The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [191]
“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, gangly girls who are shy and bookish, apparently.”
Gabe took a telling perusal of her body. “Sweetheart, you’re not gangly. Far from it.”
She stared at him hard for at least three heartbeats, then asked with endearing caution, “Really?”
Tenderness swelled over him, taking him by surprise. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that you’d filled out real nice?”
She clasped her hands in her lap and shook her head. “My mother died when I was twelve.”
Gabe scooted closer to her and put his arm around her sun warmed shoulders. He didn’t question his need to hold her, to touch her. “Friends? Sisters?”
Shaking her head, she explained, “I’m an only child. And I didn’t really have that many friends in school.” As if admitting a grave sin, she added, “I was always very backward until recently.”
Gabe squeezed her gently. “You’re hardly a robust conqueror now.”
“I know. It’s not easy for me to do all these interviews, but they’re important, so I do them.” Her expression turned mocking. “Most of them have been fairly quick and simple.”
“Then it’s a good thing you ran into me, huh? Because lady, if anyone ever needed shaking up a little, it’s you.”
“I need to complete my thesis.”
“You have the rest of summer break, right?”
She nodded warily, obviously uncertain of his intent.
“So why don’t we indulge each other? I’ll answer any questions you have, and in return, you’ll let me convince you how adorable you are in that bathing suit.”
Her chin tucked in close to her chest. “Convince me…how?”
“By what we’ve already been doing. I won’t ever push you further than you want to go, you have my word on that. But I can promise there’ll be more kissing.” His hand cradled her head. “You won’t mind that so much, will you, Lizzy?”
She didn’t reply to that, and she didn’t look convinced. In a slightly choked voice that gave away her tension, she said, “I need you to be more specific than that.”
Gabe chewed it over, trying to think of how to couch his terms so she would be reassured. “Okay, how’s this. I’ll answer a question and you’ll cut loose a little, my choice of how. And before you start arguing, first I want you to go to a drive-in with me. You ever been to the drive-in?”
“With my father when I was young. I didn’t even know they still had them.”
“You’re in for a treat!” And I’m in for a little torture. “We can go over to the next county, to the Dirty Dixie.” He bobbed his eyebrows. “They play fairly raunchy movies—which will probably be another first for you, right?”
Looking dazed, she nodded.
“Perfect. How about this Friday? That’s two days away, plenty of time for you to get used to the idea.” And plenty of time for him to get a better grip on himself.
She hesitated once again and Gabe held his breath. Then she nodded.