“Well, it makes me feel better knowing you’re nearby,” Melinda told him and yawned again. “Oh, I’m sorry—suddenly I’m so sleepy.”
“You’ve had a long couple of days and you got hardly any sleep the night you spent on the Mother Ship,” Liosh reminded her. “It’s all right, Talli—got to sleep now.”
“I will…” She yawned again. “But first tell me—what does ‘Talli’ mean? You’ve been calling me that all night.”
“Oh, well…” It was Liosh’s turn to be embarrassed. “It’s just a word in my native language that means ‘sweet little girl.’ I, uh, hope you don’t mind that I called you that.”
“No, I don’t mind. I think it’s nice.” Another sleepy smile showed her dimple again. “You can…can call me that if you want to.”
“All right.” Liosh smiled back in relief. He was glad the little nickname, which had just slipped out, hadn’t made her angry. It just seemed to fit her somehow. “Goodnight, Talli,” he murmured and, giving her blankets one last tuck, went to slip into the other bed himself.
The sheets felt clean and cool against his skin and after he turned off the bedside lamp, Liosh was able to press his face to the pillow and breathe in Melinda’s sweet scent. Oh no, he didn’t mind sleeping in her bed one bit.
He only wished she was sleeping in it with him.
Thirteen
Sleep was a long time in coming to Vorn. Every time he turned his head on the pillow, he smelled Jodi’s hot, sweet scent and it made him fucking hard all over again. Gods, what had she done—rolled all over this damn bed while she touched herself? It seemed like everything in the whole damn room smelled like her heat—it was driving him over the edge of sanity, Goddess-damn it!
With a low, frustrated growl, he took himself in hand again. How many times had he come now? Five? Seven? He’d lost count and still he was hard.
Kindred males were multi-orgasmic, not requiring any refractory period between orgasms before they could come again. Vorn had never before appreciated just exactly how inconvenient that fact of his anatomy could be until now, though. He just wanted to rest but Jodi’s hot scent wouldn’t let him.
It didn’t help that he was picturing her on the other side of the thin wall, doing the same thing. At least, he certainly hoped she was. He didn’t need a repeat of tonight’s performance.
Holding her in his lap and talking her down when she was so angry with him had been a risk, he knew that. But he’d had to try it in order to stay near her—in order to keep protecting her. Because as aggravating as the curvy little female was, he was damned if he’d leave her for the fucking Varians. She might think she could handle them on her own but Vorn knew better.
The talking down part had worked—well, sort of. It worked to the extent that he was still here in her domicile instead of out on the street. But damned if holding her hadn’t made her even hotter than she had been in the first place!
It didn’t make any sense but when he had restrained her in his lap and was talking in her ear, her scent had gotten even sharper and sweeter. Not only that but her pulse rate had doubled and her breathing had gotten short.
Either one of those could have been panic responses but unless having a panic attack made her pussy hot, Vorn knew that wasn’t the problem she’d been having.
Somehow holding her down had increased her heat. By the end it had been pure torture just being near her—just smelling her hot, wet pussy and knowing how badly she needed to be fucked.
She’s not mine and she doesn’t fucking want me, Vorn had to remind himself. She’s with another male.
He snorted. Right—a male who didn’t take care of her needs. And Jodi had admitted the bastard wouldn’t even go down on her! What was wrong with that idiot? How could he have a female that smelled that hot and sweet and not want to have a taste? If she belonged to Vorn, he’d have his head up her skirt every hour on the hour, lapping that sweet little cunt until she moaned and cried and rubbed against him, calling his name and pulling his hair while she came all over his face…
“Gods!” Vorn groaned aloud as his seed spurted all over his fist. He knew this was wrong—knew he shouldn’t be jerking off to fantasies of a female who belonged to another male. But somehow he couldn’t seem to stop himself.
This is it, though, he told himself sternly. The last fucking time. No more tonight—have to get some sleep or I’ll be dead on my feet tomorrow!
Reaching for the undershirt he was using for the purpose, he cleaned himself up again and tried once more to get to sleep. His eyes started to close and then, in the darkness, he heard something.
Frowning, he sat up and put his ear to the wall that separated his bedroom from Jodi’s. The sound was coming from there.
After a moment, he heard it again—a low moan so full of sexual frustration it made his still-rigid shaft ache with sympathy.
“Damn it!” he heard Jodi mutter to herself, probably talking in a voice she thought was too low for him to hear. Of course, she had no idea how sensitive Kindred senses were—especially once a Kindred warrior was attuned to a particular subject, as Vorn was—regrettably—attuned to her.
“Damn it, it’s no good. I can’t,” he heard her mutter.
Can’t what? Vorn wondered. Can’t get off?
That seemed to be the case because after a moment, he heard a very faint buzzing sound followed by soft but heavy panting, as though Jodi was trying to keep herself quiet as she tried to come.
There was more buzzing and more panting and then a frustrated curse and the
