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There wasn’t a chance in hell Tallulah Jayne was interested in Rye for anything other than meaningless sex. Therefore, it was a waste of time for Rye to be talking to her, when he was supposed to be looking for a serious, committed Match.

So why did he keep talking to her?

Maybe because Tallulah Jayne wasn’t letting him get away. She was tiny, but tenacious. Some gorgeous blonde girl tried to slink over and catch Rye’s eye, but one venomous look from Tallulah Jayne had her scampering off again. As her thick file at the police station attested, Tallulah Jayne Atkins didn’t like to be crossed.

Rysimer watched the terrified blonde retreat and then refocused on Tallulah Jayne with an intrigued expression.

Tallulah Jayne smiled sweetly, pretending she didn’t have a reputation for being a stone-cold, steal-your-boyfriend-and-then-dump-him-for-laughs bitch. “So where are you from?” She asked Rye, curling a tendril of red hair around her finger.

Astonishingly, he remembered their cover story. “We’re from the Amazon.” Rye reported to Tallulah Jayne, raising his voice to be heard over the music.

“You work for Amazon? I order from them all the time.”

Randa literally groaned.

Rye looked confused. “Do humans work for rainforests in this realm?”

“Amazon owns a rainforest? My God, they are like so eco-conscious, right?” Tallulah Jayne didn’t seem to care if he was from South America, South Africa, or the South Side of Chicago. She was just after his body. Like a sniper dressed in vivid pink and sparkly jewelry, she was laser-focused on her target. “Hey you wanna go back to my place?” She offered, with a come-hither smile. “It’s really big. …Like you.”

Rye hesitated. “You’re inviting me for sex?” He guessed.

“Uh-huh.” Her gaze slid over his body, already looking for buttons and zippers so she could strip him faster.

“Do you suspect that you might be my Match?” He asked her seriously.

Tallulah Jayne gave an envy-filled frown at the mention of another girl. “Like from a hook-up site? You were matched on a blind date?”

“I don’t think my Match is blind.” He considered the possibility for a beat. “Well, she could be. That would be fine. I would welcome her, vision or not.”

“You had a vision about her!” Tallulah Jayne’s lips parted. “OMG, I have visions, too! For real, it’s why I moved to Mayport. I get these flashes of insight from the universe and I follow them. And I’m always right! I guessed almost three numbers in the Powerball last week.”

“Powerball? Is that a weapon?”

Randa drank more of her club soda and wished it was vodka. It was hard for an Elemental to get drunk, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to try.

The Light Phases were screwing this up. Badly.

Julius was standing by the windows that overlooked the Gulf of Mexico, consoling some woman who’d been drunkenly telling him about her loser ex-boyfriend for the past twenty minutes. He patted her shoulder like a crisis counselor, and it was clear they weren’t going to be Phazing.

Daven and Mannus were holding court by the bar, buying round after round of drinks and flirting with every girl they saw. The two of them were the most popular of the five men, because they’d apparently forgotten all about the goal of finding their Matches. They were perfectly willing to just have a boisterous night out.

At the rate things were going, all the Light Phases would be single and sleeping on her floor for the foreseeable future. Randa shook her head in exasperation. Everything was situated perfectly for them! She’d given them makeovers, and made that PowerPoint, and the bar was filled with willing women, and still the Light House couldn’t…

A human male sat down at her table. “Hi.” He said with a smirk.

Randa blinked.

“I’m Ben.” His smile was glistening white, but it was like he’d practiced it too much in front of an oily mirror. “I saw you sitting over here alone. Can I buy you a drink?”

Randa stared at him in confusion. “I have a drink. I have two drinks, actually.”

He glanced down at her glasses. “Club soda?”

She nodded. “It was the least expensive option on the menu.”

He scoffed. “You don’t come here a lot, do you?”

“No. I’m just here to babysit them.” She didn’t bother to point out who “them” was. You’d have to be as blind as Rye’s-possible-Match to miss the Light Phases.