LITMIR.BIZ

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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.”

       Her lips tightened, giving her a wounded look. Gabe cursed. He’d wanted to reassure her, not make light of their mutual attraction. “I didn’t mean…”

       “Why?” She turned to face him. “Why is it so important for you to toy with me?”

       “I’m not toying with you, damn it.”

       She obviously didn’t believe him. “Do you enjoy seeing me flustered, embarrassed? Do you enjoy knowing this is all very strange to me?”

       A direct attack. He hadn’t been expecting it, no more than he’d anticipated her vehemence. He watched her, but she once again avoided his gaze. After some thought, Gabe said honestly, “I like you. And it’s for certain I like kissing you.” She made an exasperated sound, but he continued. “You’re different from the women I know around here.”

       “You mean I’m odd?”

       He laughed at the suspicious accusation in her tone and look. “No, that’s not what I mean. I’ve known most of the women in these parts for all of my life. They’re entirely comfortable with me and with their own sexuality.”

       She slanted him a look. “I’m odd.”

       “No, you are not!” He tucked a long tendril of hair behind her ear, still smiling. “You’re a…contradiction. Sweet and sassy—”

       “What a sexist remark!”

       “—and pushy but shy. You intrigue me. I guess it’s tit for tat. Just as you seem to want to know what makes me tick, I want to know what makes you tick. It’s as simple as that.”

       “It doesn’t feel simple.”

       “That’s because you’re evidently not used to men paying you attention.” She didn’t answer his charge, and he frowned. Catching her chin and bringing her face around to his, he asked the question uppermost in his mind. “Why is that, Lizzy?”

       She shook her head, her lips scrunched together.

       “I figure you must be…what? Twenty-two?”

       She looked at the sky. “Almost twenty-three.”

       “Yet you had no idea how to kiss. What girl gets through high school these days, much less college, without doing some necking?”

       She glared at him and growled, “Redheaded, freckled,

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