Page 10 of Friends to WHAT?!

I fear it does not help my wayward thoughts.

I’ve never seen her this close before, not in real life. I’ve done my fair share of social media stalking, of course, but pictures do nothing to capture the beauty of her. Fading purple hair falls against her cheeks, framing a face that could make a man weep. I nearly succumb to the urge myself, wanting nothing more than to drop to my knees and beg forgiveness for ever having dared to step into her presence.

“I can’t do this,” I whisper.

Sterne grabs hold of my arm before I can bolt.

“Look at her,” I implore, unable to tear my eyes away. “Sterne,look.”

“I see her,” he replies. “And that’s exactly why youaredoing this.”

Then his grip tightens, and, suddenly, Iamdoing this.

Whether I want to or not.

Chapter Five

?

Does this count as a meet cute, do you think?

Leora

This can’t be happening. This really, truly, so seriously cannot be happening. Except, of course, for the fact that itishappening.

Wolfe Blackwood is here. In Hunter’s Moon. Amongst my crystals and my handmade jewelry and my dried herbs, his bulk working in tandem with Sterne Donavon’s to erase an entire quarter of space within these walls. Behind them, Almond’s pink hair flashes at me as she shakes her hand in a jaunty wave.

My arm moves automatically, waving back at my friend and hairdresser as I swallow against the acid in my throat.

Wolfe is here.

In my shop.

Wolfe is here, in my shop, after I told himno.

At least he has the decency to look horrified about the situation as Sterne drags him through the wooden shelves and display cases, shocking me in their grace. They may be bulls in a crystal shop, but they are not making a mess of the place. My heart, on the other hand…

The naive, hopeful little thingleaps.

“Stop that,” I murmur. Per usual, she does a disastrous job of listening to me. She beats ever faster, a cacophony of falling stars crashing into her one after another, making the pattern of her song stumble, skip, and strain.

I cross my arms across my chest and draw my brows low over my eyes.

Wolfe lurches nearer, a…giftfrom Sterne.

“Is Amia okay?” I ask as the errant organ in my chest threatens to go into a seismic event. “Did something happen?” Something happening being the only logical, forgivable reason I can think of for Wolfe to be here, in my shop, after I told himno. He may be a human man, but that doesn’t mean I can’t exercise the benefit of the doubt at least once.

His eyes widen, oceanic depths sparkling surprise. Not a moment later, they soften to such a degree that I step back, unable to bear the pang such an expression on such a face elicits in my chest. My stars, he’sdangerouswhen he goes soft.

“Goodness,” I whisper. “Stars.” My heart positively lurches when his mouth dares to curl into a miniscule,gracious-it’s-so-gentlesmile.

“Amia is okay,” he answers, unraveling my attempts to drag my heart—and my nervous system—back under my control.

“Goodness,” I repeat, weak. Hisvoice. It’s not at all like the feminine lilt of my own thought-voice I read his letters with. It’s masculine and strong and…

Sorry, what did he say?

“Amia is okay?” The gauzy, loose sleeves of my shirt fall as I clutch my hands to my chest, revealing a smattering of thin, gold bracelets, which catch Wolfe’s eye. Or maybe it’s my chest that’s lured his attention. After all, a man who ignores an explicitnois likely not the sort to become mesmerized by a few shiny bits of metal.