Read Online Twice Upon a Blue Moon by Helena Maeve - Free Book Online Page A

when the moment came to order.
    “So, Mr. Parrish,” she said in the ensuing lull, “what is it you do?”
    “Ward,” he corrected with a flinty sneer. “Have you heard of Apex Engineering?”
    The name rang faintly in her memory. “Weren’t they the guys who took all that government money only for the CEO to go down on tax evasion charges?” She followed the news, but only because Marco liked to have the radio on in the kitchen. He despised the music he inflicted on his patrons.
    Ward smiled thinly. “The CEO was my father.”
    “Oh.” Insert foot in mouth.
    “I inherited the mess when he went to prison.”
    “So you’re a CEO.”
    “At the ripe age of thirty-three,” Ward confirmed, raising his whiskey glass. “Feel free to let your astonishment show. I hear some variation of ‘you’re much too young for the job’ every other day of the week. This one,” he added, jerking his head toward Dylan, “keeps telling me to sell and wash my hands of the whole putrid business.”
    Dylan arched his eyebrows and sighed. “You ask my opinion.”
    “I keep hoping it’ll change.”
    “You always were an optimist.”
    The look they shared was at odds with their body language. Hazel couldn’t help but think of feral beasts that hunt together, then lick each other’s fur clean of the blood spatter. I guess that makes me prey… It wasn’t the most flattering mental image.
    “Can’t be easy,” she mused, “feeling like everyone’s ganging up against you.” Whether or not it was the case was another story, but paranoia was popular among the powerful even when their parents weren’t indicted felons.
    “Not everyone ,” Ward scoffed.
    He didn’t need to smile at Dylan for Hazel to understand that she was the third wheel to their homoerotic love-fest. She wanted to feel affronted, but it wasn’t as if Dylan hadn’t told her that his relationship with Ward was complex. He’d done his best to prepare her. As late as the drive to the restaurant, he’d told her repeatedly that he could call Ward and cancel. His gaze was wary even now, as if he expected his eccentric friend to lash out. Like he thought Hazel might react badly to the company.
    “Must be hard knowing who to trust,” she added, fingering the stem of her water glass.
    “It is,” Ward agreed. “That’s why I keep Dylan around.”
    Now we’re getting somewhere.
    “Interesting choice of words.”
    Ward smirked, sharklike, behind his tumbler. “Spoken like a true English major.”
    Icy fingers cast down Hazel’s spine. She fought not to flinch. “You looked me up.”
    “Just keeping an eye out for my friend’s wellbeing. That’s all.”
    “Ward—”
    A raised finger curbed Dylan’s objection. Ward wasn’t finished. “It’s nothing personal. Dylan so rarely gets attached that when it happens, I’m extremely wary of anyone who might be trying to use him. Don’t worry, I didn’t hire private detectives to follow you around. I Googled.”
    Hazel would’ve preferred the private dicks. There was only so much they could dig up from her daily routine. For a twenty-six-year-old in a city with a decent nightlife, she led an exceptionally boring existence. Six years ago would have been a whole other matter. And those pictures were still cached somewhere. They certainly popped up a lot.
    If not the pics, then the video. Christ…
    She leaned forward, twisting to face Ward head on. “And what’s your conclusion? Am I using your friend? I mean he washed my dishes last night, so that’s like…a step below stealing his credit card and going crazy at Nordstrom, right?” Her voice shook. She couldn’t help it.
    Ward still wore that infuriating smile—the same one that made her want to punch his teeth in. Not, on reflection, a good way to endear Dylan to her.
    “Just as long as you don’t actually let him cook. He once tried to boil water in the dorm kitchen and nearly burned the building down around us.”
    “In my defense,” said