“But I have to teach today!” she protested. “And then I’m having lunch with James.”
“Oh, the fiancé, right? I’ll be interested to meet him,” Vorn remarked. He still wondered what kind of amazing specimen Jodi’s mate-to-be was. He must have some pretty remarkable attributes to make up for the fact that he didn’t go down on her or satisfy her sexually in any way.
“Nobody invited you to have lunch with us!” Jodi’s face had flushed red as though she could read his thoughts and knew they weren’t complimentary to James in any way.
“Fine, I won’t,” Vorn had growled. “I’ll just sit at the next table over and mind my own business while I guard your pretty little ass from any Varians who might be trying to sniff you out.”
Jodi had stiffened at his allusion to her bewitching but very prominent scent and Vorn wished he could call the words back. He might as well have accused her of not getting off to lessen her scent, as she had promised to do—though he was pretty sure she had at least tried.
“Look,” he began. “I didn’t mean—”
“Never mind.” Jodi held up a hand to stop him. “You can come with me if you have to—just stay in the background.” Her face was frozen into a mask of irritation but it was clear she didn’t want to fight.
Which was a relief to Vorn. After their exchange the night before, he was happy to have some peace.
They had ridden to the USF campus together, Vorn driving and trying to ignore her sweet, strong scent that called to him so alluringly. It was like a low, feminine voice whispering naughty things in his ear every minute he was in close proximity to her and it nearly drove him fucking crazy.
To judge from the way Jodi was shifting around in her seat and clenching her thighs together, she was a mass of un-met needs as well. But neither one of them said anything about it and it was a great relief to Vorn when they finally parked and exited the car.
Jodi was a TA, and also taught some of the lower level classes so Vorn sat in the back of the room and just watched her teach. She looked damned sexy in the black pencil skirt and white silk blouse she was wearing but he was listening too—not just looking. He was surprised at how interesting her classes were—especially the Counseling class she was teaching.
Her lecture that day had to do with the five love languages—words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, acts of service, and thoughtful gifts.
“Now, the reason to know about the love languages in couples’ counseling is that you’ll need to teach your clients to show love to their partners in the way their partners can internalize it,” she said, pacing up and down the lecture hall while the students scribbled notes or tapped furiously on their laptops. “Because everyone shows love in their own love language—but it doesn’t always translate to their partner’s love language. For instance, an acts of service husband might take out the trash and mow the lawn but if his wife’s primary love language is words of affirmation and he never tells her that she’s beautiful or intelligent or wonderful or that he’s proud of her, she’s going to feel unloved.”
Vorn thought that made a lot of sense. You had to show love in a way the other person could appreciate it. Though it seemed kind of sad that humans had to be taught this principle. Kindred didn’t have to worry about finding out their partner’s love language because when you had a deep and intense mental and emotional bond to your mate, you didn’t have to ask—you just knew what they wanted or needed at any given time.
“Now, I want you to pair up with at least one other person,” Jodi told the class. “And try to find out each other’s primary and secondary love languages. Here’s a hint if you’re paired with a guy,” she went on, “Almost all of them crave physical touch, if you know what I mean.”
The class broke out into laughter and Vorn smiled himself, liking the easy way she handed herself and managed the class. Truly, she was a formidable female and fiercely intelligent too.
As the students worked, Jodi came over to where he was sitting, “auditing the class” which is what she’d told him to say if anyone asked what he was doing there.
“Well?” She raised her eyebrows, arms crossed over her full breasts. “What do you think? Are you enjoying the class?”
“Yes, I am,” Vorn said honestly. “The love languages thing is fucking interesting.” He gave her a level look. “Though I think it’s safe to say that males aren’t the only once who crave physical touch.”
Jodi flushed, her cheeks going red. But she lifted her chin and refused to look away.
“If you’re referring to my love language, don’t bother, Kindred. I have a fiancé, remember?”
“As if you’d ever let me forget,” Vorn growled. “When do I get to meet this idiot who won’t go down on you?”
“Shhh!” Jodi hissed, looking around to make sure none of her students had heard him. “I told you, you don’t get to meet him. We’re having lunch at the Panera on campus after this class but if you want to come you have to promise to stay at a different table and don’t talk to me or interfere in my conversation with James.”
“Your wish is my command, Mistress,” Vorn growled sarcastically. “The Goddess forbid I should bother you while you’re eating pastry with the male who won’t eat your pussy.”
“Stop it, will you?” Jodi snapped under her breath. “What makes you think that even matters to me? Lots of guys don’t go down. Why is it such a big deal?”
“It might not be if your primary love language was ‘words of affirmation’ or ‘thoughtful gifts,’” Vorn remarked, throwing her own lesson back at her. “But you and I both know that’s not true, sweetheart. And if you’re with a male who isn’t even trying to speak your language, then you’re with the wrong male.”
“Oh, and I suppose you would be the right male?” Jodi demanded, glaring at him.
The thought startled Vorn. He hadn’t known the curvy little Earth female for long, but she’d gotten under his skin from the first minute he’d met her and stayed there. It hadn’t occurred to him to think of Claiming Jodi as a mate because he’d gone into the situation knowing that she was taken. Now that she’d put the idea into his mind, though…
No—no way. We’d drive each other crazy! he thought. But still, the idea of Claiming her, of bonding her to him through a night of passionate sex with his shaft and mating fist buried deep in her soft pussy, suddenly filled his mind.
Not that he was about to let Jodi know that.
“I never said I was the right male for you, baby,” he rumbled. “But at least I’d go down on you and eat your sweet, creamy little pussy until you came as much as you needed to.”
“You…you…” Jodi’s cheeks went hot pink with embarrassment and Vorn gave her a slow grin.
“How do you like those words of affirmation, little girl?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at her.
Jodi didn’t answer—she just flounced off to the other end of the lecture hall and began teaching again, pointedly ignoring him the whole time.
By the time Mid Meal rolled around, she still wasn’t talking to him so Vorn followed her silently to the dining establishment she had named and wedged himself into the human-sized booth across the restaurant from hers. That way he could be out of the way and still hear everything she said to her fiancé without actually saying anything to either one of them, though he doubted Jodi knew that.
She probably thought she was far enough to speak privately to her fiancé but Vorn knew that no matter how loud the lunch rush got or how far she was from him, he would still hear her—he was that fucking attuned to her, unfortunately.
Jodi ordered some food and then came back to the table with it and put it down—a salad for herself and some kind of soup and sandwich thing for her fiancé, wherever he was. Vorn was having a sandwich himself and it was a pretty good one, as human food went, though there wasn’t enough meat.
He was just beginning to think that Jodi’s amazing fiancé must have stood her up when a short, balding human male wearing a
white lab coat called her name.
“Jodi, there you are!”
Jodi got up at once and went to him and kissed him. In the heels she was wearing, she was almost an inch taller than him.
The male, who must be James, frowned.
“Well, you’re looking tall today, darling.”
“Sorry,” Jodi mumbled, looking down at her heels. “I’m teaching today so I wanted to look professional.”
“Ah, yes. Well, as professional as one can be while teaching one of the soft sciences,” James said and followed this rather derogatory comment with a fruity laugh, clearly meant to say, I’m only joking!
“James…” Jodi rolled her eyes. Clearly this was an argument they’d had before. “Just because Psychology isn’t one of the hard sciences doesn’t make it worthless. People have to live in the real world, you know—we can’t all have our head in the clouds all the time.”
“Like some astrophysicists you know?” He grinned self-deprecatingly, though it was clear to Vorn he was inordinately proud of his self-proclaimed title.
Jodi sighed. “Yes, exactly. Come on—our food will get cold.”
They sat in the booth and though Vorn tried to keep his eyes on his own plate, he couldn’t help throwing an incredulous glance at the two of them. Really? This was the male who had won Jodi’s heart? Vorn had expected a whole hell of a lot more—not just physically, though he had thought the male would at least be taller than Jodi—but emotionally as well. So far James didn’t seem like a very attentive partner at all.
Still, maybe I’m missing something, Vorn thought, looking back down at his own plate and the half-finished sandwich again. He decided to just listen to their conversation and try to see what Jodi saw in the diminutive male. Maybe there was more to James than met the eye.
“So, how has your day been going, Darling?” he asked Jodi. “Been having a bit of a rough patch lately, haven’t you?”
Being attacked by Varians who wanted to kill her, brought up to the Mother Ship, and sent back down again with a Kindred guard she apparently couldn’t stand was more than a “rough patch” as far as Vorn was concerned. But before Jodi could reply, James was speaking again.
“Been having a bit of a rough patch myself lately, actually,” he told her. “Do you know Dr. Barnes in the lab said my theory of…”
And he went on, rattling off a theory in scientific jargon that Jodi probably wouldn’t know unless she had studied astrophysics herself—which Vorn was pretty sure she hadn’t.
He, however, had. He wasn’t just a warrior—he was a pilot and navigator as well, which meant he knew more than just the basics of how a ship maneuvered in space and the physics behind how it worked. As he listened, he became convinced that James had no fucking clue what he was talking about—though of course, to someone who hadn’t’ studied his field—he would probably come off sounding like a Goddess-damned genius.
Jodi listened sympathetically to the whole speech—which took up most of their lunchtime together—making understanding and encouraging comments the whole time as though she actually cared. It wasn’t until they had both finished their food that James finally stopped for breath and asked her again how she was doing.
This time, Jodi was quick to jump in, probably, Vorn thought dryly, because she knew if she didn’t, that self-centered asshole would start talking about himself again.
“It’s been kind of rough without you these last few days,” she told him. “Are you coming home tonight?” She leaned across the table and put her hand on her fiancé’s. Looking into James’ eyes she murmured, “I really miss you. I’d like to spend some quality time together, if you know what I mean.”
If he doesn’t pick up that clue, he’s a fucking idiot, Vorn thought, shooting a glance across the restaurant. Even from here, he could catch her hot, needy scent. Jodi was practically begging her fiancé to come home and fuck her. And while Vorn knew a human male probably couldn’t smell her heat like he could, her desire ought to be apparent in her big, gorgeous green eyes which were pleading with her fiancé to meet her needs.
But James frowned and shook his head.
“Afraid I can’t tonight, darling. I’m scheduled to speak at that conference in New York. But don’t worry, I’ll only be gone a few days.”
“A few days?” Jodi exclaimed. “But James, it’s been so long since we’ve, uh, been together.”
“And whose fault is that?” He raised an eyebrow at her reprovingly. “Didn’t we have our twice-monthly date scheduled for the other night? And then you never came home from the mother-daughter movie night so I wound up sleeping alone.”
“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.
“I don’t fucking lie. I couldn’t help hearing you. So I also heard him refusing to come home with you and meet your needs. What kind of male turns down a beautiful woman who’s practically begging him to fuck her? What in the Seven Hells is wrong with that asshole, anyway?”
“I was not begging,” Jodi hissed, her cheeks turning scarlet with mortification. “I only asked if he was going to be home tonight.”
“Which he’s not. Because his lecture is more important to him than your sexual needs,” Vorn pointed out. “What’s wrong with him? Can’t he smell how hot you are? How much you need it, baby?”
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