Eli ignored her shifting, restless body and proceeded, trailing kisses from her throat to the cleft of her sternum. He paused to dip his tongue there. He traced the curve of both breasts and then ran his tongue in the deep valley. Her body shuddered with pleasure. She wanted his hands on her. Her breasts were hot and aching. She craved the feel of his mouth and teeth, the pull and massage of his large, rough hands.
Her head tossed on the pillow. She couldn't stop writhing. Her body dripped for his. Wet and wild and on the very edge of control. He could do that without even trying. She felt the hard, thick length of his cock, just out of her reach, pressed tight against her hip. She felt the small pearly drops leaking into her skin and her mouth watered.
"Eli. Let me."
"Shhh, baby. Not yet. You don't get to take this from me. I need this." He lifted his head to look at her.
She saw the warning in his leopard eyes. It only made her need stronger, her craving increase. She loved that look. She loved to know that he was every bit as hungry and in need as she was. She loved to push him right over the edge of his control. His warnings only served to give her more incentive.
She had her hands and she brought them to his hair, curling her fingers into the shaggy mass as his mouth finally--finally--moved to her breasts. She cried out as hot pleasure speared through her. His mouth settled over her left breast, drawing it into a vortex of scorching heat. His tongue lashed her nipple, flicking back and forth. He used the edge of his teeth and she wanted to weep with need. Her body did it for her, spilling more nectar along her thighs.
Without warning, his thumb and finger caught at her right nipple in a hard pinch that sent fiery sensations sizzling through her body. The pleasure bordered on pain and made a straight line for her sheath so that she nearly convulsed with its onslaught. His mouth moved over her breasts, teeth nipping and tongue laving. She wanted more, always more, and she arched her body, offering him her breasts, willing him to feast there. He suckled, first her nipple, then along her delicate skin, leaving his mark everywhere, leaving his prints and even the small burn of his teeth. She reveled in his claiming, cradling his head close to her, giving herself up to him.
He demanded a full surrender and she gave it to him, nearly sobbing for relief as she did so. Her body was so tight and hot, the tension building without respite. He licked over her heart. Pressed his ear there, while his fingers and thumb slid back and forth over her nipple in the same rhythm.
She felt the jerk of his cock against her hip, a throbbing of heartbeats between them. Her feminine channel clenched desperately to be filled. "Eli, I'm burning up."
"I know," he whispered back, his lips against the underside of her right breast. "We'll get there. I just need to feel you're alive."
"I am alive, but if you don't hurry that could change."
He laughed softly, his breath warm against her left breast. She felt the stinging nip of his teeth and the slow slide of his tongue. "So impatient, my little Cat. We'll do this my way."
Secretly, she was glad her Eli was back with all his arrogant dominance. He'd been too sweet to her, too controlling of her every move. In bed was one thing--outside of it, she knew if he kept it up eventually she'd kick him in the shins, hit him over the head and totally defy him and run free when he wanted her to sit on the porch and read.
Eli kissed his way straight down from her breasts to her belly button. He made a side trip exploring each rake mark on her sides over her ribs. Six altogether. His touch was magic. Healing. His tongue soothing. He could make her forget the raw scars and the terrible moment when she'd been certain she was going to die under the rogue leopard's teeth and claws.
Still, the leisurely way he licked and kissed her body, sipping at her as if she were a fine wine, stroking her skin with the velvet rasp of his tongue like a leopard might do, drove her insane with desire. She was drenched. Hot. Needy.
Eli framed her womb with his hands and kissed her belly over and over. "You saved our child, Kitten. You couldn't have known, but you instinctively kept our baby safe. It's going to be beautiful, just like you."
She closed her eyes. She hadn't known. Her leopard had still been too inexperienced to tell her, and she hadn't felt the pregnancy, but Eli had known the moment he'd gotten her pregnant. She brought her hand to her face and looked at the ring there. Jake and Emma had come with a justice of the peace and Eli had married her a week after she'd gotten home.
Catarina blinked back tears and reached once again for the silky mass of Eli's hair. "I love you so much sometimes I don't know what to do with it," she admitted, the sound so low it was barely there. No one in her life had given her compliments until Eli. No one had ever said they loved her until Eli.
Love and the admission of love were still strange and terrible yet wonderful things, just as the feeling was. It was overwhelming to her at times. Like now. In this moment. When Eli had to claim every inch of her. When he had to love every inch of her, showing her what she meant to him. It almost felt as if he was worshiping her body right along with claiming her. She never quite knew what to do with his sweetness and always, always, she wanted to curl up and hold herself still in fear that she might lose him. She couldn't imagine how he felt waiting to hear if she was alive or dead. She would let him have whatever he wanted just for that alone.
Eli lifted his head from where he'd been communicating with their child. He had no idea if the baby was a boy or girl. He'd know soon enough because her leopard would tell his leopard. But right now, his heart was full, shattering with her soft admission, knowing how hard it was on her to tell him.
His eyes met hers. Catarina. All cobalt eyes and long, silky hair. He had no idea a man could love a woman so much. He knew he was driving her crazy with his too close, hands-on control, but until that feeling of being unable to breathe left him, she was going to have to give him time.
"You're everything to me, Cat," he told her. It was true. He'd found that out when he thought he'd lost her. "I can't breathe without you. I'm still trying to catch my breath."
She stilled under his hands. Her eyes took on a deep violet vibrant hue. She got it. She knew what he needed and why. He felt her body settle, although her breathing remained ragged. He bent to kiss her belly where his child snuggled.
"You're such a miracle. A real fucking miracle, Cat."
She laughed. "Honey, seriously, you have to clean up your language just a little bit. You can't say miracle and drop the f-bomb at the same time."
He loved the sound of her laughter. It filled the room with warmth and joy. She gave him things that were so intangible he couldn't tell anyone else exactly what they were, but he couldn't live without them. Without her.
"I dropped a few of those f-bombs when I was pleading for your life in that waiting room," he growled, unrepentant. He dropped his head back to the important matter of hearing and feeling her heart beating in every part of her body.
"You didn't?" Her breath hitched as he shifted his body to slide lower.
"I did." He pushed her thighs apart and looked down at her body. "You're so damned beautiful, Catarina, sometimes I can't believe you're really mine."
"I hate to be the one to tell you, but I'm covered in scars."
Eli had scars too. Cordeau's lieutenants had taken him down with a stun gun, chained him, and Cordeau had used his claws to rake him open from his chest to his belly and then he ordered his men to get started on the real torture.
"You're beautiful, Cat, with or without them. Jake has found a plastic surgeon, a shifter, one of us, so we'll see him."
"I'm pregnant." Instantly her hands covered her belly, still flat, her body still not giving away their secret. "I don't want cosmetic surgery enough to endanger our child."
He loved her for that alone. "We'll do whatever you want, baby." He dipped his head to trace her hip bone, to find the soft indentation where he could feel her heart pounding through her body. He closed his eyes, savoring the sound and feel of life.
; Her breath hissed out of her lungs as he wedged his shoulders firmly between her thighs, stretching her legs with his width, leaving her open and vulnerable to him. He scented her, the call of his mate. Already the taste of her was in his mouth. Still, he needed to feel every pulse point. For the moment he was content to just feel her heart right there. Waiting for him.
He kissed her other hip, lapped at the little indentation and then kissed his way down her thighs. First one, then the other.
"No. Eli." Catarina wailed her protest. She lifted her hips as if trying to follow him. "You're making me crazy."
"Always in such a hurry," he murmured, lifting her leg, bending it, pressing kisses to the back of her knee. He felt it there. Life. He took another breath and his lungs expanded. Sometimes when he woke up beside her, he was choking, his lungs burning. But there it was, the air that he needed. Her. Catarina.
He kissed his way to her foot. Lifted it, pressed a kiss to the sole and back up her other leg. She trembled. Writhed. So alive, his woman. So responsive to his every touch. So impatient.
He took his time on the inside of her thighs. He inhaled, taking her scent deep into his lungs. Maybe if he could keep her scent in his lungs long enough he'd believe she was safe and no one would try to take her from him--not even death. He licked along the inside of her thigh and discovered the sweet, spicy taste, unique to her--his addiction. He craved her taste. He dreamt of it. Woke with it on his tongue.
He lapped it up, taking his time, feeling the beat of his own heart in his cock, telling him he was alive because she was. He lifted his head to look at her as he once more wedged her thighs open with the broad width of his shoulders. Her blue eyes gleamed violet at him. He laughed softly at her glare and dipped his head to blow warm air into the seething, scorching-hot sheath waiting to surround him like a tightest fist.
His body reacted, shuddering at the thought of so much pleasure. He plunged his tongue deep and she came apart just as he knew she would. He loved the abandon, the way she gave herself to him without reservation. So responsive. So sensitive. So willing to let him take her to paradise. He loved giving her that. He loved seeing her pleasure. He loved it more than when she gave it to him, and that was saying something. He lapped at the honey spilling from her body, his private reserve of nectar.
He took his time, changing his rhythm, licking and sucking slowly, languidly, leisurely, and then when her hips were helplessly bucking, he used his tongue to invade, to push deep. He used his mouth on her clit, suckling, flicking with his broad, flat tongue, adding the edge of his teeth until she was screaming for release.
Eli didn't give it to her this time. He wanted to be inside her. Surrounded by her. He knew when he entered her she'd come apart instantly, shatter around him, and the way her delicate muscles would work his cock would be exquisite. He needed that. Needed to feel that small death and rebirth.
He moved fast, startling her, cupping her rear, dragging her to him as he knelt between her legs. He entered her in one fast, hard surge, driving through the soft folds, feeling her stretch to accommodate the thick, hard invasion. Her breath hissed out of her lungs, out of his. She screamed as her body clamped down like a vise around his, surrounding him with a tight, hot, velvet grip. Her muscles milked at him, grasped hungrily, greedily.
He threw his head back and forced his body under control when it wanted to let go and fly free with hers. He withdrew, inhaling as the friction of her tight sheath sent fire racing through his body. Surging forward again, he forced his way through the rippling, shuddering muscles, pressing down along her sensitive clit.
She screamed again and clutched at him, her nails driving into his arms. He let go of his control and took her the way he'd needed to these past couple of weeks. Hard. Hungry. Primitive. He claimed her body for his own. He was rougher than he intended, but she liked rough, and the harder and deeper he drove into her, the more of herself she gave him. Hot liquid surrounded him, her sheath so tight and exquisite he knew he was going to burn in hell or heaven. It didn't matter which to him, only that he burned.
He felt the flames licking along his legs, scorching his thighs, rising like a wall of fire to burn through his balls. Her body grew hotter, fed those flames, clamped down so hard, so unexpectedly, strangling his cock with the burn, with the pleasure-pain. He couldn't even separate the two sensations they were so tied together. Ecstasy. Paradise. Hell. It was all there in the miracle of her body as it milked his, demanding his seed.
He felt the roar of it, heard it thundering in his ears, the fiery flames consuming him as he emptied himself into her. He swept her with him into the fire, so that her body shuddered with her violent release. He took everything she was into his keeping, and he gave her everything he was.
He knew he'd never be the same. He didn't want to be. This woman had changed his life in ways he hadn't known she could, but he wouldn't ever go back to life without out her. He kissed her over and over. He left his mark on his neck. Her breasts. Little strawberries that stood out on her pale skin, little marks of his possession.
Eli buried his face in her neck, holding her tight, his body over hers, arms, hips, chest and legs aligned as best he could. He lay there for a long moment, feeling her heart pounding against his, knowing he had to move, but something wouldn't allow him to.
She wrapped her arms around him instead of pushing his heavy body off of her. The tight ball of fear deep inside him, the one always one moment away from threatening to consume him, thawed around the edges. That was his Catarina. She was so accepting of him, of his controlling, dominant ways. He knew he had to ease up a little. He could see the little signs of impending rebellion, but still, she hung in there with him, trying to give him time to come to terms with his fear of losing her.
Her hands glided up his back. Went to his hair. Her fingers threaded the silky strands, then caressed and tugged. There was such a feeling of contentment lying with her, her body melting into his. Her scent wrapping him up and her hands moving over him so gently.
"Honey." Catarina turned her head so she could press kisses along his temple. "Nothing's going to happen to me. I'm safe now."
"You aren't, you know." He lifted his head, reluctantly sliding off of her. Immediately he turned on his side and swept her close, pressed her tightly against him, his arm an iron band around her waist. "Cordeau had partners. They only know he disappeared. They could decide you're a threat to them. Most likely they will."
"We've already decided that we're going to let Jake and his people deal with them," she replied softly. "Eli, I'm alive. I'm with you, exactly where I want to be. We have our home, a baby on the way and things are good."
Eli pushed her long hair from the nape of her neck and kissed her there. He kissed his way over her shoulder to the much smaller puncture scars Cordeau had left behind.
"My leopard needs to run. She needs her mate. And I need to cook you breakfast. That's important to me, honey. I want to wear your flannel shirts and nothing else. I need to be me again. And you need to be you again. Once our baby is here, there won't be much kitchen table, on the bar or sink or out on the porch fun. We need to make every minute count."
He smiled against her shoulder. She had the little sexy voice that managed to set nerve endings on fire without much of an effort.
"I'm buying more flannels."
"You wouldn't have to if you'd stop ripping all the buttons off. I definitely have to learn to sew."
The amusement in her voice warmed him. Still. He sighed. "Kitten, I don't know how much freedom I can give you right now. I bought a Jeep for you, a four-wheel drive. They're going to deliver it any day now. I wanted you to feel like you could go anywhere you wanted to go, but honestly, I can't let you out of my sight."
He waited. Holding his breath. He hated that he was the needy one. That he knew he should give her everything she wanted, including freedom. She deserved it. She'd more than earned the right to make her every decision. But he couldn't breathe without her.
/> Eli knew when it happened, the exact moment when the air had left his lungs and wouldn't fully return. They'd taken her from him. They'd rushed her through the double doors and he'd felt her heart stop. Felt the breath leave her lungs. Felt her pulse still. It had been there inside of him. He knew she was being taken from him, and his world had changed. Everything had changed.
He buried his face against her shoulder, inhaling the subtle female scent that was unique only to her. God, he loved her. He loved her with everything he was. Every cell in his body. He knew if he kept holding her so close she would eventually fight him. How could she not? Where was his control and discipline now?
"Eli, I'm yours." She said it so simply it was eloquent. She turned in his arms to face him. Her fingertips traced the lines in his face. "I belong to you, just the way you belong to me. When I need anything, you provide it for me. When you need something, I provide it. That doesn't mean it's always going to be easy, but when you love someone, that's what you do."
He searched her blue gaze, the bottom dropping out of his stomach. Her features were so delicate. She looked fragile. Vulnerable. But she had steel inside of her. His woman had steel.
"If you need me to stay close to you, then that's what I'm going to do. There's nowhere I want to go right now. I love being home with you. Spending time with you. Looking at you." She brushed a kiss over his jaw. "But I love taking care of you too. I want to cook for you again. I need to do that. Make your coffee. I want to wake you up with my mouth around your cock. I love your body just as much as you love mine. I don't need to stay in a chair or in bed anymore. But I don't need to be away from you either."
Just her voice could harden his body, but when she started talking about waking him up with her mouth and the images in his head turned erotic, his cock came back to life. He found himself smiling. Breathing. Happy. She understood him and she loved him enough to give him the things he needed, even if she felt a little smothered for a while.
"I'm looking forward to a cup of your coffee. And breakfast. I haven't had a decent meal since you've been laid up," he admitted. His voice was a little rough with emotion, but he was already looking forward to morning. He knew she would do exactly what she said. She'd wake him up in that sexy, hot way of hers. His cock jerked in anticipation.