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“I never came home because my mother’s house was attacked by aliens,” Jodi hissed under her breath. “I wound up on the Mother Ship and now I have this huge Kindred warrior following me everywhere I go!”
“Oh yes, forgive me, darling—you did say something about that, didn’t you?” James sighed and shook his head. “You’ll have to pardon me—you know by now how it is living with an absent-minded genius.”
Genius? Vorn snorted a laugh and quickly turned it into a cough when Jodi shot him a suspicious glance from the other side of the restaurant.
“Where is this Kindred guard of yours, anyway?” James asked.
“There.” Jodi pointed at Vorn, who looked down and pretended to be interested in the rest of his sandwich.
“Well—he is a big fellow, isn’t he?” James raised his eyebrows and then looked away dismissively. “All brawn and no brains, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m sorry you’ve been saddled with such a big oaf, my dear.”
Vorn felt a low growl rise in the back of his throat but restrained himself. The asshole clearly didn’t know what in the Seven Hells he was talking about. Better to just let it pass.
“Vorn’s not stupid,” Jodi protested, to his surprise. “It’s just…awkward having a strange man, er male, in the spare room while you’re away.”
“Well, I’m sure he’s there for your own protection.” James patted her hand patronizingly. “And hopefully it won’t be for long.”
“Hopefully,” Jodi muttered, echoing him. “Well, what about if you come back to the apartment for an hour before you have to go to the airport?” she asked. “We could have some alone time then.”
She’s all but begging for it! Vorn shot a glance at her pretty, pleading face. What he saw was a female deep in need, asking the male she trusted and loved to service her.
But James seemed to see nothing but an inconvenience.
“Sorry, darling, but you know what a pain it is getting through security,” he said, frowning. “I’m afraid there just won’t be time. But don’t worry…” He patted her hand again. “We’ll have a bit of ‘alone time’ when I get back. I promise.”
“Okay.” Jodi sank back in her seat looking deflated and unhappy but again, James didn’t appear to notice that anything was wrong.
“Well, I ought to be getting back to the lab,” he said, standing up and patting the pockets of his lab coat as though to be sure everything was in place. When he was certain it was, he nodded at Jodi. “Give me a kiss goodbye since I won’t see you for a while, Darling.”
Jodi rose automatically and put her arms around him. James gave her a cold, dry kiss on the cheek and then left, humming to himself in apparent unconcern for the woman he had left behind.
Jodi on the other hand, sank slowly down in her seat and heaved a sigh before starting to stack up the dishes and silverware into a neat pile. Though she irritated the ever-loving-piss out of him, Vorn couldn’t stand to see the curvy little female looking so down.
Getting up, he dumped his own dish in the receptacle for it and slid into the booth across from her where James had been sitting.
“Had a good lunch?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Fine,” Jodi said shortly. “It was nice to see James again.”
“I’m sure it was,” Vorn said neutrally. Then he couldn’t be neutral anymore. “If you don’t mind my asking, what in the Seven Hells do you see in that guy?”
Jodi bristled at once.
“I see a sweet, kind man that I’m going to marry—not that it’s any of your business!”
“Really? Because he didn’t seem all that ‘sweet’ to me,” Vorn growled. “He talked about himself the whole time—could barely be bothered to listen to you, even after the shit you’ve been through lately. He even forgot you’d been attacked by Varians, for the Goddess’s sake!”
“James has a lot on his mind—he’s brilliant,” Jodi snapped. “He can’t be expected to remember every little thing.”
“Hate to break it to you, but brilliant he’s not,” Vorn said flatly. “I was listening in and that little theory he was telling you is wrong from start to finish. If you tried to fly through space using his math, you’d wind up sideways in the middle of a worm hole. Which, believe me, you don’t want to do.”
“So you were listening to us? The whole time?” Jodi’s face was scarlet with mortification and rage.
Uh-oh… Vorn knew he should never have admitted such a thing but now the cat was out of the pot, as the humans said. Or some kind of saying to that effect.
“Couldn’t help it,” he said shortly. “I can’t not hear you if I’m in the same room with you—I’m fucking attuned to you, sweetheart.”
“That’s a lie! You were listening on purpose,” Jodi accused him.
Vorn glared at her.
