“Oh!” Melinda gave a little gasp at the sudden upward trajectory and put her arms around his neck to hold on.
Still smiling, Liosh carried her the few feet from the small loveseat into the dormitory’s bedroom.
“Which bed is yours?” he asked, looking at the two sleeping platforms there. One was somewhat larger than the other but both had colorful quilts and blue sheets on them.
“Oh, I usually sleep in the full bed—that’s the bigger one,” Melinda explained. “But you’re so much bigger than me—you take it and I’ll sleep in the twin—that’s the little one,” she added.
Liosh frowned. “I do not wish to turn you out of your own bed.”
What he actually wanted was to have Melinda sleep with him, curled up against his side as warm and trusting as she had been on the couch. But of course, he couldn’t ask for that. She had to come to him on her own—had to trust him enough to be vulnerable even in her sleep.
“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!
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 sound of something thrown across the room.
A picture formed in Vorn’s mind—the curvy little female lying on her bed, her legs spread as she played with her pussy using a vibrator. But for some reason she wasn’t able to get there—couldn’t quite reach the peak. In sheer frustration, she must have thrown the little toy across the room.
His guess was confirmed when he heard the soft pad of her feet on the hardwood floor and then the scraping sound as she picked up the toy she’d thrown.
“Great,” he heard her mutter. “Two broken in one night. Now what am I supposed to do?”
Well, one thing she apparently wouldn’t be doing was getting off, Vorn thought grimly. Which meant tomorrow was going to be every bit as bad as today—possibly even worse since Jodi’s sexual frustration would have grown.
He wondered again if she’d needed the purple phallus he had broken to help her get off. He’d been serious when he asked if she needed to have her pussy filled to have an orgasm. Most females needed clitoral stimulation more than anything, but there were some that just really needed to have a shaft deep in them, filling them to the hilt in order to reach their peak. Maybe Jodi was one of those—maybe he should have insisted she take the long purple phallus with her.
Except you broke it, a little voice in his head reminded him. You broke the damn thing and it might be the only way she has to get off. Great…just great.
Turning his head to the side, he tried to get to sleep again. But he couldn’t get the image of Jodi’s tight little pussy stretched by a thick shaft out of his mind.
The trouble was, in his imagination, the shaft stretching her out was his…
Jodi sighed and gave up trying to come. No matter what she did, it just wasn’t happening. The frustrating thing was, she could get right up to the edge…and then lose the impending climax completely for no apparent reason.
It’s the case of the amazing disappearing orgasm, folks, she thought dryly as she examined the broken vibrator in the palm of her hand.
It was only a little finger-vibe—the cheap kind they gave you as an “extra bonus gift” when you ordered from that big sex toy site online. It was too weak to do her much good and barely the width of the finger it was named for, so Jodi didn’t know how she had expected it to get her off anyway. But being around the big, obnoxious Kindred made her so unreasonably hot, she’d thought that maybe just this once, it might do the job.
Well think again, she told herself. Admit it, Jodi—you can’t come without your props and toys.
It was sad and sick but it was also true. What she needed to get off were all the things tucked neatly away in the spare-room closet, where Vorn was doubtless fast asleep by now. Although a few minutes ago, she had heard him say something and give a low groan. Was he having bad dreams…or jerking off?
Jodi tried not to think about it. Instead, she concentrated on her own problem.
One of the reasons she’d decided to become a sex therapist was because she’d always had an intense interest in alternate forms of sexuality—specifically BDSM.
She’d read 9 ½ Weeks by the time she was thirteen. She could still remember the powerful sense of her own awakening sexuality when she devoured the dog-eared little paperback loaned to her by an older student. Her pussy had clenched at the parts of the book where the narrator’s lover ties her up or handcuffs her to the table. A few years later, she’d managed to rent the movie when her parents were out of town for one of her dad’s seminars and had been intrigued by the blindfolding scenes and the use of the riding crop.
From almost the minute she began to have sexual urges, Jodi had known she wasn’t cut out for a “vanilla” lifestyle. But just as she had finally gotten old enough to get out of the house and started exploring the kink community (which was quite large in Tampa) that awful thing had happened to Melli.
Seeing her sister’s trauma and pain had effectively shut Jodi down. How could she possibly desire some of the same things that had happened to her little sister—things which had nearly caused Melli to want to end herself?
For months, Melli had teetered on the brink of suicide and Jodi, full of guilt, had kept her secret and done her best to keep her little sister safe. She had submerged the part of herself that longed for black leather instead of lace and thrown herself into helping Melli recover.
And it had worked—Melli might still have some physical issues, but she was mentally in a much better place than she had been. She still wouldn’t date, but she had regained her appetite and seemed happier than she had been in a long time. Jodi was really happy for her and hoped that eventually her little sister would make a full recovery.
But in the meantime, she had been trying to live a vanilla life for so long, she’d almost forgotten she was interested in kink in the first place. Ironically, it was James who had reminded her of her old desires.
It was because sex with her fiancé was so very boring and humdrum that Jodi had gone looking to spice things up…and had found that old, dog-eared copy of 9 ½ Weeks again.
During the bad time with Melli, she had buried her true desires so deeply she had almost managed to convince herself they didn’t even exist. But flipping through the pages and reading snatches of the book which had wakened her sexually in the first place, Jodi felt the first new stirrings of desire she’d felt in a long, long time.
She’d tried to introduce the idea to James—suggesting that they try blindfolding each other or asking him in a careful, round-about way how he felt about bondage or spanking. She’d even suggested that they try going to one of the many kink clubs down in Ybor city, the historic part of Tampa.
James had thrown cold water over her attempts immediately.
“Really, darling—spanking?” he’d asked, an incredulous little smirk playing around the corners of his mouth. “As though you were a naughty school-girl? How juvenile! And why would we want to go to one of those grimy clubs where they have sticky floors and everyone dresses like it’s Halloween all year round?”
Jodi had felt ashamed and had withdrawn her ideas at once. James could be cuttingly sarcastic when he wanted to be and she didn’t care to get into a fight with him about this. So spicing up her sex life with her fiancé was a no-go. Still, she had to do something—after years of suppressing her sex drive and her true desires, she was going crazy!
And so, the “playroom” was born. Jodi began spending all her extra cash on various accoutrements that struck her fancy. It wasn’t hard to do—since the 50 Shades phenomenon, everything was readily available on the Internet so it wasn’t like she had to go to some sleazy store with no windows and shop in person.
She got sexy outfits like her red, demi-cup leather corset and the black latex dress, not to mention some thigh-high black boots and a riding crop just like the one in the old 9 ½ Weeks movie she’d liked so much when she was younger. A collar that said sex kitten was next and then came the toys…all the wonderful toys.
Some of them were quite expensive. Jodi was working as a TA and didn’t have a lot of cash, though it helped that James paid the rent on the apartment. Sometimes she saved for weeks or even months to get a particular toy that she really wanted. She sighed sadly thinking of the now defunct python which had filled her pussy so delightfully.
One of Jodi’s favorite things to do was go home, put on one of her many naughty outfits, and parade around the apartment. (Only on nights James wasn’t home, of course.) She would watch herself in the mirrors she had set up in nearly every room, sometimes spreading her thighs and feeding a long, thick toy into her pussy, watching, mesmerized, as the girl in the mirror did the same.
As she did, she imagined a range of scenarios and fantasies—imagined being tied down by a cr
uel master, spanked or punished in some other way. Perhaps he would make her suck his cock, or maybe he would tie her legs apart and lick her pussy until she was trembling and begging to come.
The possibilities were endless and the orgasms were many. When she was dressed in her kink clothes and had her toys to help her, Jodi could be multi-orgasmic and enjoy every minute of it.
The problem was, though, she appeared to have become kind of addicted to her own little sexual fantasy world. Deprived of it, she couldn’t seem to get to where she was going. Each and every impending orgasm simply melted into thin air, leaving Jodi so frustrated she could almost cry!
She felt like crying now, she needed to come so badly. That big bastard, Vorn, had no idea what he had done to her when he’d held her down and whispered those dirty things in her ear! In one way he’d fulfilled a fantasy she’d had for years…and yet left her wanting at the same time. How could he be so cruel, damn him?
Deep down, Jodi was pretty sure that Vorn had no idea what intense desires he had stirred in her. But this whole situation still felt like it was his fault. If it wasn’t for him, she could have gotten the privacy she needed to get off properly, the way she needed to. Instead, he had invaded her home and now he was keeping her from meeting her needs—needs even he admitted she had!
Damn the big asshole, how much longer was he going to be here? And how could she take care of herself until he was gone?
Jodi didn’t have an answer for that. She only knew she had an itch that she couldn’t scratch and it was driving her crazy.
Sighing, she turned on her pillow and tried to go to sleep.
Fourteen
Melli woke up to the smell of something delicious in the air. Mmmm…what was that?
She sat up in bed and frowned when she saw she was sleeping in the twin bed instead of the full one, which was where she usually slept. What was she doing here?
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