The Lift: A Short Love Story

By Vivi Holt

What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with a Hollywood heart-throb?

It was going to be the most important meeting of my life so far. My big break. The chance to change the entire course of my life. But then it happened. The elevator stopped, and everything changed.
 What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with a Hollywood heart-throb? For hours…


You think you know what you’d do. You think you'd be all cool, suave and sophisticated. Well, I wasn't. I was running late, flustered, sweaty and awkward. And he was aloof, sexy and not interested in anything I had to say.
 We didn't come from the same world. We shouldn't even have met. But we did. 
And everything changed.


• Language: English
• Publisher: Vivi Holt
• Release date: Jan 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540185716

Book preview

1

Billie

Billie Wilcox ran along the sidewalk of the long sloping drive that meandered uphill toward the towering skyscraper. Her roller bag banged and bumped along the pavement behind her. She always seemed to be running late, and today was no exception .

She pushed a blonde curl back behind her ear with her free hand, but it bounced forward again and into her eyes. Sweat beaded across her forehead and trickled down the sides of her face. The dry California heat felt like the blast from an open oven door. After traveling directly from a cold and frosty winter’s day in Sydney, Australia, the heat pricked uncomfortably at her skin. She really should have reconsidered the thick tights beneath her dress and the heavy coat she’d put on when she left for the airport twenty hours earlier.

She strained to pull the small wheels of her carry-on over the lip of the curb, then dragged it steadily up the steep sidewalk, the crunch of plastic wheels turning on hard, gritty pavement.

Century Park East loomed high above her, and she stopped for a moment to crane her neck skyward, taking in the entire imposing building. A hand raised above her eyes, she squinted against the glare of the morning sunlight glinting off darkened windows and wondered which floor was the thirty-second. Finally she lifted her finger, counting levels in an attempt to locate it. The thirty-second floor was the office of world-renowned movie producer Genevieve Small. She was waiting for Billie right now – or about to give her appointment away to another aspiring screenwriter, one who wasn’t late.

Billie hoisted her purse strap higher on her shoulder, bent her head and pushed herself forward again, up the hill, dragging her suitcase behind her. Why, why, WHY did I walk all the way from Beverly Hills? I could have just taken a taxi …

She sighed and climbed the final set of stairs, winding her way around the outside of the building. Reaching the front door, the rectangular glass panels swished open and an icy gust of air conditioning slapped her in the face. She stepped forward eagerly through the doors and wished she could revel in the cool air, but there wasn’t time. She scanned the lobby, spotted the bank of elevators and walked quickly over to press the UP button.

While she waited impatiently for the car to arrive, a security guard came out from behind the reception desk. Miss? Miss! he called as he strode toward her.

One of the elevators dinged open. Billie swung her gaze between the open doors and the approaching guard. She was already running late, and the guard was only going to hold her up more, no doubt with a range of pointless questions about who she was visiting and why. She smiled apologetically at him and slipped through the elevator doors as they were closing –

– only to have the wheels of her suitcase get stuck on the lip of the doorway. She leaned back into the car, tugging hard on the handle, grunting with each attempt to wrench the wheels free. The doors closed against the sides of the bag, a bell in the elevator rang loudly, and the doors popped open a little … then banged closed against the suitcase again. Billie pulled the handle up, yanking the case into the air and inside, just as the security guard arrived. The doors shut an inch from his outstretched fingers.

Haha! Woooo! Billie celebrated the small victory, doing a little jig inside the elevator. It wasn’t much,