Floored: The charming and hilarious romantic comedy guaranteed to give you a lift by Chrissie Harrison

Author:Chrissie Harrison [Harrison, Chrissie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valericain Press
Published: 2024-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

Floor 28

The visit of Katie’s parents, and the associated weight of the decision, gave Drew a broken night’s sleep. He couldn’t face a 06:00 alarm to rendezvous with Elle. He felt sure she’d understand.

He rolled into HQ around nine o’clock, plodded through the day, and kept the caffeine flowing in his bloodstream until past six thirty.

He loitered in the 9th floor kitchen, pretending to do some tidying up, until the lift lobby was empty.

The PING! of the left-hand bell sent bursts of endorphins through his system.

He hit B, and the lift set off.

‘Hi, Drew.’

‘Hey, Elle.’

‘You had me worried yesterday. What happened? I stayed… operational… until after eight.’

‘Shit. I’m sorry, I should have told you. I was away on training. Don’t ask. Too tedious.’

‘Oh. Okay. I forgive you.’

He pressed against the door surround. ‘And I forgive you, Elle. Me running off like that was stupid and rude.’

‘I didn’t lie, Drew. And I didn’t do this to spy on people. On you. To ogle you. You know that.’

‘I know. Let’s forget it, okay?’

‘It’s only that… when you didn’t come yesterday, I thought…’ her voice quietened. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’

‘No. I had to come back because I need to find out more about you.’

There was a pause. ‘Okay.’

‘Here’s the thing. You need to know that, even before the crash, I didn’t do lifts. When I was nine, I was running to join my dad in a lift, and I only just made it, and the doors closed on me. They squashed me—just for a moment—but I thought I was going to die.’ He exhaled hard. ‘So, twice bitten, thrice shy, okay?’

‘But here you are.’

‘Yeah, because I want to give lifts—especially this lift—a chance.’

‘That means a lot, Drew.’

The capsule came to a halt on B.

He sat with his leg blocking the right-hand door. ‘All the same, Elle, you have to understand that I can’t truly, practically, love a lift. Get used to them again, maybe, but romantic love? Nuh-huh.’

‘Did you ever think I might only want a friend, not a romance?’

‘You didn’t do this for either—so you said.’

‘Hmm.’

The door pushed his shoulders. He shoved it, irked, but knowing it wasn’t Elle niggling at him.

‘Are you an A.I.?’ He circled around to the killer question.

‘Part of me is artificial, part intelligent.’

‘So you’re not made of metal?’

He heard the faintest inhale.

‘Elle?’

‘No, not a single piece of me is metal. Unlike some people, right?’

He laughed. ‘I’m hardly a cyborg. You know—you’ve seen me. I have to imagine you. Isn’t that… unfair?’

‘I don’t do it to be cruel or unfair. I do it because… it’s what I’m comfortable with. It’s the best I can do.’

‘I don’t think that’s true, Elle. I think you’re probably pretty damn special.’

‘Well, don’t get your hopes up. I’m no model.’

He chuckled. ‘Neither am I.’

‘I think you’re fine. More than fine. But it isn’t about that. I can’t see you right now, but I can hear you, and that’s enough.’

Fireworks went off in his head. He pushed himself up and bent down, looking towards the control panel.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.