She had nowhere else to turn. Only him. Only Eli. It didn’t matter that he had betrayed her, or that he might be lying. That he’d brought her to his home without her consent. There was only Eli, and he had to know what to do because she didn’t.

“Eli.” She breathed his name, looking up at him, feeling helpless and vulnerable.

Eli looked down into Catarina’s face. She was so beautiful and she looked so frightened. He dragged her close, tight into him, fitting her body into his while his hands held her face tipped upward toward his. He brought his mouth down gently. He didn’t feel gentle, but she needed this moment. She needed gentle and tender.

He kissed her with love. He even tasted it on his own tongue. He didn’t have a clue when it happened, maybe the first time he found himself laughing with her, but he definitely knew when he stretched out beside her and tugged her body into his in bed. He didn’t sleep with women. He had no problems fucking them, but then they were gone. He was gone. He didn’t bring them home, especially not here.

Everything changed the moment Catarina stepped into his house—everything—because it felt different. It felt like home instead of a house. So he held himself back, and it took a lot of restraint to control the wildness building inside of him. He kissed her over and over, his tongue stroking caresses, teasing and dueling with hers until her breathing was ragged and her hands were frantic.

Then he devoured her with a ravenous appetite that knew no boundaries. He took her mouth like the savage cat he was, bit her lower lip, the one he couldn’t get his mind off. He loved her mouth and he made certain she knew it intimately.

He left her mouth to burn kisses down her throat. He liked that she was naked and he was fully clothed. There was something very decadent about that. He kept her hands from pulling his shirt off. Instead he dropped his hands to the waistband of his sweats and pushed them down over his hips.

Her gaze dropped. Her breath caught. He widened his stance as he bunched her long hair in his fist. Her leopard was rising close to the surface again, and as much as he wanted to give her the time to heal, there was only one way to stop the terrible burn.

“Kneel down, baby,” he said, keeping his voice low, an authoritative whip.

“I need . . .” She trailed off.