“Maybe.” She turned around again, and this time had a cup of perfection in her hands. “But this just may buy my way out of it.” She took him the coffee. “Drink that, Mr. Grumpy Pants, and see if it doesn’t improve your disposition.”

His gaze moved over her face with a brooding look she tried not to think was hot and sexy, but of course she really did. She began making her own cup of coffee, needing to do something besides look at him. Looking at him didn’t help her confusion.

“All right. I’ve got some coffee in me. Now are you going to tell me why you were looking for a phone?”

She burst out laughing. She couldn’t help herself. He was like a dog with a bone. He wasn’t going to drop it, but then she was beginning to realize he didn’t drop anything important to him.

“You like your way, don’t you?” she asked.

“In all things, Kitten. You’d better get used to it,” he cautioned. “Now answer the fucking question before I throw you over my shoulder and haul your ass back to my bed to show you who you’re supposed to be with—let me give you a clue—his name is Eli Perez.”

Catarina heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Seriously, Eli? Are you going to threaten me with sex every time you don’t get your way?”

She heard him put the coffee cup down, and the chair scraped. Her heart jumped and she spun around to face him. He was on his feet, stalking her purposefully. She held up one hand to ward him off, laughing in spite of the sudden fear coursing through her body. Fear and excitement.

“Who the hell said anything about sex? I’m considering something entirely different.”

She didn’t want to test him and she backed up until she collided with the counter. “You do know that your behavior is causing serious disappointment, Eli. I held out hope for my Zen fantasy, and you’ve buried that deep.”

“Catarina.” He bit out her name between clenched teeth.

“I noticed you didn’t have a phone. It was an observation, that’s all. Rafe would be the last man on earth I would call in this situation.”

He stopped, towering over her, in her space. She could feel the heat from his body and she remembered how it felt to melt against him. She didn’t close her eyes and hold that memory to her, but she wanted to and that confused her even more.

“A situation like this?” he echoed.

“He’d kill you, Eli. He might even kill me, leopard or no leopard. At the very least, he’d make me pay with the blood of the people I care about.”

His golden gaze searched her blue one. One hand cupped the side of her face, his thumb sliding over her skin. “That’s it. You observed I had no phone and you just confirmed it out loud?”

She nodded. “And don’t forget the part where you totally shot down my Zen fantasy.”