Page 17 of New Nebraska Home (New Nebraska)

Malik

JUST A TASTE

T he first fist flew towards my face, which I saw and blocked easily. The second one caught me by surprise. Leif had scored a lucky shot by nailing me under the chin hard enough to send me sprawling on my ass. Okay, I was already squatting to be in reach of him, and I had been in that position long enough I wasn’t stable, and my thighs were burning, so knocking me over wouldn’t have been hard without the element of surprise, but still, it was a solid hit.

“Did I hurt you?” Leif said, concern coloring his eyes.

“Nah, kid, I’m good, but I think you earned a break.” I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants, ruffled his hair, and then walked inside. I knew Brock was around here somewhere, and Leif had been dying to get into the pool and cool off. If I was being honest, I also wanted to check on his sister a bit more.

When I walked into the kitchen, the cool air coming from the vents was an instant relief. Being a dragon meant I didn’t really mind heat, but I did mind humidity. I grabbed a soda to help cool me down. I was not seeing Liz down here anywhere. If I was going to go looking for her upstairs, I would need to come up with some sort of excuse.

A loud crash sounded from upstairs, followed by her high-pitched scream. That was a good enough excuse for me. Leaving my soda on the table, I ran upstairs, looking for her.

Upstairs was a long hallway with only a few doors. I checked them each as I looked for her.

The first one I opened was Leif’s room. The hardwood floor was covered with a rug that had a little town map with streets that he could run his toy cars. There were several shelves covered with action figures and model airplanes. This was definitely the room of a child that was well loved.

The second door I opened had to be her room. The large antique four-poster bed with the lace trim was somehow classy and romantic, without looking too girly or old-fashioned. It was exactly the type of room I could picture Liz in. It smelled like her, like sunshine and citrus, and the curtains diffused the light to give it an almost soft glow.

This was the bed I was going to be picturing next time I closed my eyes and thought about how much I wanted her. There was another door on the other side of the room, that no doubt led to a bathroom, and I was tempted to go snooping, but another crash sounded above me and I knew I needed to find her.

Further down the hall there was another door that hid a staircase heading up to the attic. I followed the stairs and the sound of her swearing to a surprisingly spacious attic space that was filled with generations of clutter.

“Are you okay?” I asked as my eyes landed on Liz in her unbelievably tight short denim shorts that hugged her perfect ass and showed off her toned legs.

She turned to look at me, sweat beading on her brow and a look of exasperation painted across her lips.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just trying to—”

“Star in the next episode of Hoarders?” I asked.

She blew out a long breath and then chuckled that sweet soul sound that made my heart skip a beat, and my cock harden.

“It looks like that, doesn’t it? No, this was our family house, and we used to be a much larger clan. The dining room table downstairs expands to seat more, and I was looking for the extensions and a few other odds and ends that will make life a little easier with more people here.”

“Are you just having trouble finding them?”

“No, I know where they are. I can see them. I can just reach them, but there’s so much stuff piled on top that I can’t get them out without the entire tower falling on me.”

“Let me help,” I said.

“You don’t have to. I should be able to—” She stretched up on her tiptoes and tried again to pull out the wooden boards from the pile. They didn’t move, but the things on top of them swayed ominously.

“Let me help,” I offered again, this time standing behind her and reaching out to steady the tower.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” She looked over her shoulder at me, and this close, I could see the flecks of gold in her eyes and smell the strawberries and sweet tea on her lips.

“I don’t mind being of use. I would mind if you got yourself hurt up here. Are the hospitals even operational yet?”

“They were a few months ago,” she shrugged as if she wasn’t a human and so very breakable. Did she maybe not realize how fragile she really was? Even Leif, being a halfling, would eventually become much stronger and faster. Leif would likely never know what it felt like to have a cold or any ailment, really. If he broke a bone or scraped his knee, like all children do, supernatural as well, the medical attention he would need would be minimal.

Looking down at Liz, in all her stubborn frustration and fragility, I wanted her more. My dragon brushed against my ribs, demanding we protect her and provide for her.

Supernaturals didn’t know the pain of being so frail, and she wouldn’t know the pain because I would protect her from everything that could possibly hurt her.

“You okay?” she asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah.” I smiled, shaking my head a little to clear it as I silently told my dragon to settle. “Just tell me what all you need.”

“Winning lottery ticket, new job, and my asshole neighbors to disappear,” she said while she looked up at the tower.

“Well, I can’t do anything about the lottery ticket. I’ll also be looking for a job in the next couple of weeks, so I can’t really help you out there. But I’m sure I can help you dig a hole big enough for all the neighbors in the backyard.” She laughed.

Fuck, I loved that sound. “In the meantime, how about you tell me what you need from this pile?”

She pointed out a few things, boxes and some wooden boards, and I brought them down and set them on the dusty floor.

“So, what do you do for a living?” she asked. Was she filling the silence, or was she as curious about me as I was about her? I had caught her checking out my body, her eyes lingering on my abs when I had to stretch to get a box and even straying to my ass a few times.

Normally, I didn’t like to be objectified, but with Liz, I loved every minute of it. Her eyes on me felt like a gentle caress, a promise of dirty things to come if I was lucky, and she liked what she saw.

“I do odd jobs here and there. Most of my time was spent on the back of my bike, moving around.”

“What kind of odd jobs?”

I knew it was the natural follow-up question, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to tell her. Sometimes, the odd jobs were menial labor, such as cleaning out abandoned houses or cleaning up after a construction crew. Other times, it was bar backing or unloading delivery trucks. None of that was glamorous, but it was honest work for honest pay.

Then there were the other things that I did, the less honest work. For several years in my later teens, I made a small fortune in underground boxing rings. For the most part, that was easy money; beating the crap out of steroid-ridden humans was simple, and I only had to let them hit me a few times to make it look good. Eventually, I made a name for myself in those rings, and everyone wanted a piece of me. That was fine with me. That meant more fights and more money. It also meant more notoriety, and soon enough, the bastard that had bought me at one point came looking to claim his property again.

Nothing about Liz told me I needed to hide that information from her, but I wasn’t ready to tell her either. Maybe, someday.

“Day labor mostly. I would go on Craigslist and find someone looking for a helping hand for a few days or a construction crew that just needed help to finish a big job, and make a couple of thousand dollars in a week or two and then live off of that until I needed to find a job again,” I shrugged. “My last one was only a few weeks ago, so I still have most of that, and it should last me for a bit at least until I figure out what I plan on doing. Now that I’m stuck in a single state.”

“That must be so hard for you,” she said, concern coloring her words. “Not having an endless road open to you anymore. Almost like you’re trapped in a box, a very large box, but still.”

“You know, I thought it would be, but the idea of settling down has been kind of weighing on me for a while. I just never had any idea where I wanted to settle. Nowhere ever felt like home. New Nebraska just gave me the shove I needed to really give a place a chance.”

“Was it lonely?” Liz’s eyes widened, and she looked down at the ground. I didn’t think she had actually meant to ask me that.

“Yes,” I said honestly. “That was the main reason I considered settling down. Finding a place where I belonged, and a family, has always been a pipe dream for me, and I decided that it was time to stop pretending I didn’t want it.”

It may have been too much, too soon to admit that, and I didn’t want to scare her off, but something told me that Liz could handle the truth. More than that, she would be upset if I gave her anything other than the whole truth. Somehow, I just knew she would not judge me for it. She would not look at me differently or treat me any differently if I showed her who I really was.

She was silent for a few more moments as I pulled down another box from the shelves for her to sort. We were only two boxes away from the extra pieces of the table.

“Since we’re being honest, can I ask you a personal question?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling. “It doesn’t mean I’ll answer, but you can ask.”

“Why did you stay here?”

“What do you mean? This is my home.”

“I get that, but all the other humans took off. The governments paid handsomely for their houses, so they left. Why didn’t you? Leif is a halfling, but he’s half-Fae, and they aren’t required to stay in New Nebraska. Why not start over in somewhere like Kansas or Texas?”

“I thought about it for all of thirty seconds. This house is everything to me. I got the chance to grow up here, and even though our situation wasn’t always great, I never had to worry about having a roof over my head or finding somewhere safe because I had this home. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Leif and I have the same upbringing or the same challenges that we have to face. But I don’t want him to face even more prejudice outside New Nebraska and I want him to know the good parts of our family. I feel like if we leave, we’re abandoning our roots.”

“Having roots must be nice,” I said, not looking up.

When I set the last box on the ground, I took a seat next to it and helped her open it to see what was inside. This one was full of kitchenware: large casserole dishes and serving platters, all carefully wrapped in newspaper from the ‘70s.

“Can I ask you another personal question?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Are you dating anyone?”

Her cheeks flushed a beautiful pink as she unwrapped another large baking dish.

“No, I’m not. I’m actually not looking for anything serious. I left a disappointing relationship a while back, and I’m not looking for another one.”

“Disappointing, how?” I wanted to rip apart any man who had ever disappointed her or made her feel any type of negative emotion. On the other hand, I also kind of wanted to hug the guy because where they had failed, I would not.

“Oh, you know. Youthful infatuation. Something starts out all hot and heavy, and you think it’s going to go somewhere, but they disappoint you and get distracted by a hot blonde that lives with you… your sister. The usual.”

“Your sister?”

“Yeah, my most serious boyfriend left me for her. The joke’s on her because he knocked her up and skipped town.”

“So you just have terrible taste in men?” I teased. This was the longest conversation I’d had since I could remember. Usually, I hated talking to people, answering their questions, or trying to come up with witty banter. But this was easy. This felt natural.

“I’m hoping my tastes are improving as I get older, but I still don’t know if it’s worth risking.” The way her eyes traveled up and down my body, I knew exactly what she was thinking, and my God, did it make me feel good.

“Well, that depends on what exactly you’re going to be risking. Are you talking about risking your heart, your peace of mind, your body?”

“You know, that’s a good point. Maybe I’m not ready to risk anything. Maybe I’m just looking to have a little fun.”

“And what kind of fun are you thinking about?” I was toying with her now, trying to get her flustered. I wanted to know if she would say it, and I wanted to see how far she would let me push her on this.

“Flirting, maybe a little more,” she said with a sly smile on her lips.

“What’s more?”

I thought I was in control; but she was letting me think I was the one toying with her. Because when she stood up and brushed the dust from her legs, I had no idea she was going to slide her body onto my lap, lace her fingers in my hair, and then pull my lips down to hers.

Her kiss was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted. She tasted like freedom of the wind blowing in your face and the sweetness of summer strawberries.

She may have initiated our kiss, but that didn’t mean I was going to let her keep control. I wanted her fiercely. Surely the best way to show her how I wanted her and what it would be like with me was to kiss her back.

My hands started on her knees and then slid up her toned thighs, sliding just under the hem of her shorts as I grabbed the outside of her thighs and yanked her body closer to mine. I could feel the damp heat coming from her core as she ground her hips into my hardening cock.

I slid my hands up the back of her shirt, touching her bare skin and holding her to me as I rolled us over so she was under me, her thighs still wrapped around my hips.

“Hope you don’t mind getting dirty,” I said, looking down into her eyes.

“I want to be so dirty for you, Malik.” She gazed back up at me, her expression so open and trusting.

“Oh fuck. Tell me to stop now,” I whispered in her ear before licking the delicate column of her throat.

“Please, don’t stop,” she gasped.

That was all the permission I needed. I pinned her under me, feeling every inch of her soft skin as I devoured her kisses.

Her moan of pleasure told me Liz wasn’t the kind of girl who wanted gentle. She wanted raw, desperate, and that was exactly what I wanted to give her.

But not here, not like this. She deserved better than a quick dirty fuck in a pile of dust.

She may not have known it yet, but I was her dragon, if she wanted me. And she was my angel.

With a strength I didn’t know I possessed, I pulled my lips from hers and stood up, lifting her with me. Her mouth went to my neck, teasing and working me up.

“Angel,” I gasped. “Let me take you to your room.”

She nodded, and I carried her out of the attic, down the stairs to her four-poster bed, and I laid her out on the sheets, ready to ravish her. I just kissed her again, and I had barely begun undressing her when there was a knock at her door.

Her eyes went from heavy-lidded and wide pupils to complete alertness.

“Hey, Liz. Can we talk? It’s about Leif, and it’s important,” Brock said from the other side of the door.

Her breath accelerated, her mind seeming to panic, as she realized we were going to be discovered by one of the other guys in the house.

It was probably for the best. She wanted casual, but my dragon told me we were going to be anything but casual. As soon as we got a taste, a real taste, we would never let our mate go.