Page 9 of Enticing Him

“Better than that,” she states. “You found someone?”

“Yeah, he’s great,” I sigh, a little hint of color in her cheeks before she glances at Melodia who is practically glowing.

“You look happier than even normal,” Serenia says with a little laugh. “I take it you met someone too?”

“After worrying that I wouldn’t for the better part of that first day, yeah,” Melodia says, and my eyes widen in a bit of surprise hearing her true fears in that statement. Of all of us she was the most certain this would work out so it’s surprising to know she had doubts as well.

“You found…” she stops suddenly looking to me curiously.

“Dane, his name’s Dane,” I tell them because she wasn’t there when he introduced himself.

“Dane,” Melodia says with a nod, “well, you found him just a couple hours after Serenia found…”

“Duncan,” Serenia tells us pulling a grin and giggle from Melodia, and I can’t help but give her a curious look.

“Does he own a greenhouse?” I ask and she nods, looking shocked. “Dane said his best friends were Duncan who runs a greenhouse and…”

“Dylan who owns a restaurant,” Melodia blurts out excitedly.

“Wait, what?” Serenia gasps, and Melodia nods bouncing giddily. “So, the guys we met all know each other?”

“Seems so,” I muse, shaking my head a bit still. “So how did you meet Dylan?”

Melodia fills us in making Serenia grin as she adds, “One look at him and I was hooked. He made me the most incredible food ever and then took me home. He told me Friday night he loved me, fell in love the moment he saw me, which was before I ever saw him…”

“Duncan said the same thing when we were falling asleep Thursday night. That the second he saw me, he knew I was supposed to be his,” Serenia admits with a sigh, her eyes glowing with happiness and I know same look is in my eyes as well.

“Dane told me last night he never believed in love at first sight until he saw me. I just…can it really be this simple?” I add, the worry that’s been there since last night still filling me. I guess I was expecting something more after he said ‘I love you’ to me, or at least something more along the lines of what happened when our tails turned into legs. There was this sensation that slipped through me that I could feel. Last night, all I could feel was Dane’s love as he held me, and I’ve been holding onto hope that I didn’t miss something—that we didn’t miss something we had to do for the gift to become permanent. “I mean, I didn’t tell him I’m…”

“Neither did I,” Melodia admits glancing at Serenia.

“Are you kidding? I didn’t want him to think I needed to be locked up by telling him that, especially not when he’d just…”

“What?” Melodia asks when she pauses, a knowing glint in her eyes before Serenia even says anything making me incredibly curious.

“Asked me to marry him,” Serenia states, showing off the beautiful emerald ring on her finger.

“Dylan asked me Friday night,” Melodia tells us, showing off her ring and the pretty pink stone fits her entirely.

“Dane asked me last night,” I admit, showing them the black and blue sapphire ring, he slipped onto my hand and Melodia squeals seeing it.

“Oh, they’re even more perfect than when I saw them…”

“Saw them? What?” Serenia gets out before me, stopping Melodia’s words and she claps a hand over her mouth, giggling.

“Melodia…what’s going on? You don’t have visions,” I whisper giving her a little glare because she wasn’t at all surprised at the sight of either of our rings.

“Dylan found a pearl in an oyster mistakenly sent to the restaurant, took me to the jewelry store to get them to make it into a necklace and we ran into Dane and Duncan when they came in to find rings for you,” she says with one long rush of breath. “I promised I wouldn’t tell. They both were looking at boring diamonds to begin but once I pointed them in the right direction, they didn’t hesitate on which to buy. Dylan wouldn’t let me try on any of them to see if they’d fit. He had me close my eyes and then slipped this one on me, then bought it without me knowing.”

“Well then, thank you for your help. I love my ring,” Serenia says giving her a hug.

“So do I,” I agree with a grin at them, so amazed that their men are Dane’s friends still. It means he won’t mind that we hang out still, which is a total comfort after overhearing some of the men from the beach arguing with their girlfriends when they wanted to go out with other girls, or when they were out with them. Some of them are downright cruel. They’re the ones that tempted me most to give into the bloodlust and kill them—at least they did because right now, I feel none of that.

“But honestly, is this all it took? I mean, I don’t really feel any different. I guess I was just expecting something more like when we got our…legs,” I add on a whisper as someone approaches our table.

“And you will, the next time you’re in water,” a voice says from the end of the space, and a gasp falls from each of us seeing the woman there. The undeniable glow surrounding her combined with the adoring looks from all of the men in the diner telling us exactly who she is.

“I’ve been in water since Dylan told me. I was in water with him Friday night when he told me he loved me again,” Melodia responds, and Aphrodite simply smiles at us.

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