front of me turned around and leaned over the back of his couch. “Hey.”

The book went jammed back into my bag. I grabbed my hoodie, shrugged into it. “Yeah?”

So I didn’t sound very welcoming. So what?

“You, um, wanna have some coffee? Sometime?”

What? I stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language, and the shuffling noise in the room

as everyone got ready to go crested. Then I realized what he was asking me, for whatever reason.

Words finally occurred to me. “I guess so.”

Now why did you say that, Dru? Like you’ve got time for a coffee klatch. But hell, it was the first

time someone had said anything to me that they didn’t absolutely have to. And yeah, I was the new

girl. Always be cautious of the first guy who talks to you—that’s the rule for new girls. I could have

recited it in my sleep.

But it had worked out fine last time, with Graves. Or not so fine, considering he’d kissed me once

and decided he didn’t want to go further. And this guy looked so hopeful, and his blue eyes were

warm and shy.

“I mean, sure,” my mouth replied independently of my brain. “Like when?”

He looked surprised but covered it well. “Um. Huh. Well, when are you free?”

Leon made a stifled noise behind me. I ignored him. “Weekends, mostly. Except this Saturday, I’m,

uh, busy. So, um, Sunday? Like around one or so? We can meet in the caf.”

Way to play hard to get, Dru.

He looked like I’d just given him Christmas. “Yeah.” He stuck his hand over the back of the couch.

“I’m Zeke.”

I barely pressed his warm fingers. Some guys go for the squeeze to prove they’re manly, but he

wasn’t one. The touch didn’t leap to show me anything about him, either. “Dru.”

“I know.” He gave me a grin, dropped my hand, grabbed his books, and beat it out the door. I would

have been insulted, but the way he was blushing was kind of cute.

“The ice,” Leon said to thin air over my head, “has now officially broken.”

I rolled my eyes, hauled myself to my feet. Said nothing. Sometimes, if you just ignore him when

he gets all sarcastic, he shuts up.

Today was not one of those times.

“I suppose you wouldn’t care to come out to coffee with any of us.” He was still talking to the air

above my head, his arms folded.

Oh, Jesus. I kept my hand down with an effort. I was playing with Mom’s locket more and more often now. “Nobody ever asks me. I spend every day with you guys. What the hell?”

A single shrug, and he turned on his heel. “You’re going to be late. And you should be ready for that

sort of reaction, Milady.”