Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Forty-Two

Champagne sparkles accentuated my torso, making my neck and shoulders appear marble smooth as I eased the dress down my body. The odd fabric instantly became warm, almost hot. The heavens take me, this garment feels alive.

I brought up the hand mirror and turned to study my back in the vanity's larger reflection. With its low-cut dip, the dress would expose the scar on my shoulder blade if my long hair shifted. Doesn't matter. I turned around again and set the hand mirror on the sink. I wasn't going to cover it. Not like I did the one on my foot.

My thoughtful expression softened into a smile as the few curls Reese had coaxed into my hair this afternoon shifted to frame my face when two arms encircled my waist. Micah. His approach had filled the bathroom mirror from behind.

"Beauty hath not enough breath in herself to persuade my sensibilities otherwise that she is the perfect definition and not you," he murmured against me.

"You don't sound like yourself when you say things like that," I told him, thinking the compliment was something Alex would say.

It had been over a week since I'd last seen him, the evening when he swept me up into his arms on the porch. He hadn't been in school. No phone calls or text messages either. Needless to say, his extended absence worried me.

"Here's the glass of water you wanted," Micah prompted, and yes indeed, there was a glass being held out to me. The condensation induced by the warm evening air wet his hand where he gripped it.

I took the glass from my sky lion. Sipping it, I deemed the water to be both cool and clean, void of the grittiness of Indy's chemical ruse at keeping me human and forcing my growth. My beverages had been ambrosia-free for the better part of a week, and I could already sense a difference. I felt well. I could breathe easier, an issue I hadn't even been aware of before. I set the half-drunk glass on the vanity and leaned backward, snuggling against him as he hugged me from behind once more.

Mumbling again about how beautiful I was in the dress, he said, "You're wearing a slip underneath?"

"I kind of have to." And a full body one at that. I adjusted the undergarment beneath the dress he had custom ordered, the one made from aether. "This fabric is nearly see-through."

"Yeah, I know," he said wistfully.

He bent to kiss my shoulder, his wild mane tickling me, and I slipped a hand around the back of his neck. The warmth of him pressing from behind coaxed impulses of desire from me, and I couldn't help but respond. Burying my fingers in his hair to place my palm against his scalp, I tapped into the power there, and Micah froze in mid-kiss, his eyes shut. He exhaled a breath smelling of hot things, his anticipation building. Always pleased with the touch of dominance this granted me, I gave the power buzzing between us a short tug to make it pulse before I broke the connection.

Reaching for a brush, I grinned when he fell back a step and opened his eyes. Echoes of his power reverberated in my middle, the little bit I took swirling to warm my core, nicely in control. This "power play" always seemed to induce a good bit of tangy saliva in me, and as for Micah—

"You're such a tease with that," he rumbled.

His hands slid down to grip my waist on either side and he brought the delicate curve of my backside flush with his front in a brief, intimate press. The fact I was coming in and out of heat was finally getting to him, if the extra attention being paid to my posterior was any indication.

"And you're not dressed." I sent a scrutinizing eye over his casual attire: dark jeans and a well-fitted T-shirt.

Mmm. My smile widened at the thought of having run my hand over what was under that shirt last night. My guardian gave me one of his charming, crooked smiles, but didn't say anything further about not being ready.