He’d offered to let Jodi move in with him and let go of the apartment for good, but Bayshore was in South Tampa—a long drive from the USF main campus. Also, she liked her independence. It was good to have her own space—a space the big Kindred was shortly going to be invading, Jodi reminded herself in irritation.
It wasn’t like they didn’t have a guest room in their apartment—they did. But Jodi used it to store things. Personal things. It was also where she went when James was home and she wanted a little privacy. With the big Kindred installed there semi-permanently, she might never get what she liked to call “alone time” again, which was going to be very bad for her mood.
Still, she couldn’t put him on the couch when they technically had a spare room to put him in, Jodi admitted to herself grudgingly. Her mom had taught her how to be a good hostess and the strict code of Southern manners she’d been raised with couldn’t be easily set aside, no matter how much the big Kindred got on her nerves.
If only he didn’t smell so damn good! she thought, glaring at Vorn again. This time he caught her look from the corner of his eye and shot her an answering stare in return. Clearly he wasn’t any happier about this assignment than she was.
Jodi looked away first, telling herself she shouldn’t distract their pilot, though honestly, it was difficult to hold that wild, golden gaze for too long. Even though she was sitting in the back seat, his wild, musky scent seemed to invade her senses. It reminded her of wood smoke from a campfire mixed with leather and an underlying spicy note that smelled both dangerous and somehow completely masculine.
Like some kind of freaking pheromone! Jodi thought resentfully, shifting in her seat and pressing her thighs together tightly. For some reason the scent of the big Beast Kindred made her long for a little “alone time” which she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to get. Damn it, how was she going to manage time to herself to take care of necessary things if that stupid Kindred was constantly with her all the time?
She was seriously going to go crazy!
She’s making me fucking crazy, Vorn thought, as Jodi finally broke their little staring contest and looked away. Her pretty mouth was curved down into an irritated frown and he could tell by her scent—which he was already more attuned to than he liked—that she was agitated.
What was it about the curvy little Earth girl that got under his skin so fucking much? He had no idea—he only knew that the moment he’d seen her jump out of that tree at her mother’s house and try to protect her little sister from the Varians with nothing but her bare hands, he had become intently focused on her.
He could still remember how Jodi had looked—her green eyes flashing, her long dark hair wild around her shoulders as she shouted angrily at the lizard-like aliens to “leave my little sister alone, you assholes!”
In that moment she had been magnificent—a warrior woman that might have come straight from one of the warring tribes on his home world of Rageron. Then she’d twisted her ankle. But even after she did, she’d been trying to shield her sister with her body, before Vorn and Liosh had blasted the Varians who were after her into nothing but grease spots in the grass.
But was she grateful?
Not one fucking bit, he thought sourly, glancing back at her again. She’d gotten angry at him for picking her up and carrying her—even though she’d been injured and clearly needed the assist. She’d said something about being too big to lift—which was frankly ridiculous. Sure, she was curvier than a lot of Earth girls but just because she had deliciously thick thighs, wide hips, and a big behind didn’t make her difficult to carry.
But Jodi had refused to believe him when he’d said she was light as a feather—even though she was—at least to him. And she’d persisted in being irritated with him, even when he stayed with her in the Med Station while her hurt ankle was being healed.
All in all, Vorn decided, Josephine—“Just call me Jodi!”—Erickson was probably the most aggravating and contrary female he’d ever met.
So if she’s such a pain in the ass, why did you volunteer for this mission? a little voice in the back of his head demanded. Why not bow out and let some other warrior deal with her?
To be honest, Vorn didn’t have an answer for that. He tried to tell himself it had to do with honor. He had been the first on the scene at her mother’s house—he had rescued her from the Varians—and that made him responsible for her.