Gabe (The Buckhorn Brothers)

by Lori Foster

  “You have such a sexy body.” That taunting fingertip dipped slightly into her cleavage, causing her heart to pick up a quick, almost frantic beat. “And these breasts…so plump when you’re so trim everywhere else. So soft when you’re mostly firm. I just wondered if Mother Nature had really been so generous, or if you’d had a little help.”

  She stared at him, her mind blank, unable to think while he was touching her. She was aware of the sun hot against her skin, of the slight breeze that stirred the humid air, of the gentle lapping of the lake on the shore. But all of it was overshadowed by Gabe and the blue flare of his eyes.

  Grinning, Gabe murmured, “Maybe I should just find out on my own?” His fingers spread over her chest, just below her collarbone, and jolted her into awareness.

  She caught his wrist and stared at him hard. “They’re real!” Then, because she was embarrassed over his attention, she muttered, “What a stupid question.”

  Gabe easily freed his hand from hers and wrapped his fingers around her skull, stroking her hair, smoothing it. “You must have never gone braless in your life.”

  Heat washed over her face, then down to her breasts. “Of course I haven’t.”

  His thumb rubbed her cheekbone, the corner of her mouth. He shifted, his chest moving over hers, pressing. “Such a little innocent. Such a surprise.” He looked at her mouth.

  “Gabe?”

  “Just one more,” he whispered, husky and deep.

  She thought to tell him that he’d owe her a lot of conversation for this, that she had plenty of questions he was going to have to answer, but the moment he took the kiss, she forgot all that.

  His hand slid down her side to her waist, shaping her, measuring her, it seemed, then drifted to her hip. His touch was sure, his fingers rough, callused. He met bare skin on her upper thigh and made a raw sound of pleasure, causing her to quiver in response.

  “So soft,” he growled, his mouth against her throat, leaving damp kisses, sucking softly. Overwhelmed, alive, she tipped her head back to make it easier for him. His grip on her thigh tightened, and with little direction from him, she bent her knee and lifted one leg alongside his. The position neatly settled him into the cradle of her hips. She vaguely wondered why she didn’t feel crushed, because he was so big, so hard.

  He pushed, nestling closer, and his erection rubbed her in the most intimate spot imaginable. She gasped; he groaned.

  She’d never felt a man on top of her before. The sensation was…wonderful. Scorching, enveloping, gratifying and at the same time stirring new needs.

  Gabe dipped the tip of his tongue into her ear. That sensation, too, was astounding. How could such a simple act be so incredibly erotic? She heard his harsh breathing, felt his hot, moist breath and the hammering of his heart. He licked her ear. Stunned for just a moment, she froze, trying to take it all in.

  He kissed her again. His mouth ate at hers, his teeth nipping, his tongue stroking. She melted, no longer capable of rational thought, simply reacting to what he did and how he did it.

  In the next instant he was gone, sitting up beside her.

  Elizabeth blinked in shock, uncertain what had happened or why he had pulled away so abruptly. She lay there, her eyes open but unseeing, trying to assimilate her senses. Gabe never hesitated. He caught her arms just above her elbows and jerked her upright so that she, too, was sitting, although not quite as steadily as he. It took a lot of effort not to flop down. She felt boneless and flushed and limp. Mute, she stared at him.

  He gave her a grim, somewhat apologetic look and then she heard the motor. They both turned to stare at the entrance to the lake.

  Seconds later a small fishing boat similar to the one they had used rounded the bend into the cove. Two older men, goofy hats hooked with a variety of lures perched on their heads, concentrated on the long fishing lines they had dragging in the water. Their voices were barely audible over the steady drone of the trolling motor.

  They looked up in surprise when they noticed Gabe. Almost as one, their gazes turned to Elizabeth, and she felt herself turning pink with embarrassment. Good grief, could they tell what she and Gabe had been doing? Would they be able to look at her face and see it all?

  Gabe moved, leaning forward to block her from view. He waved at the men, who waved back and continued to stare at them until their boat nearly went aground. With a disgruntled curse, the man in the back redirected their course and they puttered out of sight.

  Gabe turned to her. His eyes were probing and direct. Unable to look away, Elizabeth thought how unfair it was that he could completely snare her with just a look. Eyes so light and clear a blue should have appeared cool, not fiery and passionate.

  His fair hair shimmered beneath the sunshine, mussed from his swim—and from her fingers. Every muscle in his tensed body was delineated, drawing her eyes. He watched her so intently, she almost flinched.

  Swallowing hard, Elizabeth tried to think of what to say. It was nearly impossible to muster a straight, businesslike face after that…that…She didn’t know what to call it. It was certainly far more than a mere kiss. Admittedly, she lacked experience, but she was certainly not stupid. She knew the difference between kissing and what they’d just done.

  It wasn’t easy, but she reminded herself of her original purpose, her continued purpose. All her life she’d struggled to deal with the idiosyncrasies of heroism, why some had those qualities and some did not. Having heroism gave you the ability to change lives, lacking it could leave you forever empty.

  She met Gabe’s eyes and cleared her throat. “Well, after that, I expect an entire explanation for my thesis.”

  She hadn’t meant to sound so cold and detached; what she really felt was far different from those simple emotions. She’d only meant to stress the point of what they were doing and why.

  Gabe’s eyes darkened, narrowed, the heat leaving them as if it had never been there. His jaw flexed once, then stilled. He stared at her mouth and said, “You’ll get it.”

  CHAPTER 4

  HE WANTED to shake her, to…God, he’d never had the inclination to do any more than make love with a woman, laugh with her, tease. But Lizzy had him crazed.

  He’d all but taken her on the damn dock, out in the open, on the lake, for crying out loud.

  And she’d have let him.

  He sensed it in his bones. He knew women, knew how they thought, what they felt, when they were turned on and how to turn them on. Little Red had been wild. She’d bit his bottom lip, sucked on his tongue, lifted her hips into the thrust of his…She’d strained against him, trying to get closer, and her fluttering heartbeat had let him measure each new degree of her excitement. She’d been on the ragged edge. He could have slipped his fingers past the leg band of her suit and stroked her over the edge with very little effort.

  But now she watched him as though it had never happened, demanding answers to questions that were beyond stupid.

  “I need to cool off.” With no more warning than that, Gabe went over the side of the dock. He swam down until he touched the bottom, feeling around for a shell. When he surfaced, Lizzy was hanging over the edge, watching for him anxiously. He pushed wet hair from his face and forced himself not to eye her breasts.

  “You scared me!” She stared at him in accusation, looking like a wild woman. Thanks to his hands, long strands of hair had escaped her thick braid in various places, giving her a woolly-headed look, like a damn red thistle. Her smooth cheeks were flushed, making the freckles more pronounced. Her lush mouth, which had felt so hot and hungry under his only moments before, was pressed into a severe line.

  Gabe almost laughed. Hell, she wasn’t even pretty, not really, and she sure as certain didn’t have the right temperament to lure a man. So why had he reacted so strongly?

  “Here.” He handed her the shell, watched her sit back, bemused, to look it over. “It’s just a mussel. The bottom of the lake is littered with them. I dated a girl for a while who used to find live ones and
eat them raw.”

  Lizzy’s head jerked up, and she dropped the shell. Her lip curled in a way that made her look ready to vomit. No, she looked far from pretty right now.

  Gabe laughed out loud. “Gross, huh? I couldn’t quite bring myself to kiss her again after that. I kept thinking of what had been in that mouth. Have you ever seen a live mussel? They’re sort of slimy and gray.”

  She covered her mouth with a hand, swallowed hard, then sat back and glared at him some more. “Are you going to stay in there, or will you get out and answer my question?”

  “Answer one for me first, okay?”

  Her blue eyes widened, and he had to admit that they, at least, were beautiful. No matter her mood, her eyes were a focal point in her face, vivid and filled with curiosity and intelligence. He liked the color, dark and deep, unlike his faded, washed-out color. With the sun reflecting off the lake, he could see green and black and navy striations in her irises, lending richness to the unique color. As he studied her eyes, her pupils flared, reminding him how quickly she’d gotten aroused with him.

  Arousing Little Red was fun, indeed. And from what he could tell, she could use a little fun in her life. Maybe it’d take some of the starch out of her spine and some of the vinegar out of her speech.

  He propped his crossed arms over the edge of the dock, facing her and smiling into her stern face. “Where’d you get that suit?”

  Bemused, she looked at herself, then at him. She plucked nervously at the material by her waist. “I…well, I hadn’t owned a suit before this. You insisted we needed to swim, so I had to go get one last night. But I couldn’t see spending a lot of money on one when this would likely be the only time I wore it. So I grabbed the cheapest one I could find.”

  “The cheapest one-piece?”

  Her lips trembled, fascinating him. “I’m not exactly the type to wear a bikini.”

  “Why not?” His voice dropped despite his effort to sound dispassionate. “You have an incredible body, Lizzy.” He was serious, but he could tell by the way her eyes darkened and she looked away that she didn’t believe him.

  “Lizzy?” She wouldn’t look at him. His heart softened, felt too thick in his chest. Very gently he asked, “When was the last time you looked at yourself naked?”

  Her head snapped up, her cheeks hectic with hot color. Her mouth opened twice, but nothing came out. Finally she glared and said with acerbity, “Why do you deliberately try to embarrass me? Is that your idea of fun, to make me feel…feel…”

  “Feel what, sugar?” His hand was a scant inch from her small foot, and he caught her ankle, using his thumb to caress her arch. “Shy? You shouldn’t. There’s not a woman on this lake that looks better in her suit than you. Why don’t you know that?”

  Her auburn brows snapped down so fiercely, he expected her to get a headache. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Gabriel Kasper, but I’m not blind. I’m well aware of how I look, and if it wasn’t for you and your ridiculous stipulations, I wouldn’t be here now, sitting in this ridiculous suit!”

  “You’ve enjoyed yourself,” he felt compelled to remind her, then held on tight when she tried to draw her foot away.

  “It was…unexpected.” She looked prim and righteous, and he felt his blood heating in masculine reaction to her silent challenge. “As you’ve already surmised, I haven’t done much kissing in my lifetime. I looked at this as sort of a…a learning experience.”

  Gabe grinned, his thumb still brushing sensually over her foot, making her stiffen. “So I’m sort of a class project, huh? Will you write another thesis? What I did over the summer vacation?”

  Like a small volcano erupting, she jerked away and scrambled out of his reach. Her hands flattened on the dock to push herself upright, then she squealed and lifted a finger to her mouth.

  Gabe watched her antics with curiosity. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving,” she grumbled, still looking at her finger. “I realize now that you have no intention of answering my questions, and I can’t afford to waste the time with you otherwise.”

  So he was a waste of time? Like hell! He’d make her eat those words. Gabe levered himself onto the dock, and his weight set it off kilter, causing Lizzy to tilt into him. Her attention was still on her finger.

  “I’ll answer your damn question, so quit frowning.”

  She gave him a skeptical, disbelieving look, then went back to frowning.

  “What’s wrong with you? Did you hurt yourself?” He leaned over her shoulder to see her hand, and as usual, she pulled it close to her chest as if protecting it from him.

  “I have a splinter, thanks to you.” As an afterthought, she added, “It hurts.”

  Gabe wrested her hand away from her body and looked at the injured finger. A jagged piece of wood was imbedded under the pad of her middle finger. “Damn. That sucker is huge.”

  She tried to pull her hand free. She did that constantly, he realized, always pulling away from him. Well, not constantly. When he’d been kissing her, she’d strained against him.

  “I can get it out.”

  “No!” She tugged again, finally gaining her release. “I can take care of it after I get home. If you’re ready to leave?”

  Gabe chewed the side of his mouth. “Actually, no, I’m not ready to leave. You have a question for me, and I’ll answer it. But first let me take care of this.”

  “Gabe…”

  “Stop being such a sissy. I won’t hurt you.”

  Her chin firmed, her lips pursed, and then she thrust her hand toward him. “Fine. Do your worst.”

  Without hesitation, Gabe lifted her finger to his mouth. He heard Lizzy gasp, felt her tremble. Probing with his tongue, he located the end of the splinter, then carefully, gently closed his teeth around it. It pulled out easily.

  He smiled at her, still with her hand close to his mouth. “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  She had that glazed look in her eyes again, like the one she’d had before the fishing boat had interrupted. Unable to help himself with her looking so flustered and shivering, he held her gaze and kissed her fingertip. Her pupils dilated, her lips parting. Damn, but she was quick to react—which made him react, too.

  It was if they were connected by their gazes, an intimate hold that he’d never quite experienced before. Gabe touched the tip of his tongue to her finger and heard her inhalation of breath. Her eyes grew heavy, her lashes dipping down. He drew her finger into his mouth and sucked softly. With a moan, she closed her eyes.

  Damn, it was erotic. She was erotic. Moving her finger along his bottom lip, he said, “Being in the water is second nature to me. It never scares me.”

  He was shocked by how husky his voice had become, but still, it jarred her enough that her eyes opened. Gabe dipped his tongue between her fingers, licked along the length of one. “I’m as at home in the water as I am on land. Especially this lake. I never once considered there was any danger to me, because there wasn’t, so I wasn’t afraid.”

  “Oh.”

  He moved to her thumb, drawing it into his mouth and tugging gently, just as he might with a breast. The thought inflamed him.

  “After the kids and their mother were out of the way, I didn’t have time to think or be afraid. I just reacted.”

  “I…I see.”

  Her voice was so low and rough he could barely understand her. She watched him through slitted eyes, her body swaying slightly. “I learned to drive boats when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I started working on boat motors when I was ten, knew more about them than most grown men by the time I was fourteen.”

  He licked her palm, then the racing pulse in her wrist.

  “Because I knew what I was doing, there was no danger, no reason to be afraid.”

  “I see.”

  Her eyes were closed, her free hand curled into a fist, her breasts heaving.

  “Therefore,” Gabe added, as he started to lower her once again, “I’m not what you’d call
a hero at all.”

  Her back no sooner touched the dock than she bolted upright. Her head smacked his chin with the force of a prizefighter’s blow. She blinked hard, rubbed her head and scowled at him.

  After working his jaw to make certain she hadn’t broken anything, Gabe asked, “Are you all right?”

  “You’ve given me a concussion.”

  He smiled. “I have not.” Then: “Why’d you get so jumpy?”

  “I need to write everything down before I forget it.”

  Rolling his eyes, Gabe said, “So you’re finally satisfied?” No sooner did the words leave his mouth than he looked at her spectacular breasts, saw her pointed nipples and knew true satisfaction was a long way off. Not that she’d ever admit it.

  Her gaze downcast, she said simply, “I’m satisfied—for that question. But I have so many more.” Looking at him, a soft plea in her gaze, she asked, “Will it really be so difficult to let me get some answers?”

  Damn, he wanted her. He wanted to see that look on her face when she was naked beneath him. It defied reason and went against everything he knew about his preferences and inclinations. She was so far from the type of woman who usually caught his eye that it was almost laughable.

  But it didn’t change the facts.

  Gabe chucked her chin. “I’m willing if you are.”

  “Meaning?”

  There was a note of caution in her tone that made him smile with triumph. “Meaning as long as we stick to our original bargain, I’ll answer your questions. One kiss per question.”

  Lizzy turned her head to stare at the lake. There was a stillness about her that he hadn’t seen before, and it made him uneasy.

  “Because this is important to me,” she said without inflection, “I’ll agree if you insist. But what we’ve just been doing…that was more than kissing.” She turned her big blue eyes on him and added, “Wasn’t it?”

  Sure felt like more to him! But he’d never admit that to her. He had a feeling that if she knew how she’d turned him on, how close he’d gotten to losing all control, she’d never agree to see him again, much less let him kiss her. “It’s not a big deal, Lizzy. You don’t have to worry for your reputation or your chastity.”