Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 1) by Kristen Painter

wanted to go for dinner, but it’s late now and you’ve obviously come from a meal and drinks so—”
    “What do you mean, obviously? I’m a little buzzed, but I’m not drunk by any means.”
    He tapped the side of his nose. “I can smell wine and steak on you. If I’d had to guess based on the other scents lingering in your hair, you were at Howler’s.”
    Color me impressed. “Are a vampire’s senses really that good?”
    “Was I right?”
    “Spot-on. Wow. That’s kind of cool. I would have said yes, by the way.”
    “To dinner?”
    I nodded.
    “Tomorrow night, perhaps.”
    “I can’t. I work the evening shift tomorrow.” Which meant I could sleep in. At least until I had to get ready for my non-date with Cooper. But I wasn’t ready to give up on time with Greyson that easily. “I’m not tired and it’s not that late. We could go for a walk. It’s a beautiful night.”
    “It is. A walk would be nice.”
    Yes, it would. I grabbed my purse. “You don’t know any twenty-four-hour pet stores, do you?”
    He made a curious face. “I can’t say that I do. Why?”
    “Spider is almost out of food.”
    “Ate the last fly, did he?”
    “Hah hah.”
    He grinned. “The Shop-n-Save is open twenty-four hours now. Just started last month.”
    “And you wouldn’t mind walking over there with me?”
    His lingering smile was answer enough. “Not at all.”
    “Okay.” I checked my watch. It was a few minutes after ten. “One small problem. The shop is closed and the manager could be on his way back to his apartment. We can’t run into him in the elevator. I’m not supposed to have guests up here without prior approval.”
    Greyson’s brows knit together. “That’s rather strict, isn’t it? You are an adult.”
    “I know. But the apartment is included in my wages, and I just work here, I don’t make the rules. It’s something about having a record of everyone who’s been in the warehouse. There’s a lot of proprietary stuff in there.” Like the Santa Bag that all our inventory was shipped through. Although why I was defending Toly’s rule, I had no idea. It was kind of like living in a dormitory. “Anyway, I have no idea when he’ll be back in his apartment, so—”
    “We don’t need to take the elevator.”
    “We don’t?”
    He shook his head and walked back to the window. “Trust me?”
    “I don’t know.” If he was going to bite me and drink my blood, we didn’t need to leave the building for that. Heck, I’d already invited him in. That was opportunity enough. “Yeah, okay.”
    “Good.” He pushed the window up and exited with a sort of grace I knew I would not be able to duplicate. More vampire magic, I suppose. He held his hand out to me. “Come on.”
    I looped my purse strap across my body and took his hand. A moment later, I stood on the fire escape with him. “What now?”
    He closed the window and smiled. “Now, the fun part.”
    He leaped onto the railing as light as a cat. “Your turn.”
    “You have a weird idea of fun.” I shook my head. “I can’t do that.” Okay, I could. Elves were pretty nimble. But that was a very thin railing and we were two stories up. So, no.
    He held out his hand again. “I’ll help.”
    Holding his hand did sort of sweeten the deal. “I don’t know.”
    “I won’t let you fall.” He wiggled his fingers. “You said you trusted me.”
    Reluctantly, I took his hand. He lifted me like it was nothing. Oh boy. I was standing on the railing. Getting vertigo. And a little nauseous. “I can’t be up here. I feel like I’m going to—”
    He lifted me into his arms like a baby and jumped.
    “Son of a nutcracker!” I sucked in a shuddering breath and was about to scream when we landed as softly as a snowflake floating down to earth.
    He put my feet back on the ground, but I didn’t drift far from the circle of his arms. “I’m sorry if I frightened you. Your heart is pounding like a drum. Are you all right?”
    It took a