Lighthouse Way (Huckleberry Bay 1)

“But do you love me as much as you love chocolate cake?”

She laughs and sniffs away the tears, then takes a bite of the cake with a nice amount of chocolate frosting and sighs in happiness.

“Oh, it might be close.”

I take a bite of my own. “Hmm. I don’t know, maybe yours is better than mine.”

“It’s likely cut from the same cake, Wolfe.”

I crook my finger at her. “Let me try it.”

She giggles and holds her loaded fork up to my lips.

“Yeah. Yeah, I see what you mean.” My eyes are on hers as I lick my lips. “That’s pretty good. Probably because it’s on your fork.”

“Right,” she says and sips her champagne. “How could I not love you? You always make me laugh.”

“It’s a skill that I’ve honed over the years,” I agree.

After one more glass of champagne for Luna, and all the cake is gone, I nod to Darla, who’s been hovering not far away while trying to look as if she’s not.

“I think we’re done here,” I tell her. “Thank you for everything. It was perfect.”

“Oh, I’m so glad,” Darla gushes. “It was truly our pleasure. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”

“Thank you,” Luna says as Darla hugs her. “Everything was wonderful. Even the music.”

“Oh, that was all Wolfe, as well.” Darla winks at her. “He knew exactly what he wanted for tonight.”

With a wave, I lead Luna out to my Porsche, and as we drive home, she reaches over to take my hand in hers, holding on tight.

“Thank you,” she says again. “That was fun.”

“We’re not done yet,” I reply and turn onto Lighthouse Way, headed toward the lighthouse. We pass the new garage, and I slow down, making sure that everything looks as it should there. When I’m satisfied that it’s all good, I keep going.

“We could stay there tonight. Or anytime really,” Luna suggests. “It shouldn’t stay empty all the time.”

“Not tonight. But maybe sometime,” I agree as I drive around the bend, and Luna’s property comes into view.

Including the gazebo.

“Oh, my,” she breathes as I come to a stop. We don’t get out of the car quite yet because Luna’s eyes are fixed on the lights in the gazebo. “Oh, it’s so pretty. Are there even more candles than before?”

“Maybe one or two. Come on, let’s go look.”

I’m not even nervous when I take her hand, and we walk toward the place that’s come to mean so much to the two of us. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that when I asked Luna to be mine forever, I wanted to do it here, in this place.

In addition to the candles, Mira and Cordelia snuck over to hang more twinkle lights.

It looks like something out of a fairy tale.

But before we reach the steps that lead inside, a car comes screaming up the road and screeches to a stop just a few feet away from us.

“Wolfe!” Apollo hurries out of his car, his face full of fear. “Hurry. Your garage is on fire.”

Chapter Eighteen

Luna

I’ve never seen him this intense. This angry.

Wolfe’s hands tighten on the steering wheel as he expertly takes us back into town. He’s driving fast, taking the corners tight, but I know he’s in complete control of the car.

That’s not something I ever have to worry about.

“Sarah,” I murmur and wring my hands, as anxious to get there as he is. “And…oh, God, her new cat. I’ve never seen Apollo look that scared.”

He doesn’t say anything at all, just tightens his jaw and turns onto the road where fire trucks, the police, and an ambulance block the way to Wolfe Automotive.

He parks, and we burst out of the car, running the rest of the way and moving through the crowd that’s gathered to see what’s going on.

“You can’t go in there,” Cullen Snow, June’s older brother and one of the cops here in town says as Wolfe starts to hurry around a barricade.

“I own that place,” Wolfe counters, but Cullen shakes his head.

“You have to stay back and out of the way so the firefighters can do their job.

“Sarah,” I blurt out. “Cullen, Sarah lives in the apartment above.”

“I just saw her,” he says, scanning the crowd, and I follow suit, my heart lodged in my throat as I look for my friend.

“There,” Wolfe says, relief in his voice. “She’s there with June.”

We run over, and I throw my arms around Sarah.

“Oh, my God! I was so worried about you!”

“We’re okay,” Sarah says, but her eyes are wide and glassy as she clings to Petunia and stares at the flames that reach high into the sky. “Scared, but not hurt. But—”

“What?”

She leans in and whispers in my ear. “My divorce papers were in there, Luna.”

“Shit.”

“What happened?” Wolfe asks, his voice completely calm and kind, in direct contrast to the intensity of his eyes.