And he could see exactly why her readers loved her. Her books were great. But as a person, she was a friend to everyone.

A few of the women who came to see her even broke down in tears, but they all left smiling, clutching their books in their arms and practically glowing with the experience. Here and there, he caught snippets of conversations as the attendees wound past him.

“She’s so nice. I can’t believe how nice she is. I love her!”

“She signed the book I bought and every book I brought with me.”

“I got my picture with her! I’m totally making that my new profile pic.”

And then there were the happy shrieks and endless smiles. It was a love fest and he couldn’t help but smile too. Roxy St. James was a freaking phenomenon.

Over the course of the next few hours, several men came in. Some with their wives or girlfriends, some alone, but still with books to be signed. Each time one entered the store, Alex glanced at Kaley, who’d peer at them very intently, then look at Alex and indicate what she’d read. Each time it was a shake of her head no.

None of the men showed signs of meaning harm to Roxy.

By the time the signing was over, Alex was happy the stalker hadn’t shown, but frustrated that whoever this jerk was, he remained at large. Roxy was standing at her table now, a crowd of readers surrounding her, asking questions, chatting her up. That went on for fifteen minutes, at which point Agnes announced Roxy had to go and escorted her to the office.

As the fans filtered out, Alex walked over to Pandora and Kaley. He addressed the teenager. “Good work today. Absolutely outstanding.”

She grinned. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. You and Miss Williams can head on home.” He nodded at Pandora. “Thank you for coming. Really helped.”

“No problem.” She stood and gathered her things. “Can you believe how many people showed up?”

“Very impressive.” He glanced toward the back of the shop. “I have to check in with Deputy Blythe. You two have a good night.”

“You too. And tell Roxy we said goodbye.”

“Will do.” As they left, he headed to Jenna’s post in the storage room. He pushed through the door and saw her sitting in a chair against the back wall.

She stood and stretched. “Everything over?”

“Yep. And not a sign of him.”

“Nothing back here either. Not even the rattle of someone trying the door. You think he’s gone? Given up maybe?”

Alex shook his head. “No. Maybe he wants us to think that, though.”

She nodded. “Could be. You need Tessa and me anymore?”

“No. I’m going to take Roxy home. Thanks for your help today.”

“Sure thing.”

They walked back into the shop together, then Jenna collected her sister, they said their goodbyes and they were gone.

Leo was at the counter when Alex walked up. “If you’re looking for Agnes or Roxy,” Leo said, “they’re still in the office.”

“Thanks.” He went back and knocked on the office door.

Agnes opened it. “Roxy just finished up.”

“Finished up what?”

Roxy was sitting at the desk, which had been cleaned off a little. Several stacks of her books sat to one side and there was another carton of books on the floor. Roxy had a black Sharpie in her hand. She lifted it. “I was signing the books that were ordered. Books that have to be mailed to the customers who couldn’t make it in today.”

“That’s nice.” He looked at how many books there were. Then he shifted his gaze to Agnes. “How did these customers find out about being able to order a signed book?”

“Mostly my mailing list. Those are my regular romance readers.” She pointed at the computer. “But I posted on the store’s social media too.”

“The regulars, do you know all of them?”

She nodded. “Absolutely.”

“What about the requests that came in through social media? Do you know them?”

“No. But there weren’t as many of them.”

“Can you email a list of those names and addresses to Birdie?”

Roxy’s brows lifted. “Birdie? Where are you going with this?”

“I think it’s possible your stalker didn’t show today because he knew he’d get caught, but I also think he would have wanted a signed book from you. I’m going to get Birdie to run that list through our system. See if anyone who wanted a book has any priors that fit our suspect.”

Roxy nodded. “You really think my stalker could be on the list?”

Alex nodded. “Maybe. And if he is, he just might have given himself away.”

Roxy smiled up at the stars as she trailed her fingers through the water of Alex’s hot tub. It had been a week since the signing and there hadn’t been a peep from her stalker. She was convinced the guy had realized she was with Alex now and had given up.

Alex wasn’t so convinced, even after the list of book buyers from Agnes’s shop hadn’t turned up anything, but that was his job. Well, his job right now was getting her a glass of wine. He’d just gone in to open a bottle for them, then he’d be joining her.

Things between them were so good. Easy and uncomplicated and just what she needed, even with them being intimate. Which was amazing. The writing was finally back up to speed, and she was happy with it. And Pandora was hard at work on something to do with the shifter spell they’d talked about. It had required a few items from Roxy’s past, things near and dear to her, but Pandora had promised Roxy it would be well worth it and ready very soon.