The Closing Time Series

Welcome to the Ridgewood Galleria — a suburban Ohio mall where the fluorescent lights hide more secrets than the service corridors.

It's 2003. The last golden age of the American mall, before smartphones and recessions changed everything. By day, it's retail chaos: screaming kids, harried parents, teenagers with nowhere else to go. But after 9 PM, when the gates come down and the customers disappear, something else emerges.

The night shift.

Security guards with secrets. Overnight stockers with dreams. Baristas closing up alone. In the echoing halls and hidden corners of the Galleria, they find each other — and sometimes, against all odds, they find love.

Each book in The Closing Time Series features a different couple finding their happily ever after, while the ensemble cast weaves through every story. Start anywhere, but read in order to catch all the connections.

Book 1: AFTER HOURS — Jason × Marco

A grumpy security guard. A sunshine arcade employee. One surveillance camera that sees too much.

Book 2: NIGHT SHIFT — Ryan × Evan

A closeted golden boy. An out overnight stocker. The courage it takes to be seen.

Book 3: COMMON GROUNDS — Brandon × Michael

A small-town barista. A big-city executive. The space between closing time and dawn.

High heat. Found family. Happily ever afters.

Welcome to the night shift.

Marco Reyes has a theory. Rule #1: Everyone is playing a game. Marco is twenty-one, works the prize counter at the Galaxy Arcade, and is bored out of his mind. He’s also the only bright spot on Jason’s monitors. He’s vibrant, reckless, and refuses to be ignored. When Marco realizes the stoic security chief is watching him on Camera 23, he doesn't hide. He waves.

It starts as a game. A wave. A smile. A challenge in a dark corridor. But when a theft ring targets the mall, threatening to frame innocent employees, Jason and Marco are forced out of their corners and into a partnership that breaks every protocol in the handbook.

Jason is terrified of letting anyone in. Marco is tired of being someone’s dirty secret. But in the neon glow of the arcade after hours, they’ll have to decide if breaking the rules is worth the risk of breaking their hearts.

AFTER HOURS is a high-heat, grumpy/sunshine M/M romance featuring a stoic security guard, a relentless arcade worker, and a love found in the unlikeliest of places.