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.”

His smile was slow in coming but it was genuine and it warmed his eyes. “I’ll have to see what I can do about replacing that one with something else.”

She felt a shiver go right through her. She had wanted to see if she could make him smile like that. He might be the worst grump in the world in the morning with no coffee and he had definitely shattered every dream she had of a Zen master, but he was gorgeous and all man standing in her space, smelling like a rain forest and sex. He looked darkly sensual, and intensely masculine.

“One more thing, Kitten,” Eli added, his fingers skimming her chin with the same gentle caress, robbing her of breath. “I wouldn’t bet the bank on Cordeau being able to kill me so easily.”

She shivered again, this time because he sounded like he meant it. She even took a step back but bumped against the counter. There was no way to look away from his focused stare. She was caught there, her mouth dry, her heart pounding. His dangerous quality was back, clinging to him like a second skin. He wasn’t the same kind of dangerous as Rafe, but she could see the predator in him now. She saw the leopard, and there was no doubt in her mind that he could kill if he needed to. That he would kill if he needed to.

“Don’t.” He said the word softly.

She couldn’t breathe. She stared up at him, shaking her head, having no idea what he meant.

“Don’t look at me like that. Don’t ever be afraid of me. You took a step back and you look as if you think I might hit you. That could never happen, baby.”