Affliction (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,178

my arms, searched that closed-down face. He’d turned away from me just enough to hide the scars, not to be pretty the way Asher would do to hide his, but it was either that or reach back up and smooth his wet hair down over them, and that would have been admitting it mattered to him and Nicky wouldn’t do that.

‘Look at me, please,’ I said.

He did, but the look on his face was arrogant, distant as his body still felt because he wouldn’t hug me back.

‘I’m sorry, I forgot.’

He glared at me, and I felt the first rush of heat as his anger hit his lion and it stirred. ‘How can you forget when you have to look at this every time you see me?’ He touched his finger to the edge of the scars.

It was the first time he’d said out loud that the scars bothered him, reminded him every time he looked in the mirror. The way he wore his hair let me know that it bothered him, but he’d never actually said so before.

‘It’s just a part of you,’ I said. ‘That’s what I think when I look at you; that’s all I think.’

He stared down at my face, studying it. ‘I can feel that you mean that.’

‘I like the scar,’ Dev said, ‘and the fact that you are as good as you are with weapons and hand-to-hand having to compensate for the lack of depth perception is impressive.’

Nicky shifted in my arms, and that flare of anger was like heat marching down my body, as if the heat of the shower were starting to emanate from his body and not the taps behind us. ‘He really does like scars,’ I said. ‘Dev’s a texture junkie.’

He relaxed a little in my arms and finally put his arms around me. He wasn’t holding me tight, but it was progress.

‘I’ll prove it to you, if it won’t freak you out,’ Dev said.

Nicky gave him a look, as if nothing he could do would be that freaky, but I knew Dev better than Nicky did. I was betting there was plenty that the weretiger could do to freak out the werelion. The reverse was also true, but Dev’s would be sensual and Nicky’s would be more violence. I didn’t really want them to try to freak each other out, though; I feared it would go badly.

Dev moved in behind me until his body was pressed up against mine, which pinned Nicky’s hands between my body and the other man’s. Nicky was only touching against Dev’s stomach; he didn’t complain or move his hands. Neither man’s body was excited to be there yet, so though it was nice, it wasn’t as erotic as it might have been. He reached out to touch Nicky’s cheek.

Nicky jerked back.

Dev let his hand fall and smoothed his hands down my arms. ‘See, it freaks you out.’ He leaned down to lay a kiss on the top of my head, nuzzling against my wet hair.

I wriggled into Dev’s touch, raising my face so he could kiss my lips. We kissed, and the kiss grew until it tightened my hands around Nicky and made me grind myself against Dev. His body was already beginning to react, which encouraged me to grind harder against him. Nicky’s arms around my back kept me from grinding as much as I could have, which forced me away from Nicky’s body in an effort to touch more of Dev’s.

Nicky’s body pressed in tighter from in front. It brought me back from kissing Dev and to move my face toward Nicky. This time he leaned over so I could reach his lips. We kissed and it was a soft brush of lips, then a more urgent press of his mouth on mine. He moved his arms from between Dev and me, and at the same time I was suddenly pressed tight between both of them. With one of them thick and growing thicker against the front and the other against the back of me, the sensation of being pinned between their bodies tore my mouth from Nicky’s and made me cry out.

It was only when Dev leaned over me for another kiss that I realized why they were both pressed so close. Nicky had moved his arms so he was holding on to the other man’s waist and Dev had done the same, so that they were using their strength to press themselves in tighter against my body. Nathaniel and Micah called