This is dreadful. The woman of her dreams is standing right before her, and she is completely frozen in place, like some sort of deer or rabbit in the middle of a clearing, just waiting to be caught by a predator. Tanya was the predator here, not the adorable librarian in the little bookstore that her sister insisted Tanya had to meet.

She didn't know the human's name yet. She could only gape at her like an idiot, unable to make a sound, to make a move, to even blink. All the vampire could do was stand there, completely and utterly still, like a statue.

A human mate. It would be comical if it wasn't so fucking ironic.

She couldn't believe it. After all these centuries, all these decades of waiting and wondering, she found her mate, here of all places.

Say something, damn it!

"You smell good."

You smell good—

Oh, great job, idiot. What a fucking smooth talker you are.