I sighed when I checked my reports to see that they were still flat. I hadn’t made a single sale in two weeks, when before the terms of service changed I’d been selling at least fifty a week. All of my advertising was gone, my books lost in a sea of other romance novels that would never be found by most readers. I had enough money to get by without the sales for a little while, but the money was far from indefinite—I would have to think of some way to sell more copies and fast if I wanted to continue working for myself.

On top of the stress of my writing was Lucas, whom I hadn’t seen or heard from since we’d come close to fucking on my couch the night that Luna caught us. That moment with him had been so good, so intimate, and his body pressed to mine made me feel a desire that was new and overwhelming to me. The fact that I hadn’t heard from him stung; I couldn’t get him out of my head no matter how hard I tried. It bothered me to know that he obviously didn’t feel the same—if he did, he would have come by, even if it was just to say hi or bring Luna over.

I tried to stop thinking about Lucas and focus on my writing instead. The doorbell rang later in the afternoon, and I found myself desperately hoping that it was Lucas. I wanted to see him so badly that it was driving me crazy, though I couldn’t bring myself to go over to his apartment. It would be humiliating to find out he wasn’t really interested in me, that he’d been turned off by our encounter because I’d seemed to give myself to him so fast. I hadn’t meant to, but when I’d woken up and seen his face hovering over mine, I couldn’t help it.

I answered the door to see a woman who was somehow even more beautiful than Alice. She had dark, thick hair and big, sensual brown eyes, along with full lips curved downward in a frown. Her brow was furrowed as she looked at me, her arms crossing over her chest.

“Who are you?” she asked. She looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place her at all.

“Excuse me?” I asked. “Who are you?”

“Where is my husband?” the woman asked. “I need to see him.”

“Lucas?”

“Yes, Lucas,” she snapped. “Are you the girl he’s fucking? Is that why he left me?”

“I haven’t touched him,” I said, though I knew my face had gone scarlet. The woman looked past me into my apartment, as if she was searching for Lucas. She all but pushed her way inside, but I stood in the door firmly, not letting her in.

“Lucas doesn’t live here,” I said, but didn’t tell her he was right across the hall. I thought it was better if I didn’t tell her, if she didn’t find him. She only seemed to stress him out, and from the sound of it, she was a horrible person, a terrible mother to Luna. I glared at her, matching the steely look in her eyes with my own.

“I couldn’t imagine him living in a dump like this anyway,” she said, her nose in the air. “I’d be surprised if he’d even step foot in here.”

I kept quiet, not responding to the jibe. She seemed like the kind of person who threw insults at everyone she met, and I refused to take it personally or respond to her with any sort of reaction.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“If my husband comes here, call me,” the woman said, pulling her wallet out of her purse and flipping a card at me so that it hit my chest and fell to the floor. She turned on her heel and walked away. I stared after her before kneeling to pick up the card. I suddenly knew where I’d seen her before—she was an actress, Maria Sanders. Maria was Luna’s mother. It struck me hard for some reason; Maria was probably the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, even compared to Lucas’s friend, Alice.

I closed the door to my apartment, ripping the card in half and tossing it into the trashcan. I felt almost like a child compared to Maria and was no longer surprised I hadn’t heard from Lucas since that night on the couch. Compared to her, I was an inexperienced little mouse. He’d probably been turned off by the fact I didn’t really know what I was doing—I didn’t know how to seduce anybody, how to be really sexy in the way that he was used to.

I heard the door across the hall and knew that Lucas was home. I didn’t want to go over there, but I knew I should tell him Maria had stopped by. I had to warn him that she knew where he was and that she might find him eventually. I stood up from my couch, drinking down the rest of my wine before I steeled myself to go to his door. I knocked on it, waiting nervously, fidgeting with my hands.