Page 4 of Ensnaring Him

“We were just drawn here I guess. It wasn’t too far to get to, but far enough away from home that we’d be able to do what we wanted,” Serenia says, her tone once again telling me even more than her words, although they’re pretty telling themselves.

“I get that,” I offer, giving her hand a little squeeze as I turn onto my driveway. Serenia lets out a little gasp as she takes in the house. It’s not quite as large as my friend Dylan’s is, but I don’t have quite the fortune he does. He’s owned several restaurants over the years, settled here about eight years ago and we became friends quickly when we met. Our other good friend is Dane, who moved here about seven years ago. He owns a café where he sells his own coffee brand, but his real passion isroasting coffee beans to create specialty brews. He has his own place that’s similar in size to mine, but with less extra land.

My property is large. I’ve expanded it a couple times since I first bought the house. That was just before Dylan moved to town, and I renovated it, plus added on the greenhouse, and built a large dock for the lake as well as an entertainment area that houses a grill, a separate seating space, tables, and even has a little gazebo for when the sun’s a bit too much.

I don’t really know why I built that part so large since it’s usually just Dylan, Dane, and me here when we can manage it. Then again, seeing the awe on Serenia’s face as we pull around the side of the house to park, I think it’s another of those things that was for her. If her friends stick around town, and then meet someone, they’ll likely come over, which means another two to four others here. I won’t hold my breath for Dylan or Dane meeting women—then again, I’m sure they’d be thinking the same thing about me and here I am with Serenia, so who knows.

“This is all yours?” Serenia asks when I walk us up onto the back porch to show off the outside and greenhouse before I do something crazy like pulling her inside and up to my bedroom right this moment.

“Just waiting for the woman of my dreams to share it with,” I tell her, looking straight into her eyes so she knows I mean her.

“What if the woman of your dreams was a little…different?” she says, making my brow tick up a bit not understanding what she means, or the slight seriousness of her tone.

“Different how? Doesn’t want to conform to society standards by getting a job, or having ‘normal’ hair, or wearing makeup?” I suggest, not really sure what else there could possibly be.

“There’s that, yeah,” she states, and I draw her up against me tighter, sliding my hand under the edge of the bag she’s beencarrying, and I’m a bit surprised by its weight as I set it down on the table next to us on the covered back porch.

“You are absolutely stunning, honey. If you want to dye your hair every color in the rainbow, I won’t care as long as it makes you happy. What Nina said earlier is true. I’ve never met a woman that’s interested me before you. Your hair color isn’t going to bother me one little bit. If you hate wearing makeup, I’m not going to argue over it, or if you love it and buy tons of it and just aren’t wearing any today, then hey, I’ll make sure you have my card to go buy it.”

“Card?” Serenia says, her brows scrunching a bit more as I brush the red pieces of hair from her face.

“My debit card,” I expand but her brows are still furled and that makes mine lift a bit in return. “It’s a card with a strip or chip that contains the bank account information that you use instead of checks.” Her expression still doesn’t relax, and it makes me second guess her meaning of different now. “Fuck…how old are you, honey?” I question, swearing she has to be over eighteen but needing to hear it, confirm it.

“Twenty-one,” she answers calming the immense worry running through me, but the questions still remain. Who doesn’t know what a debit card is, let alone a bank account?

“You don’t have a bank account though?” I guess it’s possible she’s from some sort of secular type group that don’t believe in banks, but I thought even the stricter Amish and Mennonites used them these days. Her outfit definitely doesn’t shout religious follower—as in the ones that cover themselves head to toe—to me. Not with the tank top and shorts showing off her long legs to me at least.

Chapter 3

Serenia

Ican see the questions swirling behind Duncan’s eyes and it’s so hard not to tell him the truth. The whole truth, because I’m dying to just tell him, admit everything, but I don’t want him to push me away before he could fall for me. Really fall for me, because everything else he’s said to me so far makes me think that’s exactly where we’re heading. I hope it is—desperately.

I never want to go back to the ocean. To live in that coldness, the darkness pressing in from every angle. I want to live here, with Duncan, in this beautiful place, with the warm sun shining on us.

“We don’t have them at home,” I hedge, with a little shrug. “We only have paper money.”

“Cash?” he says, and I nod. “US cash?” he clarifies, and I nod again because that’s what we have here from that bag. “Is that some sort of…rule?”

“You could say that,” I hedge again. There’s no use for money of any sort in the ocean. We don’t consume food. We don’t buy things the way humans do. We might trade things that weresalvaged from shipwrecks but that’s as far as it goes, but none of that would make sense to this man. It would just cause more questions I don’t want to answer yet.

“Okay, you and your friends have enough with you though, right? Most hotels require a cash deposit if you don’t have a credit card to put the stay on…you do have a hotel where you’re staying at, don’t you?” he adds, his eyes widening and a little extra warmth rushes through me at the concern I can see in his gaze. His hands pull me a bit tighter against him, and I never want him to let me go.

“Umm…” I get out as his eyes widen even more.

“You don’t. Where were you and your friends going to sleep tonight? Were you only here for the day?” he asks, and I can feel his heart race faster beneath my hands as I settle them on his chest.

“We didn’t really know. We just wanted to get away from home. See what else there was out there…if there was somewhere we belonged more,” I admit, and his head comes down, his forehead touching mine and it feels so good, but makes me want more as well.

“Tell me you at least have a phone so you can get in touch with them,” he pleads, and I glance up at him with a little smile.

“We can get in touch with each other,” I offer, not telling him it’s telepathically. We’ve all seen human phones, know they talk on them, drop them into the water more than they should.

“So, you can make sure they have somewhere to stay tonight, that they’re safe?”

“Yeah, we can make sure of all that,” I promise as his lips press against my temple and I want to drown in the sweetness of it. I can remember my dad holding me, kissing the top of my head, and I miss it more than ever now that I’ve remembered what sweetness feels like.

“Good. If your friends need somewhere to stay tonight, they can come here. I’ve got guest rooms they can use…you can use it too if you’d rather,” he adds and I lift my face to his, seeing a heat in his eyes that sends hunger straight through me. It’s not the hunger to kill. Oh no, it’s so different from anything I’ve ever felt.

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