Page 20 of Moon Shot

Rowan grinned, licking his lips without further reply. I didn’t know if I should feel respected or violated, but either way, it was really hard not to look at his mouth, so then I just felt infuriated with myself for looking in the first place.

“My agent wants to meet you,” Rowan told me. I thought his uniform was one thing, the messy and tired another, but Rowan Ellis in a black suit was about as deadly as it came. No pun intended, being at a funeral and all.

“Why? Does he have one hundred thousand for me, too? Is it because I’m the only woman who’s never been charmed by you? I’m an enigma to him, aren’t I?”

“More or less,” Rowan agreed. Some of Ethan’s relatives gathered in the back, most in tears, so I retreated and walked by them toward the back of the house.

“Mer,” Ezra greeted me as he stepped onto the back porch, squeezing my shoulder. It could’ve been the loneliness of death surrounding us, but I fell into Ezra’s hug.

“I don’t like funerals,” I admitted. “It’s nice of you to come. It’ll mean a lot to Ethan.”

“Hey, Row.” Ezra and Rowan hugged, two pillars of handsome black suit-wearing pieces of man-meat standing on each side of me. “He looks awful,” Ezra mumbled, eyeing Ethan as he stood with Aubrey just inside the house. “Why are you two hiding out here?”

Rowan shrugged, looking down at me from the corner of his eye. “Just being here, I guess.”

“Nice of you to take off,” Ezra told Rowan, patting his shoulder. “What excuse did you use this time?”

“This time?” I mocked, eyeing Rowan.

“I was honest,” he fought a small smile, looking at me, “this time. There was a death in the family and I had to leave town.” The way his fingers fiddled with the knot in his tie as he straightened his back and looked toward Ethan distracted me.

Rowan gave us a tight nod and went inside to join Ethan and Aubrey. Ezra and I waited on the porch, catching up on everything in his life since we were in Vegas. He met a girl; she has a house, he’s not ready to settle down, and she’s obsessed with Diego Leon, so Ezra scratched her from the list. He met another girl; she reminds him of Aubrey because she’s a teacher, she has a cute laugh, and they were meeting again the following week.

Listening to Ezra’s love life wasn’t threatening, or repulsive, or clouded with my preconceived ideas of what a sleaze he could’ve been, like my thoughts were with Rowan.

After a small eulogy and prayer at the wake, Ethan’s family invited everyone inside for a more formal meal. Ethan and his siblings disappeared with Aubrey shortly after we went in, so I made a cocktail for his great aunt Etta and listened to her stories about her sister.

“She was a looker,” Etta described, “no matter what she wore. They didn’t know,” she looked around, lowering her voice as she leaned closer to me on the couch, “the trouble she got into before she met her husband. Ha! I don’t even think Ethan’s dad knows how his grandparents even met.”

“Oh, Etta,” Rowan smiled at her fondly, his expression soft and caring, as his head poked between ours. “You have to tell us now.”

“Go away,” I told him, hiding the shiver across my skin when his wrist grazed my shoulder as he held another drink out for Etta.

Etta reached for his cheek, lightly patting the jaw darkened by stubble. “You’re a good boy, Ezra. I always did like you more than that cheeky one.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her confusing Rowan and Ezra. “Heisthe cheeky one,” I told her, pointing to the table full of food near the doorway where Ezra stood talking with Ethan’s sister. “That’sthe good one.”

After some more confusion, I went to get Ezra for Etta, but he disappeared. Not gone was the rest of the cake and, well, a girl’s got to eat.

“I can’t believe she doesn’t like me.” I turned to see Rowan stand next to me, his arms crossed.

“You’re not that memorable, Ellis. I guess the truth comes out when Etta drinks.” Smiling at him, I took a bite of my cake. He reached around me for a napkin and slowly shook his head at me while lifting his middle finger to swipe across my mouth.

“Frosting,” he told me, wiping it on the napkin. I stared at him, my lips tingling and brain foggy. “Now that I have your attention,” he mused, “maybe I can talk to you about my agent.”

“Not this again,” I groaned, coming back to reality and eating more of my cake.

“It’s about a stupid contest,” Rowan sighed, “and apparently, we’re cute.”

“Well,” I adjusted his tie, smiling at him, “I know I am, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying that about you.”

“True.” Rowan rolled his eyes, placing his hand on top of mine. “Those pictures from the coffee shop are everywhere, and my agent and manager want you to be part of the contest for sweetest’s day.”

I choked on my cake, covering my mouth as I turned to look at him. “Oh, no.” I knew the contest. It was a chance for teams to win money for charity by being grossly in love and… Ew.

“Yeah.” Rowan bit his lip. “It could be a good thing, though.”

“You said no. Right? Rowan,” I urged, putting down my plate.

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