too tempted by this man to care.
Didn’t Beck feel the same way?
29
Beck
It was those damn gold rings that did it. Right before I was about to press my lips to Luna’s, one of the diamonds had caught the light, flashing right into my eye. I didn’t believe in messages from the universe—that was a Luna thing—but if I did, that felt like an important one. Even with the fun and flirtation of this day, it didn’t erase the vast differences between us. Not a bit.
Kissing an ex-con on the beach would be fun for a woman like her.
A woman like Luna dating someone like me felt entirely out of the question.
And if I was honest, I still didn’t entirely trust her motivations toward both me and my organization. It was all so complicated. I believed Luna truly cared, but she also had obligations to a life I’d never have access to.
We were quiet, conversation strained, as we put on our helmets. I had no idea what her thoughts were, but mine were focused on the fact that she lived in Bluewater—the most exclusive neighborhood in the entire city. And as we rolled up to two giant golden gates with BB in the middle and an actual security guard, I had to accept a fact about her that I’d known this whole time but never had thrown in my face.
Luna da Rosa was a billionaire.
I knew this. Fuck, it was the reason I’d stopped myself from kissing her. But seeing the reality of her wealth was a different thing entirely. We coasted along a street with more mansions than I’d ever seen in my entire life. Pools, fountains, a marina, what looked like an airfield—and a constant row of never-ending palm trees. We leaned around a curved road where four mansions were distinctly placed. She tugged on my chest, pointed at one and I came to a stop, shutting off the engine.
“This is my house,” she said, pointing to a Mediterranean-style ranch home with an open courtyard covered in purple jacaranda and pink hibiscus bushes. It was the largest fucking house I’d ever seen in my entire life.
“Oh,” I said, feeling mute at the sight of the mansion in front of me. “Okay.”
Luna pulled the helmet off, shaking out her hair, releasing the scent of oranges. My fingers curled into fists at my side, remembering the feel of those curls.
“Thank you for the ride,” she said. “Thanks for letting me help with Sunshine. And the drink. And for helping me feel… happy.”
I nodded. Looked away. Luna leaned down, trying to catch my eye. “Did I do something wrong, Beck?”
My eyes slid back to her mansion. “No.”
“Well, it felt like one second we were laughing about Carrot and now we’re standing in front of my house like… like the way we were when we first met.”
“An impasse,” I said, remembering her word.
“Seriously, please talk to me.” I heard the plea in her voice. There was no denying that she and I had been growing closer over the past week. More honest with each other.
“I’m not this,” I said. “After I leave this neighborhood, I’m driving home to a one-bedroom apartment on the shitty side of Miami. This… this extravagance will never come for me. Not in this lifetime and not in any others.”
Luna tilted her chin, face a mixture of anger and regret. “I’ve worked really hard to earn this extravagance, Beck. Earning a billion dollars by the time I was twenty-six didn’t happen because I was lazing around on a beach. I’ve worked my ass off for this. I won’t feel bad about it.”
“I’m not asking you to,” I hedged. Although I was. “We can keep laughing and joking that we’re stuck with each other all we want. But we’re different. Our lives are different. Our bank accounts aren’t even in spitting distance of each other. This,” I said, waving to the wealth standing behind me, “isn’t something I can brush off.”
And please don’t use me.
I almost said the words—one more truth to hand over to her. But facing the expensive-reality of Luna’s life was reminding me of all the reasons why I hadn’t trusted her to begin with. Rich CEO Saves Broke Ex-Convict’s Nonprofit. That story made me feel like shit, a charity case to drum up sympathy and paint her in a positive light.
“I’d never ask you to deny it,” she finally said. “I thought… I thought you’d want to see where I lived. I thought”—her teeth snagged her