Cat's Lair (41 page)

Her hands went to the front of his shirt, fisting there. She shook her head. “It isn’t the same thing, Eli. Not like this. This is huge. I don’t even have money to try to buy you a gift. You left everything I had in the warehouse. You grabbed my bag but didn’t take a cent of the money and the safe was open.”

“Because you were saving it to send back to Cordeau. I know you were. You didn’t have to tell me, but you had start money and that had to come from him. You would never be okay with stealing, and you weren’t using the money even for gas, so it had to be money to pay him back with. He’d been there and he was coming back. When you left that place I didn’t want you to owe him a damn thing.”

She laid her head against his chest and slipped her arms around his waist. “I don’t know what to do with you when you’re like this, Eli.”

“You like it then?” he prompted gently.

“You know I love it. How could I not? A laptop in an unopened box? My boots. I love the boots. They’re perfect. I hear what you’re saying, Eli, and I’m telling you I don’t know what to do with this kind of sweetness. I trust you, you know. You aren’t Rafe. I wouldn’t think you’d rig my computer to see what I’m up to.”

“I want you to be confident in that, Cat, never to wonder. I know I’m like him in some ways and that has to make you think twice about a relationship with me.”

Her gaze jumped to his. She shook her head. “You aren’t, you know.”

“I made you stay with me, Catarina. Just as if you were a prisoner.”

A slow smile brought a curve to her soft mouth. “Is that what you think? That I had no choice in all this? I weighed every option carefully, Eli. If you weren’t my choice, I’d be scheming and planning to escape, no matter what you said or did. I wouldn’t snuggle close to you at night, or want to cook for you. I gave myself to you because of who and what you are. Because of how I feel about you. Don’t you know that yet?”

He brought his mouth down on hers, hungry for her. Ravenous. He was addicted to the taste of her. To her warmth. To the way her body melted into his and her arms slid around his neck to hold him closer. He kissed her over and over, long, hot kisses that took her breath so he had to breathe for both of them. Still, it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. More of everything.

With a soft groan he broke contact with her mouth. Her eyes were dazed, her lips swollen and inviting, and she moved against him restlessly. He loved her hair all over the place, looking as if they’d already had wild sex.

Normally he would have taken her right there on the floor, or on the desk, but he wanted a long night with her. He picked her up, cradling her close to him as he took them on through to the master bedroom.

Eli put her down right beside the bed. “Get your clothes off, baby. Hurry.”

Her eyebrows shot up and her mouth tilted at the corners. Her hands went to the buttons of her blouse, but she didn’t move fast. Instead she cocked her head to one side so that the long sweep of hair slid over her shoulder. “Hurry? You want me to take off my clothes fast?”

He growled at the playful, teasing note in her voice, stalked back across the room and caught the front of her blouse.

“No,” she said.

It was too late. He stripped the blouse right off of her, reached around her to the closures of her bra and removed that as well, spilling her breasts into his hands. His head descended immediately, and he pulled a soft mound into the heat of his mouth.

She cried out, her arms immediately cradling his head to her while he suckled. While he used the flat of his tongue and the edge of his teeth. He was growing wild and he didn’t care. He needed this. Needed her. Needed the sweet, spicy honey spilling from her body. He was already reeling out of control, but she was his woman, and his woman always was able to handle it when his hunger overcame him.

“I liked that blouse,” she murmured, but her hands were in his hair, fingers curling through the longish ends at the nape of his neck.

He lifted his head just enough to look at her in warning. He knew his eyes were glowing, showing the cat in him. The feral cat. A leopard on the brink of wild and dangerous. “I’ll buy you another one. Kick off your shoes.” He growled out the command and went back to devouring her breasts.

His fingers tugged and rolled at her nipple, rough, hard, so that she squirmed and whimpered. He kept at it, scenting her call, inhaling the need in her that only fed his hunger more. She was obedient, removing the small flats that had been part of the bundle of clothing Emma had sent over, clothing that allowed for fast removal when she needed to shift – or her lover demanded she rid herself of clothes quickly.

She panted against his shoulder, dropping her head there, her hips moving restlessly against his body. He pushed his engorged cock tight against her, and once again lifted his head.

“Get rid of the jeans. I need them off you right now. From now on, I think you’ll have to wear long skirts. Or short ones. No panties.”

Her hands dropped instantly to the waistband of her jeans and she quickly unsnapped them and lowered the zipper. “I have to wear panties, you crazy man.”

He used his teeth again, nipping along the underside of her breast, and then over the smooth curve, his tongue easing the ache. He wanted his mark on her. He loved that. Loved to see his prints on her skin.

“Why? I see no reason at all for panties,” he replied, half serious.

She pushed the denim over her hips and he let her go to yank them down. The moment she stepped out of them, he caught her around the waist and tossed her onto the bed. She hit the mattress, her arms and legs sprawling out. He didn’t wait for her to recover, but went down over top of her, straddling her hips, still fully clothed. Catching her wrists, he stretched her arms above her head and pinned them to the mattress. Leaning over, he opened the drawer next to his bed and withdrew his handcuffs.

“Eli.” For a moment fear skittered through her eyes. Fear and excitement. “What are you doing?”

He cuffed her and then hooked the cuffs to the headboard. “What does it look like, baby? I want you at my mercy.”

“I’m always at your mercy.” She pulled a little on her arms. “I’m not certain I like this. I feel…” She trailed off when he moved down her body.

“Vulnerable? Helpless?” He used his hands to pull her thighs apart, wedging his body between them, spreading her open. “That’s how I want you to feel. Vulnerable. Mine. Your body is mine. I like it that way and I’m going to make certain you like it that way too.” While he explained, he drew his T-shirt over his head and tossed it aside.

His eyes on hers, he removed his shoes. “I want to spend time with you tonight. My way.”

She pulled again on the cuffs, her breasts heaving, swaying invitingly. He liked looking at her there, spread out on his bed, completely defenseless and exposed to him. Her nipples were taut pebbles, hard and erect, and her breath came in little ragged gasps.

“It’s always your way, Eli,” she whispered, her head tossing a little. “But I don’t know about this.”

His hand slid down her belly to her mound. Two fingers slipped inside her hot tunnel. She was wet and slick. He withdrew them, held them up for her to see. “Yeah, Kitten, you like this.” He licked his fingers, enjoying her taste, knowing there was so much more for him.

All the time he watched her eyes. She had beautiful eyes, very expressive and she was getting hotter by the minute. She might be a little nervous, but it added to the climbing heat in her.

“What are you going to do?”

“Anything I want, but I’ll make certain you enjoy it. I’ve always wondered how many times I could make you come. We’ve got all night.” He slipped his jeans from his body, his cock hard and erect.

Her gaze dropped to the heavy erection, her breath catching in her throat. He didn’t blame her. He was long and thick and he looked far too big for her little body. But he fit perfectly. She was made for him. He craved her tight, scorching-hot tunnel and the way she grasped at him so greedily with her silken muscles.

“Eli.” Just his name.

“It was ‘baby’ earlier. Now suddenly I’m Eli again. I wonder what it’s going to take to get you to call out that little endearment.” He stretched out, his shoulders spreading her thighs even wider. His hands held her open to him. “Such a beautiful little flower, and all mine. It is mine, isn’t it, Catarina? This is all mine.”

His tone demanded an answer and he waited, blowing warm air over her slick entrance. There was a moment of silence. He didn’t look at her. He looked at the feast he was about to devour instead. But he waited.

“Yes.” Her voice was so low he barely caught the sound, even with his acute hearing.

“No man has ever touched this. Tasted it. It’s all for me. Every damn inch of you. All for me. Isn’t that right, baby? This is all mine.”

He lowered his head and took one delicious swipe with his tongue, dragging out the honey he craved. He stopped instantly, letting it dissolve in his mouth while he waited for her reply.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

She hesitated again, and he took another sample. Her body shuddered with pleasure and he blew more warm air over her. Waiting. He let her know he was waiting but he didn’t look away from his prize.

“Yes, that’s all yours. I’m all yours. Every inch of me.”

“Belongs to me. Your golden mouth. Such perfect breasts. An ass that can bring men to their knees. And this beautiful, perfect flower. Belongs to me.”

He didn’t allow for much movement, but she managed a little. Her hips bucked again. Her legs moved restlessly.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Eli.”

She was drenched. He wanted that. Even needed it. Her scent called to him, and the craving grew beyond anything he’d known yet.

“I’m addicted to this taste, Kitten,” he admitted. “I think I could eat you all night and never get enough. This time, you want my cock in you, I expect I’ll be holding out for something from you. Something I need from you.”

“What?” She gasped the word. “Eli, tell me what.”

“You figure it out, Cat. Maybe after you’ve given me ten or fifteen orgasms, you’ll figure it out.”

He didn’t wait. He couldn’t. Not even for the pleasure of torturing her slowly, knowing every moment he had her spread open, every word out of his mouth was only making her hotter. Only causing the tension to wind tighter and tighter in her.

He needed. And he needed now. His mouth clamped over her slick, hot entrance and he plunged his tongue deep. She cried out, tried to move, but his arms pinned her down, refusing to allow her to wiggle away or even toward him. This was his. This was for him. He was taking what belonged to him. What she gave him.

He used his tongue ruthlessly, devouring her ravenously just like he said he would. She tasted better than he remembered. Hotter. Sweeter. Spicier. He ate her like he was dying for her taste, because he was. He’d had the taste of her in his mouth from the moment he’d heard her laughter in the kitchen with Emma.

He heard her ragged breathing, the desperate little mewling cries as he ate her. He loved her cries, music to his ears. He loved her body, and it belonged to him. He loved that the more he took from her, the more golden cream spilled out.

He felt her body coiling. “That’s it, baby,” he murmured, his face buried in her. “Give it to me. I want it now. Give it to me.” He pressed his mouth over her clit and suckled, using his tongue in little butterfly strokes to stimulate her further.

She screamed and went wild around him, hips really bucking, body writhing, head tossing. He could feel the powerful orgasm sweeping through her body, the tight muscles clamping down hard. He was ruthless, refusing to stop, to give her any break.

“More,” he demanded. “I want more from you.”

His tongue pulled at the molten gold, all the sweetness her body gave him. He plunged two fingers deep and used his tongue and the edge of his teeth to drive her back up hard and fast. He loved the sensations, her cries. His.

He let go just long enough to raise his head slightly and make his demand. “Give me more, baby. I’m not done. I want more.” He was greedy for it. For her honey and her orgasms. For her musical mewling cries. For the way she chanted his name, so breathy. So needy.

His tongue was back immediately, pulling more spice from her. He could hear the nearly feral growls coming from deep in his throat, rumbling in his chest. His cock swelled to the bursting point, aching and hard with its own demand. Still he couldn’t stop, licking and sucking and once again using his teeth and fingers.

Her body stiffened. Shuddered. He felt the rewarding clamp of her muscles, a vise around his fingers. Her cry was lower, more muted, but pulled from somewhere deep inside of her. This time the orgasm was even stronger, like a powerful tsunami that gathered strength as it rocked through her body. He rode it out, catching the spilling liquid, flicking her sensitive clit with his tongue, stroking her thighs and using his fingers to press deep into that tight channel.

“Eli.” She gasped his name. “You have to stop. I can’t take any more.”

“Yes you can. You will. Your body was made for this. Sex. Sin. Everything. Whatever I want. You’ll love it, baby. You’ll come to need it, just like I do.”

She pulled at the handcuffs, trying to twist her body, trying to dislodge his mouth, but he’d already clamped down again, taking her over, taking what he wanted, driving her right back up hard and fast. Ruthlessly. Brutally. He heard her breath catch on a sob, but her body still spilled that hot, addictive liquid gold right into his mouth.

Catarina was afraid now, the fear skittering like tiny footprints down her spine, terrified she might lose her mind. He didn’t know it, but she already needed this. Needed his mouth and his hands and his cock. She couldn’t imagine her life without it. But he was going too far, taking her too high. She thought she might go insane, lose her mind at the pleasure spilling through her, overtaking her, pushing her so high she feared she would never come back.

Her body didn’t belong to her anymore. It belonged to him. She couldn’t think or reason when he was touching her. Her mind was in complete chaos and the tension in her body just coiled tighter and tighter. She needed another release. Desperately. Only it didn’t come. She got close, reached for it, and he backed off, flicking his tongue until she wanted to scream with need.