Chapter 2 – Luna
Chapter Two
LUNA
W hat the hell am I doing? When Graham almost runs into someone on a bike, I let out a scream and bury my face in his neck.
“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” I ask when I feel him start moving even quicker. I should probably tell him to put me down, but it’s the most excitement I’ve felt in a long time, so I keep my mouth shut.
“Hasn’t come to me yet.” His hold on me tightens. I keep my arms laced around his neck, and this time he’s sidestepping a person walking three dogs, almost getting caught up on one of the leashes but manages to get by.
“A left on 22nd,” I tell him. “My building is the first on the right.” Graham follows my direction. When we draw close enough to my building so the doorman can see my face, I say, “Open, Henry.”
His eyes widen for a moment, but he quickly opens the door for us. Graham hurries inside and toward the elevator. I hit the button, and it thankfully slides open.
Quickly I push the button to my floor. As the door slides closed, I see the men dressed all in black go running by.
“Tell me that wasn’t the FBI.” They appeared very professional.
“They might be retired FBI.”
“Right.” I bark a laugh but press my lips together knowing it’s not the sweet laugh a lady should have. Graham smiles down at me. How is he not out of breath? “I think I can walk from here.”
“But we’ve already come this far. Besides, those heels look painful.” I wiggle my toes inside of them. He’s not wrong. The door slides open.
“Third door on the left.” Graham steps off, carrying me to my door. I wiggle, and he finally sets me down on my feet so I can dig my key out. “My place is tiny, so—” I shrug, giving him fair warning. Michael hates it. He won’t even pick me up himself. He doesn’t want to be seen coming and going from here, so he sends a car instead.
“It's quaint,” Graham says, following me right in. I slip my heels off.
“You don’t have to lie.” I know the place isn’t great, but it’s mine. It's the first place I've ever called my own. I don’t have to share a bedroom, and it’s in a safe neighborhood with a doorman. One I adore and who always has the best gossip. I’m safe here.
“It is charming.” Graham walks over to the long dresser below my television, picking up one of the many picture frames I have displayed. They’re all of Frankie, Nat, and me. They have been my best friends since college.
“I mean, I’m sure you find it strange. My bedroom is in the living room, and the one bedroom I have I use as my closet.”
“It’s smart.” I know he’s only trying to be kind. I just saved him from ex-FBI agents, so he’s just returning the favor.
“So the men are following you?”
“Bodyguards.”
“Four?” I ask, surprised that he needs such high-level protection. Who exactly is this stranger that I helped escape?
“Believe me, I know it looks ridiculous. I’ve gotten some hate lately.” He turns the picture around to show me. “That’s Frankie?”
“Yeah.” How does he know that? I was surprised he knew who I was. He said he saw me at the Orchard Charity Gala. I don’t recall seeing him. I would have remembered. He is far too handsome to forget. Then again, when I’m at those events, I have to be on with full smiles, and they tend to blend together. “What did you say your last name was again?”
"Dassault." Suddenly, it dawns on me that he's the man who gifted his one-year-old nephew a sports car. "I'm also good friends with Dylan Wolfson."
“Oh my God.” How did I not put that together?
Not as though Graham is a super common name, but it’s all been in passing, and in all fairness, things have been a bit of a whirlwind with his friend group and mine. We are more tangled than I realized.
My friend Nat is now married to Dylan Wolfson. They had a quick courthouse wedding. Now Dylan’s friend Kaden, who I’m guessing is also friends with Graham here, has a thing for Frankie, which has been rather amusing because I think Frankie has a thing for him too, but she’s not letting that football star anywhere near her endzone.
“Never thought I’d see the day a woman had Kaden chasing his tail.” Graham chuckles, putting the picture back down.
“Frankie can run circles around anyone.” She’s a lawyer working in the law department of a steel production company. It’s all men. “I’m surprised we haven’t met more formally.” I sit down on my bed.
It’s then I realize I have this man I barely know in my bedroom. I mean, it’s the living room, but still. What would my fiancé think? I’ve never even let him up here. Not with how he’d turned his nose up at the building. This is my space where I can be me. I wouldn't have invited him.
“I remember you. You’re hard to miss.” He gives me a charming smile. I feel my cheeks start to warm. He’s not flirting, only being kind. “And your name, it’s different but very fitting.”
“Right.” I force myself to smile. I never thought it was fitting. Luna is the goddess of the moon. Always beautiful and regal in her white chariot drawn by horses. That is so far from where I came from, but I always find myself striving to be at that level.
“You don’t agree.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Your eyes say it all.” I didn't think I was easy to read. In fact, I thought I was rather good at hiding my emotions. I should be an expert by now.
“And why is it you think the name is so fitting?”
“I told you. I remember you, Luna. You light up a room. Even the darkest of places. That is what the moon does.” His answer is beyond anything I could have imagined. I don’t think a man has ever said such a kind thing to me before.
I drop my gaze down to my lap, where my hands are. My giant ring reflects the light. “It’s fake?” I hold up my hand.
“Now that is definitely not very fitting for you, Luna.”
I’m not sure I agree with that either.