Sam Fratto. What was he doing here?
…
Sam had thought a cup of coffee was a good idea when he’d started out the door of the Crimson Press room. Until a stack of boxes had almost dropped on him.
He shouldn’t have been entirely surprised to find himself staring into an equally shocked pair of blue eyes as he slid the top box securely back in place.
“Thank you,” Allie said and took a deep breath. Her lips thinned as she added, “But if you’re going to make another snide comment about not taking better care of my packages, I’m going to dump this entire load on you right now.”
He smiled. “I suppose I deserve that. Can I help you get these somewhere?”
“If you wouldn’t mind.” She paused, battling with some decision as she chewed on her full bottom lip. She raised her gaze to his again, her lip still wet and glistening, and he tried to focus on her words. “Actually, maybe I could ask another favor. There are a few more boxes downstairs, but I couldn’t get to them. Once I unload these, would you be willing to help me out? I could really use the muscle.”
That was a tough one. Stuck alone in the basement with the elusive pretty teacher?
“Sure.” He stepped aside to let her pass, then followed as she pushed the dolly to the back of the room. He took the top two boxes, and at her instruction, placed them on a long table.
A light, floral scent wafted towards him as she pushed a third box onto the table. Nice. Subtle. He stepped back, grabbed the next box, and set it with the rest. She bent down and heaved the last box up. He couldn’t resist admiring the view of her nicely shaped ass. He was careful to hide his smile when she stood and turned to face him. Her face, rosy from the exertion, offset the blueness in her eyes. “Thank you.” A strand of golden hair had fallen forward across her cheek.
He nodded. “No problem.” Before he could do something stupid, he grabbed the dolly and led her to the elevator.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been down here,” he said as they slowly descended.
“Don’t get too excited. There isn’t really much to it.”
Sam had been thinking about Allie far too often these past couple of days, and not just because he found her an attractive—albeit irritating—woman. He’d been surprised she’d taken such a personal interest in honoring their late teacher, even at the risk of angering some of the more influential members of the centennial planning committee. “I was impressed with your performance last night. Mr. Williams must have meant a lot to you.”
“He did. He deserves to be remembered.”
She didn’t venture more, and the opening of the doors distracted him from asking anything else. He followed her down a narrow hallway, the wheels of the dolly squeaking loudly. The air was stale and dusty, and, despite the usual dry, Utah desert climate, the cement floor felt cold and damp.
Allie headed for the rear of the room. “They’re back here.”
His foot struck a box sitting on the floor, and immediately there was a loud sliding sound. Then the door slammed behind him. Damn. The heavy door must have been propped up by one of the boxes now at his feet. Not very well secured, either, but he resisted the impulse to say as much.
“Sorry. I should have warned you. It was so stuffy and, honestly, kind of eerie, being down here on my own, so I shoved those boxes against the door to keep it open.”
The smell inside the room was a little more pungent than the hallway. But also…different. Almost like… He smelled again and looked around. “Do you smell that?”
“You think it smells bad now, you should have smelled it before,” she said, and kept walking. “Here it is. If you could just push the trunk a few feet to the left, I can squeeze by and see what’s back there.”
She waited for him. But call it his journalistic instinct, or just plain paranoia, something wasn’t right. From his left, he could hear a low crackling, and he glanced over. A small drift of white smoke threaded up through the air.
“Shit.” In three strides, he’d reached the spot where the smoke was coming.
“What is it?” Allie asked at his outburst. But she choked off whatever she was going to say next when she saw the smoke, too. “What on earth—”
In the far corner of the room, a stack of boxes was smoldering, and as he watched, the bottom box seemed to implode, and flames spilled up the sides, immediately engulfing the boxes on top. Before their eyes, the fire came to life and jumped to the stack next to it. There was no way he could get this under control.
“We’ve got to get out of here and spring the fire alarm.” He swept his gaze to the ceiling above them and saw two ancient smoke detectors. “I don’t know why they haven’t gone off yet.”
Allie still stood there, looking at the flames with horror. He grabbed her hand. “It’s okay. But we need to get moving. Come on.” He pulled on her arm, and she followed him, almost dazed.
He reached the door and turned the knob. It didn’t budge. “What the—”
He jerked on it. Locked?
At his frown, she said, “The door automatically locks… Keys—” She cut off and hit her palms against the sides of her pocket, trying to locate them. She glanced up as smoke swirled around them, a sudden look of terror on her face. “Oh, my God. I left them in the elevator.”