Male Cat Licks Constantly

I have a male and female cat we rescued about 2 years ago. It took them a long time to get lovable. The female is spoiled rotten by my wife and the male one only lets me pet him. We have learned to deal with this. He is never mean or has ever bitten anyone, he just runs away from everyone but me. When I grab him and pet him, he licks me the whole time. He doesn't want me touching him unless he can lick some part of my hand. It doesn't bother that much except when he want's to sleep on my chest and he licks my fast contantly till it's red. Any ideas why he is doing this?

He could be expressing his love for you or acknowledging that you are the boss .. or both ! I found some good info here:
http://www.metrokc.gov/lars/animal/E...y/Cat/cat9.htm

I think he's probably expressing great affection.