Free Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton

same way, or like I should have had a dial on my hip and a battery case, like I was some sort of toy they’d bought in a sex store. Just wind me up.”
    I looked at him again.
    â€œTrust me, Anita, there are just as many bastards out there who are girls as bastards who are guys. Except when a girl treats you like a sex object, it’s supposed to be all right because you’re a guy and you only want sex anyway, right?”
    â€œThe old double standard,” I said.
    He nodded and patted me. “Until you.”
    I thought about it for a second. “Wait a minute. How did you know I wouldn’t have a problem with your, um, size?”
    â€œYou know how wereanimals are always walking around naked, unless you make us put on clothes?”
    I smiled. “Not all of you guys are comfortable nudists, but most, yeah.”
    â€œFirst, I’d seen Richard nude, and I knew he had been your lover. He isn’t small either.” I fought not to blush again. “Second, you’d seen me nude and you hadn’t reacted badly.”
    â€œSo you saw an ex-lover and he was well endowed. And I hadn’t told you to be careful where you point that. It might go off.”
    He smiled. “Something like that.”
    â€œHow did you know that I hadn’t broken up with Richard because he was too much man for me to handle?”
    â€œI asked.”
    I must have looked as surprised as I felt.
    He laughed. “I didn’t ask Richard. I asked around and found out he thought you were too bloodthirsty, and he didn’t like the police work. None of that bothered me.”
    â€œSo you took a chance,” I said.
    He nodded. “And from the moment we made love, I knew I would do anything, anything, to be in your life.”
    â€œYou said that. It was one of the first things you ever said to me after we’d had sex. That you were my Nimir-Raj, and I was your Nimir-Ra, and you would do anything, be anything I needed, to be in my life.”
    â€œI meant it.”
    â€œI know you did.” I traced my finger down the side of his face. “Admittedly, it took me a while to realize that you really did mean it. That you would do anything, be anything I needed. What if I’d asked awfulthings of you, Micah? What would you have done?”
    â€œYou wouldn’t ask awful things of anyone.”
    â€œBut you barely knew me then.”
    â€œI just had a feeling.”
    I searched his expression, trying to see where that certainty had come from. His face was back to being peaceful but not empty. This was his peaceful I’m happy face.
    â€œI would never have been able to trust a stranger like that.”
    â€œWe were never strangers, Anita. From the moment we touched, we weren’t strangers. Our bodies knew each other.”
    I gave him the hard look, but he just laughed. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that isn’t how you felt, too.”
    I opened my mouth, closed it, and finally said, “So what? Not love at first sight, but love at first fuck?”
    His face went all serious on me. “Don’t make fun of it, Anita.”
    I had to look down then, sitting chastely on his thighs, and I had to look away. “I did feel it, that draw to your body, from the first time we touched.It’s just . . . I was raised believing that sex was bad, dirty. The fact that you got through all my defenses so quickly still sort of embarrasses me.”
    He put his arms around me and scooted me higher up his lap, so I could feel that he was happy to have me there. Just feeling how hard he was, pressed against my thigh, made me catch my breath.
    â€œNever be embarrassed about how your body re-acts, Anita. It’s a gift.” He slid his arm under my legs and stood up with me in his arms.
    â€œI can walk,” I said.
    â€œI want to carry you.”
    I opened my mouth to tell him to put me down but didn’t. “Where are you carrying me