She laughed softly. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here talking calmly about our leopards. It’s kind of insane.”

“It’s just a fact. Who we are.”

“Elijah, if we have a girl, she has to know. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to her.”

He winced. Cursed himself for not realizing what was happening the first time he took her.

“Elijah?”

“You give me a girl and I’m putting you across my knee.”

“That didn’t work out very well,” she pointed out, her eyes laughing at him.

His breath caught in his lungs. He loved that look on her face. He loved that he put it there. He leaned across the table toward her. “I just need a little practice.”

Her fork was halfway to her mouth and she stopped. He saw the passion rising in her eyes. Yeah, she liked his brand of sex, no matter what he gave her. She was with him every step of the way. The moment they were finished, he was picking her up in his arms, carrying her back to his bed, and he was going to take his time, loving every inch of her body.

He saw the answering burn in her heated gaze. The hunger that matched his own. Yeah, she was made for him. His woman. His wild cat.

17

ELIJAH woke abruptly as he always did. Fully alert. Listening. His leopard reached out into the dark room and beyond, looking for trouble. Finding none, Elijah buried his face in the thick silk of Siena’s hair. He’d woken her twice in the night and both times she’d given herself to him exactly how he asked. She never hesitated. Trusting him. Loving him.

The way she loved him brought him to his knees. She kissed him every single time as if she were giving herself to him. When her hands and mouth were on him, she did so lovingly, wildly and possessively. He loved that about her. She had two more visits from Emma and Catarina and after each, she’d been more than wild in bed, almost as creative as he was, thanking him in her way for the friendships.

She’d told him Emma was on bed rest for the next month before the baby was taken by C-section and she wanted to go to Jake and Emma’s to visit. Today was a good day for that because he had shit to do. Really fucked-up shit. He didn’t want her anywhere near him when he was doing it.