I grunt. “Based on the way you’re breathing, I’d say you’re the one trying to find your bearings, Nev.”

  His laughter only deepens. “You’re a peculiar woman, Luna.”

  “Is he there?”

  Nevin lifts his head, looking around the parking lot. “Is who there?”

  “Tall blond guy in a white tank top.”

  He shakes his head. “The parking lot is empty.”

  “Thank fuck,” I say, sagging against Nevin and finally feeling a moment of relief.

  Chad’s gone.

  Hopefully for good. Maybe he saw the way Nevin and I kissed, knowing it’s something he’ll never have. If the man doesn’t get the hint after today, he’s dumber than I ever imagined possible.

  Nevin’s eyes darken, and his laughter vanishes completely, replaced by flat lips and a clenched jaw. “Who’s bothering you?”

  “No one anymore.” I drop my hands from his shoulders but do so only because I know I have to. I could stay like this all day, kissing his perfect lips. “Thank you for playing along. I needed the save. I owe you one now.”

  “Babe, you owe me nothing,” he tells me, peeling his hands and arms away from my body before putting a few feet between us. “We need to talk about this.”

  “No, we don’t.”

  “Yeah, we do,” Nevin argues.

  “It was nothing.”

  “You came running out of the store like your ass was on fire. I’m not buying the it was no one shit.”

  I roll my eyes and shake my head. “He’s seriously no one.”

  “You don’t run that scared of anyone. Maybe other women do, but not you. The man has you rattled. Maybe you should tell your family about him. Maybe your uncles.”

  I shake my head, hating the idea of getting my uncles involved in something so stupid. “I have him handled and under control. I’m not getting my family involved in my business.”

  “The way you threw yourself at me, I’d say you don’t have anything under control.”

  His words are like a punch to the gut and have me instantly on edge and ready to throw hands. “I did not throw myself at you.”

  “I’m not complaining, but if you’re not going to tell someone about this man, I’ll deal with him.”

  I square my shoulders and cross my arms. “I haven’t seen the man in months. It was a fluke that I ran into him here. He’s not stalking me. If I feel like he’s after me and is a threat, I promise I’ll go to them right away for help.”

  “Or me.” He tilts his head, studying me. “You promise?”

  “I promise,” I lie. I’m not telling anyone shit.

  If Chad does anything, I’ll handle him myself. I’ve always handled things myself, preferring not to get my family involved, especially when it comes to my dating life.

  “You want me to follow you home? Make sure the guy isn’t there?”

  “He doesn’t know where I live. We had one disastrous drink together and nothing more. He’s no one to me.”

  “He’s someone enough to make you kiss me.”

  I roll my eyes. “Men,” I mutter.

  “I appreciate your help and offering to get me home safely, but I’m good. I’ve made it this long on my own, and I think I can do it again, but thank you for your help.” I take a few steps backward toward my truck. “I’m good,” I tell him, wanting nothing more than to get out of here. “Thanks, though.”

  Nevin rubs his hand back and forth through his dark-brown hair, which, in the sunlight, has flecks of gold. “If you need me, I’m just a phone call away.”

  “Got it. I’ll see you Wednesday.” I open my truck door and slide inside, happy to be alone and done with the interrogation.

  I don’t start the truck right away, continuing to talk to myself about my stupid decisions and how I always get myself into a jam, especially with men.

  When I look up, ready to go, I spot Nevin. He’s still standing in the same spot, arms crossed, shoulders wide, legs apart, and he’s watching me.

  I wave, plastering on a fake smile and shrugging, because right now, I know I look like a lunatic by talking to myself.

  He waves back, cracking a smile.

  “I hate men,” I whisper to myself, starting up the truck.

  When I back out and pull away, I allow myself one last look in the rearview mirror, finding Nevin where I left him.

  I know two things. One, I want to kiss Nevin again. And two, hunkering down during the hurricane may be the perfect time to make it happen.

  16

  NEVIN

  The wind is whipping around outside, but the apartment upstairs provides a buffer from most of the noise. The rain hasn’t stopped in hours, and the worst of the storm is still coming.

  “Do you think there’s something after this?” Luna asks me as she lies sideways in a recliner, stoned and drunk.

  She’s softer than usual, her current state a clear side effect of the booze and the pot.

  “I hope there is,” I tell her, watching her from the couch across from her. “I really do.”

  She turns her head to look at me. “It’s too awful to think of there being nothing.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you believe in God?” she asks me.

  I should spare myself this conversation, but she’s drunk and rambling. It doesn’t matter because she isn’t concentrating on the storm anymore, and that is important.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t believe there’s some guy up by the pearly gates, waiting to judge me and either send me to heaven or hell. And if there is a God, he and I are going to have some serious words about the shit that happened in my life because that wasn’t right.”

  She pushes herself up, or at least tries to, as her hand slips against the leather a few times. “Ian isn’t a believer either.”

  I take another sip of my whiskey, trying to keep my buzz but not pass out. But my hurricane partner has no such worry, slamming back the booze like she’s trying to win a drinking contest. “When you grow up like we did, it’s not hard to understand why he doesn’t believe. Do you…believe?”

  She sighs. “I don’t know. I want to. I was raised to, but fuck,” she mutters, moving her head to rest her chin in her palm as her elbow rests against her knee. She struggles, barely able to find her own body for support. “It’s hard to believe sometimes, but thinking the opposite is way too scary for me.”

  “You’re scared that we only have this and then nothing?”

  She nods and leans back. “This can’t be all there is.”

  “But what if it is?”

  “What’s the point of it all if this is all there is?”

  “You think there has to be a point?”

  “Well, yeah. Duh.”

  “And if there’s nothing afterward and no point to it all, would you do anything different?”

  “No.”

  “Then what does it matter?” I ask her sincerely.

  “Fuck if I know,” she says, pushing herself up from the chair and placing her hand on the coffee table to catch her balance.

  I watch her, thinking about reaching out to help her, but decide against it. Luna’s capable, and the woman does not like to be treated like anything other than that. “Exactly, li’l moon.”

  “Li’l moon?” she says with a small laugh. “What’s that?”

  “You,” I tell her, reaching out and brushing a few more locks of hair away from her face.

  “Me?”

  “Luna like moon, and you’re tiny, hence li’l.”

  “I’m not tiny,” she argues, which is part of her entire mood tonight.

  “Tiny?” She then bursts into laughter. “I’m hardly tiny.”

  “You’re smaller than me.”

  She lifts her arm, showing her palm to me. “Lemme see your hand.”

  I place my palm against hers as she studies the size difference. Her hand looks like it belongs to a miniature person instead of a full-grown woman when compared to mine. Her skin is soft and warm, a feeling I’ve missed.

  Something smashes into the plywood covering the glass patio doors, and Luna jumps forward, half on my lap. She’s shaking with her eyes wide.

  “We’re okay,” I tell her in the softest tone possible as I wrap an arm around her.

  She curls into me, burying her face against my chest. “I thought I could do this. I can’t. I can’t do this.”

  I cradle her head in my hand, holding her against me. “You can do this. I got you.”

  At this moment, she’s not a tough woman who broke a man’s finger. She’s lost in her thoughts, petrified about something she can’t control.

  “I hate this,” she murmurs into my T-shirt, clutching the material like her very life depends on the connection.

  I lean back, bringing her with me. “You’re safe.”

  “We have something like twelve more hours of this shit.”

  She needs sleep. It’s the middle of the night, but neither of us has tried to lie down. The noise outside makes it damn near impossible at times to imagine dozing off. Hurricanes suck, but the nighttime storms are the absolute worst. They seem louder and more aggressive than anything during the day.

  “Why don’t you close your eyes?” I tell her.

  She peers up at me but doesn’t move any other part of her body. “Like this?”

  I nod, smiling down at her beautiful face. “Yeah, babe.”

  She adjusts, lifting herself enough to bury her face in my neck. “I don’t think I can sleep,” she says.

  But when her soft lips touch the skin near my jaw, any idea I had of sleeping flies right out the window.

  “Luna,” I whisper, not sure if I want her to stop.

  She moans against my skin as she moves her hands down the front of my shirt, finding the bottom hem. When she slides her fingers underneath the material, making contact with my bare flesh, I nearly come undone.

  It has been so long since anyone has touched me in this way. And far too long since I’ve had a woman in my arms.

  “Luna, stop,” I tell her, but I don’t try to push her away.

  She pulls her head back, staring up at me. “You don’t want me?” There’s a pout on her lips and hurt in her eyes. Hurt that I put there and never meant to.

  “I do, Luna,” I say, trying to control my breathing, which has become fast and harsh. “I just…”

  “When was the last time someone touched you like this?” She pushes her hand farther up my shirt, scraping her nails against my skin.

  I shudder, unable to stop the electrical current coursing through my entire body, making my cock’s presence impossible to ignore. “Too long,” I say, closing my eyes, basking in the sensation.

  “I want you, Nevin. I want this,” she whispers before her lips touch my neck again, and she adjusts her body until she’s straddling my legs.

  I glide my fingertips under the hem of her tank top, finding the softest, warmest skin I may have ever touched. I peer down as she looks up, and I grab her by the back of the neck, hauling her mouth toward mine.

  She moans into my mouth, making me kiss her deeper, harder than before. The need becomes almost overwhelming, taking over my ability to think clearly or stop what’s happening. She tangles her fingers in my hair, holding me to her as her breasts smash against my chest, drowning me in all things Luna. Her smell. Her taste. The feel of her weight against me.

  Her tongue is silky, tasting of whiskey and sin. She takes control, kissing me harder, demanding more of me than I’d ever given to anyone else. I was only a punk-ass kid when I went to prison. My experience with women was limited at best. At this moment, I realize Luna’s the more experienced. She’s not a teenage girl who’s unsure of how she wants to be touched.

  “Wait,” I murmur, pulling her mouth away from mine. “I haven’t…”

  Her eyes widen as realization dawns on her. “You’ve never?”

  “I have once, Lu, but I was a kid, and I’m pretty damn sure it wasn’t my best possible performance.”

  Her shiny lips turn up as her eyes soften. “There’s no wrong way.”

  “You say that now.” I stroke her back ever so slowly with my fingers.

  “Nevin,” she whispers, adjusting her middle against my dick, driving me a little closer to the edge. “Go slow and savor this. The only way we’ll have an issue is if you jackhammer me into unconsciousness.”

  I laugh at the imagery. “I want to savor every moment.”

  The wind whips outside, lashing the tree branches against the covered window behind us. She jumps, but only clings to me tighter for protection.

  “Make me forget,” she murmurs, moving toward my lips. “Let me get lost.”

  I’m not sure if she’s talking about forgetting about the storm or maybe something else. She’s not giving herself to me out of pity or drunkenness. She wants to lose herself in me…with me.

  “Make me feel good,” she begs against my lips, staring at me with those haunting blue eyes.

  I crush my mouth against hers, taking everything she’s giving, wanting it and needing it just as much as she does. The kiss is unforgiving as my lips burn from the force. The sounds from outside are drowned out by our heavy breathing and moans.

  I’ve never wanted anything more than I want this…want her. Moving my hand away from her head, I grab the hem of her tank, waiting for her okay. When she moves back, raising her arms, I lift the material from her skin. My heart hammers in my chest as I expose her breasts covered in black lace, looking every bit as full and beautiful as I’ve imagined.

  And God, how I’ve imagined. No matter how many times I’ve told myself she’s off-limits or a bad idea, I couldn’t get the image of her naked out of my head. The idea of her dancing around in nothing but lace played on a loop as I stroked myself to completion every night while I was alone in my room.

  “Fuckin’ perfect,” I whisper, trying to stop my voice from cracking like a prepubescent teenager.

  She reaches behind her, looking me straight in the eye as she unhooks her bra. I watch with rapt attention, unable to stop myself from staring at her breasts as the material falls away, exposing her top half.

  I swallow, salivating at the sheer sight of her natural beauty. “You sure?” I ask again, even though her taking the wheel and removing her bra leaves little doubt in my mind what she wants.

  “Touch me,” she whispers, reaching for my hand. Guiding my hand toward her body, she smiles softly and presses my palm to her velvety flesh.

  I groan at the sensation, holding the weight of her breast in my hand and knowing I’ve missed out on so much for almost a decade. But if I hadn’t gone away, hadn’t done time for my brother, maybe I wouldn’t be here at this moment with someone as free and special as Luna.

  She slides her fingers down my abdomen, grabbing at my T-shirt, and I move, letting her lift it over my head. As soon as I’m free of it, I touch her breast again, wanting the connection.

  She scoots forward, tipping back, thrusting her breasts closer to my face as if she’s offering herself to me. I don’t think twice as I bring my lips down on her soft skin while holding the other in my hand. My cock aches, begging me for relief, but I refuse to go fast and ruin the moment I’ve been waiting for since the day I was thrown behind bars.

  As soon as you get your first boner, all you think about is sex. Being put away didn’t diminish the thoughts or the frequency either. I had time to fantasize about a moment such as this, and that was the only thing that got me through each passing second, minute, hour, day, month, and year.

  I pepper kisses against her skin, using my tongue to taste the saltiness of her flesh. I relish each lick and the way she responds, digging her nails into my flesh as she moans. She’s absolutely stunning like this. Her long neck exposed, along with every inch of her top half. Her head tipped back, with her dirty-blond hair cascading down her back, lashing at my denim-covered thighs.

  She spreads her legs apart, pulling mine with hers. “Touch me,” she says again, and I know what she wants and that I can’t say no.

  She’s wearing loose cotton shorts, baggy enough that she doesn’t need to remove them. I slide my hand down her side, leaving her one breast without attention until I find the inside of her thigh.

  I resist the urge to moan and call out to the gods for giving me such a sexual, confident creature who’s begging for my touch as I glide my fingers toward her shorts. She’s wearing nothing underneath, and my fingers find her warm core, covered in wetness from the way I’ve touched her.

  She straightens her back, staring into my green eyes with her blue. “Be gentle. Worship me.”

  Am I falling for her?

  Yes.

  Do I love her?

  Not yet, but I could.

  I can feel myself falling. The hurricane known as Luna has me in her vortex, lifting me from the ground, unable to find my footing, and not giving a shit if there’s an escape.

  17

  LUNA

  Every inch of my body sings, feeling more alive than I have in months, as Nevin settles underneath me. He has a look of wonder on his face as he stares up at me with his stormy green eyes.

  I lean over him, settling my middle against his dick, as I take his lips and kiss him hard and rough. He moans as his hands find my thighs, holding on so tightly I may have a reminder tomorrow of where his hands have been.

  His body stiffens below me as I slide my wet pussy against his dick, riding him like we’re teenagers trying to avoid a pregnancy.

  “Relax,” I whisper against his lips. “I’ve got you. I just want you to enjoy this.”

  “Babe, I’m already enjoying this. There’s no way I couldn’t.”

  I reach to the side above his head, grabbing a condom from my nightstand. I shimmy down his legs, getting a full view of his cock for the first time. It’s beautiful. Straight as an arrow and so thick, the fullness will be sheer perfection.

  He lifts his head and stares down his body at me as I rip open the wrapper with my teeth. His eyes never leave mine as I lean forward, placing the latex against his cock. It bobs, moving from the simple contact. I don’t draw out the process, rolling the condom down his entire length.