The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [202]
6
ELIZABETH DIDN’T quite know what to think when Gabe moved in front of her, insinuating his body into the small space between the Formica table and the chair where she sat. Every one of her nerve endings felt sensitized from the way he’d so gently stroked her. And now his lap was on a level with her gaze.
Her eyes widened. He was turned on! It wasn’t just her feeling so sexually charged. But unlike Gabe, she was the only one uncertain how to continue, or if she even should.
Gabe leaned very close and gripped the seat of the chair in his large hands. Elizabeth yelped when he lifted it and moved it far enough for him to kneel in front of her. Her heart beat so hard she felt slightly sick, her vision almost blurring.
He smelled of aftershave mingled with his own unique scent. Never in her life had she noticed a man’s smell before. She wished she could bottle Gabe’s particular aroma—she’d make a fortune. There couldn’t be a woman alive who wouldn’t love his enticing scent.
His lips grazed her ears and he said softly, “I’m going to finish putting the cream on you, then we’re going to do a little experimenting, all right?”
The soft, damp press of his mouth on her temple served as a period to his statement. He phrased his comment as a question, but given the heat suffusing her, it had to be rhetorical.
Her hands opened and closed fitfully on the sheet. “What exactly do you mean?”
Leaning back on his haunches, Gabe stared at her and caught the hem of the sheet. “Your legs are burned, too.” His rough palms slid up the back of her calves all the way to her knees, baring them as the sheet parted.
Elizabeth pressed herself back in the chair, her legs tightly clenched together, her toes curled. Good Lord, surely he didn’t mean…
The sheet fell open over her thighs, barely leaving her modesty intact. She tried to hold it closed at her breasts and still push his hands away, but Gabe wasn’t having it.
“Shhh. Shh, Lizzy, it’s all right.” He held perfectly still, not moving, not rushing her, waiting for her to calm down and either acquiesce or reject him.
“You’re looking at me!” she said, not really wanting him to stop but unable to contain her embarrassment.
“Just your legs, sweetheart. And I’ve already seen them, right?”
She sucked in a quick, semicalming breath. He was right, in a way. “It just…it feels different.”
“Because you’re naked beneath the sheet?” His fingers continued to stroke up and down her calves, pausing occasionally to gently explore the back of her knees with a touch so gentle, so hot.
She’d had no idea the back of a knee could be an erogenous zone!
Gabe watched her, waiting for an answer. She forced the words past the constriction in her throat. “Yes, because I’m naked beneath the sheet.”
“Am I hurting you, Lizzy?”
She shook her head, heated by the tone of his voice, the careful way he was treating her.
“Do you like this?” He began stroking her again, avoiding her sunburned areas while finding places that were ultrasensitive but nonthreatening.
His hands were so large, so dark against her paler complexion. Working hands, she thought stupidly, rough and callused. She gulped. Words were beyond her, but she managed a nod. She did like it. A lot.
Gabe met her gaze with a smoldering look, his eyes blazing, his tone low and soothing and seductive. “Relax for me, sweetheart. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to do.”
Relaxing was the absolute last thing she could accomplish. Her thoughts swirled as he reached for the cream and squeezed a large dollop into his palm. She had no real idea what he intended, but the look on his face told her it would be sensual and that she’d probably enjoy it a great deal.
Should she allow this? How could she not allow it? Never in her entire life had a man pursued her. Certainly not a man like Gabe Kasper. She could do her thesis and indulge in an episode that might well prove to be the highlight of her entire life. Who was she kidding, she thought. It was already the highlight of her life!
She squeezed her eyes shut and