Page 62 of Lost in the Moonlight

Her lips twitched. “Think?”

I grunted. “I’m good at losing keys, phones, and wallets.”

“Your detail must not have liked that,” she said as I led the way out of the kitchen.

“When you have a security detail, you rarely need anything with you. I blame them for adding to my problem rather than helping it.”

The keys were sitting on the desk next to my laptop. I opened the drawers and sighed with relief when I found my wallet sitting there, which only meant I’d driven to the gallery this morning without it. Shopping would have been a short trip if I hadn’t remembered to come back for it.

As we stepped out of the house, I felt the tension that had left Willow for a few moments return as her body stiffened. She scanned the street, and I did the same. No gray sedan. No Poco. No random people raising their phones to take a shot. And yet, just like when I’d left the gallery the other night, I felt eyes on me. On us.

After I locked up, I tugged her closer and kissed the top of her head.

“It’s going to be okay.” It was a statement I hoped I could make true somehow.

“Do you need anything?” I asked with a chin nod in the direction of her house.

A shudder went through her as she stared at the gate. She shook her head. “I’m not ready to go back in yet.”

I put a hand on the small of her back, directing her to my Range Rover I’d left parked at the curb down the street. I opened the passenger door, and as she slid in, I caught the scent of her once more. It made me hungry, deep-in-the-soul hungry, and made me wonder why the hell we were leaving instead of retreating to my bedroom.

I jogged around the car and got in before I hauled her back into my lair.

I looked over at her and asked, “Where’s the grocery store?”

Her eyes widened, and then she giggled. “You live here and don’t even know where the grocery store is? What have you been eating?”

My lips twitched. “I’ve been subsisting on takeout and tea.”

It was only partially true. I hadn’t been eating much at all because I’d been lost in unpacking, insomnia, and painting. But I was suddenly ravenous. For more than just Willow. For actual food rather than microwaved junk. For a drink and a meal I’d be able to share with her.

“But how can you have moved here not knowing where the store is?”

“I know about the convenience store on Main Street, but I don’t want to do my bulk shopping there. I’ll use it for the day-to-day stuff. Where’s the nearest chain store?”

She waved at my console. “I think your fancy GPS can tell you.” But she still gave me directions, and I headed out. “Do you really shop at regular stores?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”

She shook her head, the blond waves shimmering in the sunlight that glinted in her window. Even in the golden rays, it still looked like moonlight. “It just seems so…normal.”

I chuckled. “Hate to break it to you, but being the son of the president doesn’t get you out of shopping for your own groceries. Now, if I lived with my parents at the White House, it would be different. But my siblings and I are only there for a few days at a time, usually for the holidays or for special events.”

“Where do your sisters live?” she asked.

“Juliette is in her final year of residency at Boston General. Katerina is working for a studio in Hollywood. I take it you don’t have siblings?”

Willow shook her head. “No. Mom had a hard time carrying me. I was born premature and spent a couple of months in the neonatal ward. Which was why Mom ended up working there. She wanted to pay it forward.”

“Did you ever wish you had a brother or sister?”

“Sometimes, when I was little. But after everything went down, I was glad we didn’t have to drag another person through all of it with us.”

The shadows returned to her eyes, and I didn’t want them there, so I kept talking, sharing things about myself I normally kept private. “Sienna was an only child too. When we first became friends in elementary school, her parents sort of adopted me as their second child.”

“You were together since elementary school?” she asked, eyes curious but hesitant.

“Well, we were obviously just friends for a long time, until puberty hit, and then—bang—all of a sudden, there were all these feelings and emotions we hadn’t expected.” I’d felt the bang with Willow too. Different…but stronger, more demanding.

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