Still Reno hesitated, remembering the bright blood and the terrible realization that he had taken a virgin too hard, too fast, tearing the very flesh that gave him such pleasure.

With great care he stroked Eve, smoothing over the tawny cloud that looked dark in the starlight. He heard the hesitation in her breath, the break, the ragged sigh as his fingertips sought and found the soft, warm petals.

«Do you like that?» Reno whispered.

A small, throaty cry was her answer.

He brushed his fingertips over her thighs, pressing lightly. Her legs shifted until they no longer protected her from a more intimate caress. When he traced the shadowed crease between her legs, he felt her pleasure as a hot kiss over his fingertips. The heady fragrance of her response sank into him like sweet talons, raking him into an arousal that was pain and pleasure savagely combined.

Before Reno realized what he was doing, he had unfastened his pants. When he realized how close he was to taking Eve, he rolled away and surged to his feet in a single movement.

Fists clenched at his side, he breathed hard and fast, as though he had run for miles to get where he was. He looked down at the girl lying at his feet, watching him with night-darkened eyes. The quick rise and fall of her breasts with each breath she took made him want to tear off his few clothes and bury himself in her.

The violence of Reno’s need was greater now than it had been when he first took Eve. The knowledge shocked him. He shouldn’t want her that much. He had sworn never to want a woman that much again.

«Reno?» Eve whispered.

«I’m afraid of hurting you,» he said roughly. «I want you too damn much.»

She held out her arms.

«Eve…damn it…you don’t know what you’re doing!»

Yet Reno’s hands stripped away his clothes even as his mind told him to leave Eve alone until he was less aroused, more certain of his own control.

Through half-lowered eyelids, Eve watched Reno undress. His body gleamed with heat. Power rippled darkly beneath his skin each time he moved. When he peeled away the last of his clothing, the evidence of his arousal stood out boldly.

«Finally afraid?» Reno asked, his voice rough.

She shook her head.

«You should be,» he said flatly. «I’ve never wanted a woman like this.»

Eve’s only answer was a sinuous movement of her body. Her hips lifted in silent plea.

Slowly Reno knelt between her legs.

«You don’t know…» he said, but he couldn’t finish.

«Then teach me,» she whispered.

With a word that was both profane and reverent, Reno reached for Eve. He forced himself to move slowly despite the hammering of his own blood. The back of his hands caressed her from ankle to inner thigh, sensitizing her skin and parting her legs even more. He tried to resist the scented temptation that opened to him, but he could not prevent himself from stroking her just once.

Eve was softer than silk, hotter, and she trembled at his touch. Reno eased his fingertip between the sleek petals. A fragrant, searing rain licked over him as he slid into her.

Slowly Reno withdrew, knowing that he was shaking and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He hadn’t expected her to be so ready to take him, so hungry for the coupling that had hurt her before.

«I’ll try to be gentle,» Reno said through clenched teeth.

«I know,» Eve whispered. «But don’t try too hard. Cats have more than one life.»

He smiled despite the sweat sliding down his spine from the fierce tension of his body.

«You’ll be the death of me, gata.»Then, his voice harsh, he added, «Help me.»

«How?»

«Bring your knees up.»

Long legs shifted.

«Higher. Yes, like that. God,» Reno said heavily, «I wish I could see you.»

Eve made a stifled sound as she felt his fingertips trace every part of the night-blooming flower that was fully revealed to him. It was as though he wanted to memorize with touch what he couldn’t clearly see.

Delicately Reno tested the satin nub he had found hidden within her petals.

Eve’s breath came in with a husky sound that could have been pleasure or pain.

«Talk to me,» Reno said. «Tell me if I hurt you.»

He circled the sensitive knot with his fingertips before he caught it and plucked gently.

Eve stiffened as though he had taken a whip to her.

«Eve?»

She couldn’t answer. Pleasure raced through her body from Reno’s touch, making it impossible to think or speak. A broken breath, a stifled moan, and a scented rain were the only answer she could give him.

It was enough. It told Reno that Eve wanted him as profoundly as he wanted her.

He pressed lightly into her again for the sheer pleasure of feeling how much she hungered for what he could give her. The hot rush of her response clung to him, shimmering in the vague light, making him dizzy with the answering surge of his own blood. He shifted, bringing his aroused flesh very close to her, pushing lightly, testing her ability to take him.

The testing was also a caress. Eve made a sound of wonder as pleasure rippled through her. Sensual heat licked over Reno’s violently aroused flesh, dragging a ragged groan from him. His hips moved reflexively, pushing between hot petals, seeking an even deeper joining.

Eve’s eyes opened as the pressure between her legs intensified, Reno’s body slowly stretching her with a gentle, measured movement that was at odds with the harsh lines of his face.

«Tell me,» he said hoarsely.

Reno wanted to say more, but he couldn’t. He was feeling Eve too intensely, sleek heat and sultry rain and a loving glide of flesh over flesh. She was feeling him in the same way, her eyes heavy-lidded, watching him as he took her and gave himself to her in the same deliberate movement.

Never had Reno known such a sensual merging of body with body, heat with heat, breath with breath. There was no barrier, no cry of pain, no sudden attempt by Eve’s body to reject him.

She gave way before him like a summer storm, luring and surrounding him as he pressed into her hot center. No matter how deeply he probed, there was only liquid heat and a satin constriction caressing him in secret, teaching him what it meant to be fully, passionately joined with a woman.

The hot perfection of sheathing himself so slowly within her nearly undid him. Blood hammered through his veins, filling him until thought he must burst or die.

«Eve…»

Reno’s voice was ragged, all but throttled by the wild race of his blood.

Eve heard him and knew that he was trying to ask if he was hurting her. She would have answered, but the slow, heavy penetration was transforming her.

Rings of fire pulsed up from the point where her body joined his. The tiny, secret convulsions brought a pleasure so great she could only give herself to it and to the man who was so deeply a part of her that he felt each silky pulse distinctly. And with each pulse came a sensual rain that eased his way even more, luring and welcoming and caressing him profoundly.

Reno felt his control being stripped away by the sweet rhythms of Eve’s pleasure. He measured himself once within her, then twice, before the firestorm within him burst. He arched into her welcoming heat and gave himself to her in a shuddering rush that left him spent.

The weight of Reno’s body against Eve’s sent another wave of passion through her. She made a sound deep in her throat and twisted against him as her body was impaled by a shaft of ecstasy.

The sinuous, gliding pressure of Eve over his buried flesh sent tongues of fire licking sharply through Reno. He moved slowly within her and savored her shimmering response.

Watching her, he moved again, enjoying her throaty cries and the melting of her body around him. He had never known a woman to enjoy so clearly his presence within her. He had never guessed how much satisfaction there could be in watching his smallest motion transformed into sensual feminine pulses and a silent, sinuous pleading for more of him.

Nor had he known what his own body was capable of, the rushing transformation repeated, sweet needles of fire pricking delicately, deeply, until he was consumed by a need that was all the sweeter for having been ignited while he was fully sheathed within her.

«I hope you’re right about having lots of lives, gata.»

Eve’s lashes lifted, showing eyes that were still glazed with pleasure.

«What?» she asked huskily.

Her voice broke before the question was finished, for Reno was moving slowly within her, filling her.

«Do you like this?» he asked, withdrawing and returning once more.

«Dear Lord, yes.»

«It doesn’t hurt?»

Soft laughter was Eve’s answer. Her hands caressed the length of Reno’s spine. She paused to comb through the scattering of silky hair in the small of his back before she went on to his buttocks. The taut muscles intrigued her, as did the swift, ripping breath he took when her hand strayed between his thighs. She repeated the caress, drawing another shudder from him.

«No more of that,» Reno said, dragging Eve’s hand back to his flank.

«Don’t you like it?»

«Too damn much,» he admitted. «Save it for next time.»

«Next time?»

«Yes, gata. Next time. I may need it then. I sure don’t need it now.»

«I don’t understand.»

Reno moved again within Eve, caressing and stretching her in the same motion.

«If I get any harder,» he said, «it will be over too soon. I want this one to last a long, long time.»