He tugged gently. “If you’re asking me will I be away from my mate now that I’ve found her, the answer is no. I don’t need to work. I inherited a lot of money. It was in a trust and I couldn’t touch the bulk of it until I turned thirty-one. I work because I wanted to. Now I don’t. I’ll be handing in my resignation.”

She tried to turn her head but his hands in her hair prevented her from doing that. “Eli. You can’t do that. You love your job, and I still feel very confused.” Her lashes swept down. “I don’t know if I can ever trust you again. It was hard enough the first time. I’m still asking myself if you’re seducing me in order to get me to do what you want.”

“Of course I am. I want you to stay with me. I know you’re not going to testify against Cordeau. But you’re mine, Cat, and I’m not giving you up. It’s natural for you to be afraid, and I’ll have to work at earning your trust back, but I will.”

“You lied to me.”

“Only about my name. The man who was with you in the warehouse was all me. Maybe not so bossy or crude like I can be, but he was me. I gave you me.”

“Where were you that day? You always came to walk me home, but you didn’t that day. It was Tuttle, not you.”

“He’s a moron. He doesn’t do undercover work and he sure as hell can’t tail someone without them spotting it. I’d heard they were going to move on you and I wanted to stop them. I spent the day arguing. During the meeting I got wind that maybe someone had tipped Cordeau and I needed to run that down. If it was true, I planned to lay the entire thing out for you myself.”

Catarina swallowed hard. “Eli, I don’t want you to change your life on the chance that I might want to stay. I don’t know if I can get that trust back. I don’t even know what’s going on here between us. Is this just until my leopard emerges? Is this supposed to be a lifetime deal and I’ve got no say in it? I can’t tell you I’ll stay.”

“You’ll stay. Shifters mate for life, Cat. You’ll stay.”

She winced, afraid he was right. If her leopard only had two choices, Eli or Rafe, and she didn’t even know if Rafe would take her back or kill her, she knew she would rather be with Eli. He might never love her, or she him, but he cared enough to take care of her after they had wild, crazy sex. She blushed again just thinking about it.

“You sore?”