Page 94 of The Sun and Her Star

“Holy shit, Lo.” Lucas puts a hand on my shoulder, and I turn around to face him, fully prepared to apologize.

“Lucas, I’m sorry … I know that looked …”

“Oh, come on. I mean, yeah, y’all were standing kind of close. But I mean, he dates beauty queens and actresses and isn’t he with that smoking hot gossip journalist? No one would think he’s interested in dating you,” he says.

“Gee, thanks.”

“No problem,” he says glibly completely missing my sarcasm.

“We need to figure out how to use this connection. Everyone knows my girlfriend is friends with Graham S. Davis. This could be my big break.”

I raise my eyebrows and peer at him.

“What in the world are you talking about, Lucas?”

“He’s about to sign a huge deal, Apollo. If I can reel this in, we’ll be gold. You’ve got to make this happen for me.”

“Lucas, I haven’t seen Graham in five years. I’m not asking him to invest money with you.”

“Why not?” he asks. His shoulders droop, and I feel guilty for saying no.

“Listen, he said he was here for pleasure. I just—”

“It’s cool, Lo.” I cringe at the nickname he’s given me. I hate it. With a passion. My name is only six letters. It’s not hard to pronounce. That he shortens it always felt like everything else with him. Minimum effort.

“I think I’m going to call it a night. I have an early start tomorrow morning.”

Lucas looks relieved before he covers it up with a sympathetic smile.

He’s probably got a hot date when he leaves here.

Asshole.

“Let me call you a car,” he says, and before I can tell him I’m happy to get an Uber, he’s off and running.

As my cab fights its way uptown and Central Park zips by on my right, I stare at Graham’s card and fight with myself.

I may not have been happy with Lucas, but I’m certainlynotunhappy by myself. It took me such a long time to start recovering from the blow that Graham dealt my heart. I’m not sure that I’ll ever get over it. It’s safer this way. Less pain.

Even if we didn’t have this mountain of hurt between us, Graham is the biggest celebrity on the planet. The last thing I want is to live my life on display. And Graham couldn’t possibly be happy out of the spotlight. This is what he was born to do.

But, how can I resist what he’s offering? I would love to find a way to have him back in my life if we could just be friends. But I know that’s not possible. Friendship is just the tip of the iceberg of the feelings I have for him.

I don’t know what to do.

Ache

Apollo

“Come in.” I step aside so Graham can enter my home.

“Hey, Sunshine.” He leans down to kiss me on my cheek, but I step away. His surprised eyes come to mine, and I cross my arms defensively.

“I don’t want you to touch me like that. I couldn’t do anything about it without causing a scene earlier, but I want you to sit on that side of the room.” I point to the small blue winged back chair pressed against the wall under the window.

“Okay.” He nods slowly, but he doesn’t say anything else as he walks to the chair and drops down in it. He sits with legs spread and his hands dangling off the edge of the chair’s arms. He looks like he’s sitting on a throne.

“Where are you sitting?” he asks with raised eyebrows and a cocksure smile that makes me want to slap him.

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