He had to getout of here. Now.
With vampiricspeed and strength, he punched the lift door. The force dented it,but the doors didn’t open. Even if they did, the lift could bebetween floors and he’d still be trapped.
Fear mergedwith anger and helplessness. He hit the door again.
Harper yelled,“Damon, stop!” She grabbed his arm and yanked him away. “If youbreak it we’ll never get out, you idiot.”
He spun around,fury rising. She had a point, but did she have any idea howdangerous it was to confront him right now? Or insult him? Heballed his fist again, ready to punch his way out of here if he hadto. His hand throbbed, but it would heal in a few minutes.
Damon glared atHarper, then gasped. Instead of fear, her eyes were full ofconcern. For him, a pathetic, out-of-control vampire who was scaredof being stuck in a lift.
“Oh my God,your hand. Are you okay?”
With noapparent regard for her own safety, she took his hand in hers, hertouch tender, warmth and comfort emanating from her skin.
Mesmerised, allhe could do was gaze at the top of her head, her crazy-colouredhair, and admire how the tousled curls fell forward and tickled hishand.
His fearlessened.
“I havesomething in my bag to help with the swelling.” Harper let go ofhis hand and rummaged in her handbag.
He didn’t doubtshe would have something useful in there, but not for him. Hetouched her arm. “It’s okay, Harper.” His voice sounded oddlyemotional, and he cleared his throat. “Vampire, remember? I healfast.”
She stoppedrummaging. “Yeah, sorry, of course you do. Must be the nurse inme.”
An image of herin a sexy nurse’s uniform came to mind and he could barelyconcentrate. “It’s me who should be sorry. I lost it there for asecond, but I’m okay now, thanks to you.”
“Are you?” Thekindness in her eyes seared right into his soul.
The woman hadsome kind of power over him, that much was certain. Damon composedhimself. “No, I’m not. I’m claustrophobic,” he confessed,embarrassed, and yet relieved too, having admitted to somethinghe’d never told anyone.
Harper stifleda giggle—not the reaction he’d expected, but did he really want hersympathy?
“Claustrophobic? Don’t your kind like to sleep in coffins?” Shesmirked and added, “And live in creepy castles?”
His jawdropped. She never ceased to surprise him. Instead of compassion,she sought to make a joke of his irrational fear. Slowly, a grinformed. Her purposeful dig at vampires, maybe an attempt to makehim laugh at himself, was nothing more than he deserved after theway he’d stereotyped witches and cauldrons.
Being stuckinside these four walls didn’t seem so bad anymore.
“No, we don’tlive in castles. Well, some of us do, but I’ve always found them abit draughty for my liking. And I certainly don’t sleep in a bloodycoffin. Or a clean coffin, for that matter.” He winked, on a rollnow. “Anyway, it’s called a casket, according to the Vampires RUs website.”
She rolled herincredible eyes. “Yeah right, like I believe there’s such athing.”
The amused liltto her tone made his cock twitch.
Harper delvedher hand into her bag, rummaged for a few seconds, and then broughtout a small bottle of hand sanitiser. “Here, you might not needhelp with getting your hand fixed, but you touched whatever was onthat wall, not to mention those gross lift buttons. I shudder tothink of all the germs in this place.”
She wasn’twrong.
“Wow, you comeprepared. What else is in that handbag of yours? Eye of newt andtoe of frog?”
She pursed herlips. “There will be ground up vampire bones if you make any moreShakespearean references. Do you want this or not?”
He chuckled.“Best do as I’m told then.” He took the hand sanitiser and squirteda generous amount into his palm. “I didn’t want to seem like agermaphobe, but it really is disgusting in here.”
Harper used thehand sanitiser as well.
Damon rubbedhis hands together, then fished his phone from his pocket andcalled his own maintenance guys to come and fix the lift.
He told jokeswhile they waited for help; he insisted his favourite drink was aBloody Mary—it wasn’t—then he claimed being a vampiresucked sometimes. Maybe the puns flowed so he could watchher smile as she shook her head in despair at his cheesy jokes, buthe had to admit it took his mind off being trapped in a confinedspace too.
Harper checkedher watch. “Damn, I’ve missed my meeting with the website guy.”
“Ring him tomake another.”
“What if hedoesn’t want to? He’s probably busy.”
“I’m sure he’llunderstand if you explain.”
“I hope so. Ineed his expertise to design a website and get Magik Dates online.Without it, my business is screwed.”
He raised hiseyebrows in surprise.
She fetched herphone from her giant bag and pressed the on button. “Typical, nosignal.”
“Here, usemine.” Damon fetched his phone again and glanced at the screen. Hegroaned. “Looks like I’ve lost the signal now, too.”
She stuffed herphone back in her bag. “Never mind. With or without the websiteguy, I’m determined to make it work,” she went on. “My mother, akathe Wicked Witch of the West, as I like to call her, thinks Ishould forget trying to run a business and join the Circle, but thetruth is, I’m the world’s worst witch. I’ve never been able to dospells without them going horribly wrong.”
Again, shesurprised him.
She inhaled andjutted her chin forward. “This business has to work. Not to proveit to my mother though. I want to do this for me. I have to.”
“What do youmean?” he asked. “I presumed Magik Dates was doing well.”
“No. Thebusiness isn’t drawing in new clients, except for you, and yousounded so nice on the phone—for a vamp—and the way your poshBritish accent rolls in a few French Rs…”
She licked herlips again, as she had earlier. Why did he find that so sexy?
“Well, anyway,I had no one suitable on my embarrassingly short client list, sothat’s why I agreed to go on a date with you.”
Damon likedthat she was being so honest, but he couldn’t resist anotherwindup. “So, you only went on a date with me because you pitied me?I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not.”
She fell forit. “I didn’t…
