Xander's Chance

"I don't do reruns, so as long as you don't invite them over, I don't care."

"Reruns?"

"Sleep with the same girl twice." He smiled.

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

Definitely not laughing at that. She kept her mouth closed this time with some difficulty and looked away.

"How much did Ingrid say I was paying you?"

"Not enough," she replied. To her surprise, he laughed. "I can't believe people leave those kinds of messages on your phone or that Ingrid has to deal with three hundred and sixty four horny women a year calling you to beg for a second night of sex."

"It's probably closer to five hundred. I have a healthy libido."

"Whatever." Her face was getting warmer. "There's something wrong with them and …" you. She stopped herself before saying it out loud.

"Did you stop to think there might be something wrong with you?" he returned. "If every woman I meet is like that, except for you?"

"No," she replied. "I'm the only normal person I know."

"Trust me. You're not normal."

For a few seconds, he almost seemed approachable. Tapping the iPad screen to keep it from falling asleep, she flipped through to her rules.

"Okay, rule number seven," she said. "Review Xander's day with him. You ready for that?"

He didn't answer. When she glanced up, he was gone. She peered out of the kitchen and saw he'd gone back to the porch, apparently done talking to her. Jessi followed him onto the balcony.

"So we need to review your day," she began again. "Ten o'clock interview."

"Right."

"Two o'clock …" she drifted off, trying to click the calendar note open unsuccessfully. She propped it on the railing and tried to manipulate the box, wondering if dropping it messed up something.

Xander reached around her unceremoniously and snatched it.

"Not doing that," he said.

As she watched, he deleted whatever it was then moved onto his evening schedule and deleted everything there, too.

"Did you just delete all your events today?" she asked. "Wait, not my to-do list!" She tried to grab it. He held it out of her reach. "What're you doing?"

"I am going to make you sweat," he replied calmly.

"You want to make my life miserable?" Jessi rubbed her cheeks, already stressed out and biting her tongue to keep from snapping at him. Her temper was legendary in her household.

"Think of it as a stress test. We'll see how long it takes you to snap."

"You're acting like my seventeen-year-old."

He looked up at her. "Seventeen? You can't be over twenty five."

"I am. And yes, seventeen." She snatched the iPad. The last thing she needed was to be fired, before she had what she came for. Jonny warned her that this guy wasn't normal, she reminded herself.