They walked out onto the sidewalk. Em breathed in the air. Every city had a distinctive smell and she was coming to love London’s mix of river, exhaust and food stalls. As they began to walk she turned to Mrs. Belton. “London is such a lovely city. I can’t believe I don’t…”

The air was knocked out of her and she stumbled as she collided with someone. She looked up and into the face of an extraordinarily handsome man with caramel-colored hair that just began to brush the collar of the fisherman’s sweater he had on. He gave her a sexy smile and steadied her with large hands.

“Oh, pardon me,” he said, still wearing that smile. Her stomach tightened, her nipples hardened and suddenly, her silky panties felt tight and wet as her pussy bloomed and her eyes dilated. She gazed into his honey brown eyes and felt as if she were falling.

“Are you all right, dear?” Mrs. Belton asked.

Em had to clear her throat twice before any sound could come out. “Yes, yes of course. Please excuse me, I wasn’t looking where I was walking,” she said to the gorgeous hunk of man candy in front of her. She wanted to giggle once she thought that but held back.

“It was my fault entirely. Can I treat you two ladies to dinner to make up for my appalling behavior?” he asked, his voice carried a soft Irish accent.

Em had to physically step back to fight the urge to bury her face in his sweater and breathe him in. This is what became of being a twenty-five-year-old virgin, she thought to herself, you start having to fight the urge to bury your face in the sweaters of strange men you bump into on the street.

“Oh please don’t worry about it. I’m fine,” Em said, proud that she’d kept her face away from his sweater and hadn’t sounded like a bad Marilyn Monroe imitation. She looked to the other woman. “Shall we get going now?”

“Wait,” he said and she stood rooted to the spot. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Emily, Em Charvez,” she said softly, without even planning to.

He took her hand and kissed it. “Em, I’m so pleased to meet you. I’m Con, Con MacNessa.”

“Pleased to meet you, too.”

“Dinner?”

“Oh, well, I… That is, we, Mrs. Belton and I, are…” good heavens, could she sound any more witless? This man simply took away her ability to think clearly. She took a deep breath. “I’m afraid that Mrs. Belton and I are going to be discussing business,” she finished.

“Ah, I see. Well then, perhaps an after dinner drink, Em? I really must tell you I don’t plan to give up until you agree.” He gave a charming smile.

“Doesn’t that sound nice? You two young people should most definitely have a drink after dinner. Con, we are eating at The Oak Room, we should be done in two hours.” Mrs. Belton wore a small smile as she watched the two young people together. She waved at Con as she drew a speechless Em along with her.

Con stood as he watched Emily walk away on those fuck-me-heels. “Jaysus,” he breathed out. Just a brush against her, the smell of her skin, the shiny red lips, and his body was on fire, his blood was singing, coursing through his body.

As sure as he’d ever been of anything in the ten thousand years he’d been alive, he knew that lithe, sexy Em was meant to be his woman. He leaned back against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair and had to ignore the women who slowed as they walked past and gave him blatant looks, looks of invitation. He smiled to himself, there’d be no more of that. He’d laughed when his brother had told him that when he met his wife all other women ceased to appeal to him. Con knew Magda and loved her, she was a fetching woman, a woman of great power, but he hadn’t been able to imagine that any woman would be good enough to make him stop finding other women to fill his bed. He gave a wry smile. It looked as if he were going to have to eat those words. He’d also have to deal with the fact that he’d just lost his heart after guarding it so closely the last several thousand years.

Con loved women. He’d spent millennia bedding them, seducing them, bringing them pleasure as he took his own. Females of every type, human, Faerie, vampire, he’d even had a shapeshifter or two, it didn’t matter, he loved them all. Loved the way they tasted, how their skin felt. He loved the little sounds of pleasure they made, the way their power felt. But when compared to his sultry Em, all of those other women seemed flat, colorless. Her wide, hazel green eyes, those long lashes, her creamy skin. He loved her hair. He didn’t usually like short hair on women but hers looked tousled, like she’d just rolled out of bed. Her breasts were full, at least a C cup, but the rest of her was long and lean, athletic.

He whistled as he headed to The Belleville where he’d called ahead and had a suite readied. Apparently the penthouse was in use, a friend of Aidan’s no doubt, but a suite would do just fine. He hadn’t seen his friend the vampire in at least fifty years but he’d heard through the grapevine that he’d recently found his mate. Small world.