Page 1 of Lucky Strike

Chapter One

Kissing a strangeman wasn’t on Luna Lanza’s to-do list today.

If it had been, perhaps she would have thought twice about getting out of bed this morning—or she would have gotten out of bed faster, depending if the person happened to share the same physical specifications of one Henry Cavill. Yeah, like she’d ever be that lucky.

Not that Luna was looking for kisses. She wasn’t. And even if she were, this kiss certainly wouldn’t have quenched her thirst. Not that she was thirsty. She wasn’t. Even so, it was her first kiss since her breakup with Viggo and returning to her hometown.

The situation surrounding the whole kissing-a-stranger fiasco started when her cousin-in-law, Mia Russo, asked her to be a model for some jewelry images. While Luna was a big fan of selfies and posting to social media, she wasn’t the biggest fan of taking posed promotional images. #FakeSmiles #Boring #Ugh

But the photos were for Lanza Fine Jewelry, a shop owned by Luna and her cousin, Ross, a business inherited from their late grandfather. They each had their assigned roles. Ross designed and created the jewelry. Mia, his wife, took pictures. And Luna, when she wasn’t using her business degree to do the financial side of the jewelry business, would loan various parts of herself like fingers, wrists, earlobes, and neck for these images and—

Well, she didn’t want to get into the whole thing, especially since she was irritable after waking this morning with a fresh batch of cramps. And, without the use of an ax, it was impossible to send individual body parts alone and, therefore, her whole crampy, crabby body was required to meet Mia in Lumsden Park where her cousin-in-law sifted through the contents of her bag, grabbing a camera body and lens.

“Where’s this apartment you’re going to look at?” her cousin asked.

“There’s two. The first one is a cute duplex near Old Town. Then afterward I’ll look at Schnell Ridge Apartments. The second is just a backup. I’m already in love with the duplex,” she said.

Luna’s gaze swept through the park, noticing only a few potential witnesses and, thankfully, most of them were kids. She wore a silky, olive-colored slip dress, because Mia had requested a nice garment with an open neckline that would provide a good canvas backdrop for jewelry displaying. Except Luna wondered if the strappy low-cut bodice with the short hemline wastoonice and she was feeling more self-conscious than anything else.

At a nearby picnic table was a young man in a faded gray baseball hat. A finger twisted a tawny-brown strand of hair, which had escaped the bottom of his cap. His shoulders hunched as he read a paperback, too enthralled to notice Luna emoting sexy but sweet while in the midst of crabgrass and discarded burger wrappers.

“There’s no need to move out so quickly,” Mia said, adjusting her glasses. “You know you’re welcome to live with Ross and me for as long as you want. No pressure when you’re looking today. I never had a sister growing up, so you’re the next best thing and I love it. Maybe we can have a scary movie marathon tonight and make gourmet popcorn.” The woman offered a bright smile.

This was exactly the problem. Luna would be livingwith them, as though she was a spinster aunt crashing in the guest room. That wasn’t much of a consolation prize, especially considering Mia was five months pregnant and they needed the extra space. All Luna wanted, all she’d ever wanted, was a special place of her own.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Mia asked. “I don’t mind. We can give each other a code word, so if you don’t like the place, I can come up with a great excuse to get us out of there. Like maybe I’m having weird contractions or I’ll have an emergency pregnancy craving for a buffalo chicken waffle wrap.” Her eyes drifted upward as if considering this. “The second one might be true. Maybe after apartment hunting we can stop for some lunch. I tried one of those waffle wraps the other day when I was taking photos for that new restaurant downtown, Placerville Waffle Company. Have you tried it? We should totally go there.”

“I haven’t. Maybe another time. I have other errands I need to do.”

Mia shrugged, not at all affected by the rejected offer. After making some adjustments to the camera in her hand, she began posing Luna, arranging the rose gold necklace featuring a delicate pine branch, until she was satisfied and the shutter on the camera clicked away.

“Your hair makes me so jealous. Ross has great hair too. Must be something in the family genes. I’m looking for a new hairdresser. The one I’ve been seeing is not working out and she convinced me to try these bangs. I hate them already.” The point was illustrated further when Mia blew out a breath, feathering the flat bangs in question. “Now I have to grow them out and find a new person. I swear, finding your hairdresser soulmate is even more difficult than finding youractualsoulmate.”

“You should see Tessa Lui.” As soon as the name passed Luna’s lips she regretted it, her mouth snapping shut.

Mia flicked through the images, not noticing her sudden unexplained silence. “Is she downtown? If that’s who you see, then I’m definitely in.”

“I’ll text you her information later.” Or conveniently forget. Thoughts about what the hair stylist, also her ex-bestie, might say to Mia, about Luna, put an instant rock in her stomach.

“Aw, you’re really the best. I’m so happy you’re back in town again and I know Ross loves it too.” Her face was so warm and sincere, Luna considered changing her mind about forgetting to send Tessa’s information. Perhaps Mia wouldn’t mention where the recommendation had come from and, therefore, her opinion about Luna wouldn’t be at risk of changing.

Her cousin’s smile turned into a frown as she studied the images on the camera’s LCD screen. “I wish we could make this a couple photo.”

“Since I’m the only one here, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Mia tapped a finger against her chin. “Unless we could get someone else.”

“I hope you’re not thinking Ross because that would be gross and weird—”

“What about that guy over there?”

Luna’s gaze followed Mia’s pointed finger of destiny, which led to the man at the picnic table in the baseball cap. She hated this plan already, because she didn’t like strange men getting involved in her daily activities, nor did she believe in destiny. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“What? He’s cute and seems nice. I just want a few shots. It’s not a big deal.”

Luna opened her mouth to protest further because this whole thing was already awkward and humiliating enough, but Mia was on a new mission, making her way toward the man. As a distraction, Luna considered shouting,Let’s get buffalo chicken waffle wraps!orIf you don’t stop at this moment, Mia Russo, you can forget about Tessa and you’ll be stuck with horrible bangs forever.Threats and bribery were all Luna had at the moment.

At the picnic table, her cousin cautiously approached, and the man jerked from his intense book-reading focus with surprise. They were too far away for Luna to understand the conversation, and she stood in place, with her hand on a hip, trying to decipher the interaction through charade skills.

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