Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge Book 2)

It was early evening the next day when I was driving my truck down the main drag through Moonlit Ridge. I wasn’t sure if I was a sadist or a masochist, which one of us I was hurting most, but I couldn’t stay away.

She was always the balm.

The one who could soothe the sting that forever lived in me.

I made a right onto Broadway then the left onto 9th Street. Moonflower was on the opposite side of the road, so I flipped a U-turn so I could pull up at the curb in front.

My chest panged, heart beating errant as I hopped out of the front seat and strode for the door that’d been propped open by a small A-frame chalkboard sign.

Today it read in Raven’s swirly font: Snip, sniff, smile, repeat. All stems 25% off.

Swore, the woman spread those smiles all over town, and mine probably came a little too easy when I strode inside to find her standing facing away at the long work counter that ran the back wall, the customer counter separating us.

Since she hadn’t noticed I’d walked in, I took a second to admire her where she was doing a little of that snipping as she put together a bouquet.

Taylor Swift played from the speakers, and she was bouncing to the beat, totally different than the way she always danced at Kane’s. This was sweet and innocent as she bobbed along, those lush hips barely swaying, completely oblivious that anyone had even walked through the door.

Which had her whirling around on a gasp when I rumbled, “Sign me up for a sniff or two.”

But it was her own floral scent that I was interested in.

Those dark, dark eyes gaped open wide, completely caught off guard, before she narrowed them at me. “Otto Hudson, what do you think you’re doing, sneaking up on me like that? Are you trying to give me a heart attack at twenty-five? That would just be embarrassing.”

“The question we really should be askin’ is why you didn’t even notice that I came through the door. Place is wide open. I could have been a murderer, for all you knew.”

I was not going to delve into the irony of the statement. Only thing that mattered was I’d never harm a hair on this woman’s head.

“Um, hello, Otto, that is not going to happen. Are you even standing inside my shop right now? This is a place of happiness.” She spun around and acted like she was tossing fairy dust into the air.

Of course, because she loved to drive me out of my mind, she was dressed in a white dress with black polka dots, cinched at the waist and flared at her hips, and sky-high black stilettos.

My dick kicked.

Yeah, this definitely was a place of happiness.

“Some creeper steps through the door and all ill intentions go scadoosh!” She did some crazy wild flare of her fingers. “Right out the window.”

A slight chuckle rolled out of me as I edged forward and rested my forearms on the counter that separated us.

“Is that how that works?”

“Yep. That’s exactly how it works.”

For someone who’d been through the most brutal shit, she had a beautiful way of looking at the world. Fuck, how I wanted to protect that. Make sure she never suffered any pain again.

“Just do me a favor and watch out for these assholes around here? Someone could get obsessed watching you through the window dancing around in that dress.”

I tried to play it a tease, but my mind was back on that bastard who’d been bugging her the weekend before last at Kane’s. I still wanted to hunt the prick down and squeeze the life out of him.

She rolled those pretty eyes that were rimmed in black liner with the lashes coated thick. “No one is obsessed with me, and from where I’m standing, you’re the one who should be listening to his own advice. You’re the one running around doing dangerous things.” She dropped the last like we might have an audience when we were the only two in the store.

I didn’t want her to know just how dangerous they were.

I lifted my arms out to the sides. “Look at me. Do you really think anyone would mess with me? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Those eyes took me in, and a roll of heat shattered the air, before she seemed to yank herself out of whatever thoughts she’d drifted into and scoffed. “The only thing I do is worry about you boys. Every single one of you is a boatload of trouble.”

“Doubt you’d have us any other way.”

Her laughter was soft as she went back to trimming some stems, though I could see the intensity she peered back at me with from the side. There was absolutely no teasing to her voice when she whispered, “And I doubt I’d be alive if you weren’t.”

A blade of pain cut through the middle of me. I knew exactly what she was referring to. As if I had stopped it? As if I’d been the reason she was still standing?

Old rage wound through me, though now, it was fresh. The blood on my hands still wet.

The mood must have gotten too deep because she smiled a bright, enchanting smile. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

Needed to see your face because you’re the only thing in this world that keeps me sane. Only thing that grounds me to reality when I feel it slipping.

“Just had run an errand and was in the area. Thought I’d stop in and say hi.” Would anyone fault me for the tiny fib?

She placed the stems she’d been trimming into a bucket. “I’m glad you did. It’s been quiet around here this afternoon.”

She rounded the counter and moved to place the bucket into an open slot in the middle section of the shop, then she ran her hands down the front of her dress to dry them.

Leave it to Raven to use her sexy as fuck dress as a hand towel.

“All right, I think I’m pretty much finished for the day. I need to shoot River a text to come pick me up.”

A frown instantly dented my brow. “Where’s your car?”

On a groan, she tipped her face toward the ceiling. “I dropped it off to get the oil changed this morning and they found like ten different things wrong with it, so they’re going to be keeping it overnight. River said to send him a text when I was ready, and he’d come pick me up.”

I shook my head. “No need for that. I can give you a lift.”

Wasn’t about to pass up a few more minutes with her.

“I don’t want to put you out.”

“Not a big thing, Raven.”

“Are you sure you aren’t the one who’s obsessed with me?” Her perfectly shaped eyebrow arched with the ribbing, though there was something in it that had me straightening and moving her direction.

This girl a lure. No way to resist.

I was nothin’ but a fool who reached out to take her by the chin. Those mesmerizing eyes grew so wide I was sure I could topple right into their depths. I leaned down as I murmured what I was pretty sure amounted to a threat. “You wouldn’t want to see me obsessed, Raven.”

Wouldn’t want to see me letting go. Giving into the insanity she conjured inside me.

Before I let myself delve any farther into the treachery, I released her and stepped back. “Now let’s get this place locked up and get you home.”

She seemed to be stuck in that spot for a moment, dazed, before she jumped into action. She went around the counter and tidied up a couple things before she headed into the back and returned with a small purse that she secured across her body. “Ready.”

I followed her out, and I grabbed the little sign, folded it, and set it inside before she locked the door behind us.

On instinct, my hand moved to the small of her back, not quite touching, though I still felt like I was being scorched as I guided her to the passenger door of my truck. I opened it and she climbed in, and I was quick to round to the driver’s side.

I took to the streets of Moonlit Ridge, making the few turns that would lead us in the direction of her house. The radio played some old country rock that I preferred, and the sun was just beginning to set, the sky a toil of blazing pinks and blues that whispered over Culberry Street.

Raven chatted about her day as we traveled, telling me about the different people who’d come into her shop, so casual and right where she sat in the passenger seat. The mood between us was easy the way it usually was, though there was always an undercurrent that was impossible to miss.

Five minutes later, I pulled into the drive and stopped at the front walkway.

We both hopped out and started for the house. Raven was pulling her keys out of her purse as she asked, “Do you want to stay for dinner? I was thinking I’d make a quick spaghetti. That and open a bottle of wine. My feet are killing me, and this girl is ready to relax.”

I chuckled as I ambled up the three steps onto the wraparound porch behind her. “Of course, your feet are hurting…wearing those heels around like they’re made for hiking.”

“Beauty hurts, Otto,” she tossed out with a grin as she slipped her key into the lock. That stunning face flitting toward me for a beat. Vision of it squeezed my chest in a fist.

Yeah, it sure fuckin’ did.

She tossed the door open and stepped inside without care.

Then she screamed.

Screamed this blood-curdling scream.

Protectiveness ripped through me with the force of a hurricane.

In a flash, I was in front of her, pushing her back toward the door, ready to tackle any danger waiting inside. Terror ricocheted through me like fiery bullets. I wouldn’t make it if something had happened to River and his family. It wasn’t like we hadn’t made a slew of enemies, and with the lives we led, it would forever be a risk. The threat always lingering at the back of my mind.

Only I came to a grinding halt when I found the reason for Raven’s screaming.

Ah, shit.

It was a whole ton less dangerous than I’d thought but apparently just as traumatic for her.

Because River had Charleigh bent over the side of the couch, both of them in varying states of undress, though they’d frozen, their eyes fucking wide as saucers, shocked at being caught with their pants down.

I whipped back around, rising high to make sure I was completely shielding Raven from the sight. Not that she could see a whole lot of anything, considering she had both hands pressed so tight over her face I figured there was a chance she was suffocating.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she mumbled against her palms, and I grabbed her by the outside of the arms and guided her back out the door. I slammed it shut behind us to give River and Charleigh the chance to right themselves.

The second the wood rattled, Raven spun away and went storming back toward my truck.

“Where are you going?” I shouted at her.

“Well, I’m not staying here, that’s for sure,” she shot back as she yanked open the door. “Like I’m ever going to be able to look at my brother again.”