Her eyes jumped to his. She licked her lips, and he groaned.

“Baby. I need the shirt gone. You need to sit on the tailgate and I don’t want your ass on that cold, dirty metal.”

A hint of a smile stole into her eyes and that made him want to groan all over again. She leaned away from him so she could pull his shirt up and over his head. First one arm was free and then the other. He opened the tailgate and laid the shirt down before depositing her there. She didn’t take her eyes off of his face.

“Shifting with a hard-on is much more difficult,” he growled at her.

Her hint of a smile widened into the real thing. She swung one bare foot. “I’m sure you’re up to the task.”

“You could help me out…” he suggested, not making it a command, just teasing.

She wiggled her fingers imperiously at him to get on with it. Eli grinned at her and pulled off his boots and socks and then his hands dropped to the drawstring of his sweats. She didn’t look away. He stepped in close to her, wedging his hips between her legs, pushing her thighs open with his.

“Actually, Kitten, if you want to see my leopard you can do this for me.”

She tilted her head. “Do you think I won’t?”

Her hands shook but they went instantly to his drawstring. She loosened it and then opened it, her fingers working deftly in his waistband to push the material off his hips. Eli wanted to throw his head back and roar like the leopard he was. She was his all right, every damn inch of her. He was beginning to realize that all the time he’d been trying to hold her to him, she was winding herself around his heart. He was more than halfway in love with her – he was already gone.

His hand dropped to her thigh. Her skin was warm and soft, just like he knew it would be. He had the taste of her in his mouth and his body already recognized the feel of her. He ran his palm up her thigh and then around to the inside. He felt her incredible heat radiating, beckoning.

“Are you wet for me?” he murmured.

“Don’t get distracted. You’re showing me your leopard,” she whispered, but her hand curled over his cock.

His body shuddered. “You aren’t helping.” He couldn’t resist seeing for himself. His fingers found her hot core and yes, she was wet for him. Scared of his leopard and still wet for him. Perfect for him. Perfect.

He kissed her hard, plundering her mouth, taking her tongue and taking command. She gave herself to him, her mouth moving under his, following his lead, tentative, but still opening to him. It took a moment for him to get himself under control, to feel the small trembling in her body. When he lifted his head, her gaze shifted from his immediately and dropped to her hands.

“Don’t, baby, don’t do that.” He caught her chin in his hand and tipped her face up. “Don’t be embarrassed because you want me. There isn’t anything wrong with it.”

She nodded, pressing her lips together, but her eyes didn’t quite meet his.

“Catarina. You know what I want.” His hand went to the nape of her neck, fingers moving gently on her tension-filled muscles.

Eli waited until her eyes were on his. He nodded approvingly. “Thank you, Cat.” He kept his voice gentle with an effort. “Now talk to me. What’s going on in your head right now?”

“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it, Eli.”

“I get that.” He wasn’t used to prying things out of people. He rarely asked twice and very few men argued with him, let alone women. Most recognized the alpha, never understanding a good portion of that was his leopard. She recognized the leopard and she still struggled against his authority. “I do, Kitten. But this is about you coming to terms with our future. If we don’t talk, bring things out into the open, how are we ever going to work things out between us?”

“You just keep pushing me, Eli,” she said. “I need a little breathing room. This is difficult to come to terms with, all of it.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Eli raked a hand through his hair. “I’d give you all the time in the world if we had it, Cat, but we don’t. She’s so close my leopard is getting crazy. We have to be right, you and me, solid. You have to know you can count on me. You’ll be scared and you won’t know what to do. I’ll be the one seeing you through it and I want to make it as easy as possible. So talk to me.”

Her eyes shifted again. He waited. He actually counted every one of his heartbeats. He couldn’t allow her to win this one. It was too important. She did deserve all the time in the world, but they didn’t have it and that was a fact. He remained absolutely silent and still, focusing his eyes on her, his will.

Catarina sighed and lifted her gaze to his once more. “You don’t understand. I realized that I can’t go back with Rafe, not after everything between us, which essentially means I’m staying with you. But you hurt me. I let you in so deep, and I didn’t even know I was doing it. You hurt me far worse than he ever did. I have to get to a place where I can let that go. I don’t want to be the type of person who brings up the past and throws it in someone’s face, and that means I have to deal with it and forgive you or I can’t be with you. More, I have to trust you again. To do that, I’d be giving you everything, stripping myself bare. And if I do that…” She trailed off.

He kept his face blank, but it was a body blow. You hurt me worse than he ever did. He wanted to roar with rage. He’d handled everything the wrong way with her. I don’t want to be the type of person who brings up the past and throws it in someone’s face, and that means I have to deal with it and forgive you. She’d delivered that in her soft little confessional voice as if she was the one who had sinned, not him. Giving you everything. Stripping myself bare.