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?”