The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 28

I wasn't a fan of heights. I preferred to keep my chaotic ways to the ground floor of everything. Faceplanting hurt a whole lot less when I was already close to the ground. The higher up I was, the less in control I felt. And that feeling of being out of control was not welcome in Delle Falls Universe. 

I was fine with being several floors up. I had climbed up enough trees, up enough walls, and out enough windows to have mastered the shorter height problems. But anything over five floors... that felt excessive. Unnecessary. Uncomfortable. Unhelpful. 

Standing in an elevator that led up to a movie star's house was nerve-wracking, but standing in a glass elevator that led up to the top floor of a sixty-story skyscraper where the top floor penthouse belonged to said movie star and you were somewhat dating the movie star's older brother, while also secretly investigating him for murder... now that was another level of stress.

Not to mention being trapped in the glass elevator that was moving at inhuman speeds while trying to act like you weren't completely terrified of watching the world drop below you... It all led to a nearly unhinged level of fake calm. I pretended to stare out the glass, facing away from Andrew, eyes scrunched shut, fingers gripping the railing in a death grip as I felt the floors drop away.

Why couldn't Andrew's brother live on the ground floor?!? I am going to look like a terrified goober if this stupid elevator doesn't stop soon.

"So how fast is your brother going to spot that pretty shiner on your face?" I asked, hoping to distract myself. My voice was surprisingly even as the glistening glass elevator shot up into the sixty-story building, floors whirring past in a blur. I forced my eyes open, keeping them moving from spot to spot, afraid to get a clear shot at how far up we were as the world flew by through the glass exterior. 

"Oh, you are totally busted as soon as he sees me," Andrew said with a chuckle as the elevator screeched to a stop on the top floor, sending my stomach slamming into my brain before it flopped back down into place. I forced my hand to let go of the elevator bar, one painful finger at a time as I focused on the doors, forcing my heart rate to even.

You're Delle Falls, dragon detective. You got this. An elevator ride doesn't scare you. Just stay away from the windows. 

The elevator doors flew open and I was suddenly staring into an overwhelmingly large penthouse that gazed over the Los Angeles skyline that shined in the afternoon sun. The deep wooden oak floorboards were warm in the sunshine, glistening in the warm sun rays that snaked in through the back wall made entirely of glass. 

A living room filled the center of the massive space and was made up of leather couches, a glass and steel coffee table, a massive, intricately carved wooden mantel surrounding a roaring fireplace, and deep brown shelves covered in science fiction memorabilia, classic movies, and family photos.

Large black and white classic movie posters hung along the entryway walls and a thick deep red rug was settled below the fifty-foot television. The penthouse screamed upscale man cave, meets old Hollywood feel. It was cozy so long as I didn't stare out the windows too closely. 

"Holy crap," I gasped, unable to react to a mansion without staring slack-jawed at everything. The living room is bigger than the first floor of my family home.

I was tempted to step back into the elevator that had opened up right into this ridiculously large home and leave Andrew in the penthouse. He belonged there far more than in my house... where everything was worn down and broken. 

"I like this one. She has the proper reaction to beauty," a voice said to my right. A pair of sharp chocolate brown eyes met mine from across the room.

The voice belonged to a twenty-five-year-old with dark brown hair that fell down to a set of strong shoulders coated in elaborate tattoos, a tan complexion and looked like a Jason Mamoa level movie star. He stood in the kitchen, staring at his new arrivals with an unreadable expression.