The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 10

The knock was quiet, but it might as well have been projected through a megaphone, bouncing around my ribcage until anxiety threatened to drown me, proving that I had lied to myself. I was nervous. I was worried, and even though facing Decker was worse than facing Ace, I still wanted to pretend I didn't hear the knock and crawl under the bed and hide. 

I held my breath, indecision freezing me from where I sat against the edge of the bed. If I don't let him in, does that mean I get to stay?

Another hesitant knock sent me scattering to my feet, torn between slamming my shoulder into the door to keep him out, or hiding under the bed like a coward. I heard the doorknob begin to turn and in the second it took for the door to open a crack, I slid across the room in my socks, and yanked the door the rest of the way open, attempting to gain a semblance of control of my current situation. 

But I had pulled the door towards me too hard. My sudden yank sent the person holding the door on the other side, stumbling forward, crashing into me and sending us both falling, hitting the ground in a mess of limbs. Arms scrambling to untangle, legs brushing against thighs as both of us tried to fight gravity and each other's clumsy movements. 

The person on top of me was heavy, cutting off my air supply, even as he attempted to right himself. And before I could think to fight the instinct that all of this was just a clumsy accident, I rolled, taking him with me, and pinned him below my body, landing on top, glaring down with a wild expression. 

"Goodness, that's quite a greeting," Ace murmured, staring up at me with wide gloriously greenish-blue eyes. His black hair was now a wild mess of tangles, his breath shallow from the quick accidental scuffle. Cheeks flushed as he stared up at me with a mix of awe and something I couldn't quite place. 

"I don't like people entering my room without my permission," I replied, tone darker than I had intended, ripping away at his attempt at a joke and sucking the air out of the room. 

I wasn't known for my comedy. 

I might as well have held a knife to his throat with how utterly terrifying I must have looked, pinning him down, hair wild, eyes dark.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, voice a mere whisper as he continued to take me in. "Should I expect you to pin me to the ground every time I visit then?" 

It was at that moment that I realized how utterly inappropriate our positions must have looked. My legs on either side of his, pinning him in place, hands played across his chest to keep him from sitting up, hair having fallen out of my bun, hanging down my face and tickling his cheeks. 

He raised a brow, watching me register how provocative it all was right before I scrambled back, jumping to my feet. "Had to make the one and only visit to my room count," I muttered, yanking my hair tie off the floor and pulling my hair back up into a bun, trying to joke. But the humor was forced and landed at Ace's feet like a poorly planned belly flop.

I gestured to my bags. "I'll make this easy for you. My bags are packed. No need for a long, drawn-out, fake sad thing." 

I plucked up my duffle bag, knowing that they had an entire crew of people waiting to take down the rest of my girly clothes. "So..." I said, trying to figure out the best way to say goodbye to a stranger. "It's been... interesting." 

"Wait," Ace called, moving to stand between me and the door and closing it before I could squeeze past him. 

"You really need to stop manhandling my doors," I warned. 

Ace held up his hands, keeping his long fingers away from the door, but continued to block me. "Before you try to bolt from the house like it's on fire, I have to say a few things."