His mouth covered her pulse there. His tongue stroked over the beat. He kissed it again, his lips rubbing back and forth to the rhythm of her heartbeat. She couldn’t help the small sound that escaped her throat.
“Easy, baby,” he murmured against her pulse. “I want a long journey. I want to feel every fucking pulse in your body, with my hand. I want to feel your heart beating in my palm and in my mouth. You just lay there and take it, because you scared the holy hell out of me and I need this.”
There was no hurrying Eli when he didn’t want to be hurried. His tone was back to the Eli she knew and loved. Rough. Dominant. Absolutely arrogant and confident. She was going up in flames, and he simply took his time. She knew what he was doing – reclaiming her body for his own. She felt possession in every stroke of his fingers, every touch of his hand.
Eli ignored her shifting, restless body and proceeded, trailing kisses from her throat to the cleft of her sternum. He paused to dip his tongue there. He traced the curve of both breasts and then ran his tongue in the deep valley. Her body shuddered with pleasure. She wanted his hands on her. Her breasts were hot and aching. She craved the feel of his mouth and teeth, the pull and massage of his large, rough hands.
Her head tossed on the pillow. She couldn’t stop writhing. Her body dripped for his. Wet and wild and on the very edge of control. He could do that without even trying. She felt the hard, thick length of his cock, just out of her reach, pressed tight against her hip. She felt the small pearly drops leaking into her skin and her mouth watered.
“Eli. Let me.”
“Shhh, baby. Not yet. You don’t get to take this from me. I need this.” He lifted his head to look at her.
She saw the warning in his leopard eyes. It only made her need stronger, her craving increase. She loved that look. She loved to know that he was every bit as hungry and in need as she was. She loved to push him right over the edge of his control. His warnings only served to give her more incentive.
She had her hands and she brought them to his hair, curling her fingers into the shaggy mass as his mouth finally – finally – moved to her breasts. She cried out as hot pleasure speared through her. His mouth settled over her left breast, drawing it into a vortex of scorching heat. His tongue lashed her nipple, flicking back and forth. He used the edge of his teeth and she wanted to weep with need. Her body did it for her, spilling more nectar along her thighs.
Without warning, his thumb and finger caught at her right nipple in a hard pinch that sent fiery sensations sizzling through her body. The pleasure bordered on pain and made a straight line for her sheath so that she nearly convulsed with its onslaught. His mouth moved over her breasts, teeth nipping and tongue laving. She wanted more, always more, and she arched her body, offering him her breasts, willing him to feast there. He suckled, first her nipple, then along her delicate skin, leaving his mark everywhere, leaving his prints and even the small burn of his teeth. She reveled in his claiming, cradling his head close to her, giving herself up to him.
He demanded a full surrender and she gave it to him, nearly sobbing for relief as she did so. Her body was so tight and hot, the tension building without respite. He licked over her heart. Pressed his ear there, while his fingers and thumb slid back and forth over her nipple in the same rhythm.
She felt the jerk of his cock against her hip, a throbbing of heartbeats between them. Her feminine channel clenched desperately to be filled. “Eli, I’m burning up.”
“I know,” he whispered back, his lips against the underside of her right breast. “We’ll get there. I just need to feel you’re alive.”
“I am alive, but if you don’t hurry that could change.”
He laughed softly, his breath warm against her left breast. She felt the stinging nip of his teeth and the slow slide of his tongue. “So impatient, my little Cat. We’ll do this my way.”
Secretly, she was glad her Eli was back with all his arrogant dominance. He’d been too sweet to her, too controlling of her every move. In bed was one thing – outside of it, she knew if he kept it up eventually she’d kick him in the shins, hit him over the head and totally defy him and run free when he wanted her to sit on the porch and read.
Eli kissed his way straight down from her breasts to her belly button. He made a side trip exploring each rake mark on her sides over her ribs. Six altogether. His touch was magic. Healing. His tongue soothing. He could make her forget the raw scars and the terrible moment when she’d been certain she was going to die under the rogue leopard’s teeth and claws.
Still, the leisurely way he licked and kissed her body, sipping at her as if she were a fine wine, stroking her skin with the velvet rasp of his tongue like a leopard might do, drove her insane with desire. She was drenched. Hot. Needy.