Brides of the Kindred(21)
“I can walk now,” she reminded him. “Do you mind?”
Baird did mind, very much. He’d been hoping to hold her for as long as he could, had been planning to take the longest route possible to his suite in order to be close to her for longer in fact. But seeing the angry look in her beautiful eyes, he decided the wisest thing was probably to set her down, which he did.
Chapter Seven
Liv tried not to wince as the hard cold metal floor met her bare feet again. She had the feeling Baird hadn’t wanted to put her down but that was just too damn bad. She’d already made up her mind that until she was contractually obligated to touch him, she wasn’t going anywhere near the big Kindred warrior. Being close to him felt dangerous somehow, as though she might lose control of herself if she wasn’t careful. Of course that was silly, there was no way she was going to lose it and jump his bones even if he did look freaking amazing with his shirt off.
Just thinking about that made her feel like blushing. God, she’d really made a fool out of herself when he took off the crimson shirt that was still draped over her shoulders. Had her tongue been hanging out? She wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been. She’d felt like an idiot but she hadn’t been able to stop staring.
Even now she caught herself sneaking glances at his bare chest as they walked down the long metal corridor. He was amazingly cut and obviously in incredible shape. In fact he looked so good it made her wonder why he was so anxious to be with her.
She had a pretty face, that was true. But her hips had gotten way too big in the last semester of nursing school due to too much junk food and not enough exercise as she crammed for exam after exam. And as for her thighs, well, Liv didn’t even want to think about how they must look in the little black nighty she was wearing. So why was a guy who looked like he could be a freaking Chippendale’s dancer so hot to get in her panties? Maybe I should just let him see me naked and get it over with. He might be willing to send me home on the next shuttle or space ship or whatever.
But from the looks Baird was still giving her, the only place he wanted to send her was straight to his bed. His hot amber gaze made her shiver despite the heavy, silky material of his shirt. And speaking of the shirt, his scent was all over it—the same spicy male musk she’d noticed when she was sitting on his lap on the journey up to the Kindred ship. Why did it make her feel dizzy to inhale that intoxicating fragrance? Why did it make her resolve not to let him touch her seem silly and pointless? No nookie unless you want a permanent zip code change, she reminded herself firmly. Just tell him to keep his hands to himself and his python in his pants.
To try and distract herself from the huge half naked warrior who was still eyeing her like a starving wolf might look at a lamb chop, Liv tried to concentrate on the ship’s interior. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to concentrate on—just a seemingly endless metal corridor with doors branching off on either side at regular intervals. To be honest the utilitarian aspect of the alien ship kind of disappointed her. It looked like every single science fiction movie she’d ever seen—not that there had been that many of them. Sophia was a closet Trekkie and Kat was a confirmed Lord of the Rings fantasy freak but Liv preferred to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground, thank you very much. So how had an eminently practical girl like herself wound up in this crazy position? She had the sudden urge to grab Baird by the arm and demand, “why me?”
“Why you, what?” He was looking at her, one black eyebrow raised high and Liv realized to her mortification that she had spoken her question aloud. On second thought though, she decided to go with it.
“Why me?” she said, stopping in the middle of the empty metal corridor and putting her hands on her hips. “Why did you pick me when there are a billion other Earth girls you could have had? I mean, look at you…” She gestured at his bare, muscular torso while trying not to stare.
Baird looked at her in obvious confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Liv frowned. “I’m talking about the fact that you have an, uh, amazing body. You’re in such good shape on Earth you’d be gay because there’s no way a straight guy could look like you. I mean…” Suddenly she realized she was babbling and also staring again. Pretty soon she’d be drooling like a dog about to get a really juicy bone. That thought made her eyes drop from his bare chest to the immense bulge in his black pants and she could feel a hot blush creeping up her cheeks. God, she had to get hold of herself here! “I guess I’m just saying that you could do better—you could probably have a supermodel if you wanted to. So maybe you should just, uh, let me go and look for somebody more your type.”