His hands moved over her body possessively, strong. So strong. She loved that about him, the enormous strength she felt each time he touched her. She could count on it. She needed that right now. He stroked her, kneaded and massaged, all the while his clever mouth, his tongue and teeth coaxed more and more honey from her.

When she was panting, and her mewling cries filled the air, he suddenly dragged her hips back into him, slamming his cock into her fiercely, forcing his way through her tight delicate folds to bury himself deep. The breath slammed out of her lungs and her soft cry mingled with his harsher one.

“Don’t stop. Please, Eli. I need you.”

She didn’t have to ask him twice. He surged into her over and over so hard the only thing keeping her up was his arm, a tight band around her waist. He pounded into her, the friction exquisite, as the rain bathed them in cool drops, nearly hissing on their hot skin. She felt alive. She felt loved. She knew exactly where she belonged and to whom. Eli was her man, and she loved being his woman. She loved that she asked him to take her in the middle of the path and he hadn’t even hesitated.

She knelt in grass, but the water was a good inch around her knees and legs and Eli hadn’t cared. His body was a fierce machine, streaking fire through her. Flames raced up her skin. Electricity arced from his skin to hers. The sensations just built, one on the next. He never stopped, a relentless force driving her up higher and higher until she knew in another moment she would fly apart, shatter into a million pieces.

It didn’t matter, because Eli would find every single broken piece of her and put her back together again. Her breath hissed out of her lungs. She needed to fly. Wanted it. Reached for it.

“Not yet, baby. This time with me.” He wasn’t done. He kept going, forcing her to go with him.

“I don’t think I can wait,” she gasped, her voice a half plea.

But she would. She would wait. She would do as he demanded because he was Eli and she loved him. She loved that he was taking her on a wild, crazy ride she could barely comprehend. It was Eli and it didn’t matter that the pleasure threatened to kill her, she would do whatever he wanted, including getting his tattoo for him. Because she loved pleasing him and he moved heaven and earth to give her anything she wanted.

Her breath came in short ragged sobs and the tension coiled tighter and tighter until she thought she might really go insane with the need to explode. She clenched her teeth, using every ounce of discipline and self-control she had to hold back the orgasm that was so close, threatening to roar through her. Her body shook with the effort.

Eli reached around and caught her nipple between his thumb and finger, clamping down so that the pleasure streaked to her clit at the same time his cock bore down while he thrust deep.

“Now, baby,” he commanded softly. “This time with me. Together. Fly with me.”

His voice was hoarse, insistent, triggering the massive quake in her body. It rolled through her so hard even her stomach spasmed. There wasn’t a single cell in her body that didn’t feel the strength of the tidal wave as it ripped through her. She opened her mouth to scream her pleasure, but even her throat convulsed.

Her body flew apart, not her own, but he was there, surrounding her, holding her close to him, his breath warm on her back, his lips against the snug place where he wanted the tattoo. He nuzzled her with his rough, shadowed jaw.

“You better, Kitten? Need more? Because I can do more.”

She took a breath. She needed more from him. Not sex. Not making love, and he had made love to her, as rough and as aggressive as he was, she felt it.

“Tell me, baby. Don’t ever be afraid to ask me for anything you need,” he whispered. His teeth nipped the nape of her neck. His tongue followed, easing the slight ache.

“Hold me for a minute, Eli. I want you to hold me while I tell you this. And don’t ask me to look at you. I know you prefer that, my eyes on yours, but I can’t do that, not when I tell you this. It… shames me.”

Eli allowed his body to slip from hers. She shuddered as his cock dragged over her sensitive little bud, the knot of nerves that were already screaming in bliss. He stood carefully and reached down for her, lifting his face for a moment to the rain. The storm had lessened in strength, the lightning moving off to the south. Still, their hair was plastered to their faces, hers down her back in a long sweep.

He drew her into the shelter of his body gently, holding her face to his chest. “You never have to be ashamed of anything you feel, Catarina,” he assured. “Just talk to me. Let me help you.”

She pressed her burning face into muscles cut so deeply in his abdomen. Her arms circled his waist and she held on tightly.

“I don’t want to hurt him any more than I already have. He’s so alone, and it breaks my heart that I couldn’t make him different. That I couldn’t make him better. I wasn’t strong enough, or smart enough. Nothing I did helped him, and I tried. I know I’m not responsible for the terrible things he’s done, but still, I feel if I could have been just a little better at caring for him, I could have helped him. That’s the reason. That’s why I don’t want to help anyone hurt him.”

She made the confession in a small, muffled voice. Eli could hear the tears.

“I wanted him to love me. He was all I had. I tried so hard but I could never do anything right and I could never take away his rage that always burned just below the surface. Only hurting others ever did that. When I knew he was going out and something terrible was going to happen, I tried to hold him there. It never worked. He’d grow worse, pacing, snarling, scaring me and everyone else. Eventually he’d go and when he came back, it was the only time he looked at peace. Relaxed. It never lasted.”