Page 2 of New Nebraska Home (New Nebraska)

Brock

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME HUMANS COULD BE SO HOT?

‘D on’t look at his butt, don’t look at his butt, don’t look at his butt. He is your best friend for the love of God. Do not look at his ass,’ I repeated over and over in my head, as Callum took the lead marching up the stairs to a gorgeous farmhouse.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with,” the grumpy vampire said, urging me to follow him. Of course, the second I opened my eyes, I looked directly at his perfect, round, chiseled ass. It wasn’t fair. Straight men should not have asses that just begged for someone to sink their teeth into. It was a waste of a perfectly good ass. I mean, I guess women could enjoy the view a little bit, but they didn’t have the same level of appreciation for a perfectly formed backside as a man did.

I should have felt bad about checking out my best friends behind, but you know what? I deserved it.

He had dragged me to twelve different houses in this area with rooms for rent. He wouldn’t tell me why he wanted to move here. We had the entire state at our beck and call, including Omaha. Omaha at least had a few high-rises and the amenities that I was used to. Larger cities, although far more crowded, offered a little more privacy. It was like everyone was always so close they stayed out of each other’s way.

A small town like this? I mean, it was cute and all, but you just knew everyone was in everyone else’s business. Not that big of a deal to me. I loved gossip and could thrive. My nana taught me well, but Mr. Grumpy Vampire? Hell no. He was always like ‘I need quiet time to read and think and ponder the mysteries of the universe’ or whatever he did when he brooded in silence. Why was that so hot?

I shook those thoughts out of my head, pushing them aside with the several mental snapshots I took of his ass in those tight jeans, walking upstairs, and went back to the issue at hand. I mean, really, did this little homey downtown even have a pool? A water elemental, especially a powerful siren like me, needed to swim.

“Why are you so determined to check this place out? We both know you’re going to hate it. You hate everything. You hated the modern duplex in the middle of town—”

“I do not want to share a wall with a wolf pack. They howl,” he interrupted.

“You didn’t want to move into the colonial on the other side of town,” I replied, continuing like he hadn’t said anything.

“Too many mosquitoes. I want to be the only bloodsucker in my house.”

“Then what was wrong with the tiny ranch house a few blocks from town?” I raised my eyebrow and put my hands on my hips, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and looking up at him.

“It—”

“It what?” I asked, looking at this gorgeous brown hair that was slicked back an hour or two ago, but the humidity had defeated whatever he’d put in his hair, and tendrils now hung down around his eyes.

I liked it when he looked like this, a little disheveled, a little messy. His five o’clock shadow was coming in strong, and the ring of red around his eyes glowing a bit with hunger. I often wondered if this was what he looked like first thing in the morning. When I’d first met him, dancing in a Manhattan nightclub, he’d given the impression of flawless and eternal perfection. Now though, a little haggard, a little less put together, he was just as… edible. Nope. No. Bad thoughts, bad bad thoughts.

“It—” he said, wavering a little.

“I’m waiting.” I pushed aside the latest inappropriate thoughts of my best friend. The ones that had been relentless in the last week. God, I was getting on my own nerves. It was probably because this was the first time since I’d met him, he’d been single. He wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened with Pandora and the coven he should have been staying with but, without her draped over his arm, it was harder to ignore his pull.

I’d always been attracted to him. I mean, I had eyes. Lately, however, it had been harder and harder to push those feelings aside. It had been a while since my last relationship. Once we got settled, I was going to have to find something new. Though I doubted any man, even in a supernatural state, could compete with the vampire in front of me.

Maybe I’d go after a woman this time. It had been a while since I’d had a woman underneath me, panting and praising me. Though I did generally prefer the hard bodies and cut lines of the male form, there was something to be said about the soft curves and generous give of a woman’s body, and boobs. God, boobs were awesome.

“It had bad vibes,” Callum finally said. I threw my hands up in exhaustion.

“You’re a vampire. You are the bad vibes.”

“Let’s just please check out this place,” he said, sounding exasperated with my bullshit. He was going to be getting hangry soon, so this was probably going to be our last stop of the day.

“Can I help you?” A sweet voice came from the front of the house and I moved to look around Callum.

Holy fuck, what was she? Other than the mouthwatering answers to my prayers.

“We’re responding to the ad for the extra rooms. Are they still available?” Callum asked, taking the lead as I stood there staring.

I couldn’t say anything. The creature that walked out of that door was sun-kissed perfection. Her light brown hair hung around her high cheekbones, and the most stunning blue eyes I‘d ever seen. They reminded me of the waters around Cyprus, my family home, bright blue and endless. My mouth went dry as I stared intently.

I anticipated her scent, something like the sea and happiness. I was dying to get closer and find out. It wasn’t until Callum cleared his throat that I was pulled out of whatever daze I’d fallen into.

“Yes, the rooms are still available. Would you like a tour?” she said sweetly, but something in her posture made me think we weren’t entirely welcome. Clearly, I had to turn on the charm. Callum could have influenced her with his gifts, but he never did that with humans, calling it unethical and dull.

“I am so sorry.” I finally managed to find my tongue. “What is your name? I missed it.”

“Liz, and you are?”

“Brock Rivers, water elemental. This is Callum McCoy, master vampire.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” She held the door open for us to step past her.

“If you don’t mind me asking, are you…” I let my voice trail off so she could fill in the blank if she chose to.

“Perfectly average human.” She smiled. “Is that a problem?”

It was absolutely a problem if she thought she was average. Granted, I hadn’t spent a lot of time with humans, but there was no way this woman was run of the mill. She was a goddess in any circle. Why had no one told me human women could be this hot?

“Of course not.” I gave her what I hoped was a warm smile. “I was just curious. Usually I can tell.”

She nodded like she didn’t quite believe me. “My little brother, who also lives here, is half-Fae, if it matters,” she said as she pushed in front of us to lead us through her home.

“It doesn’t,” I said, getting myself mentally ready, preparing myself for Callum’s rejection.

There was no way he was going to want to live in a place with some wild half-human teenager. That was his major complaint about three of the places that we’d seen. There were babies. They would scream all day and night. There were teenagers they would play loud music. My favorite, was “There are toddlers, they’re always sticky, Brock. Why are they always sticky?” Okay, that last one had me laughing hard enough to make my sides ache and earn a scowl.

When a cute little boy peaked his head out from the top of the stairs, I was ready for Callum to see him and turn around. The kid was seven, maybe six, and adorable. How a woman who looked in her twenties had a sibling with such a significant age gap, I wasn’t sure. The kid gave me a funny look and because I was the mature, responsible adult I was, I stuck my tongue out at him, making him giggle and disappear behind a corner.

Since I knew Callum would be absolutely against living here, I didn’t really pay that much attention to the tour, just following along mindlessly. Until the child started following too, sneaking around corners and hiding in doorways, peering at us.

At first, I pretended I didn’t see the child spying on us, then I would slowly look over and he would dart away. It became our own little game. I was kind of having fun. Every time I caught him, I made a face, and he made it one back. This kid was good people, I liked him.

“How long is the lease?” Callum asked Liz as he shot me an exhausted look that told me to behave. “We’re looking at the entire finished basement? Correct?”

“Yes, the finished basement has two bedrooms, and a living room, with wall-to-wall built-in bookshelves. As well as a bathroom. It does also have its own entrance, and of course, you would have full access to the shared rooms on this first floor like the kitchen, the other bathroom, living room, dining room, etc,” Liz said. “As far as the terms for the lease, that’s all negotiable. Are you two looking to build your own house locally, or just taking time for escrow?”

“No, I have no plans to buy a house in the immediate future.” A flash of pain crossed his face, probably from remembering his separation from his coven, which had been years in the making. He didn’t like to talk about their falling out very much. I’d only managed to tease scant details about it, over the years I’d known him. Apparently, his fellow vamps had found him too moralistic, too straightlaced, after he’d been strongly against their growing involvement in drug dealing operations, something like that. I guessed pallets of drug money talked a lot louder than Cal had. “I assume the pool is also a shared space?”

“Pool?” I asked. There was a pool? How had I missed the pool?

“Yes.” She smiled. “It’s in the back. It’s not much, an aboveground pool, but we built a deck around it, and I keep it clean. Leif loves to spend a lot of his time in there during the summer, so it’s well maintained.”

“That sounds amazing.” I looked through the cute kitchen past the glass sliding doors to the surprisingly big pool. It wasn’t an open ocean, but Nebraska was landlocked, so it would do.

Callum looked at me again, this time with a question in his eyes. I couldn’t believe he was silently asking me if I was okay with this place. How was he not running through the door? I gave him a nod of approval before sticking my tongue out at the kid again. He thumbed up his nose at me and ran off.

“I promise I’ll keep Leif upstairs,” Liz said, like she was worried he would be a problem.

“That would be appreciated,” Cal answered at the same time I said, “It’s fine.”

“If it’s okay with you,” Cal rolled his eyes at me and turned back to Liz, “we’ll take it. How soon can we move in?”

“Why don’t we look at the lease together?” Her voice jumped a little like she was trying to control her excitement. I was too.

“You have an office?” I asked.

“I have a kitchen table. That works just fine,” she said, leading us back upstairs. I really should have paid more attention to the tour.

It took about fifteen minutes to go through the details, and when Callum paid her the first, last and deposit up front, Liz looked like she was going to cry.

She handed over the keys, including one to our own private entrance around back, then she smiled widely, hesitated for a moment, and leaned in to give Callum a hug.

He stiffened under her touch, but she was so excited I didn’t think she noticed. It wasn’t her fault he didn’t like to be touched by people he didn’t know very well.

When she leaned in to hug me, I wrapped my arms around her, showing Callum how it was done. She settled perfectly into my arms, her much smaller frame softening against me like a cozy cashmere sweater. Then the strangest thing happened. A shot of power surged through my body, making my spine stiffen and my knees weak.

I almost reached out for the kitchen table to steady myself.

She didn’t seem to notice as she pulled back with that same wide smile then reached over for the pen I still had clasped in my hand.

I braced myself, eager to feel the sensation again. But the delicious energy that had flooded my body had disappeared as quick as it came.

What the Hell was that.

And could I make it happen again?