“I love how honest you are, Cat,” he said softly, his mouth on hers.

The way he did that, talked right into her mouth was just as hot as if he’d kissed her. Well… maybe she was wrong about that because then he was kissing her and the ground shifted out from under her feet. The room spun. Her body melted into his. She didn’t even feel his hand loosen in her hair. Her arms slid up his chest and curled around his neck to bring his head closer. He kissed her and then he devoured her as if she was all he wanted for breakfast.

Eli broke the kiss and looked down into her dazed eyes. His heart stuttered in his chest. She was beautiful to him. Not just the outside packaging, but the way she gave herself to him when he touched her. The way she answered him so honestly, even if she was revealing things to him she’d prefer to keep hidden.

Her lips were parted just the slightest bit, looked swollen from his kisses, moist and soft and inviting him back. He didn’t try to resist the invitation, even though he’d promised her he would only kiss her. He knew she wore nothing beneath the shirt, because he’d asked her not to wear anything else. His woman always did what he asked, because for some reason, if it mattered to him, it mattered to her. Even when it was difficult for her.

Like this morning. Overwhelmed by her commitment to him, but not taking it back. He lifted his head again and ran his hand gently over her face. “You okay now, baby? We need to talk more?”

A hint of amusement crept into the dark blue violet of her eyes. “Is that what you call that? Talking?”

“It’s how I do my best talking. That said good morning to my woman. That said you’re safe with me. Did you feel it?”

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to put out the fire you started. You always scramble my brain.”

But she was smiling. Looking at him. Before she’d been afraid to even chance a look. Eli stepped back away from her before it was too late. He prowled across the room, paced back and forth to release the energy built up in his body. He was a man who needed sex. Lots of sex, but now, with her so close to him, he needed it all the time. His leopard was a handful on the best of days, but with Eli’s body painfully hard for what seemed like every minute of the day, his leopard was roaring for Catarina’s submission.

“I’m making another coffee,” he announced. “Do you want one?”

“Sure. That would be nice,” she ventured.

She just stood there, her back to the counter, her long hair gleaming like a waterfall after midnight, her eyes still a little dazed and if she didn’t move, he was going to sit her up on the counter, put his mouth between her legs and have her for breakfast.

“Baby.” He sighed the endearment.

“Mmm?”

His cock jerked. Threatened to burst through his jeans. “Fix our breakfast.”

“Oh. Yeah. I knew I was doing something.”

That made him smile and the fierce edge to his temper was gone just like that. He went to the coffee machine and began the process. “I want to make certain you understand the rule we’ve got going in this house.” He kept his back to her. He could hear her chopping vegetables and she was fast at it. There wasn’t a second’s hesitation. She’d be good with a throwing knife.

“Rule?” she murmured, already distracted.

He didn’t want her distracted. “Cat, look at me.” He turned his head to look over his shoulder, waited for the full impact of her beautiful blue eyes on his. “When you wake up, where does your mouth go?”

“Seriously, Eli? That can’t be a rule.”

“It’s a rule.”

“I might have morning breath. Or I might have to go to the bathroom. Or I just might want to wake up before you and sit on the porch with a cup of coffee. That can’t be a rule,” she protested.

She stood there, gesturing with the knife, a little frown on her face. Her eyes were bluer than the deepest sea, and her hair was everywhere, falling in sheets to her waist. Her beauty took his breath.

“It’s a rule,” he repeated. “You wake up, your mouth belongs either of those two places. After that, you can do any damn thing you want.”

“Lucky me.” She went back to her chopping.

He found himself smiling. She didn’t argue with him and he was fairly certain he’d made his point.

“Speaking of kissing, Kitten,” he said, paying great attention to the coffee machine. He didn’t understand why her coffee was so much better. He followed her instructions to the letter, but it just didn’t come out quite the same. “That same rule applies at night when we go to bed.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. What about your mouth?”

He laughed softly and toed a chair around so he could straddle it as he watched her work. “It’s only fair if the same rule applies to me. I wake up, my mouth is on yours or between your legs. Whichever works best at the time.”

She nearly choked. The blush stole up from inside the shirt to her neck. “I see,” she managed to get out.

He liked watching her cook. She enjoyed it. There was no doubt in his mind, she would be happy in his house, making it a home for them. He liked sitting in their kitchen with the smell of coffee and breakfast surrounding him. He liked having her scent in his lungs and the taste of her in his mouth. He especially liked knowing her naked body, warm and soft, was wrapped in his shirt while she worked. He felt comfortable teasing her, and watching a blush steal up her neck and into her face.