Or at least it could have been a girl who looked like a dude. That would’ve been helpful, but oh no, she didn’t look like a guy at all. She was average, I reminded myself, but definitely not a dude.
With a wave of my hand, I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels until I found a repeat of Ghost Investigators. I’d seen this episode before, but it was always fun watching the humans run out of the house because they thought they saw something glowing. I lounged on the couch with my legs on the coffee table and tried to forget about the girl with not-so-average tan legs and a killer ass.
I’d seen her a total of two times before today.
Obviously the day she moved in, when I’d been a dumbass and helped her from afar. I wanted to punch myself in the gonads for that. Sure, she didn’t know that I’d lessened the weight of the boxes so she didn’t fall right over, but I shouldn’t have done it. I knew better.
I’d seen her yesterday. She’d dashed out toward a sedan and grabbed a stack of books out of the car. Her face had lit up with the biggest smile, as if the leaning tower of books were really a million bucks.
It was all very—not cute. What the hell was I thinking? Not cute at all.
Man, it was hot in here. Leaning forward, I grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled it over my head. I tossed it to the side and idly rubbed my chest. I’d been walking around shirtless more than ever since she’d moved in.
Wait. I’d seen her three times if I counted seeing her through the window last night.
Dammit, I needed to get out and do something. Preferably something that required working up one hell of a sweat.
Before I knew it, I’d stalked across the room and ended up right in front of the window. Again. I didn’t want to examine why too closely.
I brushed the curtain aside, scowling. Hadn’t even spoken to the girl and I felt like a stalker staring out the window, waiting once more…waiting for what? To catch a glimpse of her? Or to better prepare myself for the inevitable meeting?
If Dee saw me now, she’d be on the floor laughing.
And if Ash saw me right now, she’d scratch out my eyes and blast my new neighbor into outer space. Ash and her brothers had arrived from Lux about the same time as we did, and a relationship just sort of…happened…more from proximity than I could honestly say real emotion. We hadn’t dated for months, but I knew she still expected that we’d end up together eventually. Not because she really wanted me, but it was expected of us…so of course she probably didn’t want me with anyone else. I still cared for her, though, and I couldn’t remember a time without her and her brothers around.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning slightly, I saw the screen door on the wide porch next door swing shut. Shit.
I shifted my gaze and caught her hurrying off the porch.
I wondered where she was going. Not much to do around here, and it wasn’t like she knew anyone. There hadn’t been any traffic next door, with the exception of her mom coming and going at odd hours.
The girl stopped in front of her car, smoothing her hands down her shorts. My lips curved up at the corners.
All of a sudden, she veered toward the left, and I straightened. I fisted my hand around the curtain, and my breath got stuck somewhere in my chest. No, she was not coming over here. She had no reason. Dee didn’t even realize there was a girl here yet. No reason…
Oh hell, she was coming here.
Letting go of the curtain, I backed away from the window and turned toward the front door. I closed my eyes, counting the seconds and reminding myself of the valuable lesson learned at Dawson’s expense. Humans were dangerous to us. Just being around them was a risk—getting too close to a human inevitably ended with one of us leaving a trace of the Source on them. And since Dee was obsessed with befriending anything that breathed, it would be especially dangerous for this girl. She lived right next door, and there’d be no way I could control how much time Dee spent with her.
And then there was the fact that I’d been, you know, watching her. That could possibly be a problem. I clenched my fists at my sides.
My sister wouldn’t have the same fate as Dawson. There was no way I could bear the loss of her, and it had been a human girl who had brought him down, led an Arum right to him. Time and time again it had happened with our kind. It wasn’t necessarily the human’s fault, but the end result was always the same. I refused to let anyone put Dee in danger, unknowingly or not. It didn’t matter. Throwing out my hand, I flung the coffee table across the room but caught myself and pulled back just before it crashed into the wall. Taking a deep breath, I settled it back down on four legs.
A soft, almost tentative knock rapped against our front door. Shit.
I exhaled roughly. Ignore it. That was what I needed to do, but I was moving toward the door, opening it before I even knew it. A rush of warm air washed over my skin, carrying the faint scent of peach and vanilla.