CATARINA busied herself making breakfast. As a rule when she was in the kitchen, she could lose herself there. The kitchen had been her favorite place, her refuge. Rafe often wandered in when she was putting a meal together or baking something for later.
Eli liked to sit in the kitchen and drink his coffee. His presence took up the entire room, despite it being spacious. He also seemed to suck all the air out of it as well. He didn’t seem to know it, calmly gazing out the wide panel of windows to the outside where the view was gorgeous.
She snuck another peek at him. He was too good-looking for her peace of mind, in a purely masculine way. There were no boyish features whatsoever on Eli. He was all man, every angle cut strong, the lines in his face carved deep. His jaw was strong, his nose straight, and his shoulders were wide enough to fill a doorway.
He made her feel small and very feminine. Right at this moment, she was suddenly feeling very shy. That had something to do with the way he looked at her. He was different this morning. Whenever his gaze rested on her, he was focused, just as before, looking as if he could see right through her to her soul, but it was more. It was the way he focused on her.
She moistened her lips and tried not to startle when he moved. The scrape of his chair had her gaze jumping to his. He’d gone from sitting behind the table to crowding her all the way around the counter, his much larger body pinning her against the sink.
“What are you doing, Eli?” She hated that she sounded so breathless. Like a girl instead of a woman. He was always so sure of himself, and she felt very unsure. Her heart got all fluttery – she was still so scared of him ripping it out and destroying her she actually felt fragile.
“Kitten.” He said it softly. Just that. His hand came up to frame her face, his thumb sliding gently over her smooth skin. “You haven’t looked at me once this morning. Not one single time.”
“I have¸” she denied hastily. “I looked at you lots.” She couldn’t quite get herself to raise her eyes to his because she’d see that look. She knew it was there and she knew what it meant. She’d given herself to him last night in a way there was no taking back. She’d made a commitment, and now she was terrified.
“You’re hiding from me.”
His voice was so gentle. The velvet one that smoothed over her skin and sent shivers of heat down her spine. It was pure, utter hell to be so affected by a man’s voice. His scent surrounded her, a wild, rain forest, primal scent – when she breathed in, she felt as if she took him inside of her.
“I’m working, trying to make breakfast. And before that I made us coffee.”
“You didn’t kiss me good morning either.”
Now there was humor in his voice. Gentle and amused. She couldn’t take the combination, not on one cup of coffee.
“Eli, I’m serious, you’re going to ruin our breakfast.” Again, without really raising her gaze to his, she tried to step around him.
Eli was a solid wall. There was no moving him even when she put her hand on his chest and shoved. He didn’t even rock back.
“At this precise moment, baby, I don’t give a damn about breakfast. I want you to look at me.”
“Well, I can’t.” The admission burst out of her. She couldn’t contain it. She always seemed to blurt the truth out around him no matter what she vowed to herself.
“You can’t?” he echoed, sounding more amused than ever.
“No, I just can’t. So go sit down and let me finish making our breakfast.”
Catarina sounded snippy. Eli didn’t do snippy very well, she was pretty certain of that, especially when one hand moved the pan on the stove from the burner and the other arm wrapped around her waist.
“Kitten, I’m not going the entire morning without a kiss from you. When we wake up, you’ve got two choices. Your mouth can be on mine, or it can be on my cock. It isn’t that difficult. You didn’t have your lips wrapped around my cock when I woke up, so I’m waiting for my kiss.”
That was just a little shocking. She shouldn’t be shocked because that sounded like the arrogant, bossy Eli she was becoming familiar with. Bossy, arrogant, dominating Eli was far more familiar than sweet Eli.
“Those are my two choices?”
“Yeah. And some days, I’ll expect both.”
“How lucky of me. Really, Eli, what other rules do you have? I wouldn’t want to break any.” In spite of her sudden, weird shyness, he’d made her just annoyed enough that she risked a glance upward.
Big mistake. He might sound amused, but he didn’t look amused. His amber eyes had gone golden. Burnished gold. Almost liquid, which she knew was a bad sign. His hand settled in her long hair, fisted there. He pulled her head back, using his grip on her hair. Rough. Not at all gentle. A bite of pain in her scalp sent heat rushing through her veins like hot lava flowing straight to her deepest feminine core.
Oh, God. Why did she have to find everything about him scorching hot? She gave a soft protest, “Eli.” Her stomach did a funny flip. He could make her want him with one touch. One look. He terrified her the longer she spent time with him. What had she done? How had she made such a stupid commitment?
“You don’t get to take yourself back. You gave me you last night,” he said, his eyes burning fiercely.
She could see the leopard in him, a ferocious, feral animal, lurking close to the surface, needing his mate to submit to him.
“I’m not taking me back,” she whispered, awed by the power she felt running through him. His body was hard and hot, his strength barely contained.