Lord of the Abyss - By Nalini Singh Page 0,46

needed to be in a better position. Kicking off his boots in silence, he got on the bed to her gasp and stretched out alongside her, bracing himself on one elbow. "Only because I was dirty." He replaced his hand on her lower back, nudged just a fraction lower.

A long, long quiet. Followed by, "Dirty?"

"There was much filth in the air, but we won't talk of it while I'm kissing you."

Liliana didn't know which one of his statements to challenge first. Finally, she decided on the least confusing one. "You can't just assume I'm going to welcome your kiss after you snarled at me when you came in."

He stopped making those maddeningly slow circles on her back. "I did not snarl."

She couldn't stand it anymore. Clutching the sheet and pulling it up as she moved, she flipped onto her back, almost surprised when he didn't stop her. But his hand was on her abdomen an instant later - on top of the sheet this time. Thank goodness, because the slightly rough skin of his hand -

Her eyes went wide. "Your armor is gone." All of it. And while she could see pants of some tough black material, he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Of course it is. I needed to bathe."

"But - "

He moved over her, insinuating a muscled thigh between her own, even as he kept his upper body braced above her. "I don't want to talk about anything except kissing now, Liliana."

"You - I - " Snapping her mouth shut before she started babbling, she tried to relearn to breathe.

Micah ran a finger down the side of her face, found a tendril of hair, tugged. "Your hair is curly here. I like it." Twisting that curl around his finger, he lifted it to his mouth, rubbed. "Soft. Smells like Jissa's pretty-making lotion."

"You stole the lotion from Jissa?"

He dropped the curl, picked it up again, rubbed the strands between his fingers. "I borrowed it."

It was near impossible to think with him so close. His shoulders blocked out the world, the muscled thickness of his thigh nudging hard and intimate against the embarrassingly damp heat between her legs. Each time she took a breath, she took the primal scent of him into her body, until it felt as if he was already inside her.

"Micah?" It took all her courage to speak.

"Yes?"

Her heart a drumbeat against her ribs, she said, "Will you come closer?"

Unhidden interest on his face, he dropped his head until strands of thick golden hair stroked across her forehead, his body warm and heavy. Able to feel herself losing her nerve under the impact of him, she tipped up her head and pressed her lips to his jaw.

The wild taste, the rough feel of the bristles on his skin, the sound of his breath so close, it overwhelmed her. Dropping her head back on the pillow, she stared up at him, wondering what he'd do. He settled even more heavily against her, brought his lips to her ear. "Again."

Shivering at the quiet demand made in that voice, she dared curl her hands over the naked warmth of his shoulders, even as she gave him what he wanted. When he remained in place, she got bolder, trailing kisses along his jaw, her breasts crushed against his chest as he nuzzled at her neck, the thin sheet the only barrier between them.

It was intoxicating and a little terrifying and so breathtaking that she could hardly think. Caressing his shoulders, she tasted him again. It felt beyond good.

Opening his mouth over her throat, he sucked.

"Micah."

"You're so soft, Lily." A lick, hot and wet. She melted.

He'd called her Lily. She'd never had a pet name before. It was rather wonderful to have one now.

Then he bit her.

Her body jerked. "You just used your teeth."

He raised his head, a hotly sexual being in her bed. "No?"

"Well..."

"Shall I do it again?"

"Yes." She fisted her hand in the raw silk of his hair after issuing that wicked invitation, her toes curling into the sheets.

Smiling a sinful kind of a smile touched with the dark arrogance of his power, he gave her another sharp nip, then sucked over the spot before lifting his head. "I'll bite you other places, too. This softest place - " a push of his hips as he changed position to fit himself against her " - first of all."

At that, her mind simply hazed over.
Chapter 14

That was when Micah kissed her.

There was no build-up, no little kisses to get her used to