Page 24 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

I tried not to think about how high up we were right now, in a steel and glass shaft hundreds of feet above the city streets, modern engineering failing us. The reality of our situation pressed in on me, not for myself necessarily, but for this woman beside me who, despite her brave face, had to be freaking out just a little inside.

"At least we'll get to be rescued by firefighters, right?" she said.

No clue why her voice was kind of breathless, I turned to glance at her. "I guess? And why is that a good thing?"

She arched a perfect brow at me. "Are you serious? Firemen? You know, some of them even have calendars?"

Dawning hit me. Firemen were hot. Of course. "But I thought you didn't want a man."

"I didn't say I don't want a man. I don't want arelationship. There's a big difference."

The air suddenly felt stagnant, despite how good Cordelia always smelled, the faint scent of her not enough in this confined space. Unease began to creep in. "I'm going to sit down."

Taking a seat to one side, I leaned my back against the wall, the coolness of the metal seeping into my suit jacket. To my surprise, Dee took a few steps toward me, then gingerly sat down beside me.

The seconds ticked past, each passing minute amplifying the silence, heightening the awareness of our isolation in this littlesuspended box. It was weird being trapped and stranded like this. The elevator didn't care about my status, my money, or that I was a CEO.

I could have come clean with the security guy, told him my real name, tried to grease the wheels to hurry up our rescue. But I hadn't. Because in the end, it didn't matter.

All that really mattered... well, shit, I really didn't know. That was the big question in life, wasn't it?

Time seemed to slow, along with the sound of Cordelia's even breathing. I turned to look at her, to find her head leaned back against the wall, her eyes closed.

"Are you awake?" I asked.

"I am now."

Surely, she couldn't fall asleep in a situation like this. "So you're really not scared?"

"I mean, maybe one percent scared. But I have faith that a modern day elevator has plenty of fail-safes in place and that we won't go plunging to our deaths in the next several minutes." Her eyes met mine in the dim light. "Don't tell meyou'refreaking out, Jared."

It was the first time she'd ever used my name that I could remember. Well, my fake name. And I liked the way it sounded coming out of her mouth, kind of soft on the last syllable. I couldn't help wondering how my real name would sound coming out of that smart-ass mouth of hers. How she'd say it. How the one simple syllable would roll off her tongue.

Her questioning eyes reminded me that she'd just asked me something. "Me? No, I'm not freaking out either." Well maybe about one percent. "So if this doesn't scare the great and powerful Cordelia, what does?"

She was silent for so long I didn't think she'd answer. Or maybe she was dozing again.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. You first," she challenged.

"Me first? Why do I have to go first?"

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Because you're the one who asked. You're the one who wants to know. So you have to work for it."

This woman was tougher than any CEO I'd ever met. "Fine. I'll start."

To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what scared me, and I had to think about it for a minute. The silence in the confined space stretched out, amplifying every sound, every movement, even our breathing.

"Your biggest fear," she prodded me verbally along with a sharp elbow to my side.

"Right. I'm working on it, ba—"

That pointy elbow got me again. It was worth it, though. Something about ticking Cordelia off was quickly becoming the highlight of my days.

"Hey, I stopped myself from saying it. And I guess if we're talking about my biggest fear, it'd have to do with losing my family."

She didn't say a word to that, and I slanted my head to look at her in the flickering light. "Your family?" she repeated.

"Yeah. My family."

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