A soft snore broke through Alex’s thoughts. His mother had fallen asleep. He smiled and took the wine glass out of her hand, then scooped her into his arms and carried her into the guest room.

After he laid her on the bed, he pulled a blanket over her and shut the door.

He ought to go to bed himself, but he wasn’t sleepy. In fact, he was restless. What he needed was a run. Normally, he’d drive up to the land the Ellinghams reserved for such use, but he didn’t want to take that much time. And the two women he cared about most were right here. Leaving them for that long wasn’t something he cared to do either.

For tonight, the neighborhood would have to do. He’d stay in the shadows and make sure he wasn’t seen.

With that settled, he slipped out the front door, locked it behind him, then leaped off the front porch and shifted mid-air.

It felt good to be in his panther form. Not as good as when Roxy had run her nails through his fur and stared at him with amazement in her eyes, but close.

He took off in a long, loping run, working out his muscles and disappearing into the dark, a blur of sleek black, a shadow of a creature so large that no one would have believed what they were seeing anyway.

By the time he got home, he was ready for bed. Worn out in a good way. His head was empty of almost all the days’ worries and concerns. Except for the thought of Roxy at his side. It was just a dream, though. Maybe even dream was too strong a word. A lingering idea. Nothing that was going to influence his decisions.

He could happily live the rest of his life with a human woman. He knew that much. Roxy was enough. More than enough.

But could she spend the rest of her life with a shifter and be content? He’d seen the longing in her eyes as she’d looked at him. Would she come to resent his abilities? Would that imbalance grow into something that would eventually tear them apart? And what if it meant they couldn’t have kids? Would that be a deal breaker for her?

That all remained to be seen. And solidified his determination to talk to Pandora. Protecting Roxy had to come before all else.

Roxy was up early after the first decent night’s sleep she’d had in four days. She stretched lazily in bed, a smile on her face as thoughts of the night before took over. Alex. That man was reason enough to smile.

She slipped out of bed and into some workout clothes. There were a thousand and one things to do, but a little yoga was first. Her body protested after her spell of inactivity, but it was good to move and stretch.

Coffee was next, followed by a quick text to Delaney so Roxy could plan the rest of her day. Morning! Where do you want to meet?

While she waited for Delaney’s answer, Roxy tried to figure out what in the world she was going to eat for breakfast. Her grocery supplies were in sad shape. Almost depleted actually. That meant she needed to add a Shop-n-Save run to her growing list of to-do’s.

She finally settled on one last slice of cold pizza. Not what she wanted but better than going hungry. As she ate, she thought about heading over to Alex’s, pretty sure Carmen was making him a full spread. She seemed like that kind of mom. But heading over there would undoubtedly mean giving up an hour or so that could be spent working, something Roxy desperately needed to do.

Ignored emails didn’t go away, they multiplied like spring bunnies, and she hadn’t touched her inbox in three days. No doubt it was overflowing.

Roxy’s phone chimed with Delaney’s reply. I’m sure you’re swamped. Why don’t I pick up lunch and bring it over? If that’s cool.

That would be great! I could use the extra time to work.

Perfect. What are you in the mood for?

Something healthy. A big salad with chicken. Or something like that. You decide. I’ll be happy with whatev.

Okay, sounds good. See you noon-ish.

Noon-ish. Bye. Roxy put her phone on the counter. Having Delaney come here was an excellent solution. It meant instead of spending time getting ready to go out and then driving into town, Roxy could work this morning. It was sweet of Delaney to suggest. Of course, Delaney may have really just wanted to talk in private, and considering what they were going to discuss, Roxy could understand.

And then, after that discussion, she’d go get groceries. Enough that she didn’t have to leave her house for a solid week. Except to see Alex. Because other than that, she needed to chain herself to her keyboard.

With the goal of pages in mind, she fixed a second cup of coffee and headed back to her office. “Morning, fish.” She wiggled her fingers at them as she sat at her desk and opened her laptop. New words were about to happen, and it was high time. Poor Wolfgang and Marabella, stranded on the pages of their unfinished story.

“You two will be together soon enough,” she told them. “But first…email.”

She fired up her inbox and let out a groan as the screen came up. Twelve hundred and thirty-one emails. She scanned through them looking for anything that might pop out as urgent, but her eyes started to blur. There were too many.

Instead, she started by deleting mass quantities of advertisements from places she didn’t need to be shopping at anyway, and writers’ loop digests filled with info that was pretty much guaranteed to be something she already knew or not that important.

Then she filed away the various statements and newsletters that had come from the retailer vendors that sold her books. She told herself she was filing them to be read later, but she also knew that was very unlikely. At best, she’d be forwarding the important ones to her accountant come tax time.