Page 3 of New Nebraska Home

I had interviewed maybe a dozen different people, everything from shifters to elementals who entertained Leif by showing off their powers, even a vampire too. They were actually far nicer than I’d thought they be. But each time they smiled and shook my hand, and I told them I would be in touch, I turned to Leif. Every single time, Leif would give me wide eyes and shake his head no.

I didn’t know if being a halfling gave him special abilities, or if he just knew how to read people. But his intuition was never wrong, and this was his house, too. I wouldn’t make him live with someone he wasn’t comfortable with.

It was the fourth day of interviews, and I sat down at the dining room table absolutely exhausted. Watching the condensation drip down the glass of iced tea that I had just poured but didn’t have the energy to drink.

“Lizzie!” Leif came sliding into the room, almost falling on the tile flooring. “They’re here, they’re here! They’re perfect!”

“Who’s here? Neighbors?” I asked, thinking he must have been talking about the neighbors who bought the house down the way. The neighbors were close enough to see, but still down the street a spell.

“No, the perfect roommates!” He was shaking so hard with excitement he was practically vibrating.

I stood up to look through the living room to the front porch, where I saw two of the most gorgeous men I’d ever seen.

Nope. Absolutely not.

Men that pretty were never anything but trouble.

Brock

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

‘Don’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.

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