Page 37 of Nidev and Lyric

Her fingers twitched at her sides. “Soft,” she murmured. “Light. Almost… teasing.”

It brushed the inside of her wrist. The dip of her navel. The hollow of her throat.

“Again.”

She swallowed. “It feels different… depending on where you place it.”

“Does it?”

He traced the back of her knee, and a shiver ran through her. “Yes,” she whispered.

Silk over her thigh. Velvet against her hip. Cashmere at her ankle. Was he mapping her with texture? Teaching her something? Or—conditioning her? She trembled, heat pooling between her legs at the sensual feeling.

The touch vanished.

She waited, straining for what would come next. The creak of leather reached her ears. “Find me.”

Her fingers curled into her palms as her breath shuddered out. She moved slowly in the direction of his voice, her awkward advance getting added to the growing wall of shame she was building.

She remembered her childhood trick for finding things in the dark and released a soft hum. The subtle vibration slipped past her lips and rolled forward like a spectral finger, poking at the unseen. She angled her head, repeating it, letting the hum stretch.

Her breath caught when the sound brushed against something. Not solid, not quite. More like a smudge in the darkness. She clung to the faintest distortion, heartbeat racing as her gift sharpened more. One of Nidev’s lessons whispered through her mind.“You’ll find truth in what the sound refuses to touch. Listen with all of you, Lyric. Even your silence has teeth.”

She’d wanted those words tattooed on her when she was madly in love and crushing on him. She turned a little and moved again in the new direction, immediately getting the sound of his moan. It was lustful and thick, moving over her naked body like molasses.

“I was wondering if you’d use that gift.”

Her shins hit his legs and her gasp flew out with her breathless, “Found you.”

A slow inhale filled her chest, fingers flexing, waiting.

“Keep finding me.”

The low command was saturated with the promise of all the things she’d ever fantasized about. She lowered slowly to her knees, putting her palms on his legs, feeling the heat and strength. They slowly parted, silently inviting her between them.

She accepted, her pulse raging like crazy, sliding her hands along his thighs. At his hips, she raised them and carefully found his chest, sucking in a breath at finding his shirt open. Skin hot. Soft over the massive span of muscle. His chest rose and fell in slow, deliberate breaths. She swallowed, dragging her fingers over the taut muscle, feeling the silky warmth, the slight roughness of ink etched into skin.

Her lips remained parted. God, she wanted to taste. Did he want that?

It was a chance she was willing to take.

She leaned in and brushed her lips against his sternum.

The sound he made was low. Rough. Approving.

She kissed again. A slow, open-mouthed press of her lips against his chest, lingering on the hard plane.

Again.

Lower.

His muscles tightened as she dragged her mouth down, kissing over his ribs, his stomach. She began tracing with her tongue, her hands following, smoothing over his sides, learning him in the dark.

“Lower.”

Her lips ran into the waistband of his slacks, her hands moving without thought to remove the barrier, beginning with his belt.

His breath changed as she worked it open, then his pants, unzipping them. She carefully tugged, and he lifted his hips, allowing her to work them down. She didn’t stop till they were completely off.

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