He always responded the same way. The moment her lips touched his, his mouth took over, his tongue demanding entrance. He slipped his hand under her shirt to cup one breast, his thumb sliding over her nipple as her mouth met his. She wasn’t certain why he always touched her so intimately when she kissed him, but she liked it, almost as if it was his personal brand of ownership.
She had a brand of her own. When she stepped back, she allowed her hand to run down his chest, feel the tight, cut muscles of his abdomen and then brush lightly over his heavy, thick cock. He was nearly always semi-or completely erect after kissing her. Sometimes she wondered if he was always in a permanent state of arousal.
“Where the hell did you go when you left my bed this morning without waking me? And why?”
This time, his hand didn’t drop away from her breast when she stepped back. His thumb and finger caught her nipple and tugged hard. Rolled deliberately. Fire shot straight to her center. Heat burned. Her gaze jumped to his face.
“I just went out to the porch and sat for a while, Eli,” she said, puzzled.
“And nowhere else?”
It was a demand. He didn’t let go of her breast, but he cupped the soft weight and his thumb gentled, stroking there deliberately.
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, trying to think what else she’d done. “I practiced shifting,” she admitted, still not understanding why he was upset. She practiced every chance she got. He’d told her to. Even in the bedroom sometimes she tried to best her times of removing clothes and shifting on the move.
“What did I tell you last night?”
Hard hands bit into her waist. He lifted her up abruptly and set her on the table, hard. One hand went to her shirt, yanking it open, uncaring of the buttons that flew in all directions. Her breasts spilled out through the open edges. He placed one hand on her chest and pushed, forcing her to lean back until she had to catch herself with her hands.
“I don’t know. What? You’re scaring me a little bit, Eli. I can’t think straight.”
“I told you not to go anywhere without me. I told you it wasn’t safe.”
Her heart tripped hard. He felt Rafe close. Fear made her mouth dry. She tasted a metallic flavor that always scared her. They’d had nearly a month since he’d given her the news about David and the others. She’d allowed herself to live in a dream world again, lulled into a false sense of security because so much time had passed.
“Eyes on mine,” Eli snapped. “If you’re going to be afraid of someone, it had better be me, not that bastard.”
He was really angry, she realized. He’d never actually been angry with her before. Impatient maybe, but not angry. What had he said? He had a temper. He might say and do things she needed to be able to get over. What did that mean?
Reluctantly she lifted her gaze to his. His golden eyes blazed down into hers. “You knew damn well you weren’t supposed to leave my side.”
She shook her head. A slight tremor shook her body. He was really frightening standing over her with his eyes furious. He was fully clothed, and she was sprawled out in front of him entirely vulnerable. She tried to shift position just a little, to close her legs, to give herself any kind of edge she could.
His hand smacked the side of her buttocks, the sound loud. Fire spread through her. She couldn’t help the small cry that escaped. His palm was there, rubbing, soothing, even as his other hand slipped between her legs to feel the rush of damp liquid.
“Can I just say ‘ouch’?” she asked.
“Say whatever fucking thing you want to say, Cat, but don’t you fucking move.”
Two of the f-bombs in one sentence. Clearly he was really angry.
“I just misunderstood, Eli. I didn’t think you meant here at our house. In our home. I didn’t even think about that.”
“Where the hell else do you go, Catarina? Nowhere without me. So if I say it isn’t safe, not to go anywhere at all without me, that means anywhere.”
She wanted to roll her eyes, but she thought better of it. He wasn’t calming down. If she shifted positions she could maybe touch him, get a hand on him, but the way he’d forced her to lie back, she needed both hands to hold herself up.
“I’m sorry, Eli.”
“You aren’t. You think I can’t read you like a fucking book, Cat? You’re trying to think of the right thing to say or do, but you still don’t get it. You still don’t think you have to listen when I lay down a rule for your safety.”