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“I don’t mind,” Melinda told him. “Oh…” She bit her lip. “The only thing is, I haven’t changed the sheets yet this week. And I’m afraid my spare set is in the dirty clothes hamper—along with most of my clothes.” She made a face. “I really have to do a load of laundry.”
“It doesn’t bother me sleeping in sheets you’ve slept in,” Liosh told her. In fact, quite the opposite. If he couldn’t hold her, the next best thing would be smelling her sweet scent on the pillows and sheets around him all night.
“Well…if you really don’t mind.” Melinda looked troubled. “My mom would skin me alive—she always said you have to offer a guest a nice clean room when they come to stay.”
“But you didn’t know you would be having a guest,” Liosh pointed out. “Truly, Melinda—I don’t mind. Now here—let’s get you tucked in.”
Stooping down with her still in his arms, he helped her slide between the sheets of the smaller bed and then tugged the colorful quilt up to her chin.
“There,” he said, smiling down at her. “All tucked in.”
“Yes, I am.” She smiled back at him sleepily and yawned. “Thank you, Liosh—this has been the nicest night I can remember.”
“I feel the same way,” Liosh murmured. On impulse, he leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead again. “May your sleep be sweet and your dreams be beautiful,” he told her. “Never fear in the night for I am near.”
Her smile widened, showing that distracting little dimple again.
“I like that—where did you hear it?”
“My mother used to say it to me when she put me to bed when I was little,” Liosh told her. “I went through a period where I had night terrors that woke me up. But knowing she was nearby and that I was safe always made me feel better.”
“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!
