Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 1) (9 page)

Juniper put her fork down and leaned back. “Now is probably not the right time to tell you they make a killer peach cobbler here.”

I wiped the last of the steak juice off my face. “I think now is the perfect time. Want to share one?”

We looked at each other then both said, “Nah,” at the same time. Laughing, we ordered two with ice cream when the server came to refill our drinks and check on how our dinner was. She cleared our plates and went to get our desserts, leaving us to savor the feast we’d just put down.

“Thanks for inviting me to join you for dinner.”

“You’re welcome,” Juniper said. “You want to walk around town for a bit after? Or we could go down to DOA and get some drinks. Check out the local talent.”

“I take it DOA is a bar?”

“Yep. Stands for Drinks On Arrival.”

“Cute name, but why not stay here?”

A male presence stopped her from answering.

“Staying here sounds like a great idea.” Cooper Sullivan slid into the booth next to me, all smiley and flirty like we’d asked him.

Juniper seemed happy enough to see him, giving him a sly look in return. “Why? Are you buying?”

“Sure, what do you want?”

For him to leave. But I smiled. And wished he was ugly. That would make ignoring him so much easier. “Nothing for me, thanks. I had a couple drinks last night and they were more than I could handle.”

Juniper put her hand on the table between us. “Didn’t you just get in yesterday?”

“Yes. So?”

“So you’re not supposed to drink twenty-four hours after leaving a magical plane. Everybody knows that.”

“They do?”

Cooper nodded. “Absolutely. It’s like being jet lagged. But worse.”

“Well, I didn’t know that.” But then most of my traveling was done with my parents for official business, and there wasn’t much drinking involved in that. “Huh. Maybe I’ll have a drink after all.”

Cooper shrugged. “I’m happy to buy you one, but don’t feel pressured.”

I stared at him and his nice guy response. I had to remind myself again that he thought I was Lilibeth. If he knew who I really was, he might be acting differently. Make that
would
be acting differently. I looked over at my tablemate. “What are you having, Juniper?”

“Glass of whatever sweet wine they have.”

I made a face. “You mean like mulled wine?”

“No, silly. Something like a moscato.”

“I don’t know.” I was a little embarrassed to admit I’d never heard of it, but like I mentioned, bars in the NP had a fairly limited menu.

Our desserts arrived, buying me a little more time to decide.

Cooper closed his eyes and took a deep inhale. “Howler’s peach cobbler. Just about the only dessert worth eating.”

He’d always loved peaches. Summer elves loved fruit the way winter elves loved sweets.

He unfolded his lanky form and stood. “I’m gonna make a bar run and get those drinks while you two enjoy your cobbler. What do you say about that wine, Lilibeth?”

“I’ll try it, I guess.”

“Be right back.” He left us alone again.

I lifted my brows as I sank my spoon into the cobbler’s sugared crust. “Do you have a little crush on him or does he have a little crush on you?”

She snorted. “Neither. I mean, I know him pretty well and we hang out as part of a larger group, but we’re just friends. He’s not really my type.” She devoured a piece of peach with a hunk of ice cream melting off it, gave a little satisfied sigh, then licked her lips. “I think his crush is on someone
else
.”

“Oh, no. Not me.”

Juniper nodded, looking as satisfied as Spider after a full bowl of kibble. “Oh yes, you.”

“No, thanks.” I tried to focus my attention on the best cobbler I’d ever eaten, but Juniper didn’t seem ready to drop the subject of Fireman Sullivan.

She made an incredulous face. “Why not? He’s the total package. Or don’t you like handsome men with incredible bodies and honorable jobs?”

“Sure, as much as the next woman, but I can’t be in a relationship.” Not with him. Been there, done that, got the heartache.

“Why? Did you just get out of one?”

I sighed. I hated to lie to Juniper any more than I already was. Plus, there was that whole thing where Cooper’s connections within the community might help me with my mission. That was reason enough for me not to completely shut him down just yet. “You really think he likes me?”

She nodded, grinning. “Yes. When he gets back, I’ll give him a chance to prove it to you.”

“Wait—”

Cooper returned, his big hands cradling two glasses of wine and a mug of beer. “Here you go. Two moscatos.” He set all three down, handed Juniper and me our drinks, and took his seat beside me again.

For a moment, I had a flashback to college. A nice one. We’d often gone out to the little pub near the campus to watch whatever sports game was happening, and we’d always sat next to each other like this. Same side of the table or booth. Cooper liked it that way. Liked to have me close.

Until he’d had enough of dating the Winter King’s daughter.

Cooper lifted his glass in a toast. I took my drink and raised it to meet the others. “Here’s to new friends.” He looked at me. “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” Juniper and I replied.

I sipped the wine. It was pretty delicious. “Juniper, you were right. This is good.”

“Told you.” But the twinkle in her eye wasn’t about wine. She grabbed her purse. “Gotta hit the ladies’ room. Be right back.”

And just like that, Cooper and I were alone. Was that what she’d meant about giving him a chance to prove he liked me? Nervous energy trilled through me. I never thought I’d be alone with Cooper again. Or this close to him.

He turned to face me. “So how do you like Nocturne Falls?”

“I haven’t seen much of it, but what I have has been pretty cool.”

He nodded. “I might be able to get one of the guys from the station to show you around. If you want. Not trying to set you up or anything, just offering.”

Not what I’d been expecting. And so much for Juniper’s theory. Which I decided to test. “You mean you don’t want to show me around yourself?”

He shrugged and stared at his beer. “Sure, I could. But right up front I should tell you I’m not looking for…you know,
anything
.”

If he’d set my hair on fire I’d have been less surprised. “I wasn’t really implying…”

He laughed, a little self-consciously. “It’s not because you aren’t pretty or anything like that. I just don’t think…never mind. If you want to go out sometime, that would be fine. As friends, though.”

“Right. As friends.” Wait, what was I saying? Had I just agreed to a date with Cooper Sullivan that I had set myself up on?

I gave the side eye to the glass of wine in my hand. Maybe alcohol and I just didn’t mix.

“Okay then.” He sipped his beer. “You like sweets, right?”

“Is there a winter elf who doesn’t?”

He smiled. “When do you work tomorrow?”

“Not until five. I have the evening shift.”

“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at eleven and give you the tour of the best places in town to stock up on the good stuff. We can even skip lunch and just eat like unsupervised children all day.”

I laughed. I couldn’t say no to an outing that was my own doing. And really, this wasn’t a date. It was a friendly outing. We’d already agree to that. “I’ll meet you by the warehouse door at eleven.”

He clinked his glass to mine. “See you then.”

And just like that, I had a date with Cooper Sullivan.

I was going to have to talk to my father about hazard pay.

After three glasses of moscato apiece, Juniper and I called it a night, thanked Cooper (who’d generously paid for all six of those drinks), and headed home. We were both a little buzzed, but it was a short walk.

And Cooper insisted on coming with us, gentleman that he was. That kind of behavior was both sweet and incredibly frustrating. I was determined not to like the guy, but he was making it more and more difficult.

Of course, that non-date I had with him tomorrow probably wasn’t going to help matters either. Granted, I could always tell him who I really was. That would cool his jets.

It would also violate my directive. Unfortunately.

Fortunately, we were at our building. We thanked Cooper at the warehouse door, jumped in the elevator, and then said our goodbyes in the hall.

As soon as I locked the door behind me and turned on the entrance light, Spider met me with a loud meow.

“Crap.” I still hadn’t gone for cat food. I picked him up and gave him a little kiss on the head. “I’m new at being a cat mama and not doing a very good job of it. But I will go first thing tomorrow, I swear. I’ll even get some treats.”

He butted his head against my chin.

“I promise there’s enough for dinner tonight and breakfast in the morning, okay? Don’t hate me.” I made a mental note to buy cat litter too. That was not something I could afford to run out of.

He started purring, clearly the forgiving sort.

I flipped on the kitchen light, set Spider on the counter (because really, who was going to tell me not to?), and jumped at the sight of a dark figure on the other side of the window.

A second later, I realized it was Greyson. That was one way to avoid putting a visitor on Toly’s list.

Frowning, I went over and jimmied the window open. “You scared the snowflakes out of me. What are you doing on my fire escape?”

He pointed at Spider. “Were you talking to the cat?”

“That’s not an answer.”

He smiled, which made me temporarily forget the question. Stupid Irish-Roma vampire magic. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“Is that a vampire thing? Like you can’t come in unless you’re invited?”

He snorted. “You watch too much TV.”

“Yes, you can come in.” I walked away from the window and went back to getting Spider his dinner.

When I rounded the counter, Greyson was already standing on the other side of it. Unnerved by his speed and stealth, I jumped and almost spilled what little kibble was left. “You could make a little noise, you know. Wear a bell or something.”

“My apologies.”

I dumped food into Spider’s bowl. “This can’t be a thing, you showing up on my fire escape. I’m not a misunderstood high schooler looking for an immortal boyfriend to stalk me into loving him. Normal people call or text.”

He popped a brow. “And I would have, had you given me your number.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”

Spider chowed down like his life depended on it. Apparently, having a vampire in the house didn’t register on cat radar. At least not enough to dampen his appetite.

“I went by the shop, but you weren’t there. I didn’t ask for you. I didn’t want to start any undue rumors.”

I smiled. “You mean like the new employee is already dating the hottest vampire in town?”

He laughed, his cheeks going the tiniest bit red, which was ridiculously adorable and slightly surprising. I hadn’t known vampires could blush. “Something like that, yes.”

Suddenly, I felt like I had the upper hand. He’d come to see me. “How did you know what apartment I live in?”

“I didn’t. I was one flight up when I saw the light come on.”

“So you were just hanging out, waiting?”

He nodded slowly and pursed his lips. “I guess that is kind of stalker-y.”

“A little. You might want to get that looked into. See a therapist, that sort of thing.”

He smirked. “I’ll do that.”

I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. “What did you need to see me so badly about?”

“Two reasons.” He reached into his pocket and held out a long, dangling silver earring. “I believe you lost this last night.”

So that’s where my other earring went. And here I’d thought it was still in the covers. “I didn’t even know I’d lost one.” Then I shook my head. “Stupid twenty-four-hour rule.”

“What?”