Luckily, Zio was in the way between her body and the floor and, though the catch wasn't at all graceful and probably would leave some minor bruises on them both, he threw himself beneath her awkwardly. His arms immediately closed around her to further cushion her landing against his own body and keep her steady as their combined weight had him sprawled across the elevator floor. Breath knocked out of him at her collision, he gasped a bit into her neck, warm and teasing, before he caught himself and drew his head back. Next he loosened his grip in a very deliberate manner, careful to resist the sudden urge to trail his fingertips along her sides. It was a hard road. For some reason, something about this young woman focused his attention. He had the nearly irresistible urge to hold her closer, claim her by keeping her in the cage of his arms. It was, to say the least, annoying. He disliked the implication that he had no control and gritted his teeth for a moment.
Only then, sanity restored, still close but at a more reasonable distance, did Zio draw a fresh breath. "Well," he murmured, "we're definitely not trusting you to climb up there now." He shifted her in his hold to put more space between their bodies and, while he was gentle, his movement was still firm; it encouraged her politely to slip away entirely and sit up. "You'll break your neck," he added dryly.