Page 21 of Blue Moon

Luna sighed as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. “Every time I think life is getting better, it just gets worse again. The show at the Nile Palace is the first thing I’ve done by myself—I mean, not completely by myself, but without Mom—and I love it. But then those notes started arriving, and… I’m sorry I called you. I probably overreacted.” She blew out a shaky breath. “Man, I still can’t believe you dropped everything and flew here from Virginia.”

“I was in Georgia.”

“Whereabouts in Georgia? Atlanta? I sang at a football game there once.”

“Georgia the country.”

“What?”

“Georgia the country, not Georgia the state. I work all over the world.”

“Oh.” She gave a high-pitched giggle. “Oh. I…I don’t even know where that is. Did it take you a long time to get here?”

“Around fourteen hours. It’s between Russia and Turkey.”

“Oh,” she said again.

“Moon, there will never be a time that you call and I don’t come.”

Luna stared at him for a long moment, and then her face crumpled. Fuck. A tear rolled down her cheek, and he didn’t even have a tissue to offer.

“What’s wrong? What did I say?”

“Nothing. Everything. It’s like having my own superhero on call, except that superhero is a bit of an asshole.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You flew fourteen freaking hours to bring me a microwave.”

“I flew fourteen hours to check for myself that you were okay.” Ryder wiped the tear away with his thumb, and when Luna didn’t flinch, he took that as a positive. “Can we try again? Please?”

“Try again with what? I have no idea where I stand with you anymore. I know how to be friends with gay guys. Straight men? Well, I generally avoid them. The slightest miscommunication, and they take it the wrong way… It’s like tiptoeing across a minefield.”

“It doesn’t have to be. We can just go back to the way things were between us.”

“You don’t want more? Because I look back now and all those hugs, the way you kissed my hair… I don’t know what it meant.”

Ryder was a Navy SEAL—he was used to handling the hard stuff. But an honest conversation with Luna scared the shit out of him. His first instinct was to protect her, to tell her friendship was the only thing he wanted, but he knew that if he lied to her again, that would be the end for them.

“If one day you wanted more, then yes, I’d be interested, but if friendship is all you’re looking for, then I’m good with that. At this moment in time, my main goal in life is to see you safe and happy.”

“Why? What do you get out of that?”

“What do I get?” It was a good question. “Over the past several months, I’ve come to realise that my happiness is intrinsically tied to yours.”

“But why?”

“Because…” Ryder prepared for her to kick him out of the apartment. “Because a long time ago, I lost someone I care about a great deal, and you remind me of her.”

Luna stared at him. She wasn’t stupid, and she’d picked up enough pieces of information in San Gallicano to put the puzzle together.

“Your girlfriend? The one who died? I already worked that out.”

“Her name was Neve.”

“Why do I remind you of her? Do we look the same?”

“A little. She was sweet and sensitive, just like you.”

“So that’s why you’re here? Some kind of saviour complex?”

Now Luna sounded like his therapist. “It’s more than that. I enjoy spending time with you, talking and hanging out. You’re good company.”

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