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The Shifter Romances The Writer (Nocturne Falls Book 6) Page 11
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“This wouldn’t be a big group necessarily. Just some of the people I work with. Like a happy hour thing. Couple of drinks and that’s it. Unless you want to hang out longer. It would be totally up to you.”
A couple seconds passed before she nodded. “Okay. I’m sure it would be good for me.”
“Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”
She laughed, but it died off quickly. “Bear with me.”
“Not a problem.” He glanced down at her, caught her gaze and something passed between them. Something that, to him, felt like a promise.
“Thanks,” she whispered, her voice thin with an unnamable emotion.
Whatever was going on with her, he wanted to help. But he couldn’t do that until she was ready to talk to him. Until then, he’d just be around for her as much as he could. The shifter side of him was born with a desire to protect, especially those he cared about, and Roxy definitely fell into that category.
The cop side of him felt very much the same way.
He wished he could explain that to her, but he didn’t want to complicate her situation with his profession of protection. She didn’t need to think her neighbor had just become her self-appointed body guard. Although he sort of had.
No, he’d just stay quiet, doing what he could to watch over her and make sure she had whatever she needed to get through this.
He glanced at her again, and whispered back, “It’s going to be okay.”
She smiled. And a single tear rolled down her cheek.
The tear fell before Roxy could stop it. Alex’s kind words hadn’t caused it, but they had brought it to the surface. Everything else had caused it. But the mailbox—and the fact that she was sure that either Thomas, or someone working for him, was spying on her—had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. She wiped the tear away as subtly as she could, but Alex stopped walking.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
She shook her head, trying to keep one tear from turning into a full-on crying jag. She hated showing that much emotion. Crying in front of Thomas had always turned into more grief from him, so she’d trained herself to hold back. “Stress,” she mumbled.
“You want me to call Delaney? I know you two are friends. Maybe you guys should do a spa day or whatever it is women do.”
Roxy laughed, despite the knot of emotions inside her. “Delaney was just saying that.”
“Then do it. Your book can wait. And there’s nothing you can do to speed up your ex signing those papers, so take a day off.”
She nodded. “I will. I’ll call her as soon as I get home.”
Alex took her elbow and gently turned them back toward her house. “Then that’s where we’re headed.”
“I didn’t get much fresh air.”
He started them walking. “The spa is full of fresh air. They probably import it from the Alps.”
She laughed. She knew he was taking care of her, and it was sweet beyond words. Thomas had never been that way. Maybe in the beginning a little bit, but it certainly hadn’t lasted. Alex was such a different man. If she wasn’t careful, she might fall for him.
Without thinking, she looped her arm through his. She stiffened as soon as she realized what she’d done. She started to slip her arm back.
But he tightened his arm against his body, keeping her from completely breaking the connection. He smiled and gave her a look that felt like he was telling her he had her back.
She relaxed and let it be. She realized for the first time that she never felt she had to be on alert around Alex. Her years with Thomas had conditioned her to watch him for mood swings and the telltale signs that a rage was coming on. But Alex was easy to be around, and it was nice. No, it was more than nice, it was like breathing again after being held under water for far too long.
That alone caused some of her tension to slip away. With friends like Alex and Delaney at her side, she was going to be all right. She knew that. The divorce and the book would both be done eventually, and as time went on, she’d get the rest of her boxes unpacked, and life would smooth out. It just would. No one stayed overwhelmed forever.
She hoped.
Part of not being overwhelmed was sharing some of the burden. It was high time that Roxy learned to let go of some of the smaller stuff. Easier said than done, but Em, her assistant, was more than capable.
Roxy just had to loosen her grip on the things that weren’t as critical.
“Lost in thought over there?”
“A little. Sorry.” She looked up at Alex. His profile was essentially flawless. Almost feline in the way his cheekbones and brow were shaped. Diego had the same characteristics, so it was clearly a family thing. On Diego, the results were pretty, which probably fed his confidence. Unfortunately. On Alex, they gave him a rugged handsomeness that went from warm and welcoming to guy-you-wouldn’t-want-to-mess-with, depending on his smile.
“Don’t apologize. I know you have a lot on your mind.”
She’d have less to worry about it if she shared with him what Thomas had been up to. And Alex was a cop. He might have some advice on how to deal with all this nonsense. They stopped at her drive. “Can you come in for a minute?”
“Sure.” He followed her up to the door.
She unlocked it, let him in, then locked it again.
“What’s up?”
Without a word, she walked past him and into the kitchen where she went up on her tiptoes and felt around on top of the fridge until she found the note she’d thrown up there. She snagged the envelope, then plopped it on the counter. “This is what’s up. My ex sent this. And yesterday, he left a rose on my car.”
In a half-second, Alex went from friendly neighbor to cop on the job. It wasn’t something easy to explain, but everything about him went hard: his stance, his expression, the look in his eyes. “When did you get this?”
“You brought it over on Saturday.”
“What made you keep it? And the envelope?”
She shrugged. “I’m a writer. We always think in worst-case scenarios. So, you know, in case I turned up dead and you had to dust it for prints or something—”
“Are you serious?” A feral light shone in his eyes. “Do you think that’s a possibility?”
“I was joking.” She stared at the note. “Kind of. Thomas does have a temper.”
“Do you still have the rose?”
Had Alex just…growled? No, of course not. She was just projecting the reactions of one of her romance heroes onto a real man. That was silly. “No, I put it in the garbage can.”
“Any note with that?”
“No.”
“Why do you think he’d do these things? What’s his end game?”
“Maybe he’s trying to intimidate me about the divorce. I was the one who left him, so him ‘losing control of me’ probably did some serious damage to his macho image. If he could get me to drop the divorce, he could spin that into me begging him to take me back because I couldn’t live without him…you get the picture.”
A growl, a real one this time, rumbled out of Alex’s throat and turned into a curse. “Give me his full name, current address and phone numbers. I’ll see what I can find out about what’s going on with him and whether he’s in town or knows anyone in town, other than you. Anything else happens, anything, you tell me okay?”
She nodded, the rare sensation of being protected sweeping through her. He really cared what happened to her. She went up on her tiptoes for the second time that day, but this time it was to reach something far more interesting.
Alex’s mouth.
She meant the kiss to be a brief thank-you. But the moment their lips met, the heat of him seared into her, and brief was forgotten.
He sucked in a surprised breath, his hands coming up to grasp her shoulders. The growl she’d heard out of him before resounded, this time deeper and softer, like an engine starting up in the distance.
It was strangely encouraging to have that sort of effect on a man. She flattened he
r hands on his chest. His very solid, broad chest. And kissed him harder.
Then reality reminded her she was technically still married. She broke the kiss and went down onto her flat feet to stare at the tile on her floor. “Now it’s my turn to apologize. We said no kissing. And I’m not even divorced. I’m sorry.”
“Are you really?” His voice was dark and edged with desire.
“Sorry?” She bit her lip. “No, but—”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her some more, causing her to let out a little gasp of surprise. His mouth moved across her jaw and down her neck with small, feathery kisses and the occasional scrape of his teeth.
“I’m…still…married…” she managed to get out.
“His signature is a formality,” Alex growled back.
Which echoed what her lawyer had told her months ago. She started to say something else, but Alex found the soft spot below her ear, and her bones turned to jelly, and she exhaled a long, shuddering sigh that racked her entire body.
Then he broke the kiss. “I’m not sorry about that. Are you?”
She didn’t know what she was. Who she was. Where she was. She just focused on breathing and not melting into a puddle. She nodded. That seemed right.
He looked hurt. “You are?”
She shook her head. “No. What was the question? You can’t ask me questions after doing that to me.”
He grinned. “Doing what?”
She gave him a lighthearted smack on the chest. Her fingers bounced off the muscle there. “You know. Kissing me like that.”
His grin widened and became very smug. “Like what?”
“Oh, stop it. It’s a wonder parts of me didn’t burst into flame.”
He cocked his head, his expression going serious. “Something to shoot for next time.”
“Next time?” She put her hands on her hips. “What happened to no kissing and just being friendly neighbors?”
He stepped back and nodded. “You’re right. If that’s what you want—”
“I don’t know what I want. I like you. Obviously.”
“But your life is complicated enough right now. I get it. And so yes, no kissing. I promise to cool it until you tell me otherwise.”
His restraint was impressive. “And if I don’t tell you otherwise?”
His mouth curved into a casual smile, but it didn’t match the lingering smolder in his eyes. “Then we’re just really friendly neighbors who’ve kissed.”
Except it didn’t feel that way to her. Could it really feel that way to him? She narrowed her eyes at him.
He cleared his throat. “Where’s your phone?”
“On my desk, why?”
“So you can call Delaney and make this spa day happen. By the time you get home tonight, I should be able to tell you whether or not your ex is in town.”
“Didn’t you just get off your shift?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You’re not Superman, Alex. You need to sleep.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She put her hands on her hips. “I’ll do the spa day with Delaney only if you promise me you’ll get some sleep.”
He smiled. “Can I at least make a few phone calls first? Get some things working?”
“I guess. Do you really think you can find out something today? Can you get results that fast?”
“Sometimes.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t know when to take my time, either.”
And despite agreeing that there would be no more kissing, a trill of anticipation zipped through her. Apparently, her body hadn’t gotten the message.
Or didn’t want to.
When Alex left Roxy’s, she was twenty minutes from meeting Delaney at the spa. He was glad Delaney had been available and the spa thing had worked out. Roxy would be safe there, and not just because Delaney was a vampire with the strength and speed to overpower any human, but because no one else would know Roxy was at the spa.
Especially her ex. Unless he was watching her. In which case, he also knew about Alex. And that was fine with Alex. He didn’t know much about Thomas, but if he was the kind of man who made his wife fear his temper and treated her like a piece of property, then he was probably also the kind of man who thought himself superior to everyone else. If he thought he was superior to Alex, he was in for a big surprise.
Big.
Because when it came down to human versus supernatural, the odds were not in the human’s favor. But Thomas wouldn’t know that until it was too late. Until the battle was well under way. Because the other thing Alex knew about Roxy’s ex was that he thought he was clever. The note, the rose, checking what was in the mailbox, yeah, the guy thought he was sly. Clearly.
Alex snorted. If the man wanted to play games, he was sorely outclassed. Besides being a cop, Alex had the same skill set that all shifters did. Speed, strength, heightened senses. Being a feline shifter gave him some bonus points in stealth and cunning, too.
The lack of crime in Nocturne Falls wasn’t a random occurrence. It was due in great part to its supernatural police force. Human criminals didn’t stand a chance. And that kind of word of mouth spread, usually in the form of rumors along the lines of the town having a secret force of vigilantes that roamed the streets at night, or a lot of retired special ops guys on the police roster, that sort of thing.
Whatever. It worked.
But of course, Thomas wouldn’t know that. So he’d have to find out firsthand just how dangerous it was to tick off a shifter and go after his woman.
Alex stopped himself. Roxy was not his woman. She was just a friend. His friend, but that was it. Even after all that kissing. And he understood.
But it was getting harder to remember that when he was around her.
He shoved a hand through his hair. He didn’t have time to dissect what he was feeling. He had to find out if her ex was in town. And if he was, what to do about the jerk.
He grabbed his cell phone and dialed. He’d get one of the deputies on shift to run Thomas’ record, but as for locating him, well, if there was anyone who could handle that job, it was Birdie Caruthers.
“Nocturne Falls Sheriff Department, Birdie speaking.”
“Birdie, it’s Alex. I need your help. Actually, Roxy St. James needs your help. But this is strictly confidential. One word of this gets out, and she’ll move out of this town so fast—”
“I won’t say a word. Butter my biscuit and slap my face, I swear it. Whatever can I do?”
“She thinks her ex-husband might be in town. I need to know if he is.”
“That bugger. How dare he?” Birdie growled softly, her werewolf self clearly aggravated, and Alex knew he’d gone to the right person. “You just give me everything you know. I’ll track that lowlife down.”
“Sure thing. Then I need to talk to whoever’s on duty.”
“Jenna’s here.”
“She’ll do nicely. This is what I know about Roxy’s ex…”
Ten minutes later, Alex hung up. Birdie was looking for Thomas and Jenna Blythe had promised to email whatever she found out about the man.
Satisfied that he’d have everything he needed shortly, he took a hot shower and then planned on getting enough sleep to make Roxy happy. Then he’d do a little investigating of his own. If Thomas was watching Roxy’s place, he couldn’t be too far away, and this was Alex’s neighborhood. People would talk to him.
Hmm. Pandora Williams might be a good one to touch base with. She was the number one realtor in town and lived just a few blocks away. She was out and about a lot. She might have seen something. Or even had someone inquire about houses for rent in the area. Roxy’s ex had to be staying somewhere.
Alex’s brain kept running scenarios and processing possibilities as he changed into sleep pants. Then Diego called out his name from the hall.
“Yo, Alex, you still up, man?”
“Yes,” Alex called back. He went to see what his brother wanted. Diego stood in th
e door of his bedroom, dressed in tan pants and a Howler’s black polo. A packed duffel bag sat at his feet. “What’s going on?”
Diego grinned. “You’re getting your wish, bro. I’m moving out.”
Alex frowned. “Already? How much money did you make last night?”
“Bank. That place is a cash machine, dude.”
Alex shook his head, his focus on Roxy clouding his thought process. “So…you made enough to move out and you already found a place?”
Diego shrugged. “Yeah, something like that. I’m moving in with Shanna.”
Alex’s mouth fell open. “Shanna? The twenty-year-old server that works at Howler’s?”
Diego rolled his eyes. “She’s twenty-three.”
Better than twenty, but not by much. “And you’re thirty.”
“So? Don’t get all weird. It’s cool. We’re both adults.”
Yeah. They were. And Alex had bigger fish to fry. He nodded. “You’re right, you are. I hope it works out.”
Diego looked skeptical. “I’m sure.”
“No, I mean it. Everyone deserves to be happy.”
Diego’s expression softened. “Thanks, bro.”
Alex jerked his chin toward the kitchen. “Your seventy-five bucks is in the jar on top of the fridge. I’m going to bed.”
“You haven’t slept yet?”
“No. Roxy’s having some issues with her ex.”
Diego’s eyes narrowed with concern. “Sorry to hear that. You need me for anything, you let me know.”
Alex nodded. “Thanks, I will, but I’m sure it’s not going to be a big deal.”
“All right. I’ll leave my new address on the kitchen counter. And you can keep the seventy-five dollars. I owe you more than that anyway. Now get some sleep, dude, you look like hell.”
“Thanks.” Alex gave him a wave and went in to bed. He crashed onto it, exhaling in exhaustion as he sank into the mattress. But even as sleep tugged at him, his mind stayed focused on Roxy.