Talia winced. “Just no,” she informed him, and his face fell.
Talia raised an eyebrow at Cora Lee.
“What?” Cora Lee shrugged. “I saidmostof these guys were a dream come true. That one’s a pig.”
She quickly led Talia away from him, then pointed at a group of men who were now checking her out with interest.
Cora Lee gestured at the group of men. “Do you feel anything when you look at any of those guys?”
“Feel anything like what?”
“Well, it’s different for different people, but I’ve heard it described as an immediate attraction and a sense of rightness, a sense of belonging,” Cora Lee said happily. “When I met my Tristao, that’s exactly what I felt.”
Talia felt a twinge of envy, even if she was really genuinely happy for her friend.
“They’re physically attractive, but I didn’t feel drawn to them in any way,” she said with a shrug and a sigh.
Let’s face it – fine physical specimens though they were, none of them held a candle to Lukan. Despite the way he kept her at arm’s length, just being in his presence made her feel safe, as if he projected some sort of subliminal message that being with him wasright. Except he pushed her away with his curt, carefully chosen words and his closed-in body language, and that chased the sense of belonging away and left her feeling confused and hollow.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, that just means that you haven’t met the right one for you,” Cora Lee assured her. “It took me a little while too. I came here and stayed at the suites and went to several of the gatherings, and I was just about to give up hope, when one night, there he was. My Tristao. Wouldn’t you know it, he’s the Chief Guardian of his pack, and he’d been off fighting the cyborgs the first few times I came here.”
“Oh. I hate it when that happens.” Chief Guardian. Pack. Cyborgs.
Okay, then.
“Right?” Cora Lee said happily. “I almost didn’t meet him at all. But Tristao said that was impossible. We were fated to meet, from all the way across the galaxy.”
That was so romantic, Talia thought, with an ache in her chest. Was it possible that the right man for her really was out there, someone meant specially, perfectly, for her?
And would she ever be as attracted to that special someone as she was to Lukan?
“What is this place, exactly?” she asked Cora Lee.
“It’s a building in the neutral zone, in the middle of Ilyria’s capitol city, Donnelle.”
“What do you mean, neutral zone?”
Cora Lee sighed. “Long, sad story, but basically, Lukan’s pack lives off to the east, and my Tristao’s pack lives off to the west. The two packs have a bad history, but they were forced to come to a truce when it came to this dating agency thing. Other than that, they’re kind of at war with each other. You know the other business partner at Million Dollar Matches? Treffon? He’s the Reginar of my sweetie’s pack. That’s like an Alpha.”
“My beloved!” a voice boomed out, and a large, handsome man hurried over to Cora Lee. He was so big that he looked as if he were about to burst out of his tux.
“That’s him! My Tristao! Isn’t he the sexiest, most handsome thing you’ve ever seen?” Cora Lee squealed as Tristao swept her into his arms.
“He certainly is a stunner,” Talia agreed.
Tristao bent down and kissed Cora Lee passionately – so passionately that Talia blushed and looked away.
A minute later they still were going at it, and now his hands where roving all over her body. And sliding under her clothes. And Cora Lee was moaning enthusiastically. Yoiks.
Apparently they wereveryhappy to see each other.
It didn’t look as if they were going to stop anytime soon, and Talia was starting to feel like a voyeur. She walked away quickly, towards the area where people were mingling, and men began crowding around her.
What was taking Mar-ee so long?
“Hello, are you alone?” a man growled in a low, rumbly voice.
Good lord, he was huge, and towering over her.
