The fact that I’d have preferred to have been home writing the blurb for my latest book rather than hanging out at the party said something about my lack of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, only Jonah would have understood how frustrating it was to boil an entire book down to two paragraphs of teasing, so there was no point in making the comparison.
That just left glaring at anyone who tried to talk to me and hiding from anyone who tried to flirt with me…which was a surprising number of people in the crowded room, considering how downright unfriendly I was attempting to be.
Maybe asshole was the new “in” personality this season.
Oh, that would be good in a book.
Scrambling to pat my pockets, I quickly remembered Austin had stolen my notebook and pen. He had the crazy idea that if I couldn’t work, then I’d have to talk to everyone. It was ridiculous. I could ignore them without a pen and paper. I had a great imagination.
But an imagination was better when I had something to make notes with.
Dodging behind an alpha who was the size of a small tank and wanted a puppy—and not the dog pound kind—I ducked into Austin’s kitchen. I couldn’t remember the last time he was even in it, so he’d never think to look for me in there.
Okay, had to find a pen.
Glancing around the room, I didn’t see anything to write with. There had to be a junk drawer or even a crayon somewhere. A pad for grocery lists. Yes, there had to be something. Randomly walking around the ridiculously sized room, I found drawer after drawer of weird silverware and knives but nothing remotely resembling a junk drawer.
I was about halfway around the room when someone started quietly laughing behind me. The voice was deep, but I couldn’t place it so I just ignored them. People usually went away when they didn’t get attention.
Unfortunately, the person behind me didn’t seem to realize he was supposed to leave me alone. Footsteps behind me got closer, but I still figured the best plan was to play dumb until he got bored. Even the massive alpha with the sweet smile who wanted a little didn’t have the patience to wait me out.
I almost felt bad about him.
The sound of another drawer opening had me sighing. I could rummage through Austin’s house, but no one else was allowed to steal from the drama queen.
Just as I was turning around to point that out, a unicorn notebook and pink pen appeared in front of my face. It was small, but it would work. Nodding at the hand, I took it and turned toward the counter. “Thanks.”
More low laughter from the other side of the room was slightly distracting, but in minutes I had the bare bones of the first scene in a new book and quite possibly a new series outlined. It would need to be fleshed out and I’d have to decide how it would connect to my current universe, but I could see how it would come together.
When the notes were done, I tore out the pages and folded them, putting them in my wallet. It wasn’t perfect, but I couldn’t just walk off with someone’s notebook.
They were important.
As I looked around, I furrowed my brow. Where had it come from?
“I’ll put it back.” The voice coming from behind me made me frown. “But let me see the papers before you put them away.”
The tone was so firm and politely commanding that I reached for my wallet without even thinking about it.
If the voice made me want to obey, the face made me want to purr…it also made me hand over the notebook and the papers.
I didn’t claim to be smart when it came to alphas.
He was bossy, sexy, and wasn’t looking at me like I was being ridiculous.
Oh, he had my papers.
I reached out, trying to decide what to say. Tanner had made it clear no one got to be an asshole today, including Bradley, but the guy had my papers. “I need those…”
He nodded but didn’t hand over my papers. Instead, he started smoothing them out on the table and stuck his hand out. “Give me your phone.”
“Huh?” I needed to learn how to say no nicely to people.
He chuckled. “I’m going to take a picture of them and email it to you so you have the notes just in case. If you’d downloaded the program I told you about we wouldn’t