The sun spilled through the window right beside Luna’s bed. Bright. So very bright, like it had no notion, no care, that the world had nearly ended for her during the night.

Luna turned, pulling the covers up over her head, blocking out the sunshine. The bright light invaded the lightweight duvet and single thin sheet. She could still see the raw marks on her wrists, the painful bruising, the reminder that her entire life had come so close to changing forever.

Maybe she would have been fine. Maybe if that catwalk hadn’t broken, Lion would have let her go. Let her go in exchange for Jack. She understood that was the deal. Lion screaming up on that metal walk like a maniac, spittle spraying through the air and raining down to the ground below as he screamed the words at Jack. Screamed at Jack to break her heart by telling her he didn’t care.

He hadn’t been able to say those words. He’d saved Lion, the very man who had threatened them both.

Jack hadn’t said anything after that. Not one word. He’d untied Luna with infinite care, lifted her in those strong, warm arms and held her against his wounded, torn up chest. He was bleeding. His grey t-shirt had dark stains all over the front of it. He hadn’t uttered a sound of complaint or a single word. He’d cradled her against his broad strength, so very, very gently.

They’d used Lion’s car. It was still outside the warehouse. There was no key. Jack fused the wires silently while Luna watched from the passenger seat.

He’d driven her home. Obeyed every single traffic law. Stopped the car, carried her into her backyard, to the unlocked back door. Set her on her feet just inside. Their gazes met for an instant, a second that would be ingrained in her for the rest of her life. Then he’d turned and walked back out to the deck. He’d waited. Actually, fucking waiting while she locked the door. Watched her with those haunted eyes.

She knew that was his version of goodbye. There was not a single word exchanged because there was not one adequate enough for the depth of emotion in his heart. Or hers.

So, she woke alone. Alone into the incongruous sunshine spilling through her window. Alone, like none of it had ever happened at all.

Except that it was so far from being over. At least for her. She knew Jack blamed himself for his past having finally caught up with him. For Lion. For everything.

It didn’t change how she felt. She was… unfinished. Like the tattoo on Jack’s back. For her, they were so far from being over. She had to make Jack believe in the good that was in him. In his heart. He needed to hear it from her. Even if they truly were finished, their beautiful, astounding connection severed, she had to let him hear that he was a good man.

 

 

“You sure you had a meeting? With the boss?” The large bouncer, a man who looked like he broke people in half and ate them for breakfast- or maybe just threw rowdy drunks outside the back door, eyed Luna skeptically.

She just nodded. “Yes. He told me to come at ten. And not to be late.”

Again, she received another skeptical perusal of dark eyes. The man in front of her might look like a brick shithouse with shoulders large enough to mount a small house on, a tight black t-shirt stretched over a massive chest, muscles straining to get out, and two legs that were each thicker than her waist, but he had a baby face that kind of undid the seriousness of all that physical mass.

“The boss doesn’t book meetings. He doesn’t see anyone without telling us first. And no one told us a damn thing. So, you need to turn yourself around and go back home.”

“Oh really.” Luna put her hands on her hips and stared the bouncer down. The guy annoyingly blocked her way down the hall where she knew Jack’s office was. God, the inside of that office… her face heated as she recalled the things they’d done in there. She was on her way to finding him to speak with him when this massive human mountain had blocked her way, demanding to know what she was doing sneaking into employee only areas. “Tell him Luna is here then. We’ll see if I have an appointment or not.”

A shadow of doubt actually passed over the man mountain’s face. “Alright,” he said gruffly. “Stay here.”

Luna saw no other option. She crossed her arms and waited while the man disappeared through the doors she’d been trying to sneak through. She knew the code. Eight, six, five, seven. She’d watched Jack punch it in before.

She didn’t have long to wait. The club pulsed around her, the music nearly drowning out thought itself. A group of young, scantily clad women giggled and flirted with men they only seemed half interested in, not more than fifteen feet away.

Luna suppressed a shudder. She was about to take a few steps closer to the door and lean into the wall, praying she’d become invisible, when that very door opened and the massive bouncer appeared. She knew by the look of disbelief on his face that she was in. She was a little surprised herself. She’d half expected Jack to refuse to see her, which was why she was trying to get in herself.

“Alright. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.”

He held the door open for her and Luna slipped through. One massive hand closed the steel door tightly behind her. She had the notion that the granite man was waiting just on the other side. Probably to usher her out of the club after.

Luna squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked quickly down the hall. She knew exactly which door was Jack’s. It was closed but not locked. She didn’t bother knocking. He already knew she was coming, so why bother with the pretense of it all?

Just seeing Jack again brought a wave of unexpected relief so great it nearly buckled Luna’s knees and sent her crashing to the hardwood floor.

She somehow managed to remain standing. “Jack,” she whispered.

He stood slowly, blinked just as slowly. His face, normally so good at hiding emotion when he wanted to, couldn’t hide his surprise. Perhaps he hadn’t believed the bouncer when the guy told him she was really there.

“Luna.” His face quickly lost all emotion, hardening into the mask she’d seen when he’d first come into her shop. That day, really only a few weeks ago, felt a lifetime past.

She turned and shut the door firmly behind her, twisting the lock. The little click sounded loudly in the closed-in area. As Luna turned back, she tried hard not to look at that desk. The desk where she’d let Jack explore every single inch of her body before she explored his.

“Why are you here?” Jack’s hand, the only sign that he wasn’t as unaffected as he pretended to be, slid out and gripped the edge of the desk. He still hadn’t moved, stood just a fraction of an inch in front of his pushed back leather office chair.

Luna felt like reaching out and gripping something as well. Bracing herself to borrow from a strength that wasn’t hers. Except that she had to tell him this. Standing on her own strength and nothing more.

She took a deep breath. I can do this. I have to do this. His eyes flicked over her wrists. She’d covered them with a long, black shirt and paired it with jeans. Not exactly club material. “I’m here because I needed you to hear this. From me. So, you wouldn’t be left with doubts, no matter what happens. You’re a good man. Far better than you even know.”

Jack sighed. His lips twitched, though on their way to a frown or a sad smile, she wasn’t quite sure. His grip on the edge of the desk tightened. “If that was true, none of what happened last night would have taken place. Nothing would have happened to you if you didn’t know me. It’s better, no, safer, for you if I’m not in your life. All I bring is heart ache and trouble. I don’t know how to be with someone. I don’t know what love means any more than a man like Lion does.”

Luna moved her hands to her hips again. She winced as pain shot through her sore wrists. “So, you have a past.” She shrugged slowly and let her hands fall away. “We all do. We all have a story. I just want to be the people we are. I never asked for anything more. I never wanted anything more. I just want you. And all that means. All that comes with it. All the baggage and hurt and pain and all the beauty and passion and happiness we’ve found despite it, or maybe even because of it.”

“You… you don’t know what you’re saying.” Jack’s eyes closed as he blinked. Hard. Fighting back emotion.

Definitely not as unaffected as he wants me to believe. How much did walking away last night cost him? “We came together for a moment, an unexpected, incredible moment and we were both happy. At least I was. So incredibly happy. I never expected to feel that way. I’ve never truly known it. I thought I did but I was wrong. We started something that could be incredible if we are willing to let it be. I know this is different than anything else I’ve ever mistaken for caring or love before. I hardened myself against ever being here again and yet, here I am. With you. I want to be here. I need to be here.”

Jack shook his head, refusing to meet her eyes. His denial was frustrating, slow, and heartbreaking but she wouldn’t give up. “You don’t even know who I am,” he protested, finally looking up.

“No,” Luna admitted. “I don’t. And you don’t know who I am either. The only thing I know is that I want to. If you’ll let me. We aren’t finished. That tattoo on your back is only half done. We are only half done. I don’t want to leave things like that. I’ll always wonder if I could have done something more. If we could have been something more.”

The laughter that escaped Jack’s mouth was soft, with just an edge of the old bitterness. “Even if you don’t know my name?”

“Even if I don’t. Even if you don’t know mine.” Luna extended her hand. “I’m Stephanie. Stephanie James.”

There was a second of hesitation. Brief yet unending. It lasted forever before Jack finally turned his incredible blue gaze to hers. Those eyes were so full of life. Brimming with impossible hope and unfiltered emotion. He hesitantly reached out and took her hand. Their fingers met, lightning and thunder and earth shattering desire. Her heart raced and trembled as her hand was tucked safely into his firm grip.

“In that case, I’m Alexander Fehr.” He laughed low, long and slow and this time the bitterness was gone. “It’s been so long since I’ve said it, I’ve almost forgotten. But please, never, ever call me that.  I’m Jack. I actually like that name.”

“Pleased to meet you. At last.” Luna shook Jack’s hand once before her fingers curled around his, turning his hand and flattening his palm. Their hands stayed locked together. She broke the hold and gently caressed his palm.

“What are you doing? Reading my future?”

Luna made no effort to stop the broad smile that curled across her lips. “Absolutely. This line here, it says that you are going to have a long, happy life. A life filled with only good things and so many blessings. Your generosity, the very heart you sometimes doubt, will be filled with love. More love than you can even stand.”

Jack swallowed hard, loudly. His gaze roved over her before meeting and locking with hers. The room moved. She swore the whole earth moved when he looked at her like that. Like he wanted to believe her.

“If you want it, that is,” she whispered. She waited, the silence stretching on, the void growing larger and larger.

Until he closed it. “I do,” he said gruffly, his tone rough with feeling. “I always have. I just never thought it would be mine.”

“What a coincidence. I happen to want the very same thing. I never thought it was going to be possible for me either, until now. Well, actually, until the day I met you.”

“You thought I was trouble. Just admit it. You didn’t want to get to know me.”

She giggled softly, the burdens and fears, worries and stresses, slowly ebbing away. “Of course. Of course I thought you were trouble. We both know that you were. That you probably still are. The fact is, I don’t care. I said I want you and I do. All of you. Every single part including all that trouble.”

Jack gently pulled her into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, the solid heat of his body leaching right through their shirts. Neither of them made a sound. He didn’t gasp when her chest rasped over the injuries she knew that black dress shirt of his covered. She didn’t make a sound, not when his hand trailed up her arm and back down, circling her bruised wrists.

There was nothing to say. Not a single word more that needed to be uttered. The silence between them, the silence that was so full of hope and healing swirled around them. His kiss was the only promise she needed and when he bent his head, his lips pressing hotly, gently, searching, eager and passionate over hers, she knew, beyond a doubt, that she truly did know his heart.

She might not have known this man’s real name until just now but she knew his heart. It was the only thing that mattered. That his heart spoke to hers and that hers responded. She needed him and he needed her just as badly.

When Luna broke away she didn’t try and regulate her breathing. Didn’t bother to hide the rasp of passion that made her voice husky and unfamiliar. “How about a repeat of that quickie? Except maybe this time we don’t have to go so fast.”

Jack’s chest shook with his deep laugh. “We spent a couple hours in here last time, as I recall.”

“Oh.” Luna shrugged. “Well then… like I said, we can take our time now.”

“I’m not going to say no. I never thought I’d see you again. I couldn’t imagine what you want with someone like me. Just having you here, having you believe that there is goodness in me… it’s like a miracle.”

“No. Not a miracle.” She reached up and traced the contours of his lips with her index finger. “Just you and me. Here and now.”

Jack bent his head and kissed her again. Kissed her like he meant to do exactly what she said and keep her there for a good number of hours. Hell, maybe all night. She certainly hoped so. They didn’t need any more words. There was time for everything else in a future she very much hoped they’d share together.

 

The End to Another Sweet Beginning