Nina woke up to a pounding wrist. She opened her eyes and it took a moment for her to realise that the emergency light in the lift had come on.

"Jared," she whispered, turning her head.

He was still fast asleep, holding her body tightly to his. He looked peaceful. She rubbed his arm with her left hand. "Jared, wake up. The emergency light is on, we can use the phone now!"

His eyes fluttered open and she had to gulp at the sight of his blue eyes boring into hers.

"What?"

"The emergency light is on, which means we should be able to use the phone in the lift now, or at least my mobile."

His arms relaxed and she sat up, crawling over to the control panel, opening the box and picking up the receiver. It was still dead.

She scrambled back to her bag to retrieve her phone. It was 8.23am and she had 17% of battery left. She quickly put it on energy saving mode. And there was one bar.

"Yes!" she rejoiced and quickly dialled 911.

Her happiness was cut short, when an automated message played, informing her of a long caller queue. She hung up.

"Why did you hang up?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"My phone's only on 17% and there's a long queue, we're better off calling someone we know and get them to call the emergency services for us. Is there anyone you know that could help?"

He looked at her. "Haven't you got family here?"

She shook her head. "My brother lives in England, I don't really have anyone here."

"I can call my brother," he said and she gave him her phone.

He quickly keyed in a number. "Hi Shannon, it's Jared. Are you and mom okay?... Listen, I'm using someone's cell phone and we're running low on battery. We're stuck in the elevator of the St. Regis in San Francisco. Can you please call 911 to get us out?... How much damage was there?... Well shit... Okay, thanks bro... And you. Love you."

He hung up and handed back her phone.

"Apparently, the bay's been hit the worst. Several buildings around us have collapsed. So..."

"Well, at least they know we're here and they're on the way," she tried to be positive.

He nodded, then pulled her to him again. A whimper escaped her lips and his eyes shot down to her hands.

"Holy shit, Nina!"

He gently took hold of her left hand, lifting it up so he could inspect it better in the orange sheen of the emergency light. Her wrist was severely swollen, a big bruise had started to form spreading all over her hand.

Jared looked up at her. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't that bad before," she mumbled. Thanks to the adrenaline, she added in her head.

He reached for her bag. "Where are the painkillers? You should take some. We're going to be here for a while longer."

She took one pill and gave him the last one for his head and his ribs. There was a third left in the water bottle after they'd each had a sip.

"Hang on," she said, rifling through her bag again. She produced what looked like a breakfast bar, checking the label before holding it out to him.

"That's a raw fruit, my nephew loves these bars. It says it's vegan."

He took the bar. "Thank you."

She found some breath mints in her bag and sucked on one.

"Do you have any more brothers and sisters?" he asked after he was finished with his bar.

"No, just the one. He's one year younger than me. You?"

"Also just the one. He's two years older."

"Do you get along well?"

He smiled. "Yes. He's my best friend. We have a very strong relationship. Even stronger since we started a band together."

"Wow, acting and music, that's keeping you busy."

He laughed. "It does. It's nice though. You know sometimes you have to wait a long time for the next script. I like to play roles that mean something to me. They're hard to come by. So music... I've always wanted to get into and to do it with Shannon is incredible."

She smiled. "Sounds awesome."

"Yeah, Shannon is a great guy, you know. So talented. It's great to be able to share this experience with him. It's definitely brought us even closer."

She loved how his face lit up when he spoke of his brother.

"We've had some rough times, you know," he continued, pensively. "Like when some people were trying to come between us. But our bond was always stronger and no matter what happened, it was water under the bridge. Family is forever."

A wave of emotion washed over her at his words. "You're very lucky to have each other," she whispered.

He was lost in thought for a moment, then met her gaze. "Yes, we are very lucky."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall.

"You mentioned you don't really have anyone here. No boyfriend or girlfriend?"

She smiled at his cautious wording. "No boyfriend."

"Why not?"

She glanced at him, her eyebrow quirked at his blunt question. He was such a contradiction, sometimes so careful, at other times almost too straight-forward.

"I mean, is it by choice or due to work?"

Nina looked back down at her hand that was holding her battered wrist up and close to her chest.

"I honestly don't know. My last relationship was... I don't know. I guess I was more invested than him. We weren't on the same page with where we wanted to take it. And then one day he told me that he'd fallen out of love with me."

She could tell he didn't really know how to respond to that. Heck, she hadn't really known how to respond to that when it had happened to her. She'd let him go. Because really she didn't have any other option. You can't force love.

"Fuck. I don't know what to say to that," he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Nina just nodded her head.

Silence enveloped them yet again. He had shifted in his seat and they were now sitting opposite each other, he had his legs stretched out, she had her knees pulled to her chest.

"What's your deepest, darkest sex fantasy?" he suddenly asked.

Nina stared at him, taken aback, but he seemed serious.

"Come on, I'm bored, we're stuck in here for I don't know how many more hours. Play along."

Her tongue nervously wet her lips. "Um... I don't really know. I haven't thought about it. It's been... a while."

"How long is a while? A couple months?" he probed.

She huffed. "Try four years."

"Four years?! Are you kidding?"

She gave him a look.

"You're serious?"

"Yes, I am," she said, trying her best to sound indignant, but failing miserably. "What's so hard to believe?"

She heard shuffling, then he was kneeling in front of her, his hands on her knees . "You're kind, generous, beautiful. It's hard to believe that you're single and not surrounded by men who throw themselves at your feet."

"Yeah, right," she huffed, swatting his hands off of her.

"You don't believe me?"

For some reason she couldn't put her finger on, she was starting to get upset.

"No, I don't believe you! Have you looked at me? I'm a below average girl. My hair's mousy, I have a plain face, I'm flat as a board and have zero curves. I'm exfoliating and moisturising beautiful people all day. So, please, don't tell me I'm beautiful, because we both know that's a lie."

His finger was under her chin, lifting it up until her reluctant eyes met his calm ones.

"Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. The warmth in your eyes when you talk about your nephew, the smile that lights up your face, your kindness and generosity, your love and intellect, how you're treating people. The confidence with which you stitched me up. In my eyes that makes you beautiful, attractive and sexy."

She wanted to protest, but his finger on her lips stopped her.

"In my eyes..."

His hand ran along her cheek and into her hair to the back of her head. His voice was just above a whisper now.

"You touch my heart. You looked after me, made sure I was okay, you took care of me before yourself, even though I was an ass to you at first. You held me, made me feel loved." His eyes searched hers. "I don't know about you, but for someone to pull that off with me after only knowing me for a few hours... that's pretty amazing."

He leaned in, resting his forehead on hers as she took in a shaky breath. What was he doing to her?

"You must have hit your head pretty hard," she joked lamely.

"Mhm, I did. But I can still think clearly," he said, unphased.

One hand was still holding her neck, whilst his other came up to cup the side of her face, his thumb tracing the outline of her mouth, sending a shiver down her spine. His eyes drifted down to her lips, before they met hers again.

"I would like to kiss you, Nina. Are you okay with that?"

Her head nodded yes before her brain could think.

A smile ghosted over his lips.

And then they were on hers.

Soft and certain they moved over hers, almost lazily but confidently, as if he wanted to savour this moment.

Nina certainly did. Not like this would ever happen to her again.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as her legs fell to the side and she rose up to her knees to meet him. Electric tingles were shooting over her skin everywhere their bodies touched.

He pulled her closer to him, one hand splayed on her back, the other holding her head in place.

She slid her arms around his body, her bad hand gingerly resting on his back, the other one fisting his t-shirt at the front, afraid he'd pull away.

He angled their heads slightly to deepen the kiss and she groaned softly. He took that moment to slide his tongue in her mouth to meet hers in languid strokes.

Liquid heat pooled in her groin at the taste of him. His hands were in her hair and on her back, keeping her close, and as the kiss became more frantic, she could feel his growing arousal through his jeans, pressing into her stomach.

Jared pulled away, trailing kisses along her jawline and down her neck.

Never mind the stubble burn she would have from his beard. This was delicious torture. Her head fell to the side, giving him better access, her fingers pulling on his hair.

He moaned against her skin, moving away, looking at her. His eyes were dark and needy, his lips plump and inviting. He kissed her lips again softly, before resting their foreheads together again. They were both breathing heavily.

Never before had Nina been kissed like that in her life. Never before had it felt this... right. All consuming. It was as if they had been lovers for years, he knew how to turn her into a hot, bothered mess with just a few touches.

"Wow," she breathed.

"My thoughts exactly," he replied.

He pulled away to look in her eyes, before he smiled at her. A panty dropping, heart quenching, soul-destroying smile. She knew she was done for right then and there.

Jared leaned in and pecked her lips again.

"I hope they get us out of here really soon," he murmured. "I would like to do this properly, in an appropriate setting."

Her head was spinning, her heart thumping loudly still.

"That sounds lov--"

Loud banging onto the lift door made them jump.

"Hey, is anyone in there?" they heard a muffled voice.

They both scrambled to their feet, rushing to the door.