Page 47 of Blue Moon

“Hush your mouth,” Marcel told Shani. “No more cake for you if you’re rude, and no pizza either.” Then he stepped to the side to get a better look at Luna. One wrong step, motherfucker… “I loved your show. The new songs are just bellisima. The dancing, the set…” He crinkled his nose. “I’m not sure about the costumes, but everything else is perfect.”

Okay, so he was right about the costumes. Luna hated them. And now she dropped to her hands and knees with Shani, asses in the air as they tried to coax the dog out from under the table.

“Rocky, it’s okay, cutie. I totally agree about the costumes. You should have seen the original designs—there were all these beaded tassels, and they kept hitting me in the face. And Frank wanted me to ride in on a camel. A live freaking camel.”

“A camel would spit on that gold ensemble.” Marcel glanced at his watch and began backing away. “I have to get to my acupuncture appointment, but I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“Thursday?”

“I’m coming to see the show.”

“Again?”

“Don’t forget to wave. Shani, there are cookies in the kitchen if those seagulls you call colleagues haven’t devoured them already.”

Then he was gone. The dog crawled out on its belly and pressed itself against Luna, so at least it had good taste. Damn, Ryder missed the quiet calm of Blackwood’s Richmond headquarters.

“Who the hell was that guy?” he asked.

“Marcel,” Shani said, scrambling to her feet.

“Yeah, I got that. What was he doing here?”

“Bringing cookies.”

“Start at the beginning. He doesn’t work for Blackwood, so how come he can just walk in here?”

“Emmy said it was okay.”

Ryder slowly shook his head. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? He’s a friend of hers?”

“A friend of a friend, I think. There’s a guy named Priest who sometimes borrows one of our meeting rooms, and Marcel’s one of his people. So I guess you could call him Blackwood adjacent? Anyhow, Marcel loves to cook, and whenever his roommates are out of town, he ends up with spare food, so he brings it here. He’s annoying as all get out, but nobody’s gonna turn down free baked goods.”

Priest? Well, that explained a lot. Ryder had only met the guy a handful of times, and more often, he went by the name Pale. But he came out of the same mould as Emmy and Black, although you wouldn’t know it to look at him. The guy favoured Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops and somehow always managed to have a hot chick on his arm. Rumour said the chicks were every bit as deadly as he was, which meant there was a high probability Marcel was dangerous too.

“I don’t like him getting in Luna’s face.”

“He just loves music. I swear he’s been to every show in Vegas at least ten times.”

Luna put a hand on Ryder’s arm, and it grounded him. Fucking thrilled him. She was touching him freely now, and five minutes ago, she’d laid her lips on his. His damn cock was still hard.

“It’s okay,” she said. “At least he didn’t take pictures. Honestly, I’m just surprised he managed to get that many tickets.”

“He always gets tickets. Five bucks says he’s in the front row.”

It took another hour to extricate themselves from the office. Luna wanted a cookie, and Ryder had to pick up potato products, make sure the courier delivered the handwritten note to the West Coast forensics lab, and scan the two receipts over to Mack. The dog delayed things further by rolling onto its back, and of course Luna wanted to scratch its belly. The mutt was good for her, though. She was smiling.

By the time they made it to the car, they’d agreed to come to Shani’s charity quiz. Officially, she was the office manager, but Randall said she was more like the office mom, making sure everyone had clean clothes and enough to eat. She always had a dog with her, occasionally two, and she’d set up a volunteering scheme for the shelter.

Ryder opened the back door of the new SUV—which was the same model as the old SUV—and brushed his lips over Luna’s.

“It’s been quite a day.”

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

“Why is that even a question?” He kissed her again, just because he could. “I’ll take you home, and then I’ll leave via the front door, run a few errands, switch vehicles, and sneak back in through the parking garage.”

“So people won’t talk about you?”

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