"Lucky for me you don't get a choice," he said. "When your leopard emerges there's only going to be me to help you." There was satisfaction in his voice. "Now go to sleep. You're trying to get under my skin and, Kitten, just a little FYI, you're already there. Don't push your luck."
Something in his tone, in the set of his jaw and his molten eyes stopped her from taking another dig at him, although it was tempting. Instead, she turned away from him and closed her eyes, scooting all the way to the edge of the bed, willing him to leave. He didn't. He just pulled her close into his body, spooning her. One leg slid over the top of hers, and his head leaned down to press into her hair.
She stiffened, hating the way her blood ran so hot. Hating that she was so aware of him. Hating the fact that she couldn't fight him, too tired, too battle-scarred already.
"Just go to sleep, Kitten," he said softly.
In that voice. The one she loved. If she cried again, she was going to hit him. She felt the brush of his mouth in her hair and somehow the tension drained out of her and she let herself drift off.
7
CATARINA woke with her body unbearably hot. Her breasts felt swollen and achy. There was a terrible burning between her legs. It was absolutely impossible to stay still. Her body writhed along the cool sheets. It was impossible to stop, even with the knowledge that she was pressed up against Eli Perez. His body had somehow become wrapped around hers, his knee intimately between her legs and his hand shaping her breast.
She tried to breathe away the fire, but the tension in her only coiled tighter. Eli was hot, his skin burning through hers. She realized that sometime in the night he had shed his boots and clothes. He wore only a thin pair of drawstring sweats and he was pressed tight against her buttocks. He felt . . . delicious.
Her heart beat hard and her breathing became ragged. She craved him. His touch. The feel of his fingers on her skin. His mouth on her. She needed to taste him. Taste his kiss. His skin. To feel his heavy erection in her palm, in her mouth, deep inside of her. The craving grew until thunder roared in her ears.
She tried to still her mind. To pray. To fight the chaotic, unbelievable burn that scorched her. That demanded. Craved. Flames seem to burn her skin and the material of the sheet actually hurt her skin. She had to stay still, but it was impossible. She needed, and he was right there. She couldn't fight that terrible, desperate burn one second longer.
She turned, and crawled up his body. Crawled. She needed his body tight against hers so she could feel the throb of his cock against her mound. He reacted with a groan and his erection grew harder and thicker. Perfect. Just the feel of him there fed the fire burning between her legs and she kissed his chest, sliding her mouth over to his nipples and then down to his flat belly. She traced each rib with her tongue.
Her clothes hurt her skin and she reached with one hand to tear her tank from her body, pull it over her head and throw it away from her.
The itch rose, a terrible wave, but this time it was worse, igniting tiny flames in every nerve ending. Her sweats burned through her pores. "Get my sweats off. Oh, God. Hurry. You have to get them off."
She heard the plea in her voice. She needed the material off of her, but she couldn't stop tasting his skin. He was an addiction now, one she couldn't give up, one she needed to survive.
"Kitten." His voice was raw with need. "This isn't a good idea."
She could barely hear him with her blood roaring in her ears. She moved lower, shoving at his sweats, her fist wrapping around his cock while she dipped her head lower to run her tongue over that velvety smooth head. The moment her lips touched him and she drew the taste of him into her mouth she needed more. Much more.
One hand pushed at the material causing her actual pain, the other remained tight around his shaft, squeezing gently. His hand covered hers and he drew her hand up and then down, showing her without words what to do.
"Okay, baby, okay. We've got this," he said softly, and his hands hooked into her sweat bottoms and pushed them off her body.
She kicked to get them free of her legs and he tugged them away. The relief was tremendous, but the craving for him worsened. "I need this, right now. I need this. Tell me what to do."
His hands shaped her bottom for a moment, sliding over her firm muscle and then he wrapped her hair in his hand. "Take me in your mouth, sweetheart. Use your tongue." His fist in her hair pushed her head down.
Catarina obeyed him instantly, taking him into the scalding heat of her mouth. Eli nearly lost control right then. She didn't need to know what she was doing, her body instinctively did it for her. Her tongue slid over and under, she suckled, tightening the suction around him and then sliding her mouth up and down all the while working him with her tight fist.
The breath slammed out of him. She was so hot she burned against him. He could feel his leopard roaring and leaping and his own body was so hard, the demand more urgent than he'd ever experienced. There was one fleeting thought to try to stop her, but that was gone in the fierce, raging fire licking at his body.
"Please, please," she begged against his shaft, the soft words vibrating through the sensitive organ so that he threw his head back and with a low growl pulled her off of him.
Before she could protest, he rolled her over and took savage possession of her mouth. His. She was his whether she liked it or not. There would be consequences to this, but he could no more stop himself than he could shoot himself. He kissed her hard, over and over, his tongue ruling her mouth.
He dropped his hand to her breast to first cup the soft weight and then to roll her nipple between his finger and thumb, tugging aggressively. Her body arched and the breath hissed out of her. Instantly he covered her breast with his mouth, pulling soft flesh deep inside. She tasted like heaven. Her body felt like sin. Those lush, sweet curves every bit as soft and perfect as he suspected.
He worked first one breast and then the other, using the edge of his teeth, the heat of his mouth and his fingers to drive her up fast. She sobbed against his shoulder, chanting the same little ragged plea.
"Please, please, please."
He moved down her body, kissing, nipping with his teeth, his hands going to her thighs to pull them apart. He could smell her beautiful, exotic scent of spice and honey calling to him and he wedged his shoulders between her thighs, draping her legs over him. He didn't give her a moment to recover. To breathe. He bent his head and plunged his tongue deep. She screamed.
She was a furnace, burning hotter than anything he'd ever known. Her taste was addictive and he couldn't pull the honey out of her fast enough with his tongue. He held her still while he devoured her ravenously, forgetting everything but the need to feed that terrible, wild addiction growing in him. He knew he would never get enough. She would sate him for a short time, and he would have to go back again and again.
He was good at sex. No, he was great at sex and he knew it. He might not be able to tie her to him any other way until her leopard emerged, but he could tie her this way. He drove her higher and then higher, his ruthless mouth demanding. She came hard, her voice hoarse from her sore throat.
He didn't let her go back down but pushed her up again, suckling on her sensitive clit, stroking with his thumb, using his tongue to stab deep and draw out the spice and honey spilling out of her. It was wild. Primitive. Out of control. She came a second time, her hot channel spasming, her belly rippling. He felt it in her thighs.
Ignoring her gasping pleas, he moved over top of her and pushed the head of his cock into that fiery inferno and then stopped.
"Look at me, Cat."
She kept her head turned away from his, her eyes shut tight. He waited. Patient while her body throbbed and burned around his. She licked her lips and he wanted to lick them too. Finally she gave him her wide, blue gaze.
"You look at me. Don't turn your head. When I give you this, I want you to know who I am. You haven't once called me by my name, and you're fucking going to do it when I'm buried inside of you. Do you understand me
? If you want this, say you understand and use my fucking name when you do."
He was nearly more leopard than human in that moment. Not his body, but his mind. This was his woman. His mate. She needed to submit to him. To know she belonged. Even if she couldn't wrap her head around the fact, her body needed to know.
Her eyes begged him. He shook his head, gritting his teeth. She squirmed. Writhed. Tried to force him to impale her. He refused to move, although it cost him. Jackhammers tripped in his head. His blood pounded with need. He felt savage. Half angry, half desperate.
"Fucking say my name and tell me you understand what I'm saying to you."
"God. Okay. Eli. Just please do something."
"You're mine. You know that now, right? Mine. No one else ever gets inside your body. Or your mouth. That belongs to me. You belong to me."
She pressed her lips together against another sob. He couldn't take the scorching fire beckoning his cock. He surged in hard and deep, driving past the thin barrier of her innocence so she cried out at the shocking bite of pain, arching her hips upward and closing her eyes.
He stilled, watched her face, waited for her eyes to come back to him. Her lashes lifted and he saw himself reflected there. The lines carved deep, the stamp of near brutality, of ruthless savagery. He was leopard all right, but that didn't mean he wouldn't make it good for her. Perfect for her.
He began to move inside of her, pushing through her tight, scorching folds, that fiery inferno that he knew he would always crave. The entire time he watched her face. Watched the tension coiling in her. Watched the beauty of helpless need. He loved the way her breath was so ragged and the way her eyes glazed. Her lips parted, and beneath him her body rose to match the rhythm of his.