She couldn’t think. There was no way to think. No way to remember what he wanted. She’d give him anything. Do anything. Let him do anything. Wasn’t that enough? She bit back a sob of frustration as once again she got so close, the burning between her legs nearly exploding, and then he lifted his head as if he knew – and he probably did. He licked along the insides of her thighs.
Shards of desire clawed and raked at her. Streaks of fire rushed from her breasts to her core. She needed him. Was burning up with that need. She couldn’t stay still. His mouth and fingers were relentless. He pushed her up and up until she thought she would come apart and never be put back together, but just before she could make that drop, he slowed his feast and left her panting and pleading.
“I don’t,” she admitted, her voice trembling, her mind in such chaos she wanted to scream with frustration or sob with need, “I don’t know what you want.”
He took another long, slow swipe with his tongue and she nearly shattered. Nearly. She came off the bed, or tried to, but she couldn’t move her hands and he had her pinned down and completely open to him.
“I want more than ‘Eli’ from you. And I want you to say, in words, how you feel about me.” His voice was a command. A threat. A promise.
She went still. Her heart thundered in her chest. His mouth went right over her slick entrance, his tongue plunging deep, and she did sob as the pleasure pushed to the point of pain. She needed to come. Needed to shatter.
“Honey, please.” That was the best she could do. The best she could come up with when her body wasn’t her own and her brain couldn’t think. “Please. Please. Please.”
“Please what?” he murmured, not lifting his head. He began a lazy, languid licking of her body. Flicking his tongue. Using his teeth and fingers and then retreating when she went mindless and boneless just before she could tip over the edge.
“I need you in me.” She was begging and she didn’t care.
“I need something from you, baby. I need it more than you need what I can give you, so let’s trade.” Again he didn’t look at her. He was too busy with his clever tongue and his exploring fingers.
She swallowed fear. This man of hers made her crazy, there was no doubt about it, but he was hers. She’d given herself to him for a reason. He was her choice and he had been since the first time she’d even seen him in the dojo, instructing advanced students. She’d known then that she could belong to him.
She had never given her trust to another human being. Not ever. Eli had been the first person she’d given even a part of herself to and now he wanted it all. Demanded it all, which was just like him.
“Baby?” he prompted gently. “Give it to me. I need to hear it.”
This time he raised his head, his glittering cat’s eyes suddenly focused completely on hers. Her heart pounded harder. She tasted fear. She tasted love. She didn’t want to love him. She wanted to belong to him, but she didn’t want to love him. Loving him was terrifying. He already had too much of her, and what if she disappeared when she was just finding herself? What if she couldn’t stand up to him? He was a dominant male and he’d be more so if he knew.
“Baby?” he coaxed again, his gaze holding hers captive. “Say it. Tell me. Give me what I need.”
Tears tracked down her cheeks. “What if I can’t?”
“You can. You’re just afraid. Say it once. Give that to me.” With his gaze still on hers, he pressed little butterfly kisses up and down her thighs, his tongue lapping at the spilled spice coating her there, fluttering along her skin until she thought she might go up in flames.
Catarina swallowed fear. He knew. He already knew. What difference did it make that she say it aloud to him? Why was he making her? She forced herself to really look at him, to get past the haze of hunger and lust driving her.
His face was carved with lines of need. The set of his jaw, so stubborn, the straight nose and hard features that were purely masculine. But it was there, in his golden eyes, eyes that had gone molten and nearly all leopard. She saw the truth there. The need. He wasn’t just playing some sexual game, out to force her to obey him. He was telling her the absolute, stark truth. He needed to hear the words from her. They meant something to him.
She exhaled and hadn’t known she’d been holding her breath. He had told her he loved her first. He’d put himself out there, but somehow, she hadn’t considered that it was really true. How could it be? What was she giving him? She didn’t even have a high school diploma. How could he possibly love her? How could he need her the way his eyes said so starkly that he did?
“Damn it, Cat, give it to me.” Now it was a demand. A growl. Dominance winning through all his lazy sensual facade.