Taming Two Warriors (Kindred Tales)

“Oh,” Melli whispered, biting her lip. “You really feel that way? But how…how will you know when you find her? The right girl, I mean?”

“Well…” He appeared to be thinking carefully about what to say. “I might Dream-Share with her—that’s where she’s dreaming of me and I am dreaming of her at the same time.”

“Really? That really happens?” Melli asked, wide-eyed.

He nodded. “It’s very common, though it doesn’t always happen. Or sometimes you might be Dream-Sharing with someone and not even know it—it depends on if you remember your dreams or not.”

“Well, how will you know if you’re not uh, Dream-Sharing with her or you’re forgetting your dreams?” Melli asked.

“My body will…give me certain signals. “But he was starting to look uncomfortable and Melli sensed they were moving into sensitive territory.

Liosh was so nice and polite he would probably answer any question she asked him, but Melli didn’t want to make him feel awkward around her. After all, she’d already asked him about his porn habits—maybe it was time to back down a bit.

“That’s all right—you don’t have to tell me,” she said quickly. “You’ve already given me more information about the Kindred than I ever expected to know. Your people are fascinating.”

“Thank you.” Liosh smiled at her. “We find humans fascinating too. Especially human females—I’m afraid we don’t have much use for the males.”

Melli laughed.

“I guess not. Well…” She shut the laptop and looked at him uncertainly. “If you don’t mind, I’d really like to try and get cleaned up.”

“Do you want to take a bath?” Liosh raised his eyebrows questioningly.

It was on the tip of her tongue to say yes and ask him to help her…but at the last moment, Melli chickened out.

“Just a shower will be okay,” she said. “I, uh, think I can manage on my own. There’s a rod inside the shower stall I can hang onto and I won’t have to stand for long.”

She thought the big Kindred looked slightly disappointed but Liosh only nodded.

“As you wish, my Lady. Please let me know if you need any help.”

“Like I said, I think I’ll be okay,” Melli told him. She stood unsteadily, balancing herself on the arm of the loveseat, and made a few experimental hops on the good leg while keeping the weight off her mostly healed leg. “See? I’m good.”

“Will you go to sleep after you finish?” Liosh asked her. “Would you like me to turn down your sleeping platform and get it ready?”

“Oh, that’s okay, really—I can manage that,” Melli said quickly. “But I’m not really tired yet. I thought maybe we could watch something on TV? There are lots of good shows streaming. You could, uh, learn more about Earth culture by watching.”

Liosh grinned.

“I’d like that. It’s always good to know more about your host culture.”

“Good. Then we’ll do it.” Melli grinned back as she hopped to the bathroom. “See you in a few.”

As she shut herself up in the small bathroom, she thought with anticipation of how nice it would be to sit so close to the big Kindred and watch some movies or shows. One thing she longed for—had longed for all her life—was physical contact. Unfortunately, most guys interpreted the wish to cuddle and be close as the wish for sex, which wasn’t necessarily true. In fact, it was never true for Melli. Not that she didn’t want to have sex sometimes. She just…couldn’t.

But she was certain that Liosh wouldn’t read anything into them being close together on the loveseat. He might even put his arm around her and then she could cuddle up to his side and feel surrounded by his warmth and his wonderful scent.

That would be nice—beyond nice, Melli thought. And she thought with anticipation of the night ahead.

Eleven

Jodi was dreading the night ahead. How could she ever face the big Kindred again after he’d seen her private toy collection? Hell, he’d done more than see them—he’d held them! And quite possibly broken her most expensive dildo!

The mental image of him holding the damn thing—which had been marketed under the name “the python” because of its squirming action—while it writhed in his hand, made Jodi so embarrassed and angry she could barely breathe. Not even James had seen the python—mostly because she was afraid it might make him insecure about his own equipment if he saw what she really craved—but still!

This is it, she told herself. I can’t stand one more minute of this! I can’t have that big bastard living under my roof one second more!

She had told the big Kindred to get out in the heat of the moment but now she decided that was the best idea. Vorn needed to leave—she couldn’t stand to have him here where she would have to look at him and remember him holding the squirming python in his big fist. He had to go.