can head back downstairs. I’ll call you if we need anything.”

Kendrick smirked and mumbled something about poor Timmy as he left the floor. Paige opened her laptop and pulled up her email. She wasn’t going to let Timmy waste her time. It took fifteen minutes until she heard, “Hello?”

Timothy West realized she wasn’t in the conference room and no one was there to help him. Paige picked up her own earbuds and put them in.

“Why have you kept me waiting?” Timothy snapped once he found her.

Paige didn’t look up from her computer but did hold up a finger to tell him to wait. “No, I don’t need to go. It’s just an agent who is late to a meeting.” Paige chuckled as if someone were on the phone. “I know, it only hurts their clients. Now, I was thinking about turning the block font into a script for the cover. What do you think?”

Timothy looked as if he were going to explode. His face was red, and while he was a handsome man, his arrogance countered any idea of ever liking him.

Paige made him wait another minute before ending her fake call. She typed some more on the computer and then finally looked up. “Timmy, so nice of you to join me.”

And thus started the hour-long meeting of insults. He hated everything she wanted to do. She hated everything he wanted her to do. “Okay,” Paige finally said with frustration, “I get you don’t want to work with me. I don’t know if you just hate women in general or just me. Either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s the publishing company that runs the launch and you know this. I was doing you a favor by including you because I always believe a united team effort only helps authors and sales, which helps all of us.” Paige stood up and put away her documents. “This is the game plan. I don’t care if you are a part of it or not. I’ll notify Mimi of the schedule and deal with her directly from now on.”

“She’s my client,” Timothy said in protest.

“She’s my author. And if you won’t look out for her, I will.”

Paige strode to the elevator with Timothy hot on her heels. “I don’t hate women. I love women, and they love me. I don’t like junior editors who suddenly think they know everything about publishing telling me how to do my job.”

“You know, I understand that. I was really excited to meet you. I wanted to form a good relationship and learn with you. But you ruined that by being arrogant and dictatorial from the get-go. I would have asked for your opinions if you hadn’t written me off. But now”—Paige shrugged as she got onto the elevator with him and pressed her floor—“you can take off for all I care.”

The door closed and the elevator began to move. Only it didn’t stop. The elevator dropped quickly. A scream lodged in her throat as she reached out to grab the railing to stop herself from falling, but it was Timothy West who she grabbed onto.

It was probably only two seconds of free-falling, but it was enough to change her whole world. The emergency brakes caught, jerking the elevator to a stop and sending Paige falling backward with her hands still gripping Timothy’s suit coat. She slammed hard onto the floor, with Timothy landing right on top of her.

The elevator rocked slightly and groaned. Paige buried her face into Timothy’s neck as she clung to him.

“I don’t hate you,” Timothy suddenly said in a rush. “Don’t get me wrong because I don’t like you that much either.”

Paige didn’t say anything. She didn’t know if she could form any words. She just clung tighter to Timothy.

“You wouldn’t back down and it pissed me off. I might not like you, but I do respect you. You know more than I thought you did, especially after I met you and thought Jack only hired you to sleep with him. Because there’s no denying you’re hot,” Timothy admitted as the elevator groaned and shifted again. “But you still need to learn some things.”

“I think you’re an egotistical prick, but you do get good contracts for your clients and I can respect that. If we worked together, it would be pretty impressive,” Paige admitted, her lips brushing against Timothy’s neck from where she was clinging to him. Damn, he was a prick, but he smelled great. “And you do smell really good.”

The elevator groaned and dropped another inch before the emergency system yanked it back into place.

“Screw it. If we’re going down, it won’t be talking.” Timothy pulled back his head, and the panicked look mixed with lust was clear in his eyes.

The elevator creaked as Timothy bent down and hungrily took her lips with his. Paige had read that in life-or-death situations, people would do things they’d never normally do—confess all their sins to a stranger, have sex with whoever was handy, panic, or shut down. As Timothy’s tongue rushed into her mouth, swooping in, tasting, and devouring as if there was no time to finesse the situation, Paige realized she was the kind to reach for human contact when she thought she was going to die. Of course, she had thoughts of her family, her friends, and her life cut short, all tumbling chaotically in her brain. To stop the madness sending her mind into a downward spiral faster than the elevator would fall, she kissed Timothy back. Desperately.

All inhibitions evaporated. If people thought drugs did that, they should see what life or death situations did to those inhibitions.

The mutual tension between them bubbled over into a battle of tongues and hands. Each fought the other, racing to forget their lives were literally hanging in the balance. Paige yanked Timothy’s shirt from his pants and practically tore the zipper off his pants while Timothy’s one arm braced him over her and the other fisted the bottom of her dress and shoved it up to her hips.

There was no talking. There were no loving words. They didn’t have any. All they had was this one moment in time where they may or may not make it out alive.

“Damn, you’re sexy,” Timothy cursed as his fingers shoved her panties out of the way.

“I hate that you taste so damn good,” Paige admitted before she leaned down and grabbed his cock, trying to free it from his pants.

The elevator rocked, then creaked, and suddenly, there was light streaming onto them.

Paige opened her eyes and gasped.

“Get it, girl. We can come back after you two are done,” Gina said as Eddie braced the doors open and what looked like the entire fire department stood there grinning at them from half a floor above them.

Paige was so relieved not to be squashed at the bottom of an elevator shaft she wasn’t immediately embarrassed about being caught with her dress around her hips and a cock in her hand.

Timothy, for once, wasn’t a prick. He rolled off her to the side that blocked their view of her. “This never happened,” he whispered as she shoved his erection back into his boxers and he zipped up his fly. He tucked in his shirt and straightened his tie, giving Paige enough time to pull her skirt down and check to make sure her tits were back in their bra.

“We’ll never talk about it again, and I’ll deny it until the day I actually do die,” Paige whispered back. “And this doesn’t mean I like you.”

“Same. But, I will send you an email with some suggestions for you with not only Mimi, but another author who I think you’ll work well with.”

“And I’ll actually read the email and take them into consideration.”

Timothy held out his hand and helped her up.

“Can you take this step ladder?” Gina asked. “I don’t think you can easily get out without it.”

They were stuck between floors. They were going to have to climb up about five feet and then slide through the propped-open elevator doors on their stomachs.

Timothy grabbed a hold of the ladder and, in a final act of respect, held it for her to climb first.

“Girl,” Gina whispered with a huge smile as she helped pull Paige from the elevator shaft.

“Not a single word, Gina.” Gina just laughed.

Timothy pulled himself out, and then with a final awkward look between them, they parted, never to speak of it again.