Page 50 of Lost in the Moonlight

“What made you finally ask her out?” Shay had demanded.

“Did you see how beautiful she looked? How could I not?” His grin had slipped as his eyes met mine. “I should have asked you first.”

I’d shaken my head. “Of course you shouldn’t have! And I’m thrilled. Honestly. Shay and I have been plotting ways to force your hand for weeks.”

He’d brushed a hand over his hair in an awkward and endearing way, but a customer asking him about the new desserts had let him escape without having to respond. The smile on his face had remained, leaving happiness in its wake.

Shay had given me another one-sided hug, done the same with her dad, and then left for school. Even though I technically wasn’t working, I’d spent a few more minutes futzing with the desserts and listening to Hector’s conversation about them while pleasure danced through me.

As I’d stood up from the case, I’d come eye to eye with Poco in a black jacket with a black beanie pulled low on his brow. The look on his face had been all smug satisfaction that had slithered along my spine.

“You lied to me, Willow,” he’d said with a hint of anger mixing in with a sneer.

“And what exactly did I lie to you about?”

“You said you weren’t dating, and yet it seems you’ve got a man trailing your every move.”

“Other than you?”

That icky grin had grown, and he’d replied, “Always surprising what you find when you start pulling back someone’s layers.”

My breath had caught as my mind whirled with questions.Had he found something out? About me? About my past?

“I thought I’d get a glimpse of the wild in you once you were off your leash.” His tone had been full of the same dirty innuendos it had held in the graveyard. His gaze had dropped to my mouth and lower to my breasts. When his look had made it back to my face, he’d licked his lips, and I hadn’t been able to help the shudder that had gone through me. “Maybe I’ll get tosee you beg instead. People do all sorts of things when they’re pushed up against a wall.”

My body had frozen, feet melding with the tile floor, and blood had pounded in my ears.

What does he know?

But then, the truth had settled over me. He knew nothing. He couldn’t. The Marshals had never lost a witness following protocol. Not once. And while we were no longer in active protection because the trial was over and done with, we were still following all their rules.

Poco had just been tossing out taunts because he was pissed Lincoln had saved me and had been there every time he’d whistled his stupid tune, attempting to frighten me. That knowledge had finally loosened the panic that had sealed my tongue and allowed me to respond, “You don’t know me, but I can promise you’ll never see me beg.”

His laugh had been a dark one, scathing and harsh. Then, he’d narrowed his eyes and said, “Maybe, or maybe not. Either way, I’ll get something more out of you yet.”

He’d tapped his fingers on the counter and then sauntered out the door, leaving a trail of foreboding tripping along my veins.

And instead of running for home, instead of going to the place that had been safe for me for six years, I’d run here…to Lincoln. I’d seen his Range Rover parked outside the gallery when Mom had driven me to the café, and I’d reacted on instinct once Poco had left. My feet had led me straight to the gallery’s door, looking for the comfort I’d felt every time Lincoln had been at my side since he’d rescued me in the cemetery.

But those notions of safety and comfort were as ridiculous as the jealousy that spiked through me the moment I stepped up tothe gallery door and saw Lincoln hugging a woman. He had that wide grin on his face I’d stupidly thought he’d only sent in my direction. The one I’d thought I’d been responsible for bringing to his face.

But I had no right to the jealousy. No claim on him. The opposite was true. I needed to let him slide from my life entirely. I shouldn’t have even been standing at his door.

I hesitated there for a moment too long, wavering between proceeding and retreating, while gripping the pink bakery box with the treats I’d promised him just a hair too tight. I should have left them at the café where I’d told him they’d be. I should have stuck to the decision I’d made not to see him again after our enchanting dance in the street had dissolved into a scare with the car zooming by us.

When Lincoln looked over at the door and saw me standing there, the smile on his face grew impossibly wider. It turned from something stunning into something out of this world. Magic and beauty twined. And I realized he hadn’t given hermysmile after all, hadn’t even come close to giving it to her, because the one beaming from his face at that moment was the one I’d claimed.

His gaze shifted, taking me in, and I automatically felt that connection again, that pull, that zing of attraction and want and hope that traveled through me each time I was in his presence. I shouldn’t have come, not because of my idiotic jealousy or because he’d been hugging a woman after flirting and dancing with me, but because I couldn’t have him for all the reasons I’d already told myself.

Panic welled. A different kind than Poco had brought. This alarm was because I didn’t trust myself anymore to give him up in order to protect my family.

“Just dropping off some desserts so you won’t harass me anymore about not getting any.” My words sounded stilted and tight, just like my body felt.

Lincoln took a step toward me, but I knew if he closed the distance completely—worse, if he touched me—I wouldn’t walk away. I’d stay just to see if I could get another tantalizing dance. If I could get a hug. A kiss. Anything. Something. Simply more.

So, before he reached me, I set the box on the windowsill and backed out of the gallery. “I’ll just get out of your hair. I hope you like them.”

I spun around, heading down the sidewalk at a frantic pace.

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