Chuckling, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and briefly pulled her in for a hug. “You can be an annoying chatterbox, but I love you, too.”

Dee slapped my arm as she stepped back, once again smiling. “Don’t be too late.”

I nodded and then watched her dart into the house. Dee rarely did anything slowly. She’d always been the one with the endless energy. Dawson had been the laidback one. And I was—I laughed under my breath—the jerkface one.

We’d been triplets.

Now we were just twins.

Several moments passed as I stared at the spot my sister had stood in. She was one of the only things left on this planet that I genuinely cared about. I turned my attention back to the house. I wasn’t even going to lie to myself about this. The moment Dee realized it was a girl next door, she was going to be all over her like barnacles on a hull—a crusty, seen-better-days hull. And no one could resist my sister. She was a damn fluffy ball of hyped-up sunshine.

We lived among humans, but we didn’t get close to them for a metric ton of reasons. And I wasn’t going to let Dee make the same mistake that Dawson had. I’d failed Dawson, but that wasn’t going to happen to Dee. I would do anything to keep her alive and safe. Anything.

Chapter 2

Pressing my forehead against the glass, I cursed under my breath, mainly because I was staring out the window—at that house. Waiting. I was waiting. There were better things to do than this. Like beating my head against cement. Or listening to Dee describe in painful detail every intricate and disturbingly personal attribute of each of those guys in that band she loved.

I forced myself away from the window, yawning as I rubbed my palm along my jaw. Damn near three days later and a part of me still couldn’t believe people had moved into the house next door. Could be worse, I decided in that moment. Our new neighbor could be a dude. Then I’d have to lock Dee in her bedroom.

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.

Man, did I love peaches, all sweet and sticky.

My gaze dropped. She was short—shorter than I’d realized. The top of her head only came up to my chest. Maybe that was why she was staring at it. Or maybe it was the fact I hadn’t had the inkling to put on my shirt.

I knew she liked what she saw. Everyone did. Ash had once said it was the combination of dark, wavy hair and green eyes, the hard jaw and full lips. Sexy, she’d said. I was hot. Might sound arrogant, but it was the truth.