Andraya scowled. “No, brothers are better,” she announced. “Don’t like sisters. Brothers are the best.”
“That’s nice that you think so, Draya,” Emma said gently, “but no matter if we have a boy or a girl, all of us are going to love it and take good care of it, right? We talked about it together. The baby will be all of ours to protect and treasure.”
Kyle’s brows drew together. He turned his eyes on Eli. Eli could see the leopard was already strong in the little boy. The eyes were definitely Jake’s.
“Do you like kissin’ girls?” he asked.
“Kyle,” Emma admonished.
Jake grinned and coughed when Emma looked at him.
“I like kissing Catarina,” Eli confessed. “I like kissing her a lot. But I don’t kiss any other girls.”
“Daddy only kisses mommy,” Andraya announced knowledgably. “And us.”
“Your daddy is a very wise man,” Eli said.
“I think so as well,” Emma said, her voice full of laughter.
Catarina seemed to be concentrating on the roast. She glanced up at Emma. “I don’t think I could ever get the gravy like this. It’s wonderful.”
Jake patted his flat belly. “I have to do a lot of… um… exercise to keep in shape with Emma’s cooking.”
Emma rolled her eyes, a faint blush stealing up her neck into her cheeks at the obvious implication.
Eli laughed. He couldn’t help himself. Catarina looked so happy he reached out to connect with her. He knew he did it often, but that was who he was, and she never seemed to mind, not even in front of others. His fingers settled around the nape of her neck and stayed there for a moment.
He liked to slide his fingers around her neck to her throat right over her pulse and feel her heart beating into his hand. Right now, he was content with just her nape. She’d put her hair up in some complicated braid that looked beautiful, but that was coming down the moment they were in the truck and on the way home.
“Isn’t this good?” Catarina asked, her gaze flicking to his the moment his hand settled around her neck.
He went very still. She knew. She knew he had to touch her. He could see the knowledge in her eyes. It wasn’t just a compulsion. It wasn’t because he was creating intimacy or ownership. He needed that connection and she knew. She got it.
Her eyes warmed, turned a deeper shade of violet through all that blue. “Baby? Emma gave me the recipe. Do you like it?”
Baby. She had never once referred to him as anything but Eli. Not once. An endearment? Even if she was echoing one of his for her. He was grateful for the table to hide the response of his body, but he had to put his other hand in his lap to keep from giving away the sudden tremor in his hands.
He loved her. Plain and simple and every single day, every hour, she was giving him more reason to love her. He was fairly certain he could spend the rest of his life concentrating on Catarina alone and never find out all of her.
“I think it’s excellent, Kitten. I have no doubt you can reproduce this very good gravy. I’ve never had a single meal that you’ve made for me that I didn’t want to overeat.”
The corners of her mouth turned up and she shook her head. She glanced at Emma. “He does that a lot. He gives me the best compliments, and I never know quite what to do.” She swallowed. “He’s sweet.”
Eli groaned. “No, Kitten, I am not sweet. Don’t say ‘sweet,’ especially in front of another man. I’m rough and tough and scary.”
Even the two children laughed. The rest of the evening was spent with a lot of laughter and Eli enjoyed it because most of the time he was watching Catarina have fun. She seemed startled by the fact that she could have fun, and every few minutes her blue gaze would settle on his face and her features would go even softer and warmer than normal.
Mostly he paid attention to how tired she got. They’d both been working hard on conditioning and self-defense, mostly hand to hand, but she put in time on the gun range as well. He wasn’t easy on her, in spite of the long nights of frenzied sex and their leopards being just as crazy, driving them both without mercy. The moment he saw her stifle a yawn, he was up, taking her hand and making their good-byes.
Catarina lingered, chatting with Emma, promising another visit soon when he caught the second yawn. He tugged her away from their friends, walking her out to the pickup. Before she could protest, he caught Catarina around her waist and lifted her into the cab, reached across her to snap her seat belt, firmly closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Jake’s laughter followed him every step. No doubt the man knew exactly what he was thinking, but Eli didn’t care.
He waved as he drove out, past the guards at the gate and onto the road leading back to their home.
“That was fun,” Catarina said. “I didn’t expect it to be. Thank you for introducing me to Emma. She’s wonderful. And she knows so much about shifters.”