Read In Heat (In Heat Shapeshifter Romance Series #1) for Free Online

breaths, telling herself that everything was going to be fine. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine herself in a larger space than the tiny cramped metal box that was now raising her up floors while leaving a perilously large empty shaft below for them to fall into when the cables snapped.
    Her heart began to race.
    It didn't help that she could feel Erik close behind her, just a little off to her right.
    Her hands shook.
    This was stupid. She shouldn't have mentioned the lift. She should have told him they'd have to take the stairs.
    She looked up and swore she could hear the cables rattling as the lift eased jerkily past a floor.
    Then her worst nightmare happened.
    It stopped.
    She stared wide-eyed at the walls of the lift, trying to sense if it was still moving, desperate to convince herself it was.
    She smiled shakily over her shoulder at Erik.
    He frowned.
    “It does this a lot,” she squeaked and then cleared her throat, trying not to let him see her fear.
    He stepped towards her, cool and collected and seemingly not at all bothered by the fact that they were trapped in a oppressively hot metal box about to plummet to their untimely deaths.
    And all she could think about was kissing him, because if she was going to die, she wanted to know for real what it felt like before she went. She'd die happy then.
    He brushed against her, pressing the alarm button, and then stepped back. A small squeaking noise escaped her throat again. He smiled reassuringly, as though he'd seen how scared she was.
    “It'll move again soon. You'll see,” he said in a deep, calm voice.
    She nodded and latched onto those words and the sound of his voice. It soothed her for a moment.
    And then the lift moved.
    It wasn't so much movement as a shudder. Metal rattled above her. Her heart sped into overdrive.
    Her chest felt tight as she struggled to breathe normally. She gasped at air, but it only dried her throat out, making it impossible to breathe. She looked at Erik, her eyes wide, and her whole body trembling as she panicked.
    Any moment now, they were going to die.
    “Are you all right?” he said, cocking his head to one side, looking concerned.
    She nodded but then it turned into a shake of her head.
    “I don't like lifts.” She managed to squeeze the words out. Her voice sounded impossibly tiny and tight in her ears.
    “You should have said.” He pressed the alarm button again. Several times. “We could have taken the stairs.”
    Too late now, she thought. She grabbed onto the wall when the lift shuddered again.
    “It gets stuck all the time,” she said, more to calm herself than inform him. “All the time. They're always getting engineers out to fix it. It's so old see...probably as old as the bloody building. Fuck.” Her grip on the wall tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to think about the long drop and the fact she was going to die without ever kissing the man in the stupid metal coffin with her. “Oh my God...oh my God...I should have said something. It's always getting stuck. Always. Oh God.”
    Warm hands were on her shoulders and she jumped. His fingers tightened around her, holding her, making her heart beat quicker and her breathing worsen.
    “Look at me, Kim.” A bass melodic voice called out to her, its tones telling her to let go of her fear and anchor herself on them, to believe in the calm they made her feel. “Open your eyes and look at me.”
    She opened them a fraction, unable to do anything but obey him. He was leaning over, hunched down so his face was level with hers. She looked deep into his eyes, begging them to make it all go away, to let her get lost in them and forget the world around her. She swallowed again. Her throat was so dry. Parched. She felt his thumbs press into her shoulders.
    “Hey,” he breathed and she opened her eyes a little more. He smiled. “There you are. Keep looking at me. Understood?”
    She nodded, wishing the adrenaline flooding her veins was the only