She kissed his belly, using the pads of her fingers, taking her time as if memorizing his body. She kissed her way along the path of his hip bones and then began to lap at him gently, almost reverently, her mouth and tongue bathing him, cleaning their combined scents from his body. Her gaze went to his face as she pressed kisses along his thighs and lapped with her tongue.

Elijah closed his eyes, his face that of a contented man—or leopard. She loved that she put that look there. Warm. Moist. She bathed him with love. She hadn’t told him, but she tried to show him. Using a velvet rasp. Sucking and lapping as she cleaned him, paying attention to details, his shaft, the underside of the crown, his heavy sac, the front of his thighs. She took her time. Was thorough. Was loving. Wanting him to go to sleep knowing he mattered. And feeling loved.

She crawled back up his body and his arm tightened around her, locking her to him. When she tilted her head to look at him, his eyes were open, moving over her face in the way of a leopard. All silver. Molten. Possessive. Soft with love. Her stomach fluttered and then did a slow roll.

“You shatter me, baby. Shatter me. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, Siena, but you can’t do this, give me this beauty and ever walk away from me.”

“Does it feel like I want to walk away, Elijah?” She had thought she was the one without confidence. The one who would always wonder if she was good enough and if he really wanted her, but she realized he felt that way. He didn’t think he was good enough for her.

He took her mouth. Hard. Aggressive. She gave him their combined taste, and he stripped it from her, holding her to him, his fist bunched tight in her hair.

“So fucking beautiful, Siena,” he whispered against her throat.

He moved then, sliding down in the bed, onto his side, turning her toward him on her side, front to front. One thigh slid between hers.

He locked his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you sleeping, Siena,” he said. “You have beautiful breasts. I love to look at them. To know they’re mine.” His tongue licked at her nipple, and deep inside her sex, her body convulsed again. “I want to go to sleep like this. You in my mouth.”

The idea of it sent heat spiraling through her bloodstream again. There was no way for her body to settle, not when he talked like that. One hand cupped the underside of her breasts, and then began to move down her body until his palm found her softening belly.