Page 74 of Blue Moon

“But you’re a star.”

We ate the rest of the meal in silence because she truly didn’t understand. And why would she? She’d always been able to fade into the background while I took the full brunt of everyone’s attention. Look at what happened in San Gallicano, for instance. The stunt that had gotten me banished to the turtle sanctuary amid a hail of headlines had been cooked up by her and Kory.

After the waiter had taken our plates and I’d handed over my credit card—because of course she still expected me to pay for everything—we hugged each other goodbye, and I knew things could never be the same between us. The moment was tinged with sadness. Although we’d still meet up for lunch or whatever, I’d lost a good friend, a family member.

But at the same time, I was moving on.

I needed to move on.

The waiter came back with my card. “Ms. Maara, my apologies, but I’ve just been informed that lunch was covered by Mr. Metcalfe.”

I was definitely moving on.

20

RYDER

Being with Luna Maara was like climbing Mount Denali—beautiful at times, really fucking difficult at others. Today, they’d already been through the whole gamut of emotions, and it was only ten a.m.

The morning had started on a high. Now that Luna had been introduced to the wonderful world of orgasms, she couldn’t get enough of them, which meant Ryder had been up half the night making her happy. But they’d soon plummeted to the Challenger Deep when, in an endorphin-fuelled haze, she’d asked him to slide a finger inside to see how it went. And stupidly, he’d gone with it. Her muscles had spasmed, she’d cried out in pain, and he’d spent the next half hour holding her while she sobbed that she was broken. She hadn’t smiled again until they picked up the dog. Now she was sitting with him in the back seat, laughing as he licked her face. Rocky deserved a damn medal.

At Cromer Place, Ryder parked in one of the half-dozen short-term spaces at the front of the building, scanned the area for threats, and then opened the door so the press could get their first good look at Luna’s new pet. Yeah, yeah, technically she was only fostering him, but that mutt wasn’t going anywhere.

Luna held him on a short leash, which was pink, as were his new harness and collar. Luckily, Shani had assured them that dogs had dichromatic vision, so they could only see yellow and blue. Rocky didn’t know that his accessories matched Luna’s car.

“If you scare my dog, I’ll give an exclusive to your fiercest rival,” she warned her least-favourite photographer when he got too close.

“What’s his name?”

“Rocky.”

“Like Rocky Balboa?”

“Yup, except cuter.”

“Is he competition for DJ Sykik?”

That was Kory’s alter ego. Ryder had tried listening to a couple of the douche’s tracks, and they weren’t as bad as he’d imagined they would be.

“Not really? I mean, Rocky will always win.”

The guy laughed. “How about Romeo Serafini?”

“Rocky still has the edge.”

“Is there any truth to the rumour that you had a mental health crisis last Monday?”

That blindsided Luna. She froze, and it took her a moment to collect herself. “No truth whatsoever. Where did you hear that?”

“From a source.”

“Then you need to get new sources.”

The asshole smirked. “That particular source has proven reliable in the past.”

“Well, they’re not reliable anymore.”

“Then why did you disappear in a helicopter?”

---