Inside his head, his wolf snickered.You have no idea, sweetheart.
Mason found himself laughing again. “You’ve got me there. I’m Mason. Mason Pierce. I’m looking for Half Moon Key, but this thing is useless.” He waved his phone over his head. “It keeps going in and out. I have no clue how far I am from town.”
“Calling Half Moon Key atownis a bit of a stretch,” she responded, still very cautious.
“You know it, then?”
“Know it? Of course, I do. If you keep on driving down this road, you’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes?” he balked.
“Not a very patient person, are you, Mason Pierce?”
“Guilty,” he said, trying to be as charming as possible. “You never said your name.”
“And I won’t,” she called out, turning back toward the woods.
“Hey,” he shouted out after her. “You really shouldn’t go into the woods this late at night. It’s dark. You could get hurt!”
“Thanks for your concern,” she said over her shoulder. “Keep on driving, and you’ll get to where you’re going soon enough.”
“You’re really not gonna tell me your name? Can’t I drive you back to town?”
The sound of the woman’s laughter caught his ears. “If I won’t give you my name, what would make you think I would get into a car with you? Drive safely, Mason Pierce. And watch out for animals. They’re not used to cars driving through here.”
And just like that, the mysterious woman vanished into the woods. Mason shook his head, suddenly not so sure he hadn’t imagined the entire exchange. Maybe hewastired and totally losing it.
“Pull yourself together, Mason,” he mumbled to himself as he lumbered to his car. He scanned the trees to try to spot the woman again, but she was gone. “If she ends up being a ghost who haunts the woods, I really don’t know how long I can stay here. Where the fuck have you moved, Cohen?”
His older brother wouldn’t be able to answerthatquestion until Mason actually found him. Apparently, that was only about fifteen minutes out. He got back into his car, scanning his surroundings to spot the black-haired beauty again, but she was gone.
“I am losing my damn mind,” he said to the steering wheel. “Let’s hope Half Moon Key is the remedy foreverythingthat ails me.”
TWO
LILA
Lila Ford was exhausted. Did it matter that she was always getting up at three in the morning to make sure the diner was opened in time for the locals? Nope. It didn’t even matter that she had been waking up this early her whole adult life.
Three a.m. was an evil time to roll out of bed. No matter how early she went to bed, her head just couldn’t cope with the fact the alarm clock read 3:00 in that god-awful red mocking tone.
Really, every morning was like a whole new wave of torture.
Liladidlike her job at her family’s diner. She wouldn’t have taken it over if she didn’t, but there was a difference between working at Moony’s andrunningit. She was the one responsible for being onsite to get the deliveries. She had to open the place, and most nights, she had to close it too. It made for nearly eighteen-hour days.
Of course, last night was even longer because she had some stuff to take care of in the woods.
This early morning wake-up call was that much more painful for it. She had barely any sleep, and the little sleep shedidmanage to get was plagued with dreams about the newcomer to town.
Lila didn’t know why her head decided to make her dream about the stranger in the woods, but she didn’t really want to know why. It was none of her business what her head … or heart … wanted. She had a diner to run, a grandmother to care for, and a life to get through.
Lila switched on the coffee machine, greeted the baker’s delivery boy, and methodically got the diner ready for the day. By five, a few of the early birds were in for their coffee and breakfast before work. She barely had two seconds to take a breath.
But if there was one thing Lila could count on, it was the locals and regular patrons of her diner. Danielle, one of her closest friends and one of the cafe’s usuals, walked in, waved at her, and promptly made her way to her customary booth in the back corner of the restaurant.
Lila winced and rushed behind the counter to grab the coffee carafe along with a mug in anticipation of the little war that was about to break out.
Just as she was expecting, Danielle stood by her usual table with her arms crossed over her chest and her little heeled boots tapping on the white and blue checkered linoleum floor. Lila was used to this little display now. It was becoming part of the morning ritual around here, just like the baker kneading his dough and Lila putting the coffee on and flipping the Open sign. She always forgot to turn it on, but no one really paid any attention to it. The whole of Half Moon Key just expected Lila to be at work. Not such a stretch since her little house was right beside the diner on the main street.