Garden of Serenity (36 page)
Read Garden of Serenity Online
Authors: Nina Pierce
“Yeah, well you don’t look like you’re feeling so good.” Hope dragged a chair from the corner and settled at the butcher block island in the middle of the kitchen. “You’ve been losing weight.”
Alex had felt an instant connection with this woman a year ago when the human had started dating Josh and coming into the tavern with the firemen. After thirty years of being immortal, it felt good to make a true connection with the normal life that had been ripped from her. “Don’t you start on me, Hope Grayson.”
“I’m just saying. You’ve been moping around the last few weeks like somebody ran over your dog.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic.” Alex added soap to the bin and let the suds overflow the dishes. “I don’t even own a dog.”
Hope drained her martini. “Figure of speech, my dear. Figure of speech. My point is you look like shit. Your eyes are carrying more bags than the Duchess of Cambridge on a three day press junket. And your hair? Well let’s just say I’ve seen straw with a smoother texture.”
Alex hadn’t noticed until this moment how the words slurred from Hope’s lips. She laughed, trying to make light of the brutal truth of her best friend’s assessment. “How many drinks have you had?”
“Three. But don’t change the subject. What’s going on with you? I’m a reporter. I smell a story.”
Alex couldn’t tell Hope the truth. There were just too many things the woman wouldn’t understand about how the exhaustion weighing down Alex’s limbs went against her very nature. Bone-weary and barely able to pull herself through her days, Alex hoped she would soon be on the road to feeling like the person she hadn’t been in many decades. But there was no way to explain any of that to Hope without exposing a world that existed only in the woman’s nightmares.
Trying to lighten the mood, Alex forced another laugh. “What you smell, Miss Hope, is the alcohol stewing your brain.” She dried her hands on her apron, untied it and threw it on the sideboard. “I’ll leave those to soak. We need to get you home.”
Hope stood and hugged her tightly. “And you my dear friend need to get some sleep. I don’t like seeing you this way.”
“You’re as bad as Glenn. You both worry too much. I’m fine.”
Hope held her at arm’s length, her gaze scouring her face, but Alex refused to break. The woman could tell she was lying. Alex could see the disappointment in the way she shrugged and headed out the kitchen door. Like Glenn, Hope had too much respect for her privacy to call Alex on her obvious lies. Guilt knotted hard in her gut, making her queasy, but Alex had no choice in the matter.
No one—least of all an honorable vampire like Glenn or an innocent human like Hope—needed to know her whereabouts this night.
End of Excerpt
To My Readers
Writing is a solitary exercise with many hours spent sitting at a computer developing, editing and refining every word to create stories that keep you up late into the night or burning dinner because you just need to read another page, another scene, another chapter. And as much as I enjoy the process, it would all be worthless if it weren’t for you, my readers.
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Until the next time,
Nina
Author’s Bio
:
USA Today
bestselling author, Nina Pierce, grew up in a house full of readers. So becoming enamored with books was only natural. She discovered romance stories in her early teens, falling hopelessly in love with knights in shining armor and the damsels who saved them.
Eventually, reading about fated loves and soul mates wasn’t enough. She now spends her days at the keyboard writing her own stories, blissfully creating chaos for her characters by throwing in a villain or two, a little murder and a whole lot of mayhem as they struggle toward their happy-ever-afters.
Nina resides in New England with her high school sweetheart and soul mate of nearly forty years and several very spoiled cats who consider her “staff”. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her three grown children, one love-sick son-in-law and a heart-melting grandson.
Nina enjoys hearing from her readers. You can reach her at
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~ Other books by Nina Pierce ~
In His Eyes
Dangerous Affairs
Blind Her With Bliss
Deceive Her With Desire
Cheat Her With Charm
A Touch of Lilly
Shadows of Fire
Maid for Master
Invitation to Ecstasy
Bonded Souls
Bonded by Need
Mating Bonds
Shifting Bonds
Divine Deception
Killer Romances Boxed Set
What to Read After FSOG Boxed Set #2