She mulled that over. “Okay. I’ll agree.”

“That was one exception.”

“That was two. Rattling teeth. Not sitting for a week. Two.”

“You make me want to do both at the same time, so one,” he argued, drinking more of his coffee.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, that’s one. What’s the second one?”

His smile made her stomach roll. Let loose a million butterflies. She reached up to brush the pads of her fingers down his jaw, her heart turning over.

“When you make me so crazy, burn so hot, lose my mind when I’m inside you so that I can’t do anything else.”

Her fingers curled in his hair. Stroked caresses. Anchored there. She loved that his hair was just a little too long and she could curl her fist there. “I like you crazy and burning hot.”

“Out of my mind,” he reminded, in his sinfully hot voice.

“That too,” Catarina conceded. She looked up, into his eyes. Loving him. She knew he could see it and she didn’t hide it from him.

He groaned softly. “Go take your shower, baby, before we start all over again. You’re so damned tempting, at this rate, I’ll never get anything done. We’re supposed to be starting a ranch.”

She laughed again, just because she was so happy. “We don’t actually have any livestock yet, Eli, we can’t exactly call this a working ranch. You’re going to go sit in your favorite chair on the porch while I shower.”

“Well. That’s true,” he conceded. “But I’m planning.”

Catarina shook her head and left him in the kitchen. She didn’t dare kiss him again because she knew if she did, she wouldn’t stop and he’d need another shower. She had never considered, growing up, not one time, that anyone could be so happy.

She turned music on, her favorite playlist, while she showered. That was another thing Eli had done. Another gift. The moment he discovered she loved music, he’d given her an iPod and showed her how to fill it with the songs she enjoyed. There was a small speaker that she could attach it to, making it easy to listen to her music while she showered.

She liked the water hot, and she stood for a long while under the heavy spray, feeling the way the hot water soaked into her skin and made her feel languid and lazy. Eli never made her feel as if the things she wanted when they made love were wrong. She liked when he was edgy and rough. She liked when he pushed her out of her comfort zone. She liked bossy and arrogant and dominant. She didn’t feel as if it made her weak at all.