For Rent and Love

CHAPTER 14

Luna’s eyes flew open.

Not because she was rested. Because her brain refused to shut up.

Sunlight was already sneaking through the curtains, painting stripes across her blanket. She’d spent the whole night doing the same thing: replay, analyze, cringe, repeat.

Nico’s voice, low and rough: “You’re not like the others, Luna.”

Then that split-second. That c***k in his armor. The warm sound of his buzzing laughter and breathtaking smile. The fact that she was able to make him laugh felt better than she could explain

Her heart did that traitorous little flip again. Butterflies, but the aggressive kind that dive-bombed her stomach.

Happy. That’s what she’d been in that moment. Stupidly, dangerously happy.

She groaned and buried her face in the pillow. Snap out of it, Luna. It's a contract. Nothing more than another business deal for him. Reality. Reality. Reality.

Reality yawned and went back to sleep.

By the time she admitted defeat, her head felt like cotton and her eyes were probably red. She stumbled to the bathroom, splashed freezing water on her face, and stared at her reflection.

“You look like you lost a fight with your own thoughts,” she told the mirror. The mirror didn’t argue.

She tied her hair into a messy bun, pulled on an oversized sweater, and took the stairs slow. The butterflies were back, but now they had company — a dull, heavy ache right under her ribs. Sober Luna was already clocking in for the day.

The smell of coffee hit her first. Strong, bitter, Nico’s brand of coffee. Then Summer’s voice.

“—AND THAT is exactly why rule number 4 of dating is NEVER trust a man who says ‘I don’t bite’—”

Luna stopped at the kitchen door.

Summer was in full performance mode. Phone propped against a stack of cereal boxes, ring light glowing, hands flying like she was directing a movie. “Zoom in, besties. Zoom in 0.5x and watch the red flags appear—”

“Morning, chatterbox,” Luna said, leaning on the doorframe.

Summer screamed and dropped the phone. “Luna! You’re alive! I was about to send a search party!” She scrambled to pick it up, then froze. “Wait. You look like you had a staring contest with your ceiling all night. Did you win?”

“I won nothing,” Luna mumbled, sliding into a chair. “Where’s Nico?”

“Gone,” Summer said, already swiping through comments. “Left before the sun decided to show up. Big boss meeting. Didn’t even finish his coffee.” She paused, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. “But he did ask if the ‘sleepyhead upstairs’ had survived the night.”

Luna’s stomach flipped. Stupid butterflies. “Oh. Okay.”

“‘Oh. Okay’? That’s it? Girl, the man noticed you were alive!” Summer tossed a pillow at her. “Talk. What happened last night? Why do you have that ‘I’m trying to be normal but my brain is buffering’ look?”

Luna shrugged, wrapping her hands around the coffee mug Summer pushed into them. “Nothing happened. We just... talked.”

“Talked,” Summer repeated, drawing the word out. “Talked like ‘discussing the weather’ talked? Or talked like ‘staring into each other’s souls while pretending not to’ talked?”

Luna choked on coffee. “The second one.”

Summer whooped. “I KNEW IT! See, I told you he’s not a robot. He just needs someone to—”

“Don’t,” Luna cut in, but she was smiling now. A small, traitorous smile.

They spent the next hour being absolutely ridiculous. Arguing over which cartoon villain had the best drip. Jinx vs Harley Quinn. Summer was team Harley, obviously. Luna betrayed her and picked Jinx.

“You have terrible taste,” Summer declared, throwing popcorn at her. “Jinx wears tactical gear. Harley wears pink. Pink wins every time.”

“Jinx blows things up,” Luna shot back, catching the popcorn in her mouth. “Pink just explodes your credit card.”

They laughed until Luna’s cheeks hurt and the heavy ache in her chest faded to background noise. Sober reality was still there, sitting in the corner with its arms crossed. But laughter made it quieter.

Then the kitchen door swung open with a bang.

“Good morning, my pretty girls!”

Both of them jumped.

A woman bustled in like she owned the place — which, Luna realized, she probably did. Mid-50s, curly gray hair pulled into a bun, apron dusted with flour, and a smile so warm Luna felt it from across the room. She carried a tray piled high with pancakes, bacon, and fruit.

Luna blinked. “Um... hi?”

Summer dropped her phone again. “Oh! You must be—”

“Mama Rose!” The woman set the tray down and immediately zeroed in on Luna. Before Luna could react, Mama Rose was tucking a strand of messy hair behind her ear and inspecting her face like she was a painting. “First time meeting you properly! I’ve been with this family for twenty years, but Nico only just mentioned he had a guest.” She clucked her tongue. “I was starting to think he’d adopted his office chair as a life partner.”

Luna turned red. “He— he mentioned me?”

“Only when he thinks I’m not listening.” Mama Rose winked and started plating pancakes. “Eat, child. You’re too thin. And don’t let that boy scare you with his scowl. Under all that ‘I’m a CEO and I eat feelings for breakfast’ act is a softie who still falls asleep to cartoons when he thinks no one’s watching.”

Summer gasped so loud Luna thought the windows would c***k. “Cartoons?! Nico watches cartoons?!”

“Shh!” Mama Rose pressed a finger to her lips, eyes twinkling. “That’s classified information. But since you’re his guest...” She leaned in conspiratorially. “He has a whole shelf of old Disney DVDs in his study. Hidden behind the business books. I dust them every week.”

Luna’s brain short-circuited. Cold, scary CEO Nico. Secret Disney fan. The two images did not compute.

They migrated to the living room with plates balanced on their laps. Mama Rose followed, wiping down the coffee table even though it was already clean. She settled on the armchair like she was settling in for a long gossip session.

Summer wasted no time. “Okay, Mama Rose, we need dirt. Fun dirt. Not sad CEO backstory dirt. Funny Nico dirt.”

Mama Rose laughed, a rich, rolling sound. “Funny Nico dirt? Oh, I have stories.”

Luna tried to act casual, but she was leaning forward like her life depended on it. “Like what?”

“Like the time he was sixteen and decided he was going to learn how to cook to impress a girl.” Mama Rose grinned. “He burned water. Actual water. Set off the fire alarm, panicked, and tried to hide the evidence by throwing the pot out the window. Landed right on Mr. Henderson’s car next door.”

Summer wheezed. “No way.”

“Way,” Mama Rose confirmed. “He had to mow Mr. Henderson’s lawn for three months as apology. And every time he saw Mr. Henderson after that, the man would just point at his car and laugh.”

Luna burst out laughing. She could picture it — young Nico, all serious face and panic, launching a pot of burnt water out a window. “He’s so... human,” she said softly, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

Mama Rose smiled knowingly. “Exactly, child. He forgets that sometimes.”

Summer wasn’t done. “Give us another one. Something embarrassing.”

“Hmm...” Mama Rose tapped her chin. “Alright. When he was twelve, he decided he wanted to learn piano. His parents said no. Said music was a ‘distraction from his duties’. So he snuck lessons. Every Tuesday, he’d tell them he was at ‘extra math tutoring’ and go to the community center instead.”

Luna’s chest tightened. Empathy hit hard and fast. Piano. Of course he wanted piano. Soft things. Quiet things. The opposite of boardrooms and scowls.

“He was terrible at first,” Mama Rose continued, her voice gentle now. “Fingers all stiff. But he practiced every night. After homework. After his parents went to bed. I’d hear him sometimes, playing the same song over and over until he got it right.” She sighed. “Then his father found out. Piano lessons stopped. The keyboard ‘mysteriously disappeared’.”

The room went quiet. Even Summer didn’t have a joke ready.

Luna felt it like a punch — the sober part. The reality. Nico wasn’t cold because he wanted to be. He was cold because someone taught him early that soft things got taken away.

“He built walls,” Mama Rose said quietly, wiping her hands on her apron. “Tall ones. So tall he probably forgot what’s behind them now.”

Summer reached over and squeezed Luna’s hand. No jokes. No chatter. Just _I see you. I feel it too._

Luna swallowed hard. “That’s... sad.”

“It is,” Mama Rose agreed. Then she clapped her hands, and the mood shifted instantly. “Which is exactly why we’re going to tease him! Enough gloomy! Let me tell you about the time twenty-year-old Nico tried to dance at a wedding and pulled a muscle in his back—”

“NOOO,” Luna and Summer screamed together.

Mama Rose cackled. “Oh yes! He was doing that thing men do where they think they’re cool but they actually look like they’re being attacked by bees—”

“STOP,” Luna was laughing so hard tears pricked her eyes. “We’re telling him later. All three of us. Team Tease Nico, official formation.”

“Team Tease Nico,” Summer confirmed, holding up her coffee mug like a toast. “Meeting adjourned.”

Luna laughed again, but it felt different this time. Lighter. Not like she was pretending. The butterflies were still there, fluttering around Nico’s name. The sober ache was still there too, remembering the boy behind the CEO. But now there was laughter. Bonding.

Three women, pancakes, secrets, and a man who thought he had to be stone to be safe.

She didn’t know what would happen with Nico. Didn’t know if “the business contract ” could ever become something else.

But for the first time since she woke up, reality didn’t feel like a prison cell.

It felt like a door. And maybe... just maybe... it was unlocked.

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