Roxy laughed. “I’ll sign a book for her if you want.”
He shook his head. “Maybe we could save that for her birthday. It would raise too many questions if I sent her something like that out of the blue. Really nice of you, though.”
“Her birthday, then.”
He smiled and toasted her with his bottle. “Congrats on your success. My mother says you’re her book club’s favorite author. She’s all worked up about the next book in the series. I take it it’s a big one?”
“It’s the final book before I start a spin off series and Blood Moon Rising is the one I’ve been teasing since I started the series. It wraps up Wolfgang’s story. He’s the pack leader.”
“The werewolf and the vampire.”
“Werevamp, but yes.” She took a drink. “I’m behind on it a little. Er, a lot, actually, but moving kind of took up most of my writing time. Unpacking takes forever.”
He glanced around. “Still working on it?”
“Yes and no. I didn’t have a ton of stuff.” Her house was a little sparse, but she’d covered the basics. Everything else would come with time. And after the book was done. The boxes in the garage weren’t going anywhere. She shrugged. “Divorce has a way of exhausting you, mind, body and soul.”
“You moved from New Jersey.”
“Yep. And I plan to be at the DMV on Monday getting my new plates and license. Getting pulled over reminded me it’s time to do that already. But it means one more day I won’t be writing. Not much anyway.”
His mouth bent in an utterly sexy half smile. “My mother can wait. She rereads the other books all the time.”
Roxy sighed. “I’m happy to hear that, but I hate to disappoint my readers by prolonging a book too much, so I need to get cracking.”
His lids lowered a bit. “Then you probably shouldn’t be wasting time talking to me.”
She shook her head slowly. “This isn’t wasting time. It’s being neighborly.” She tipped her bottle toward his house. “So, your brother…he likes to think he has a way with women, am I right?”
Alex grunted. “Please tell me he did not come on to you.”
“Yeah, no. Maybe a little.” She laughed. “I handled it.”
“I’ll talk to him. And I’m sorry. Diego thinks he’s God’s gift to women, but if his last girlfriend hadn’t kicked him out, he wouldn’t be living with me. I don’t know what to do with him. But he’s family. My kid brother. What am I supposed to do?” He let out a soft sigh. “I didn’t mean to dump all that out.”
“It’s okay.” It was kind of sweet that he was willing to share so much right after they’d met. Maybe he was still trying to make up for the ticket. But she got that kind of sharing a lot. She’d always chalked it up to being an author. People liked to tell their stories to writers. “Family comes first, right?”
“Right. You have any brothers or sisters?”
“Nope. Just me.”
“How’d you end up in Nocturne Falls from Jersey?”
“Delaney James. Ugh, Ellingham. I keep calling her by the wrong name. We were good friends in college, although I’m a year older than her due to getting a later start on school. We kind of bonded over almost having the same last name. Anyway, yes, I lived in New Jersey with my husband. Most of my so-called friends have sided with him in the divorce, but they were his friends first so no surprise there. I stupidly let my own friendships lapse. Too much work, not enough play.”
“I know all about that.”
“Well, that lead me to reach out to some old friends from school on social media, and Delaney was one of the first to respond. One thing led to another, and here I am. Fresh start and all that.” She laughed nervously. “I’m talking too much. I do that.”
“No, you’re not talking too much, and whoever made you feel that way was wrong.”
A warm spot blossomed inside her. She’d never had a man say something like that to her. The opposite, yes. Many times. And all from Thomas. “Thanks,” she said softly. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”
“This is a good town to make a fresh start in. And a great place for you to live considering what you do. Halloween three hundred and sixty-five and all that.”
She nodded. “That’s a big part of how Delaney sold me on moving here. You can’t get much more inspirational for a paranormal romance writer than a town that celebrates Halloween every day.”
“That’s for sure.”
“Hey, can I bug you if I ever need cop stuff? Procedural advice, that sort of thing? I can research it online, but it’s always better from a real-life source.” And it would give her an excuse to talk to Officer Hotness again. Without speeding. Because while she definitely wasn’t interested in being involved with anyone, being friends with a guy who could model for one of her book covers was never going to be a bad thing.
He smiled. “Sure, anytime. I’ll give you my number.”
“Great.” That had worked out better than imagined. Maybe she’d be able to make some friends in this town after all. Especially if everyone who lived here was as nice as Alex and Delaney. She glanced around the kitchen. “You know, I don’t have anything to write on in here. Kind of sad that I’m a writer with no tools, huh? Let me grab a pen and notebook from my office. Be right back.”