Later in the week, Luna felt exhausted to her soul, but she still gamely walked into the Shore Club, the restaurant for her and Chef’s monthly “exes” date. The deal was that she got to pick the place and he got to pick the attire—though he always chose dressy.
Every month she grumbled and tried to get out of it, even though she always found herself relaxed, laughing, and having a great time, because with Chef there was absolutely no pressure, and the food never failed to be amazing.
Okay, it’d failed a few times. Like the time he’d made her try escargot.
And oysters.
They’d agreed maybe she didn’t want her horizons broadened that much.
She was in the second of her two dressy outfits: a long-sleeved, midi-length dress of a soft jersey material that clung but also somehow made her feel like a million bucks. Maybe it was the kick-ass boots Willow had given her for Christmas. Maybe it was because her mirror had told her she was actually having a good hair day for once.
Or . . . maybe it was because she’d started to realize that her fears of everyone looking at her differently because she’d become an owner of the farm had proved to be false. Happily confident, she strode through the restaurant, but that confidence faltered when she caught sight of Chef, handsome as ever, sitting with Milo and . . . another man in a suit. And not the suit she’d been thinking about all day either.
She stopped at the table and tried to smile, but given Chef’s expression, it’d probably been more of a grimace. “I didn’t realize this was going to be a party.” Or a double date . . .
Chef just smiled.
The suit stood. “Hi, Luna. I’m Evan. We got disconnected the other day, so when Chef invited me to dinner . . .”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, because in spite of herself, her mom had drilled manners into her at an early age. Then she turned and gave Chef a pointed look.
He returned it.
They all sat, and when Chef and Evan began to talk about which wine they wanted to try, Luna turned to Milo and whispered, “How did you get dragged into this?”
“Free food.” He smiled. “My favorite kind.”
Over the next hour she gave it her best, and the company was admittedly lively and fun, but she wanted her bed. “I think it’s time for me to—”
“Order dessert,” Chef said smoothly. “Their peach flambé has got to be tasted to be believed. Almost as good as mine.”
Luna kicked him under the table. Hard.
To his credit, Chef manfully held in his response, though he did reach under the table to rub his shin.
But damn if he wasn’t right. The flambé was out of this world.
“I hear there’s a comet tonight between ten and midnight,” Evan said. “Anyone want to find a place to watch for it?”
Here was the thing. The date had already lasted over five years, and yes, Evan was kind and funny and looked great, but he wasn’t the right suit. And at that shocking realization, she abruptly stood.
All three men looked up at her. “You okay?” Milo asked.
“I’m sorry. Migraine coming.”
Evan stood up too. “I could drive you home.”
“No, I’m fine. Truly. But thank you. Tonight was . . .” What was a suitably nice word, but not so nice that he’d ask her out again? “Pleasant.”
Chef face-palmed.
Milo had to work to hide a grin behind his wineglass.
She grimaced. “I’m sorry, Evan. Meeting you was . . .” Shit. She honestly couldn’t think of a good word. Maybe she really was getting a migraine.
“Pleasant?” Evan asked with amusement lurking in his gaze.
She sighed and gave a rueful smile. “Yeah.” And when she got out to her car, she was still shaking her head at herself. She drove directly to the local convenience store and bought a rack of cookies, which she ate on her way home. It wasn’t until she parked at the farm that she realized she’d forgotten her coat at the restaurant. She texted Chef to get it for her because no way was she going back.
Chilled in the brisk forty-five degrees, she quickly walked the trail to her cabin, missing Willow. She wondered what she was up to tonight, which put a pang in her gut. Since when didn’t they know each other’s every move?
She looked up at the gorgeous night sky, well-lit by a blanket of stars and a near full moon. It seemed alive. The view, day or night, summer or winter, never, ever failed to lower her blood pressure and calm her down.
But it also might’ve been the cookies.
Suddenly not ready to go to bed, she passed her cabin. Milo’s cabin was still dark. Stella had a light on, but Luna didn’t want to rehash the evening, so she kept moving, past Jeb’s cabin, then Shep’s. The sixth had two farmhands in it.
The farm’s property line lay just behind the last cabin, Jameson’s, which was also dark. Just beyond that, she could hear the creek. She loved to sit on her favorite rock and listen to the water rushing by. She could think of no better way to further unbusy her mind.
Well, okay, she could think of one way, but that involved a lot of nakedness and preferably another person. “And,” she muttered, coming to the end of the path, stepping off it to get to her rock, “you gave up dating, so you need to get used to this no-sex thing.”
At the sound of someone choking out a laugh, she froze. She knew that sexy laugh.
Jameson was sitting on a rock, her rock. Grinning. She jabbed a finger in his direction. “That’s my spot.”
He scooted over for her, but nope. Not going to sit that close to him. He’d had his chance.
“Rough night?”
“No. Well, yes. But no.”
“That clears that up.”
She went hands on hips. “Why are you out here?”
“Some lucky son of a bitch tied a sock on the door handle of the cabin. I assume it’s Shayne.”
Luna’s first reaction was irritation at Shayne and Willow. Her second reaction was a wistful sigh. She wouldn’t mind needing a sock.
Jameson laughed softly. “Been a while, huh?”
“So long I can’t remember.”
“Same.”
Their gazes locked and held. “Maybe,” she said, “that’s because when someone throws themselves at you, you say ‘no thanks.’”
He gave a small shake of his head. “That had nothing to do with you. I wanted you. Badly. But I can think with two body parts at the same time, and tend to weigh what is the right thing versus what I want.”
Hmm. “So just how long has it been since your last relationship?”
“A year. We were together for two years. We were engaged, but then one day I came home from a trip and she handed me back my key and walked out the door.” He looked over at her, saw her horrified and sympathetic expression and shook his head. “Don’t feel sorry for me. It was my own fault. I traveled all the time, was hardly ever home, and Julie had to keep pushing the wedding date back. Finally, she got tired of me not being able to give her what she needed, so she left.”
Unable to help herself, she reached over and squeezed his hand. “It had to hurt.”
“It did. But it wasn’t the right time for me, and she wasn’t the right woman. No one should have to change who they are to be loved.” He squeezed her hand back. “Which, given how deeply you still care about Chef, I’m guessing you understand.”
She smiled wryly. “Very much so.”
He went brows up, like he was waiting for something.
“What?” she asked.
“Now you.”
“Now me what?”
He smiled. “You know what. When someone opens up to you, it’s customary for you to open up back.”
“You already know about Chef.”
He nodded and gave her a “go on” gesture. She hesitated. If she was being honest, she was embarrassed. “Believe me, there’s nothing good in my romantic history, and I really don’t like to talk about it.”
“Okay, so what do you want to talk about?” he asked.
“Why it’s been so long since you got some. A year’s a long time.”
He shrugged. “I guess I’m not really a one-night-stand sort of guy.”
There was something incredibly sexy about that. Why was there something incredibly sexy about that?
He smiled. “It bodes well for me that you’re surprised.”
She laughed. “Well, surely those loafers were chick magnets.”
“Hey,” he said with mock defensiveness. “What did my loafers ever do to you?”
She took a good look at him in his down jacket and jeans, now sporting a hole over one knee, which she knew Dammit Ziggy had started for him, and work boots. “I guess you can take the city out of the guy.”
“Hey, I’m adaptable. And I like it here. For a long time my life’s felt . . . dark.” He met her gaze as if he expected that to scare her off.
It didn’t. Maybe because she understood it more than she wanted to. “The farm and all the inhabitants in it are so colorful and full of light, it’s hard to not become a part of it,” she said softly, moved by his admission.
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Yeah. For me, it’s your smile.” He laughed when she bit her lower lip because she liked hearing that, way too much. Tipping his head to take in the sky, he said, “I’ve been . . . everywhere, but I’ve never seen a night sky like this. It feels so untouched, and without any city lights, the stars shine brighter than diamonds.”
“Yeah, I know.” She looked up and was moved enough to sigh, which had her shoulders lowering from her ears. Or maybe that was Jameson. Seemed like he was even better than cookies. “You should see it during a lightning storm. The streaks of lightning flash and light up the entire sky.”
He pulled off his jacket. Beneath, he wore an unbuttoned plaid shirt over a well-worn T-shirt, snug to his chest, loose over his abs. She was still staring when he tugged her down beside him and wrapped the jacket around her shoulders.
It was warm from his body heat and she snuggled in, grateful. It was a struggle to not press her face to her arm and inhale his scent. She failed.
When he caught her at it, his eyes darkened, clearly both amused and turned on. And suddenly she felt the same. “Was it hard to get over losing Julie?”
“I thought so at the time. But with hindsight being 20/20, we weren’t right for each other. How about you, with Chef? Did he break your heart?”
“I thought so at the time,” she said, using his words, making him smile. She shifted to get more comfortable and their arms brushed. She would really like to know why every time they accidentally touched, she felt a tingle of awareness up the back of her neck and down, spreading throughout her entire body. “But now I’m realizing that I loved being with him because it felt like mac and cheese.”
“Mac and cheese,” he repeated, sounding confused.
“Yeah. You know, comfort food. He made me feel safe and secure and anchored. It’s why I hired him on here. I thought I needed him, because . . . well, you know.”
“Mac and cheese.”
She smiled. “Exactly. But I’m so much happier with what we are to each other now. Family. Like siblings.”
“Anyone since Chef?” he asked.
She pretended to be very busy studying the sky.
“You could just say ‘none of your business,’” he said lightly.
She grimaced. “It feels a little bit like your business,” she admitted, surprising herself.
“Nice to know. And I’m all ears.”
Her phone buzzed and he gave her a small smile. “Saved by the bell.”
She snorted as she read the text.
“Stella?” he asked.
“Yep. She wants to know, and I quote, ‘How do I cancel a meeting with my boss?’”
“But . . . you’re her boss.”
“Yeah. I’m trying to figure out what to say.”
“Ask her to provide a list of her complaints and say you’ll add them to the next staff meeting agenda.”
“Oh you’re good.” She sent that exact text. A few minutes went by with no response and Luna beamed at him. “Anyone ever tell you that you know your stuff?”
He shrugged. “Fewer than you’d think.”
She leaned back and stared up at the sky some more, aware that he was looking at her profile. “What?”
“Why do I get the feeling that dinner with Chef didn’t go well?”
“Chef invited Milo.” She blew out a breath. “And Evan the Suit.”
“And . . . ?”
“He just wasn’t my type.”
He hesitated, as if wanting to be careful with his words. “Sometimes, I feel like I see something familiar in your eyes.”
“You’re not a fan of suits either?”
The corners of his mouth tilted slightly. “Something deeper,” he said.
“Like, you too have a stomachache from too many cookies?”
His mouth quirked again, but he apparently wasn’t going to let her joke this away because he said, “We’ve got the same core wound, which means we understand each other.”
Luna had a therapist tell her once that her thing was abandonment. That’s what her adoption represented to her, that her bio mom had abandoned her. At the time, she hadn’t believed it. After all, she’d been adopted immediately and her basic needs had always been met.
But as it turned out, there were other needs she didn’t know she had. Such as acceptance, and as a result, she’d spent a whole lot of her life coasting on surface emotions. It suited her. It kept her heart safe. But she couldn’t coast with Jameson. She had to be on her toes and stay alert to keep him from sliding beneath the protective walls around her heart. After all, nothing good could come of her giving in to temptation and being stupid enough to sleep with him. Especially if he wanted to talk about their deep, dark issues. Nope, she’d buried it all deep, thank you very much. So she was surprised when her mouth took over and asked the question she wasn’t at all sure she wanted the answer to. “Did this core wound ruin your relationships?”
He shifted on the big rock, long legs stretched out in front of him, leaning back on his elbows, head tipped to the stunning sky. “Probably.”
Her heart tightened hard, and to give herself a moment, she mirrored his position.
“Look.” He pointed upward, to an amazingly bright star with a faint fuzzy tail—no, not a star. The comet, and the beauty of it took her breath. They watched until it vanished behind the inky outline of the mountains.
The wind rustled the trees, and here and there an animal called out into the dark. “I’m glad Silas found you,” she said with a little shoulder nudge.
He smiled, she could hear it in his voice as he nudged her back. “Me too.”
“And you’re here to protect his asset,” she said. “Which is now your asset too.”
“And yours, which means I’m here to protect you too.”
She turned and met his gaze. “From the coven?”
“From whatever you need protecting from.”
She stared at him. “I don’t need protecting.”
“I’m starting to get that.”
A low, throaty female moan came from the cabin, and Luna straightened her spine, her eyes narrowed. “Oh, for the love of God.” She climbed off the rock and strode straight across the path to Jameson’s door and pounded on it.
After a long moment, Shayne opened up, no shirt, no shoes, hair rumpled, and lipstick on his mouth. He braced one arm against the doorjamb, the very picture of sated male.
“Seriously?” Luna demanded, trying to see past him. “Willow!”
Willow came to the door buttoning her jeans. “What’s up, Luna Always Right Wright?”
Luna ground her back teeth. “What are you guys doing?”
“Fighting,” Willow said.
“Naked?”
“Maybe that’s how we fight. Plus, I don’t have to answer to you after hours, especially since we’re not speaking. In fact, I’m not speaking to either of you.” She gave Shayne a pointed look.
He just smiled at her. “You were speaking to me plenty just five minutes ago.”
“That was cabin talk only! And what happens in the cabin stays in the cabin, Shayne! We agreed!” With that, she gave him a nudge, making him take a step back, onto the porch.
Then she slammed the door on all of them.
“Well, damn,” Shayne said.
Luna looked into his mournful face and shook her head. “What part of wooing her with your words didn’t you understand?”
“She called me.”
“Oh my God.” Luna tossed up her hands. “Men are so dumb.”
“Hey, you’re on her shit list too.”
“Great, because you’re both on mine. This cabin is still Jameson’s. You can’t just lock him out.”
The door to the cabin opened again and Shayne’s shirt, shoes, and keys were tossed out. With a sigh, Shayne scooped everything up. He looked over at Jameson, quietly taking everything in with that quiet, calm way of his. “Sorry, man. But I don’t think she’s coming out.”
Jameson shrugged. “I always wanted to try camping. Maybe now’s a good time.”
“It’s a cold night,” Shayne said.
“I’ll be okay.”
Shayne nodded and looked at his phone for the time. “I’ve got an early shift. I’m just going to head to the station and get a few hours of sleep.”
When he was gone, Luna looked over at Jameson. “You’re not really going to camp, are you? Because what if you get bitten by a coyote, or if a bear wants to eat you for a snack?”
He grinned. “You think I’m a snack.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’ll go back to the hotel.”
She sighed. “My couch has a pull-out bed and it’s free.”
He smiled. “So the jeans and boots really do work for you.”
“You did hear me say couch, right? Not my bed.”
“That’s okay. I’m a third-date kind of guy anyway.”