He kissed her neck. Kissed the fluttery pulse right there on her throat. He couldn't help himself, he had to feel it under his lips, the one little spot that confirmed she was alive, was his, lying there under him, looking up at him with her beautiful eyes.
"That's all you, Catarina. Your body knows I'm here to stay. Let me back in, sweetheart. Take another chance on me."
He kissed his way down the valley between her breasts, feeling her shiver again as the shadow on his face rasped against her sensitive skin.
"This isn't okay, Eli." Her hands curled around his shoulders and she pushed, without really exerting much effort.
"What, baby? What's not okay?"
"This. You. This is different." Fear crept into her voice.
He swept his hand down her body, his palm absorbing the warmth of her satin skin. Already there were dewdrops in the tight curls guarding treasure. He slipped his finger deep. She was tight. She was always tight. Sometimes, he thought he might not make it inside her she was so damn tight. But always, always, she was slick and hot and ready for him.
He nuzzled her breast gently, using the rough hairs along his jaw to stimulate her more. He loved the way her body was so responsive. He was the one drowning. He'd been so busy trying to convince her to fall for him, he hadn't realized just how far he'd fallen. He couldn't help himself.
He used both hands to shape her body, to slide over every lush curve and trace every rib along her narrow rib cage. She was his. All his. She might be afraid, and she might be on the verge of running, but when he had her under him, she belonged to him.
He should have taken her gently the first time. Like this. Like she feared he was doing. The rough, hard sex she could blame on their cats, but this, this was all them. The man. The woman. And it terrified her. He didn't take his gaze from hers and her every emotion was there for him to see. Pain. Fear. Need. Even the beginnings of the love he'd seen before, there in the warehouse. That's what scared her. That's what had her hands pushing at his shoulders. She could take his orders. She could take his rough. She couldn't handle sweet or gentle.
"Eli. This isn't right," she whispered again.
"This is exactly right, Cat. This is what you deserve. Slow and easy and loving." He kissed his way back up to her mouth. A sweet, fantasy mouth that left him breathless and gave him one too many erotic images playing in his head all the time.
Her eyes went wide with shock and fear. She shook her head frantically. "I don't want this."
"Baby." Gentle male amusement. He couldn't help it. "You're already wet and hot for me. What kind of man would I be to leave you like that?"
Panic spread in her eyes. She swallowed hard. "I know. It's just that you can't do it like this."
He loved that about her too. Her soft little admission. "I know." She didn't think to deny her state to him. She simply admitted it without even blinking. And then her soft trembling. "You can't do it like this." It. She couldn't say fuck and she wouldn't say making love. And that was just it. He didn't want to fuck her. He wanted to make love to her.
He kissed her. He loved her mouth and he loved kissing her. He poured love down her throat. His love. His rough, not so easy to live with, but all-encompassing love. He'd never given himself to a woman before and he never imagined he actually would. He had some stupid, lunatic idea that she would love him and he would cherish her. Care for her, but there would be some part of himself he would hold back. There was no holding back and he didn't even know when it happened. He didn't care. He kissed her with love. His love.
He knew she tasted it because he did. She drank it down her throat, let it settle in around her heart. He doubted she knew what it meant, or what it was going to change between them, but that didn't matter either. He kissed her over and over, long, telling kisses that left him stripped bare, utterly naked and vulnerable to her. Showing her what she meant to him. Without words. He'd never been good talking, but he could use his mouth and his hands and his body to show her what she was to him.
She was everything. Her mouth moved under his. Accepting. Catching fire. Letting him take her in a kind of surrender. He persisted. He didn't just want surrender. He wanted her. Catarina Benoit. The woman hiding inside a frightened girl. His little runaway. She'd been ripped from her childhood and exposed to a monster. And then when she'd taken a chance, opening herself up to him, Eli had betrayed her.
Baby, I'm taking you back. I want your heart and this time, I'll safeguard it for you, I promise.
He poured his promise down her throat and into her body as well, along with his love. He stopped being so gentle with his kisses the moment she responded, the moment she began actively participating in kissing him back. She'd never really kissed him back. Not like this, not moving her body deeper beneath his, her hands sliding around his neck, fingers finding his hair. Her tongue slid along his, danced and dueled, made her own demands.
She lit up for him like a flame. He'd lit the match and she caught fire. Heat swept through his body, turning him rock hard. It wasn't just his cock she affected, it was his entire body. He could feel his need for her in every cell, each individual muscle. His heart pounded and thunder roared in his ears. He could feel the hot blood pumping through his veins, roaring like his leopard did when it was demanding his mate.
This was all the man, not the feral cat. This was all Eli, needing Catarina. Loving her. He took his time, kissing her, making an art of it, feeding on the taste of her, committing the shape and feel of her to memory. Her lips were soft, warm, nearly indescribable for him. He was a tactile man and he loved running his tongue over her lips and tugging on her full lower lip. Little nips. Little bites. God she was gorgeous.
He loved the soft little sounds that came from her throat. She would never be a silent lover. She made noise. Lots of it. Breathy little moans. Soft little pleas. A kind of purr that nearly drove him out of his mind, and when she came, she screamed, or chanted his name. She wasn't embarrassed about sex. She was more embarrassed that she didn't know a lot about it.
He couldn't tell her what a turn-on it was for him to know that no other man had ever been inside her. Maybe that was macho of him, and very unfair, but it didn't matter, he loved that no one else had been in her mouth or her body. That he'd been her first kiss, her first everything. She belonged to him alone. No one else had even a tiny part of her. Not her heart. Not her soul. Just his.
"I've never had anything that I wanted just for mine," he admitted softly against her throat. His hand swept down to her left breast. He loved that she more than filled his large palm. She had curves and he was a man to appreciate curves, especially hers.
His fingers found her nipple and he tugged, catching her breath in his mouth. Catching her breathy little moan. Her nipples were sensitive. He liked that. He liked that she could take rough, but fell apart with gentle. He kissed his way to her right breast, flicking her nipple with his tongue before covering the dark, perfect treat with his mouth and suckling hard.
Her body arched, pressing her breast deeper into his mouth, and when he rolled and tugged on her left nipple, he was so in tune with her, he felt the electricity himself, a straight line from breast to her hot, wet, channel. Her legs moved restlessly and she bucked her hips.
"That's it, baby," he murmured softly, taking his fill of her breasts. He switched from one to the other, using the edge of his teeth and the flat of his tongue to drive her up. "Come to me, Kitten. All the way to me."
She made a soft little mewling sound and the sharp little points of her nails dug into his back. He spent time on her breasts, just the way he had her mouth, sometimes rough and then back to gentle, never letting her find a rhythm. He kept it up until her breath came in soft little gasps. His hand slid between her legs, fingers pushing into her tight sheath.
He lifted his head to watch her. She was sprawled out, her eyes on his face while his fingers stroked deep inside her.
"I'm going to . . ." she broke off, her hips undulating, bucking, needing.
"You're so fucking hot when you come for me," he whispered, meaning it. He loved watching her come. "That's what I want, Cat. Give it to me. Give it all to me." It was always the moment she was the most honest with him because she did give it all to him. To him. Eli. No one else. She came for him.
Her passage, slick and hot, clamped hard on his fingers, so hard he felt the bite right through his cock. She shuddered, cried out his name, her hands sliding down her own body from the sides of her breasts, along her ribs and belly to frame his hand with her own. All the while her eyes clung to his, while her body sucked at his fingers, pulsing around them, the tight muscles working to draw him deeper.
He leaned down and sucked her nipple deep into his hot mouth just as her body was settling. Ever so gently he brought his teeth there, biting down just hard enough that she exploded again, her body becoming a vise while his fingers worked her through her second orgasm.
He loved watching the dazed, helpless expression on her face. He loved the way she said his name, or sometimes, like now, couldn't say it. His name just formed there on her lips and stayed right through her climax. How beautiful and hot was that?
He wouldn't mind using his mouth on her and tasting all the honey spilling from her body, but he couldn't wait. He needed to be inside of her, and she was ready for him. So hot. So slick. So ready.
He pushed her knees up, laying each foot flat on the mattress, spreading her thighs. He'd only gotten into her fast and hard, forcing his way through those impossibly tight folds. This time he wanted her to feel him. To know he was inside of her. Eli was in her, not just his cock.
He let the very crown of his cock nudge into her slick, wet inferno. His body shuddered at the tight squeeze. Her eyes flew to his, her body nearly vibrating with sensation. She tugged her lower lip between her teeth. He nearly groaned. He couldn't stop himself, he leaned down to use his tongue where her teeth had just been. The action pushed his cock just a tiny bit deeper, just enough to feel the ripples of her last orgasm calling to him, beckoning.
"Can I have you, Kitten? Are you going to give yourself to me this time? I want all of you. Let me have you, baby."