Catarina shook her head. She was stunned. Shocked. Unable to process what Eli had just said to her. She heard the ring of truth in his voice. Her leopard might be quiet, but already her senses were stretching Cat’s. Eli loved her. She wanted to wrap her arms around herself and hug that declaration to her. Instinctively she knew he wasn’t a man to use the word love if he didn’t mean it. Even meaning it, saying it would be difficult.

“I’ve never told a woman I loved her, because it wasn’t true,” Eli said. “Not even when I was undercover. I refused to ever take it that far. I knew if I ever got the chance to say it, I’d want it to be only for the one woman I really loved. Somehow it felt if I said it when it wasn’t true, it would cheapen it for the woman I loved. So there it is, baby. It’s you. Only you.”

Her heart actually hurt, a physical pain. She couldn’t say it back because she didn’t honestly know what she felt. She was still afraid of him—of them. No, that wasn’t the truth. She was afraid of herself. She didn’t understand relationships and she was leery of committing her heart and soul too far. She’d just opened herself up to him when he’d betrayed her and that had hurt so bad. If she allowed herself to really feel everything for him, the way she wanted her relationship to be, that intense, that strong, and she lost him, she would be totally destroyed. She was too fragile.

“Thank you for telling me, Eli,” she whispered. “I want us to work. I don’t want our relationship to be just about our leopards or the sex.” She didn’t even know if that was the truth. Part of her wanted to keep it simple. The leopards. Sex. That wouldn’t hurt so much if she lost it. But the biggest part of her wanted the fairy tale. She wanted what Eli was holding out to her. She just didn’t know if she was brave enough to grab on with both hands.

“Let’s get you inside before it gets any colder.”

“I don’t feel cold.” She liked being snuggled so tight in his arms. It felt intimate.