Wild Open Hearts (Bluewater Billionaires) - Kathryn Nolan Page 0,107

myself in hard work.

By night I was completely and utterly miserable. Heartbroken in every sense of the word. I couldn’t meditate. Couldn’t focus long enough to do yoga. Feeding Steve brought me no joy and our continually horny dolphins only brought out a strange jealousy in me. At least they get to have love.

Daisy, Cameron and Emily kept me busy and affirmed. We ate vegan ice cream and watched bad movies. They brought me donuts and let me cry for no reason. Daisy even took me out on her yacht one night, where we drank a bottle of champagne each while bemoaning our single life. And maybe she convinced me to jump naked into the ocean with her too.

It all helped—in that I needed soothing and comfort and platonic love to keep me going.

But my heart stayed broken and missing Beck so much it felt like I couldn’t breathe. I thought breaking up meant that the love you felt for that person abated slowly over time, as you accepted that you weren’t to be. You weren’t soul mates or forever companions or life partners. You were done, broken up.

That wasn’t happening for me. I loved Beck, fully, the same as I did the night we ended. Every second, every minute, every hour. My heart beat Beck and my pulse beat Beck and my body ached and yearned and craved Beck.

And my Instagram posts were capital “s” Sad. I didn’t say we’d broken up, but I did take a lot of pictures of sad, empty ice cream containers or shared lonely lines of poetry. If people wanted the real Luna da Rosa—well, she was heartbroken.

“Can we talk about the email you sent late last night?” Sylvia asked.

“Of course,” I said, expecting it. “Does that sound like it will work? I have a meeting with my accountant tomorrow to work out the logistics.”

She gave me a long look. “It does work. I think it’s the right thing to do. You think the person you were the night I met you is gone. But that’s not true at all, Luna. That twenty-two-year-old visionary is sitting right in front of me.”

I looked out the window at Miami Beach, shimmering blue. “That means more to me than I can say,” I said, tears in my throat. “It wasn’t a hard choice in the end. Just had to listen to the right voice.”

She was talking about the email I’d sent letting her know that ninety percent of my CEO salary would now be directed to the Wild Heart Foundation as a private gift. I didn’t want it to be received with the perception of strings or make the staff give me more power. But it was the right place for it to go. It’s where it belonged.

“You’ll be okay? Financially?” she asked.

“I’m a billionaire,” I said. “Ten percent of my salary is still more than enough. The rest of that money is sitting there, being spent on worthless things. This community deserves that money.”

“If Jasmine still worked here,” she said slowly, “she would tell you to issue a press release, announcing your charitable gift. This would garner you an immense amount of good media.”

“No thanks,” I said, voice clear. “Sometimes we need to do good things just to do them.”

“Spoken like an extraordinary woman,” Sylvia said.

I squeezed her hand, tears in her eyes.

“You know, I never asked you,” I finally said, throat tight, “why did you give me Lucky Dog to work for? Was there any reason beyond you thought they looked like the right fit for me?”

Her smile was mysterious. “Charlotte and I adopted our dog from them four years ago, when they’d recently opened. I met Beck then, was incredibly impressed with his heart and his spirit. I could see how little money they had and always wanted to do more for them.” She shrugged. “Our dog, Betsy, is the best thing that’s ever happened to us, besides getting married, of course.”

“I didn’t know Betsy came from Lucky Dog,” I said, happy to hear it. “That place really is special.” I was surprised I’d gotten the words out. My eyes were already filling with tears at the memory of standing on that campus. Seeing Beck with Penelope for the first time.

Sylvia was still staring at me. “It is. And I know you, Luna. I knew you’d love it.”

We were pulling up to Wild Heart, slowing down to the curb. She opened the car door and said, “And for what it’s worth, Charlotte and I