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“I spy-”
“I swear to God, Miller.”
Hardy rested his head against the wall of the lift and closed his eyes. If he wasn’t much mistaken, he had this exact nightmare about four months ago.
A bunch of stolen computers from the local school had been traced to an office in Southampton of all places, meaning a long drive with Miller.
Not just Miller, but a Miller in a particularly chipper mood.
By the time they had arrived to discover the company they needed to speak to was on the top floor, Hardy was ready for the day to be over.
Once they had discovered the sophisticated tracking systems on the computers had led them to the wrong company, Hardy was half tempted to skip the lift and take the window to the ground floor.
Of course, picking the lift stopped being the sensible option when the whole thing shut down between two floors. Phone calls had been made and emergency buttons pressed until the engineers had promised them they would be out within the hour.
Miller had sat down straight away and pulled a cereal bar from the depths of her bag.
“Do you want-”
“No.”
That had been twenty minutes ago.
“Just trying to pass the time,” she muttered and crossed her arms.
“Why? Why can’t we just sit here? We’re adults! We don’t need constant stimulation or attention! We can just sit and - and be!”
Miller blinked at him once he’d finished his outburst. “Sometimes adults talk to each other.”
“About what?”
She glared at him as though he had said something wrong.
There was a couple of minutes of silence - beautiful, peaceful, blissful silence - when Miller spoke again, ruining everything.
“What did you say before we got in the lift?”
“What?”
“Before we got in the lift.” She folded her arms with an unreadable expression on her face. “You said something.”
“Did I?”
She nodded. “Just after Ben asked me out.”
Hardy frowned. Ben was the slick-haired city office bloke they had mistakenly travelled halfway across the coast to interview. Even though they had only spoken briefly, Hardy was of the opinion that Ben was an insufferable idiot.
“So…”
“So what?” Hardy shrugged.
“What did you say?”
He scrubbed a hand over his eyes. How long did it take to fix a bloody lift anyway?
“I can’t remember.”
“Oh.”
“So can we move on?”
“Okay.” There was a heartbeat of silence. “I remember what you said.”
“For God’s sake- why ask me, then?”
Miller ignored him. “You said he wasn’t good enough for me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“No. You swore as well.”
She gave him a cheeky grin and he felt his ears heat up. For once, Hardy was glad he had ignored Daisy’s advice and not had a haircut last week. Hopefully, Miller wouldn’t notice if his ears went red. It wasn’t like he could hide from her.
“So?”
“So… why don’t you think he’s good enough for me?”
“He’s an idiot.”
“He owns his own company.”
“He’s about twelve.”
“Thirty-nine according to the website.”
“He spends too much time on his hair.”
“Just because you don’t care about your hair, doesn’t mean someone who does is a terrible person!” snapped Miller. “What do you even do in the morning? Ruffle it up even more? When did you last get it cut, anyway?”
Hardy ran a hand over his hair. “What has my hair got to do with anything?”
“Nothing!”
“I didn’t realise you were so superficial. Judging men by their hair.”
“I didn’t say- I don’t do that!”
“Prove it. Go to dinner with me.”
Miller’s jaw dropped. Sadly, the lift didn’t.
“Did you-”
“No.”
“But-”
“I didn’t-”
“But you-”
“Stop-”
“Dinner-”
“Excuse me? Detectives?”
They both stared at the speaker on the wall, both having forgotten where they were and why. Simultaneously, they scrambled towards the button, Hardy getting there first.
“What?”
“We’ve fixed the issue and you should be about to move. Didn’t want to frighten you.” The mechanic chuckled, but Hardy had barely enough control of his limbs to remain standing, let alone respond.
He turned around and saw Miller had stood facing the door, straightening her blazer out. Hardy took his place by her side as the lights came back to life and the lift shuddered into a descent.
It took ten uncomfortable seconds before the lift stopped at the ground floor.
“You are an utter arsehole, you know?” Miller growled from behind gritted teeth. She was still staring at the closed doors.
Hardy nodded.
The lift made an obnoxious buzzing sound and Hardy waited for the doors to open. Instead, he was shocked when he saw Miller slam her palm against the button on the wall to keep them closed.
“What the bloody-”
Before he could finish his thought, Miller had grabbed his tie and pulled him down until their mouths crashed together.
The only thing he could think was that it wasn’t graceful, romantic or even gentle, but it was them.
The lift door opened and Miller let him go, storming off with so much as a glance.
“Right,” Hardy choked out as he followed, not bothering to sort his tie out.
“Pick me up at seven,” Miller yelled as he rushed to catch up with her, hoping she remembered they drove here in the same car, “and don’t even think about being late!”