Page 14 of Playing for Keeps

I clutched the towel against my chest and spun to look at him. “I’m going to be late.”

He tugged a strand of my long brown hair between his finger and thumb as he eyed my lips before meeting my gaze. “You’re already late. Do you like to be wet?”

My mouth fell open and I was momentarily speechless as I tried to decipher the meaning behind his words. Before I could answer, Aaron spun me around and nudged me toward the bathroom stalls.

“Go on, take your clothes off. I’ll grab a hair dryer for you.”

Aaron walked off toward a gray wall next to the sauna. He bumped it with his fist and the wall popped open, revealing a stash of hidden supplies. He pulled a hair dryer off the shelf and turned to find me watching.

“Go on, we don’t have all day.”

Nodding, I went to the stall on the far left. I pulled my phone out of my purse and checked the time before I started to undress. I was already late, but there was nothing I could do once my dress pants and cardigan disappeared seconds after I draped them over the door. I contemplated removing my camisole, had my hands on the bottom of the shirt, when the lights began to flicker.

“What was that?” I asked, grasping for the towel and wrapping it around my waist.

“Maybe the storm?” was Aaron’s reply. “Is this all you got for me?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, my voice shaking a little. I tightened the towel around my waist and grabbed my phone off my purse on the bench, and then I questioned my sanity. I’d allowed this man I knew nothing about to drag me down to the basement and talk me out of my clothes without a second thought. My phone said I had decent reception, and I was tempted to call my brother and tell him where I was. Because I couldn’t believe how stupid I was. Just last month, my brother’s future cousin-in-law had been abducted by a crazy man. I was kicking myself for my stupidity.

Until the door to the dryer slammed shut and the motor kicked on.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“So, drowned rat,” Aaron said, his voice echoing across the room. “Tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?” I questioned as I rolled my shoulders and some of my tension started to dissipate.

“Where are you from? What’s your favorite movie? What department are you in?”

Shaking my head, I smiled. “Not from around here. The Notebook. And accounting.”

His chuckle reverberated around the space. “A romance lover, huh?”

My cheeks burned even as my heart lurched in my chest. “What about you?”

“Deflect much?” he asked, his voice coming nearer.

I fingered the smooth stone on my necklace before ripping my hand away and shaking my head. “I take it you’re not a romance lover?” I teased, trying to keep my tone light.

There was a short pause followed by the scuff of a shoe across tile. When Aaron spoke again, he was right outside the stall. “More... action and intrigue,” he said. His hand grazed the top of the door. A second later, the lights flickered and went out. “Shit.”

“What’s going on?” I asked as I flipped on the flashlight on my phone.

“I don’t know.” His voice was quieter, farther away. “The lights went out, but the dryer is still running.”

“That can’t be the storm,” I muttered to myself, clutching the towel tighter around my waist.

“I got the—” Before he could finish, the lights came back on. “Well, that was strange.”

“What?”

“I flipped the light switch a few times and the lights came back on.”

“Is someone in here with us?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think so.”

There was silence again, and I listened closely, waiting for the sounds of footsteps or voices or anything at all. I waited for the lights to flicker, for the shoe to drop. And I wished like crazy that I hadn’t let Kelly talk me into watching Exorcist last night. I shivered against the bathroom stall, clutching my phone to my chest. I told myself I was overreacting as I pulled up my brother’s number in my contact list and my thumb hovered over it, waiting to dial.