I sighed. My phone kept buzzing, and I clicked Answer as I was going down the stairs. “Hey, what’s up?”
“You will never believe what she did.” Erica’s anger was like whiplash.
I kept going down the stairs, but my mind and everything was still on the roof. He’d wanted to make sure I was okay, that I wasn’t scared of him. I had never considered that possibility.
“She’s such a bitch.”
I tuned back in to what Erica was saying as I got to my floor and went through the door. “Who’s a bitch?” Wait, she’d already said that. I had heard it. “Susan. What did she do again?”
“First, she backstabbed the senior reporter. She’s out. Susan got her kicked off the project, and I have no idea how she did it, but she’s trying the same with me. Susan’s trying to scoop me.”
I frowned as I got to our apartment and pulled out my keys. Fumbling through them, I found the right one and unlocked the door. As I did, I stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, but I didn’t feel fear. I felt him. Slowly, I straightened upright. The phone fell away, and I looked where I’d just come from.
Kian was standing there. He was watching me.
This would’ve been creepy if it were anyone else, but remembering the stark need on his face while on the roof as he’d said he wanted to make sure I wasn’t scared of him pushed everything out of me. I held up a hand to him.
He waved back. “Making sure you got there okay.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“Jo?” Erica was calling from my phone.
I held it back to my ear, but I was riveted by Kian. I could see him better now in the hallway. With the lean cut of his body, the jeans he was wearing, the black sneakers on his feet, and even how the whites of his eyes seemed to stand out from how tan his skin was—he was gorgeous.
The corner of his mouth lifted, and I knew he’d caught me checking him out. Ducking my head down, my cheeks got red, and I shoved inside my place. The door swung shut behind me, and I leaned back against it.
I was so stupid, checking him out after everything. I shook my head at myself, but then heard Erica’s voice again.
“Jo! Hello? Jo, where are you?”
“Sorry. There was a guy in the hallway.”
“You weren’t home? I thought you got off work an hour ago. Where were you? Wait.” She paused. “Is he hot? Please tell me he’s a new neighbor.”
“I’m home now, and no, I don’t think he’s a neighbor.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. “Wait. How’d you get home?”
I sighed, pulling open the fridge to grab a water. “Jake walked me home.”
“Was that Jake? Please tell me it was because I’d like to rub that in Susan’s face. I swear, she’s just as possessive of him when he’s not Tara’s boyfriend than when he was.”
Sinking down on a chair, I put my water on the table and gripped the phone tighter. “Erica, you called me for a reason. You don’t usually call to vent when you’re working.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m not working. I’m at the Wine Cellar. I was more calling to have you come down here, so I could vent to you in person. Wanker couldn’t come. He said something about throwing up. I don’t know what he meant. He’s never sick, so it couldn’t be because of that, but whatever. Can you come down?”
“To the Wine Cellar?”
Kian was probably leaving the building right now.
Erica kept talking. Venting. Wanker. Wine Cellar. It was all jumbled together.
I turned toward the balcony.
Could I see him?
“Uh-huh,” I murmured to the phone as I stood from the table.
There was no conscious thought. My body moved that way. The light was left on. If he looked up, he would catch me. I didn’t care, and I sank down on one of the chairs. I’d just been there, not even an hour ago, hiding from people who had been chasing after me. I was back, and I was the chaser now.
There he was.
I leaned over the railing, and Kian came out the side door. As he did, he stopped in the sidewalk. His hands searched inside his jeans pockets, and then his head straightened. He twisted around. He was gazing up. I ducked down, but I could still see a little bit.
He was staring right at my apartment.
I was eight floors up, and it was dark out, but he continued to look up. My forehead pressed against the railing, and I gripped my phone so close to my head that Erica could probably hear the street sounds through it.
“Jo?” she said.
“Yeah?” I murmured, clearing my throat.
Going back to my knees, I peeked again, but he wasn’t there anymore. I couldn’t see him up or down the street. I shouldn’t have been surprised. He was a ghost now.