The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 24

Sneaking out of the mansion with Ace proved to be more of a problem than I had anticipated. For one, he was LOUD. For each one of my silent steps, his echoed across the mansion grounds like a giant megaphone shouting "GREETINGS! WE ARE THE WORST SPIES EVER!" 

But instead of getting frustrated, I watched him change his stances, attempting to follow my lead, stepping where I stepped as I ducked behind trees, making our way to the outer wall. By some miracle, we managed to go unseen. 

I stopped behind a tall bush, watching Ace attempt to struggle past a thick patch of hedge that had been trimmed to look like a giant horse. 

I crossed my arms, trying not to laugh as he finally managed to free himself from a set of branches that had tried to snag him and pull him back into the greenery. Not that I blamed nature, he was a pretty attractive find. 

"Doing good," I teased as he stumbled behind the bush, landing next to me on the ground. 

"Weirdest introduction to a date, ever," he said, his tone betraying his words as he tried to stop himself from laughing. 

"You said to show you who I am," I said walking towards the wall, glancing back at him over my shoulder. "And I am one weird girl." I shrugged, digging my fingers deep into the vines along the wall. "Figured I'd give you plenty of information to work with." 

He came to stand next to me, brow raised. "We climbing?" 

I shot him a wicked grin. "Do you want cameras following us around?" 

In response, Ace surprised me, climbing up the wall in a flash, strong muscles hoisting his body up, fingers deep in the vines, eyes focused on the path ahead, duffle bag swinging back and forth across his back. He stopped, swinging his legs easily at the top of the wall and looked back down at me with an amused grin. "You coming Scowler, or are you just going to watch me all day?" 

I blinked, flushing as I scrambled up the wall after him, thrown by how comfortable he was. How utterly different he came across when the world wasn't watching him. He waited for me at the top, watching my ascent, making me self-conscious of his gaze on my every move. 

This is not how I hoped today would go. 

Ace was supposed to refuse the window, but he had come easily, willing to play life outside of the rules. Then he had climbed down a tree outside his window, no doubt ruining his designer jeans with cuts and mud stains. But that hadn't seemed to bother him in the slightest.  

Then there was the wall to the mansion, which he had tackled with a mere thought. The clean-cut suit boy was not who I had on a date with me. This was Andrew, the real, true one hidden away from cameras. The easy-going one I had met at the coffee shop reading a book at three in the morning. 

And I could see by the way that his greenish-blue eyes drank in the early morning sunrise as he sat on top of the wall, that he was hungry for adventure, for a life outside of these watched walls. This was Andrew Walker. And to my utter and complete surprise, I was looking forward to a day spent getting to know him. 

Voices rose from inside the mansion, shattering my internal thoughts. We both turned to look at each other and he smiled. "Sounds like they're mad." 

"Shame. And here I thought I was doing them a favor by adding a bit more drama to their show. It doesn't have nearly enough for my taste," I said, swinging my legs over the side of the wall with a grin. Andrew laughed, sending a strange bolt of light through me. 

I cleared away the sunshine inside of me enough to keep my head. "Ready to go?" 

His eyes snapped to mine, flashing bright in the morning sunrise. "Absolutely."