She matched his wild, out of control mood, riding him hard. Fast. Her soft little cries, music in his ears while he surged into paradise over and over, the pace almost frantic. He thought he'd hold out a long while, he'd taken her just a few minutes earlier and he usually had great control, but the little downward spirals, the way her delicate muscles gripped and milked had him losing himself in her far too fast.
He felt the explosion building from his toes and moving through his legs. His teeth settled into her skin, the soft perfect junction between her shoulder and neck. He bit down and her entire body shuddered, clamped down like a vise on his and squeezed. He roared her name as she took him with her, as jet after jet of hot seed splashed deep into her.
He knew instantly. Even as his body shuddered and rocked. Even as hers gripped his and milked. He knew. This time, right there in the rain, they had created something beautiful and precious between them. He lifted his head to look down at her. He knew his eyes had gone leopard. Possessive. Satisfied. How could he help it? She was his and always would be his.
"What?" she murmured sleepily. She kissed his shoulder and then his throat.
Still locked inside her, surrounded by her, held by her, he gave a little growl. "Give me your mouth."
She obeyed instantly, tilting her head so he could kiss her. So he could lose himself there. She was sacred. The mother of his child. His lover.
"Marry me, Catarina." It wasn't a question. He wanted it to be, but it didn't come out that way. It was a demand. An order. He made the command against her soft lips.
He felt her mouth curve against his. He pulled his head back to look into her eyes, even as he eased her feet back to the ground. He hated slipping out of her body, losing the ultimate, intimate connection between them.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" she answered, her hands smoothing down his arms.
He studied her face. "That depends. You saying yes, then I'm asking. You hesitating, then I'm telling you." He was honest. How could he not be? It was the truth. He wanted his ring on her finger and her name to be his. She belonged to him. With him. More, he was hers, body and soul.
She laughed softly. "That's so you, Eli. So romantic."
He looked around him at the steadily falling rain, the thirsty trees lifting leaves toward the drops. "This is romantic."
"I'll marry you, baby. Someone has to take care of you properly."
Her voice was filled with love. She didn't declare her love, but at that moment he didn't need her to. He heard it in her soft response. Elation swept through him. He would have taken her again, right there, but he couldn't very well lay her down in the wet grass, and she looked exhausted.
"Right away. Immediately." Definitely a command. Accompanied by a growl.
She laughed and shifted, her little female leopard leaping away from him, sprinting toward the dense grove of trees. He ran after her, shifting on the run, feeling his answering laughter. His answering happiness. He didn't know how he managed it, he knew he didn't deserve her, but she was his all the same and he knew he'd do anything to keep her.
I love you, Kitten, he whispered from deep inside his male.
The female teased and flirted with the male leopard over and over and he allowed it, staying close, rubbing along her fur, approaching cautiously when she crouched invitingly and leaping back when she halfheartedly swiped a paw at him. They tumbled together, rolling around in the grass, playing, but always, the male moved his female toward him. Toward the ranch house.
The much heavier male took her there on the porch, pinning her in the way of the male leopard, locking them together, staking his claim.
Eli let his male have his time with his mate, but once he was finished and just rubbing lovingly along her fur, as she lay exhausted and panting, he forced him back and shifted.
The little female didn't move. He dropped his hand into her thick fur. "Shift now, Cat." He poured command into his voice.
She obeyed automatically, but she didn't move from the floor. He reached down and lifted her exhausted body, cradling her against his chest.
"You sleep in this morning and then we're going to take care of it."
She rubbed her face sleepily against his chest. "Take care of what?"
He strode into the house. "Go to sleep. Let me take care of you. We'll get the paperwork done and get married at Jake's."
She burrowed closer. "I think I'm being railroaded."
He laughed softly. "Bet your life on that, baby. I'm not wasting time and giving you the chance to change your mind."
19
CATARINA pushed away from her desk, stood up and stretched. She loved this room. Their shared office. There was so much space. It was nice sitting opposite Eli, looking up every now and then from her laptop to see his golden eyes on her. The way he looked at her always made her shiver in anticipation. He always looked at her as if he might devour her at any moment. In fact, it was true. More than once he'd ordered her to strip and climb on his desk. More than once she'd dared to crawl under his desk and open his jeans to get what she wanted.
She loved the books that slowly were filling the empty shelves. She knew she spent too much on books, but it was the only thing she spent money on. She threw out her arms and spun in a circle, unable to contain her happiness. The dread was still there, deep in the pit of her stomach and the nightmares had increased so she knew Rafe was closer than ever to her, but still she couldn't help but be happy.
She might not spend money on herself, but Eli kept her supplied in clothes--especially lingerie. Silky, lacy camisoles. He especially liked red on her. She had a lot of lace and red. She could never really understand why because it never stayed on her more than a few minutes, but she liked to wear the silk and lace under her clothes, especially her everyday clothes, just to tease him. He always wondered.
Eli made her laugh. He was bossy, even arrogant, there was no doubt about it. He was super controlling, but, she found, it was mainly when it came to sex or her safety or health. In every other area, he was gentle with her and seemed to want her to grow confident and spread her wings.
She had more boots in her closet than she could possibly wear in a week. She never asked for them. She was careful, even, not to look at anything too long in any of the cool stores she'd found on the Internet, but the boots kept coming and she loved every pair. She didn't wear them often, but Eli always assured her, when the danger to her was past, he would take her out often and she could wear her beloved boots.
"Kitten, where the hell are you?" Eli sounded irritated and bossy. Just like him.
She didn't shout her answer back to him because she knew from experience he detested that. When he called her, he wanted her. Right there. In front of him. And when she came into the room he wanted her kissing him.
Catarina moved quickly through the hall down to the kitchen where Eli paced with a scowl on his face. The moment she entered, he whirled around and stalked toward her, looking aggressive, a leopard on the prowl. Her heart stuttered, just as it always did when she first caught a glimpse of him.
Tall, broad-shouldered, his body cut with heavy, defined muscles. His face was that of a man, no boyish features at all. Right now his jaw was set tight and his eyes were very focused, predatory. She went straight to him, meeting him in the middle of the kitchen, going up on her toes to press her mouth gently to his frown.
He always responded the same way. The moment her lips touched his, his mouth took over, his tongue demanding entrance. He slipped his hand under her shirt to cup one breast, his thumb sliding over her nipple as her mouth met his. She wasn't certain why he always touched her so intimately when she kissed him, but she liked it, almost as if it was his personal brand of ownership.
She had a brand of her own. When she stepped back, she allowed her hand to run down his chest, feel the tight, cut muscles of his abdomen and then brush lightly over his heavy, thick cock. He was nearly always semi-or completely erect after kissing her. Sometimes she wondered if he was always in a permanent state of arousal.
"Where the hell did you go when you left my bed this morning without waking me? And why?"
This time, his hand didn't drop away from her breast when she stepped back. His thumb and finger caught her nipple and tugged hard. Rolled deliberately. Fire shot straight to her center. Heat burned. Her gaze jumped to his face.
"I just went out to the porch and sat for a while, Eli," she said, puzzled.