Hearts in Darkness Read Free Page B

could and tossed it gently in the general direction of her bags.
    "What are you doing?” Caden asked.
    "Oh, just taking off my jacket. I'm getting a little warm. I wonder how long it's been.” She untucked her blouse and shook the hem to fan air onto her abdomen.
    "I don't know. Maybe an hour, hour and a half?"
    "Yeah,” Makenna agreed, figuring it was somewhere around 8 p.m.
    She settled back into her corner, but turned on her hip a little. Even though it was carpeted, the floor was hard. Her behind was falling asleep.
    "So, whose turn is it?” she asked.
    Caden chuckled. “No idea. You can go, though."
    "What big plans did you have for tonight?"
    "No big plans, really. I was just going to meet some buddies to play pool. I work a lot of night shifts, so I don't get to hang out with them as much as I'd like."
    Makenna thought that sounded nice. Except for her college friends, only one of whom was in the D.C. area with her, she didn't have many girl friends to hang out with. For some reason, she'd always had an easier time making guy friends. She blamed being surrounded by her brothers and all their friends growing up.
    "How ‘bout you?"
    "Oh, I had a very important date with my couch and a bottle of wine."
    "Well, I'm sure they'll reschedule."
    "Yeah.” Makenna chuckled, then sighed. “They're pretty much always available. Okay...moving on from that depressing topic..."
    "Are you seeing anyone?” Caden asked, not getting off the depressing topic at all.
    "Obviously not. You?"
    "No."
    Makenna took more pleasure in his answer than she thought she should. Maybe she was just happy she wasn't the only single person left out there. All her friends seemed to either be getting married or engaged. It was like a line of dominos falling, only she didn't seem to be in line.
    "Okay,” Caden said with a clapping sound that rang loud in the small space, “favorite color."
    "Seriously?"
    "Down to basics, Red."
    She smiled widely at the nickname so many others had called her but she'd never really liked until now.
    "Blue. Yours?"
    "Black."
    She smirked. “How very boy of you."
    He chuckled. And launched into at least another twenty questions of the kind of minutiae you learned about a person after a couple months of dating: favorite band, favorite movie, favorite food, favorite place, favorite everything-else-he-could-think-of, most embarrassing moment, and best day ever, though he skipped asking about worst day ever. Makenna was glad—she didn't think she could resist touching him if he talked about his brother again.
    Makenna enjoyed the conversation. Some time in the middle of discussing favorites, she stretched out on the floor and propped herself up on her elbow. Despite being trapped in a pitch-black elevator for a couple hours with a stranger, she felt surprisingly relaxed. The smallest niggling thought snuck into the back of her mind—she was kind of not looking forward to when the power came back on and they'd go their separate ways.
    And, even more than that, they had a surprising amount in common. They both loved Italian and Thai food. She could even overlook his love of sushi since he was such a huge fan of Kings of Leon, her absolute favorite band. They both enjoyed going to baseball games, more to sit out in the sun and drink beer with friends, and neither understood the point of golf at all. And they shared a love for stupid humor movies, even though they couldn't agree on ranking them.
    It was the most entertaining conversation Makenna had had in a very long time. Caden seemed genuinely interested in her answers. And he debated and argued every little point in a way that made her want to kiss him to shut him up. She liked the way she felt around this man, despite the fact she'd never laid eyes on him.
    Caden couldn't remember the last time he'd had such an easy conversation or the last time he'd laughed or even smiled so much. It felt...good—which was remarkable. He tended to operate somewhere between “fine”