Her head tossed on the pillow. She couldn’t stop writhing. Her body dripped for his. Wet and wild and on the very edge of control. He could do that without even trying. She felt the hard, thick length of his cock, just out of her reach, pressed tight against her hip. She felt the small pearly drops leaking into her skin and her mouth watered.

“Eli. Let me.”

“Shhh, baby. Not yet. You don’t get to take this from me. I need this.” He lifted his head to look at her.

She saw the warning in his leopard eyes. It only made her need stronger, her craving increase. She loved that look. She loved to know that he was every bit as hungry and in need as she was. She loved to push him right over the edge of his control. His warnings only served to give her more incentive.

She had her hands and she brought them to his hair, curling her fingers into the shaggy mass as his mouth finally – finally – moved to her breasts. She cried out as hot pleasure speared through her. His mouth settled over her left breast, drawing it into a vortex of scorching heat. His tongue lashed her nipple, flicking back and forth. He used the edge of his teeth and she wanted to weep with need. Her body did it for her, spilling more nectar along her thighs.

Without warning, his thumb and finger caught at her right nipple in a hard pinch that sent fiery sensations sizzling through her body. The pleasure bordered on pain and made a straight line for her sheath so that she nearly convulsed with its onslaught. His mouth moved over her breasts, teeth nipping and tongue laving. She wanted more, always more, and she arched her body, offering him her breasts, willing him to feast there. He suckled, first her nipple, then along her delicate skin, leaving his mark everywhere, leaving his prints and even the small burn of his teeth. She reveled in his claiming, cradling his head close to her, giving herself up to him.

He demanded a full surrender and she gave it to him, nearly sobbing for relief as she did so. Her body was so tight and hot, the tension building without respite. He licked over her heart. Pressed his ear there, while his fingers and thumb slid back and forth over her nipple in the same rhythm.

She felt the jerk of his cock against her hip, a throbbing of heartbeats between them. Her feminine channel clenched desperately to be filled. “Eli, I’m burning up.”

“I know,” he whispered back, his lips against the underside of her right breast. “We’ll get there. I just need to feel you’re alive.”

“I am alive, but if you don’t hurry that could change.”

He laughed softly, his breath warm against her left breast. She felt the stinging nip of his teeth and the slow slide of his tongue. “So impatient, my little Cat. We’ll do this my way.”

Secretly, she was glad her Eli was back with all his arrogant dominance. He’d been too sweet to her, too controlling of her every move. In bed was one thing – outside of it, she knew if he kept it up eventually she’d kick him in the shins, hit him over the head and totally defy him and run free when he wanted her to sit on the porch and read.

Eli kissed his way straight down from her breasts to her belly button. He made a side trip exploring each rake mark on her sides over her ribs. Six altogether. His touch was magic. Healing. His tongue soothing. He could make her forget the raw scars and the terrible moment when she’d been certain she was going to die under the rogue leopard’s teeth and claws.

Still, the leisurely way he licked and kissed her body, sipping at her as if she were a fine wine, stroking her skin with the velvet rasp of his tongue like a leopard might do, drove her insane with desire. She was drenched. Hot. Needy.

Eli framed her womb with his hands and kissed her belly over and over. “You saved our child, Kitten. You couldn’t have known, but you instinctively kept our baby safe. It’s going to be beautiful, just like you.”

She closed her eyes. She hadn’t known. Her leopard had still been too inexperienced to tell her, and she hadn’t felt the pregnancy, but Eli had known the moment he’d gotten her pregnant. She brought her hand to her face and looked at the ring there. Jake and Emma had come with a justice of the peace and Eli had married her a week after she’d gotten home.

Catarina blinked back tears and reached once again for the silky mass of Eli’s hair. “I love you so much sometimes I don’t know what to do with it,” she admitted, the sound so low it was barely there. No one in her life had given her compliments until Eli. No one had ever said they loved her until Eli.

Love and the admission of love were still strange and terrible yet wonderful things, just as the feeling was. It was overwhelming to her at times. Like now. In this moment. When Eli had to claim every inch of her. When he had to love every inch of her, showing her what she meant to him. It almost felt as if he was worshiping her body right along with claiming her. She never quite knew what to do with his sweetness and always, always, she wanted to curl up and hold herself still in fear that she might lose him. She couldn’t imagine how he felt waiting to hear if she was alive or dead. She would let him have whatever he wanted just for that alone.

Eli lifted his head from where he’d been communicating with their child. He had no idea if the baby was a boy or girl. He’d know soon enough because her leopard would tell his leopard. But right now, his heart was full, shattering with her soft admission, knowing how hard it was on her to tell him.

His eyes met hers. Catarina. All cobalt eyes and long, silky hair. He had no idea a man could love a woman so much. He knew he was driving her crazy with his too close, hands-on control, but until that feeling of being unable to breathe left him, she was going to have to give him time.