He grinned at her. “You think? Don’t worry, baby, you’ll like it.”

She already liked it, she just wasn’t certain she should like it so much. Because he was talking about it and she was thinking about it, she just had to ask him. She was very grateful she had an excuse to stare straight ahead. “Um. Eli. Why counting?”

He didn’t answer right away and she figured she hadn’t given him enough information, but really, what was she supposed to say? That she wanted to be really, really good at pleasing him and he obviously liked her mouth on him?

“I didn’t want you to panic when you couldn’t breathe, baby. You have to learn to breathe through your nose and even then, when I’m deep, if you don’t relax and trust me, you might still think you’re going to choke, or strangle. First, I wouldn’t let that happen, and second, you’re learning. I don’t want anything we do to frighten you.”

His voice was matter-of-fact. They could have been discussing the weather.

“Once I learned to read, I found a few how-to books about sex,” she admitted, because he made it easy to talk to him about anything. “I didn’t dare go online and look at anything because he always had me watched on the computer and he checked my history and everything else. I knew he tracked the keystrokes on my computer so I used his. He never knew.” She said it rather smugly. She felt smug about that.

He flashed a grin at her. “You outsmarted him.”

“Yes.”

“You read about sex in a book?”

“I was afraid Rafe might want that from me at some point. He’d begun coming into my bedroom some nights and just watching me. I actually went so far as to eavesdrop on some of the girlfriends of Rafe’s closest soldiers when they were talking about things they’d done with their men.”

Eli groaned softly. He stroked a caress down her hair. “Kitten. Really.”

She blushed for no reason. “You’ve given me more instruction and experience in twenty-four hours than I read in all three books or heard about in a very graphic and rather drunken conversation.”

“I want sex to be good for you. Every time. Whether it’s rough or gentle or I’m making you beg, I want it always to be off the charts for you. I’ll teach you the things you need to know and if you have questions, just ask. If there’s something you don’t like, tell me. We’ll talk it through. If there’s something you want, you tell me and it’s yours.”