“I have¸” she denied hastily. “I looked at you lots.” She couldn’t quite get herself to raise her eyes to his because she’d see that look. She knew it was there and she knew what it meant. She’d given herself to him last night in a way there was no taking back. She’d made a commitment, and now she was terrified.

“You’re hiding from me.”

His voice was so gentle. The velvet one that smoothed over her skin and sent shivers of heat down her spine. It was pure, utter hell to be so affected by a man’s voice. His scent surrounded her, a wild, rain forest, primal scent – when she breathed in, she felt as if she took him inside of her.

“I’m working, trying to make breakfast. And before that I made us coffee.”

“You didn’t kiss me good morning either.”

Now there was humor in his voice. Gentle and amused. She couldn’t take the combination, not on one cup of coffee.

“Eli, I’m serious, you’re going to ruin our breakfast.” Again, without really raising her gaze to his, she tried to step around him.

Eli was a solid wall. There was no moving him even when she put her hand on his chest and shoved. He didn’t even rock back.

“At this precise moment, baby, I don’t give a damn about breakfast. I want you to look at me.”

“Well, I can’t.” The admission burst out of her. She couldn’t contain it. She always seemed to blurt the truth out around him no matter what she vowed to herself.

“You can’t?” he echoed, sounding more amused than ever.

“No, I just can’t. So go sit down and let me finish making our breakfast.”

Catarina sounded snippy. Eli didn’t do snippy very well, she was pretty certain of that, especially when one hand moved the pan on the stove from the burner and the other arm wrapped around her waist.

“Kitten, I’m not going the entire morning without a kiss from you. When we wake up, you’ve got two choices. Your mouth can be on mine, or it can be on my cock. It isn’t that difficult. You didn’t have your lips wrapped around my cock when I woke up, so I’m waiting for my kiss.”

That was just a little shocking. She shouldn’t be shocked because that sounded like the arrogant, bossy Eli she was becoming familiar with. Bossy, arrogant, dominating Eli was far more familiar than sweet Eli.

“Those are my two choices?”

“Yeah. And some days, I’ll expect both.”

“How lucky of me. Really, Eli, what other rules do you have? I wouldn’t want to break any.” In spite of her sudden, weird shyness, he’d made her just annoyed enough that she risked a glance upward.

Big mistake. He might sound amused, but he didn’t look amused. His amber eyes had gone golden. Burnished gold. Almost liquid, which she knew was a bad sign. His hand settled in her long hair, fisted there. He pulled her head back, using his grip on her hair. Rough. Not at all gentle. A bite of pain in her scalp sent heat rushing through her veins like hot lava flowing straight to her deepest feminine core.

Oh, God. Why did she have to find everything about him scorching hot? She gave a soft protest, “Eli.” Her stomach did a funny flip. He could make her want him with one touch. One look. He terrified her the longer she spent time with him. What had she done? How had she made such a stupid commitment?

“You don’t get to take yourself back. You gave me you last night,” he said, his eyes burning fiercely.

She could see the leopard in him, a ferocious, feral animal, lurking close to the surface, needing his mate to submit to him.

“I’m not taking me back,” she whispered, awed by the power she felt running through him. His body was hard and hot, his strength barely contained.

“Then what the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

She counted her heartbeats. She heard her pulse pounding in her ears. One hand was a flimsy defense, there on his chest. She could feel his defined muscles coiled with tension beneath her palm.

“I’m… ah… taking a time-out.”

He let his breath out in a slow hiss of annoyance. His hand never loosened in her hair, preventing her from moving her head. “A time-out?”

She moistened her lips, and for the first time, she really looked at him. Looked into his eyes. Immediately she found herself caught and held there, a prisoner in all that gold. She swallowed hard. “I’m not taking anything back, Eli. I’m just overwhelmed. I don’t know how to act. I’m still just a little freaked out and I’m sorry if that upsets you.”

He stared down at her with the unblinking, focused stare of the leopard for what seemed an eternity. His face softened, although the grip on her hair didn’t. “Kitten. You can’t hide from me like this. If you’re freaked out, you talk to me. If you’re overwhelmed, you tell me. I’m not the kind of man to guess what’s going on with my woman. You have to come right out and tell me.”

She swallowed hard again. “Okay.”

“I’m going to kiss you good morning,” he said softly. “That’s all, just kiss you. That shouldn’t scare you. You’ve kissed me before, so why does it freak you out this morning?”

“We never stop at just kissing, and I need to process. You confuse me, Eli. I can’t think when you’re kissing me or your hands are on me, and I seem to do the craziest things.”

His lips whispered against hers, the lightest of touches, but he might as well have sent a flaming arrow straight between her legs.