Eli didn’t make a sound. He waited in silence. He knew it was an effort on her part, he could tell by the way her body stiffened, but she forced herself to turn around and face him, to walk toward him with his coffee, but she studiously looked at the floor while she did so.

“Baby, are you asking me a question? Because if you are, I need your eyes on mine.” His voice was low, but it held a clear command.

Her lashes fluttered and then her gaze jumped to his. He took the coffee. It smelled almost as good as she did. He couldn’t resist smoothing his hand over her bare bottom again. Just having her standing there so close made him hard. He knew it wasn’t all about how she looked, or even the fact that she was a wildcat in his bed. There was far more to it than that.

It was this. Her bare ass, no panties under his shirt because he’d asked it of her. It was her inexperience, her shyness, yet her willingness to learn from him, to let him guide her and teach her the things she wanted to learn. Her trust in giving him her body – that trust – in spite of his earlier betrayal of her. How could he not be so in love with her that it hurt? How could he possibly be with her and not know she was his world and always would be?

“I suppose I am. How do shifters handle that sort of thing?”

“Shifters mate for life. Over and over. They find one another and they choose each other. I would never leave you, or take another woman. When you carry my child in your belly, baby, it will only make me love you more. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her eyes began to move away from his and toward the floor. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Keep your eyes on mine. You hide when you avoid someone’s eyes. You’ve practiced it enough, for years, obviously, but there isn’t a reason to hide anymore. I want to know what you’re thinking, so you look at me not the floor.”

“I’m thinking you’re extremely bossy,” she snapped, her eyes coming back to his.

Deep blue. Flirting with anger. That made him hard too. He’d seen her a lot of ways, but anger wasn’t really one of them. Hurt, yes, anger not so much.

He grinned at her and then took a sip of coffee. “My woman makes a great cup of coffee, and she has a temper.”

“Why would that make you happy?”

“Best kind of sex there is, baby. Make-up sex.” His grin widened when her eyes turned a deep blue and flashed at him. There was just a hint of a smile in the midst of her mad.

“You do know you can be annoying, don’t you?” she demanded.

“I think you’re a little grumpy because you haven’t had your coffee and you just woke up.” He stepped close to her, crowding her, inhaling her scent. She could strip him bare, right to his soul, with her eyes. She just didn’t know it and he thought it best that she never did. “What is it about having babies that scares you, Kitten? Talk to me. Let me help with that.”

Her eyelashes fluttered, but her eyes didn’t leave his and there was an instant melting around the region of his heart. He admired her courage.

“I’ve never even held a baby, Eli, let alone taken care of one. I’ve never been around a child. I don’t know the first thing about raising children.”

She didn’t know it, but the way her gaze clung to him, the expression on her face, she looked to him like he was her lifeline. He wanted to be that lifeline. He wanted her to always look to him when she was scared or confused. He stepped even closer to her, one arm sliding around her waist to lock her to him, the other putting down his coffee so he could shape her face with his palm.

“Don’t be afraid of a child, baby. We’ll sort that out together. We’re both smart. We aren’t going to fuck up our children. You’ll be sweet like you are with them, pouring out all that love you’ve got, and I’ll growl and snarl and protect them. We’re going to love each other and them so much, they’ll be swimming in love.”

Her eyes searched his face. She swallowed twice before she answered. “Eli, has it escaped your notice that I can’t even say that word?”

“When it comes to you, Kitten, nothing escapes me. Not ever.” His thumb moved gently along her jaw. “You were made for love, Catarina. To love your man. To love your children. And for them to love you.”

She blinked, clearly surprised. A faint blush stole up her cheeks. “You say the most amazing things to me, Eli.”

She never knew what to do with him when he was giving her compliments. He figured she would have a lifetime to get used to it because he intended to give them to her on a regular basis.

“Only because they’re true. We both know I’m brutally honest.” He bent his head and brushed a kiss across her lips. “Make your coffee, baby, and let’s eat.”

“Okay.” She smiled up at him.

He couldn’t resist another kiss, this time sliding his tongue along the seam of her lips in a silent command for her to open to him. He slid both hands under the hem of the flannel shirt to cup the bare firm globes of her ass. She had a perfect butt. He loved watching her walk. He loved smoothing his palms over that wonderful curve. He loved looking at her bottom when she lay on her belly in their bed, or was on her hands and knees. Just like that, his cock reacted, straining against the material of his sweats. Hungry. Greedy.

She didn’t pull away from him. If anything she pressed tighter into him. That was another thing he loved. She gave him access to her body when he needed or wanted to touch her. She didn’t make a thing about it, she just did it. Caring for him. Loving him without words. He heard her talking, even if it was in silence. He heard her loud and clear.