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not exactly in the phone book.”
    He chuckles. “ Open the door.”
    “No.”
    “Ryan sent me.”
    “Well, I’m sending you right back.”
    “Why are you so scared of me, Joss?” he asks, sounding like he’s mocking me. Like he’s soothing a crying baby.
    I bristle. “I’m not scared of you. I’m leery of you. Totally different.”
    “Why are you leery of me?”
    “Wouldn’t you be?”
    When he chuckles again, I tense. His voice is drifting farther away. Farther down the hall into the building.
    “You’re going the wrong way. Exit’s to the left, pal!”
    “I’m not leaving,” he replies calmly. He’s farther away now. “I’m looking for another entrance. There are more, aren’t there?” His voice is approaching again. Slowly. “Of course there are. There’s the fire escape out this window at the end of the hall that will lead up to the roof. Do you have a roof hatch, Joss?”
    “It’s locked,” I snap, hoping it actually is.
    “Doesn’t matter,” he says, his voice drifting the other way now. “There are other ways of getting in there. Don’t worry about it. I’ll find them.”
    I don’t know what other entrances there may be, but I do know if anyone will find them it’s him. Be it Spider-manning his way up the building and through the windows or slithering his way up through my toilet. No matter how the ninja plans on doing it, I’d rather he didn’t.
    I sigh heavily. I do not put away my knife.
    When I open the door, he’s standing right there waiting as though he had been the entire time. He’s too quiet. Too quick. I’m jealous of it and I hate him for it.
    “May I enter?” he drones, bowing gracefully to me, formally asking permission like a friggin’ vampire.
    “Come in,” I say reluctantly, swinging the door open.
    “Thought you’d never ask.”
    He saunters in, scanning the entire loft in one quick assessing glance. I’m pretty sure in that one move he catalogued my entire world , underwear included. And he did it alphabetically.
    “What are you doing here?” I ask, never leaving the door. I also leave it open as an invitation to leave.
    “I told you, Ryan sent me.” He stands in the center of the room, his hands in his pockets. “What made you open the door? I thought you were leery of me.”
    “I am and I should be. You’re shifty.” I spin my knife in my hand, just so we both know I have it. “And because you’re shifty, keeping you out started to feel like delaying the inevitable. Like a Risen at your door. They’re never going away. Eventually you have to make them go.”
    He grins at me. “I promise not to overstay my welcome.”
    “You already have.”
    “That was fast.”
    “It doesn’t take long with me.”
    He smirks. “Do you know why I like you, Joss?”
    “I’m sure I have no idea.”
    “It’s for the same reasons Ryan does.” He holds up his hands in innocence. “Our reasons are the same, but our motives are completely different, I promise. I don’t see cozying up to someone like you. It’d be like loving a skunk.”
    “Nice,” I deadpan. “Very charming.”
    He shrugs. “I have as much use for charm as you do. What I mean is, a skunk scares easy. They’re solitary. When they don’t want you around, they let you know it and they send you home with a reminder for days.”
    “You make a good point. You’re very chatty today, aren’t you?” I ask suspiciously.
    “I am. It’s one of the reasons I like you. I can talk to you. You’re not all bravado and bullshit.”
    “Thank you?” I ask, frowning.
    He shakes his head dismissively. “ It was an observation. If you want compliments, talk to Ryan. He’ll tell you the sun rises and sets in your hair. That your eyes remind him of rain.”
    My frown deepens. “What does that even mean?”
    “I have no idea, but he would understand it and if you heard him saying it, you’d understand it too.” He grins mischievously at me. It’s very Cheshire. Very cat ate the