Blind Spot - Katana Collins Page 0,1

festered, clawing at the base of my ribs. Come on, girl. Get it together. A hot guy opening a door for you is not a reason to flip the hell out. He grabbed the handle, and as the door opened, a breeze caught my hair, flipping it up into the wind. Insecurity rose, and I quickly smoothed my bangs over the scar at my left temple.

As I gained my composure, he stood tall, gesturing for me to enter. Maybe he hadn’t seen my damned-near anxiety attack. Maybe, just maybe, luck was on my side, for once.

“Thank you,” I said. I stepped into the entryway as that momentary panic reduced to a low simmer. He was just a normal guy, doing his job and helping the new girl get into the building.

Without thinking, I lifted my lashes, and our eyes connected. The bolt of adrenaline was more potent than pure caffeine.

His grin widened. “No problem,” he answered in a raspy drawl that was all southern gentleman with a touch of bad boy. “Welcome to the building.”

I opened my mouth to say thank you again, just as Reagan slammed into me from behind, sending the items in my box flying across the floor.

Yep, that was more like it. My life in a nutshell. I wasn’t the girl who demurely stepped past a hot guy. I was the girl who face-planted in front of him. Heat rushed to my cheeks as I dropped to my knees, gathering the spilled items.

“Sorry,” Reagan squealed, peeking out from behind several tall boxes loaded in her arms. “Harrison forced me to take more, and I didn’t see you there.”

I waved her apology away. “It’s fine. Here.” I grabbed my new set of keys, tossing them to her. “You and Harrison go on up—fourteenth flour, apartment 1420. I’ll be up in a second.”

Harrison followed her to the elevators. “You sure?”

I nodded, and as the doorman crouched beside me, Reagan grabbed Harrison’s sleeve, tugging him onto the elevator. He handed me some textbooks that had gone flying, pausing to look at the cover to my Advanced French book. His gaze drifted from the book back to my eyes—and, holy shit, his were such an electric shade of blue that a current resonated down my entire body.

Jesus, you’d think I’d never seen a hot guy before. I took the book from him and tucked it back into the box. “Thanks.”

Yes, Shelby, he is hot. He is also your doorman. A guy you have to see on a daily basis. Oh God. What if my toilet overflows? What if I clog my toilet, and he’s the only one working and—

And then he grinned again. Any concern I had about seeing him every day evaporated. That smile created two dimples on either side of his mouth. Wow. Just…wow. Those dimples—I’d seen them before. You don’t forget a smile like that easily. I caught my bottom lip, eyes narrowing as I studied his face. “You look familiar. Do you go to CSU?”

He leaned back on his haunches, his stare lingering for more than a second on my lips. When he finally met my eyes again, he offered me that sexy little half smirk thing once more. “Yeah, I do. I thought I recognized you, too. I don’t really see you out much, though.”

I shrugged, grabbing some random items—Chap Stick, deodorant, lotion—that had fallen and stuffing them back into the box. “I keep really busy. You must work a lot, too, though, right?”

He gave me an odd look, cocking his head. “What do you mean?”

My hand shook as I grabbed a box of Tic Tacs, the last item that spilled from my box. I was almost back to myself. Almost back to normal Shelby—or as normal as Shelby gets. “Moonlighting here as the doorman must take up a lot of time.” I smiled. I liked that he was a student and held a job—just like me. And working in the service industry was thankless. As a waitress at Charleston’s most notorious five-star historic restaurant, I should know. Though—thank God—I could finally cut back my hours there.

He pushed off his knees, leaning once more against the counter. “Oh, sure. I keep busy,” he answered. “What about you? Find yourself moonlighting anywhere?” There was a twinkle in his eyes, and he loosened his tie.

I gave an exaggerated eye roll. “Who, me? I thought only heiresses and trustafarians were allowed to live here.”

He raised a brow. “So, you’re an heiress then?”

I pulled out the hem of my