Anyone but you (Fermín López)

Chapter 9

Victoria decided the best thing she could do was ignore Fermín and stay away from him. He was just playing with her feelings and she was tired of that. As if having two bodyguards as father and uncle wasn't bad enough...but fate loved laughing at her. It always had.

When the doors of the lift opened, she saw Fermín standing inside. Alone. He looked up to see who was there not getting inside the lift and Victoria sighed.

"I can wait", she said.

But Fermín stopped the doors from closing so she could get inside. "Don't be stupid. Come in".

She did but decided to stay as far away from him as humanly possible. It was just four floors so it wasn't going to take that long...

"What was that?"

"The lift stopped moving but we're not on our floor. I think it stopped in the middle of two floors and that's why the doors didn't open".

Fermín walked to where the emergency button was, which meant having to stand next to Victoria, and pressed it for ten seconds as it said in the instructions.

"One of our technicians will be with you shortly. Please wait, remain calm and don't touch any other buttons or try to open the door", said the robot voice and Fermín sighed and sat down on the floor.

Victoria started to pace, clearly nervous.

"I don't want to say I'm claustrophobic but I'm a little claustrophobic".

"Sit here with me", Fermín patted the floor next to him and she did as he asked.

"I'm sorry about the other day. About how I treated you. It's just...my dad is driving me insane. And I shouldn't have been so mean to you".

"It's ok".

"It isn't, Fermín...".

The buzzer making a noise stopped her from saying more and they both got up to move closer to the speaker.

"We'll send someone to fix the problem. Maybe in 10 minutes. Please remain calm. If any of you don't feel well, just press the emergency button again so we know to send more help".

Fermín sat down again and Victoria did the same, but he could tell how pale she looked.

"Ten more minutes?"

Fermín also realised Victoria was shivering and he pulled her closer to him. Her back was now pressed against his chest and she held onto the arms that were wrapped around her waist.

"Thank you. I just need my breathing to get back to normal. But it's hard...".

Fermín started to caress her arms, causing goosebumps and Victoria closed her eyes. She leaned back even closer to him and Fermín moved his legs so she could sit in between them. They hadn't been this close to each other since the night they met and ended up in bed together.

"Better?", he whispered.

"No", she said, her voice trembling, not from the phobia, but from how close to each other they were.

"What can I do to help?"

Victoria could feel his breath on her neck and that was just another sensation to add to the many she was feeling. So she turned to face him and grabbed his face to pull Fermín closer to her and kiss him.

"That helps?"

"Yeah. I've also wanted to do it for a while so...".

"Me too", confessed Fermín. "But we can't".

"Says who?"

"Your dad. Your uncle".
"They don't need to find out".

"Vicky...".

She didn't give him time to recite all the reasons why they couldn't be together. She was tired. Tired of the tension there was between them every time they were together for more than two seconds. And tired of never getting what she wanted because of being so overprotected.

"Stop thinking for a second, Fermín. Think I'm the girl you met at the club. Forget who I really am".

"But...".

Victoria turned her body fully to sit on Fermín's lap while they kissed. Because she wanted to and because he wouldn't be able to run away as easily if she was the one on top.

"You make me want to risk it all, Vicky", he said in between kisses. "You just don't get how hard it's been to stay away from you".

"I know. Because it's been equally as hard for me".

While the make-out session got more heated, a crowd had gathered outside of the lift waiting for them to be rescued.

"Ok guys", the voice coming from the buzzer startled them and they got up quickly. "The problem is fixed now and we'll try to move the lift in a minute. All good?"

"Yes", they both answered and spent that minute trying to fix their clothes and hair so no one would be able to tell what had happened.

Noticing the lift moving was a huge relief and seeing the doors open allowed Victoria to breathe properly. She wasn't lying about being claustrophobic.

Oscar was there waiting to see if his daughter was fine and ran to hug her.

"Are you ok, princess?"

"Yes. It's good I wasn't alone. Fermín helped me feel better".

"Thank you, Fermín. She suffers from claustrophobia, I was so worried".

"It's ok, happy to help. She did really well. Just felt a little nervous at first. And I was telling her a nap would help her a lot now".

"A nap?", asked Oscar.

"So much anxiety is exhausting, dad. Fermín's idea is great so I'll do that. He should take one too, actually. Looking after me is a lot of work".

Her dad laughed, not noticing the way his daughter and Fermín were looking at each other.

"All right then, I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner".

"No need. I'll set an alarm on my phone. Thanks, dad".

Victoria kissed her dad's cheek before making her way to her room. Fermín followed a couple of steps behind and when she got to her room's door, they both looked behind them and saw no one was there.

"Wanna take that nap with me, Fermín?"

"Sure. But first, let's finish what we started in the lift".