“All right. I guess I’ll allow it.”
Rune chuckled, his chest vibrating beneath her cheek.
“You know,” he whispered. “Fate brought us together that day at Mystical Matchmakers. If I hadn’t come in on that day at just that time, I never would have seen you. I never would have had a chance to meet you. Or love you.”
“I don’t believe that,” she said. “I think we would have met eventually. Maybe within a few weeks or a few months, but we were meant to be together.”
He looked back at her, his eyes still a brilliant silver rather than their usual grey. “I think you’re right.”
“I know I am,” she said.
When Rune pulled her toward him to kiss her, Astra was glad that they’d met when they did. They had both been lonely for too long.
Whether they would have ended up together or not, that day at Mystical Matchmakers still felt like the luckiest day of her life.
Epilogue
Veronica smiled as she hung up the phone.
Astra Falk sounded so happy. Even over the phone, her emotions had been clear and bright. She was in love and loved in return. She was also excited about her upcoming marriage to Rune Ferguson. It seemed they planned to have a wedding this fall. Veronica was pleased for both of her clients. This was why she did what she did—to help others find love.
A pang of sadness hit Veronica. Even though she was incredibly proud of the work she’d done and of the outcome of the match, it made her realize that she was lonely. She wanted someone to love her the way Astra and Rune loved each other.
She wasn’t sure that would ever happen for her, and it hurt deeply.
No one wanted to be in a relationship with a woman who could sense their emotions. A woman who would know every time they lied, or they were nervous about a conversation. Or when they were angry
Or the worst feeling—when they no longer loved you. That was the most painful of all.
Veronica had experienced that before and it hurt so badly that she’d avoided any sort of relationships for a couple of years. She never intentionally read people’s emotions, but most people leaked their feelings like water through a sieve.
There was no avoiding it. There were a few people who were able to lock their emotions down enough that she couldn’t feel them unless she tried. Dominique was one of them. She hadn’t met many others.
Maybe someday she would.
But someday was a long way off.
Veronica heard Dominique’s office door open and turned her head. Even though Torin Gallagher wasn’t exactly the type of man she preferred, he was striking all the same. She watched as he prowled out of Dominique’s office, clad in a snug black t-shirt and worn, faded jeans that fit him as though they were made for him.
He didn’t walk or even swagger. He moved like a predator.
Veronica had taken a discreet glance at his information when he came in for his interview with Dominique and he listed his species as selkie, but he didn’t move like one. No, he moved like a shifter, all fluid strength and dangerous grace.
Though Veronica supposed he was technically a shifter since he had another form.
Still, he moved more like an apex predator than a sea creature.
While his lithe, almost animalistic, movements drew her attention first, the rest of him kept it.
His hair was black as pitch and long enough to be pulled back into a short ponytail. His skin was tanned, a light gold that gave him a roguish look, as though he were a bandit in one of the historical romances she occasionally read.
Against that golden tan, his bright blue eyes were nearly piercing in their intensity. They burned with purpose and passion, as though he didn’t just live his life, he devoured it.
In short, he was magnificent.
But Veronica would never be able to date someone like him. Not because she wouldn’t want to, but because his emotions were volatile and so strong that they reached her from more than a room away. She could almost see them swirling and writhing about him, translucent waves like heat rising from asphalt in the summer.
Spending time with Torin Gallagher would be electrifying and exhausting.
