Secret Rooms and Stolen Kisses: A Romance

by Brooke St. James

"You're welcome. I had fun."

  "I want to go back and play some of those games on the boardwalk," he said.

  "Which one?" I asked.

  "Land the ball in the basket," Trey said.

  I smiled at him and shook my head as I made it to the top of the stairs. "That one's impossible," I said. "That's why the prizes are so big. The bigger the prize, the more impossible the game."

  "Like they always say," Trey said with an amused grin.

  I was charmed by him, and the realization of that made me take a step away. "Okay, I'll see ya," I said.

  I waved and smiled as I began retreating down the hall toward my apartment.

  "Oh, Tara, I wasn't going to show anybody this, and now you've got me wanting to so bad…" Trey gazed at me thoughtfully like he was really contemplating something.

  "What are you talking about?" I asked.

  "I found a secret in this building, and I promised myself I would tell no one on this earth about it, and now I just keep wanting to show you."

  "Oh, now you've got me curious. Now you can't not show me."

  "Do you want to see it?" he asked.

  "Yes!" I said with wide eyes even though I had no idea what it was. My first thought was that he had found treasure buried in the wall or a floorboard—like a treasure map or the original copy of the Declaration of Independence.

  "Is it treasure?" I asked.

  He let out a little laugh. "No. Kind of, but no. Come on."

  As he told me to come on, he reached out and grabbed my hand to pull me along. He let go of me as soon as he touched me, but there had been contact, and I was hyper aware of it.

  "Where are we going?" I asked. I fell into stride behind him, following him back down the stairs. My heart was pounding by the time we reached the bottom.

  "It's next door," he said, even though I had a hunch already.

  I followed Trey along the sidewalk for several paces until we reached the door to the jewelry store. He unlocked it and glanced around before he went inside. He locked the door behind us and took off, heading toward the back.

  "Okay, so back here in the hallway on the way to the office, there's a big linen closet. I don't know if you remember that, but—"

  "I do," I said. I had taken pictures and I knew the building well. I knew there were a few nice closets in the hall.

  "Oh, whoa, what happened?" I said, seeing the mess that had been made as we walked past the front room and deeper into the building.

  There was a stack of wood and drywall in the hall where the closet had been demolished, leaving a small, empty compartment that was roughly three feet square.

  Debris was stacked in the hallway, and I got caught up staring at it, but Trey got my attention by opening the door the rest of the way and stepping into the closet.

  "First, I noticed this spackle peeling back at the seam right here," he said. "And then I saw that there was a piece of metal in the wall. It looked like there were gears, and I was like why would there be gears?" He pointed up, and I glanced that way. I could see where the wall had been peeled back exposing a big metal mechanism in the wall near the ceiling.

  "I'm sure there was a switch at one point," he said. "My guess was that there was a shelf facing this way," he gestured to the side wall where the machine parts had been revealed. "Like maybe you pull a certain book off the shelf and it triggers a secret passage, like you were saying."

  At first, I thought he had been messing with me, and then I realized, based on the destruction, that he might be serious. I widened my eyes at him, pointing at the closet. "Is this a secret passage?" I asked.

  He nodded excitedly. "I found the switch in the wall, but the shelves were still in at that point. I tried to flip the switch, but they were in the way. It wouldn’t work. You'll see. You'll see how it works. I was in here all morning. I noticed that metal yesterday, and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to peel back this wall to figure it out, and then it wouldn't work with the shelves. You'll see. You have to be inside."

  "Be inside?"

  "Yes. Come here."

  He stepped to one side of the closet offering me a little room on the other side. I stepped in cautiously, feeling ridiculously close to him. He was tall and broad, and hard-bodied, and I was only noticing those things because I was basically pressed up against him.

  "Just trust me," he said reassuringly. "You have to be all the way inside, and the door has to be closed."

  He held me close, pulling me near. I started to get a thrill from it, but then I realized he was only doing it to use me for leverage. He closed the pocket door, making it dark inside, and then he reached up and pulled a lever.

  "Sorry, it's only going to be dark for a second. It won't work unless this door is closed." Suddenly, I heard a low, humming, mechanical noise. I pulled back and looked at him with wide eyes.

  "Just a second," he assured me, smiling.

  It was dark, but I could see enough to see him smile. I just stood there being quiet while things began to move. I reached out and held onto his arm, feeling a little scared and starting to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

  Trey gave me a few compassionate pats on my arm. "Trust me," he said. "I wouldn't let you get hurt. This door needs oil. I think it's supposed to go quicker."

  I had no idea what he was talking about. We were completely surrounded on all four sides, but I still trusted him. I glanced up at him, but I could barely make out the outlines of his face. I thought he might use the few seconds of mysterious darkness to kiss me, but he didn't. I got all woozy and melty at the thought. I was still staring upward at him as the back wall opened slowly.

  "Oh my gosh, this is insane! Is there another room over there?"

  He held onto me. "Just stand here for a second and let it open. It takes a few seconds."

  I stayed still for several long seconds as the wall opened up.

  "I thought we were going to be glued into the wall for a second there," I said, sounding relieved.

  He laughed. "You thought I was gluing you into the wall? You sure did give in easily if you thought that's what was going on here."

  "Well, obviously I trust you if I'm not fighting. But if you were really trying to glue me into the wall, you better believe I would fight."

  I stared at the back wall as it continued to open, revealing another tiny room on the other side. It was mostly dark still, but I could see that there was another space there.

  "Is this a secret closet?" I asked, peering into it.

  "Yeah. And it's extremely secret. I have the blueprints for this place, and none of this exists. Todd and Justin don't know about it. No one does. Todd mentioned something being off with the measurements, but I haven't let them get close enough to figure this out."

  "Oh, gosh, it's a staircase," I said, when the back wall finally opened completely and I could see the tiny room on the other side. The only place to go was up a small spiral staircase. It was dimly lit, but I could see a little. The steps were iron, and the stairway was lined in gorgeous wood paneling. The wood walls were a stark contrast to the closet where we stood, which had been torn up by Trey ripping the shelves out and tearing the drywall down.

  I stepped onto the first step of the spiral staircase, but I turned and looked back at Trey. I figured it'd be better to ask if he wanted to go first since he knew where he was going. I turned as he came to stand behind, me, and I found that we were eye to eye. "Wow, how tall are you?" I asked, saying the first thing that came to my mind.

  "Six-two."

  "Oh, really? I didn't realize."

  I leaned back when I noticed how close we were.

  "Did you want to go first?" I asked.

  There was only room for one of us on that staircase, so we would have to switch places if he wanted to go up first, but I had no idea where I was going.

  "There's only one place to go," he said. "There's one room at the top, and I left a night light plugged in earlier, so you should be able to see once you get up there."


  I nodded and turned, trying not to notice that Trey had been incredibly close to me. He wasn't brushing up against me or anything, but it was a tight space, and we were close. I did my best to ignore his presence, but I was aware of Trey Harper in a different way now.

  My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and I easily climbed the steps.

  "It's wired for lights, but the bulbs are out, and it takes a special kind of bulb."

  The staircase turned and opened up, and I gasped at the gorgeous little room that was waiting at the top of the steps.

  "Where in the world am I?" I said dazedly, dramatically.

  "I left a flashlight there at the top of the stairs," he said from behind me.

  I continued to climb until I reached the top of the steps. I found myself in a much larger room than I ever expected. It wasn't gigantic, but it was maybe twelve-by-twelve. I knew it was somewhere close to that because I knew how to estimate after considering different studio spaces.

  Two walls were covered in built in bookshelves, but they were empty now. I was too busy looking around to worry about the flashlight, but Trey grabbed it when he made his way into the room. Things got brighter when he turned it on.

  It was a green room with wooden built-in bookshelves on two sides. The shelves were made of thick wood and had intricate details.

  "There were a few books on the top shelves," Trey said, "about fifty of them. They might be valuable. They're antiques, first editions. I took them down to the apartment to check them out. I was looking at them up here, but it's dark, and it's dusty. I was getting allergies. I had just finished hauling them down when I ran into you and you made me the sandwich. I needed a break from all this, anyway. It was overwhelming."

  "You had to go down with them, and then outside and back up to the apartment?" I asked, imagining him hauling books.

  "Yes," he said with a chuckle. He gently knocked on the wall to his right. "I'm pretty sure if I put a hole in this wall, I'd be standing in my apartment, but yes, I had to go all the way down and around."

  I noticed that he referred to 202 as his apartment, but I didn't say anything about it since technically the whole building was his.

  "This room is unbelievable," I said, looking all around. "I cannot believe we just went through the back of the closet. Where are we, even? I mean, I know we're upstairs, but you think we're next to 202?" I reached out and put my hand on the wall he had touched, as if that would help me get my bearings.

  "My guess is that we're between apartment 202 and 203. Maybe the supply closet is here," he said, pointing. "But there's no way into either of them from this room. Not that I can tell, at least, and I poked and prodded around in here for over an hour earlier."

  There was a sliding ladder on the bookshelf, and he pointed the flashlight toward the top of it. "This ladder looks like it goes to another exit, though." He used the flashlight to aim at the ceiling. "My guess is that this frame in the ceiling is a window onto the roof—a hatch or whatever—an exit route, if you needed it. I've got to have some work done to restore this, but it would be amazing to have a skylight there."

  "So, there's a top-secret room that leads up to the roof? Plus, you found a bunch of valuable books? That's all you've been doing with your day before we hung out? How uneventful! You must be so bored."

  I was being sarcastic, and he smiled, and nodded, knowing how amazing this was.

  "I can't believe this is here and none of the people in the apartments ever even knew about it," I said. "I wonder if Mister McCain knew."

  "No. Nobody knows about it," he said. "And I like it that way. Todd would figure it out if he came in here, and I don't want him to. He already mentioned there being lost space on the second floor. I think I'm just going to hire his crew to do the bathrooms and kitchens and hire other people to do the rest. I figured I can keep it a mystery if I hire two different crews, one to work on the sky light restoration from the roof, and one to fix up the closet and trap door from downstairs. I'll do some of it myself. I'm going to board the closet up for now and tell my contractors to stay out of here."

  "Are you trying to keep people from knowing this room exists?" I asked, feeling a little confused.

  "Yes, I am," he said. "I don't want to tell a soul about it, so please don't mention it—not even to construction workers. It's fun to have something no one else knows about. That's why it's a secret passage. Because no one knows about it."

  "Yeah, but I know about it," I said.

  Trey stared at me, blinking a couple of times like he was thinking. "I know, but you're different. I don't want those guys to know—or anyone else."

  I looked around, glancing up, taking it all in. I could've imagined the window being open and functioning. It would've been magical. It already was magical.

  "Thank you for sharing this with me," I said.

  "You're welcome."

  I smiled at him. "Should I be scared the door might get stuck and we'll be in here forever?"

  Oh, gosh. Was I flirting? Stop.

  "No. We're not stuck. All we have to do is knock a hole in one of these walls and we'll be in my apartment. In fact, I thought about making another door into here from there while I'm doing renovations. That way I could reach this room from my apartment or downstairs. If I end up renting this place out to anyone but you, I'll probably make the downstairs entrance unusable like it was." He shrugged. "I'd almost rather no one use it at all if it's not you."

  "It'll always be me," I said.

  He chuckled at that. "I'm still trying to comprehend that this room even exists. My guess is that no one's been up here for years. I guess Joan Harper could have known about it at one point, but she never left any clues. Maybe she was the one who boarded it up and built the shelves."

  I bent down and got on the floor slowly, first to my knees and then I turned and laid on my back. I sprawled out in the center of the room, staring up at the ceiling. The wood floors were dusty, but I didn't care, I could imagine this place in its full splendor with sun shining down through a window in the roof. I imagined a seating area with chairs and a table and some plants. It would have been really glorious with these shelves all cleaned up and full of books.

  Trey and I stayed up there and talked for an hour or so. He loved this new secret room, and I couldn't blame him. I loved it, too. I had never seen anything like it. It was hidden, secret, special. I could tell he didn't want anyone else to know about it, and I didn't plan on telling. His secret was safe with me. I had no idea why he shared it with me, but I was glad, and I didn't plan on betraying his trust.

  Chapter 9

  Trey

  Ten o'clock that evening

  Trey had no idea why he told Tara about the secret room. The minute he found it, he assured himself that he wasn't going to tell a soul, and before the end of the day, he had already taken Tara up there. Trey normally didn't have a problem with breaking his own resolve. He was a private person who had never felt the need to share information with people before he was ready.

  He had a whole plan about hiring different crews to work on different parts of the room so that no one knew the full scope of the hidden treasure from rooftop to closet. Trey was a smart guy who had figured out a way to get the secret room restored while still keeping the full experience a secret.

  And then, Tara Castro was about to say goodnight to him, and he just couldn't take it. He marched her downstairs and proceeded to show her the entire thing, bottom to top. He even told her about the books. There wasn't a single detail that he kept from her.

  He would've normally been mad at himself for doing something like that, but honestly, in this case, he would do it again. He liked Tara, and he had no regrets. They stayed upstairs, talking for a while after he showed it to her, and she had some great ideas about fixing it up and making it beautiful again.

  It was 9pm when they said goodnight, and Tara knocked on his door an hour later.

  He opened the door, smiling when he saw that it was her. He i
mmediately noticed that she was holding a plate. It was covered with a paper napkin, so he couldn’t see what was on it, but he assumed it was a chicken sandwich.

  "I was in the kitchen and it was ten o'clock, so I thought I'd make you another one. You know, since you said that about ten o'clock. You don't have to eat it if you don't—"

  "I want it so much," Trey said. "I'm hungry. It's perfect timing."

  She smiled. "I made a plate with chips and a pickle, like before."

  Tara was bold and fearless, she had a scratch on her eye from boxing with a guy. And yet she smiled at Trey, and acted all proper, holding out the plate like she was shy to offer it to him. She was utterly irresistible. Trey wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her—to claim her. He grinned, ignoring the urge as he took the plate from her.

  "I don't want you to regret telling me," she whispered. "I really won't tell anyone. I'll forget you told me."

  "Don't forget," Trey insisted easily. "That'd be a shame if you forgot."

  She looked up and stared at him. Both of their hands were on the plate, and she let go of it once she realized Trey had a hold of it.

  "It's awesome that you really brought this," he said. "I was thinking about that conversation, and it crossed my mind that you might."

  She smiled and shrugged. "When you have chicken for days, sometimes you have to share with neighbors."

  Trey grinned as he cut his eyes toward apartment 203, making sure the neighbors were nowhere in sight before looking back at her. "Come here for a second, I want to tell you something." He was whispering, acting like he didn't want them to be overheard, but really, he just wanted Tara to come closer. There was no one around, but she came near to him, offering him her ear so that he could say what he wanted to say.

  "Thank you," he whispered. He spoke slowly, intentionally trying to hold her there. They were ever so close, and the air between them was absolutely charged. The tension was tangible. You could cut it with a knife.

  Tara put her mouth closer to his ear. "You're welcome," she whispered slowly. She started to step back, but Trey reached in and kissed her cheek. Tara hesitated there, letting it happen.