Lila

Lila had just put on a pot of coffee when her phone dinged with a text message. She picked it up, her heart racing when she saw Dane's name on the notification.

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ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH

THE BUILDING LAUNDRY ROOM?

Curious, Lila responded, I THINK SO.

The wait for a reply seemed endless. Adrenalin flooded through her when it finally came.

MEET ME THERE IN 1 HOUR

Unable to stop smiling, Lila trotted to her bathroom to brush her hair and change her clothes. She wanted to look nice, but not desperate. And also, wearing a bra was a good idea, though if she was honest, she kind of hoped he'd be taking it off.

An hour later, with a bag of laundry over one shoulder and her nicest, clingy sweater on, Lila took the stairs one level down to the laundry room on the third floor. She only remembered it because she'd thought it was odd when she was shown the building, after all, her apartment had a full laundry set. Didn't others? But it hadn't seemed important to ask. She wondered if anyone else would be there.

But no, when she walked to the end of the hall on the third floor, the room was empty—and obviously unused. It was clean and the bank of washers and dryers looked sparkling new. There was no dust around the rims. No laundry hanging on the racks at the back. The room was an odd shape. It reminded her of a locker room with banks of machines, then around a corner, large shelves in square blocks where she supposed people could store laundry baskets. Then behind the machines, an alcove with three walls lined in poles for hanging clothes on. Big rows of perfect silver hangers. In exactly even numbers lined the ends of each pole. And…nothing else.

It looked like the room had never been used. As she walked slowly back towards the door, Lila frowned. Dane wasn't here. Was she supposed to do laundry? Were they meeting here because they could pretend…but Dane wouldn't do his own laundry, would he? And surely the Penthouse—

"There you are," his voice was dark, deep, barely above a whisper—and right in her ear. She jumped so high she almost hit the roof—then whirled around to find him grinning. But she couldn't even say anything before he pulled her into his chest and kissed her. "There you are," he repeated breathlessly against her lips. "I missed you."

Her head spun. Who was this man, smiling and touching her?

"Where did you come from?" she whispered, pulling away to look around. "I didn't even see you walk in!"

His smile tipped up on one side, and he looked behind her, towards the door, then tipped his head back towards the alcove she'd just been in, where all the perfect hangers hung, lonely and unused. "I have a surprise for you," he whispered, taking her hand. She held on as he pulled her around the corner, then walked to what looked like a pillar or support, some kind of thick, wooden framing in the corner. With one last scan behind Lila to make sure no one else was there, Dane slid his hand high on the frame. A second later there was a click, then the entire, two-foot pillar swung open to reveal a dimly lit space behind it.

Lila's mouth dropped open.

Dane's smile broadened. Taking the laundry bag that was over her shoulder, he squeezed through the small opening, then waved his hand for her to follow. Once she stepped through, she was at the foot of a narrow set of stairs. The landing only just wide enough for both of them to stand side by side.

Checking over her shoulder that no one had seen them, Dane pulled the secret door closed until it clicked, then dropped her laundry bag in the corner at the foot of the stairs. Taking her hand again, he started up the stairs, speaking quietly to her over his shoulder.

"When we took over the building, we did a lot of renovations. This used to be an extra fire-exit for the Penthouse. We closed it in, and pretended we weren't going to use it—we built an external fire exit for the inspectors—but being up so high I had to make sure there were several ways to get out of the Penthouse without being seen. This is just one of them. And you're the only other person who knows about it," he said, his deep voice echoing slightly despite how quietly he spoke.

"Except Chris, or your team?" she whispered back. But Dane shook his head. "No. The only person who knows about this is the general contractor who built the doors for me. And he's long gone."

Lila looked at him, shocked. "Why are you trusting me with this?" she blurted.

Dane squeezed her fingers. "Because you promised to keep my secrets," he said. "And this is how we can be together without other people knowing. Anytime you want, you can come up this way. This comes out in my apartment, so security won't even know you're at the house. We'll have to be careful—we can't talk about you being here when there's no record in Reception. Keep that in mind."

Lila nodded, but they walked up another several steps before she replied. "Well, I guess I'm going to have a lot of dirty clothes from now on."

Dane laughed so loud she wondered if people would think there was a ghost in the walls.

The stairs were long and steep, the time they walked so closely seemed to stretch out. Both of them were breathing quickly by the time they made it to the top. Lila didn't know about Dane, but with the tension crackling between them, she wasn't so sure it was about the climb.

Finally they reached another small landing and Dane indicated a small number pad on the wall. The numbers glowed in the low light. "My code is 4387" he said. "You just punch in the numbers, then hit that "Send" button on the bottom right."

There was so little space, she had to squeeze around him to reach it. And he leaned over her as she carefully punched the numbers in, then hit the send button. But sure enough, the door in front of her popped open, light spilling in from the room on the other side.

Dane had his hands at her waist and walked her through, swinging the door closed behind them. At first, she wasn't sure where they were. The room they'd entered was large, but not for a penthouse. There were clothes and a safe, along with a ton of shoes and some paintings stacked in a corner. Was it some kind of storage space? But Dane just tugged her forward towards another door at the other end of the room.

He opened it and walked through first, to hold it for her when she followed. His smile returned as her eyes went wide at the massive bed—bigger than any she'd ever seen—and the tall windows showing the sunset over the city.

"Welcome to my bedroom," Dane said, his voice edged in gravel.

Lila stopped in the middle of the floor, taking it all in—the rich velvet drapes, the thick plush carpet, the solid wood furniture and that view… When she turned around to find him, her mouth open, he was already right there, standing over her, his hands at his sides, stiff, like he'd forced himself not to touch her.

Dane's Adam's apple bobbed as he stared down at her. "If you'd be more comfortable, we could go through there to the living room—"

But Lila just slid her arms up his chest, to his neck and pulled him down into a kiss that made her stomach twirl.