The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [203]
She moaned long and low, unable to quiet the sound. It came as much from expectation as from his touch.
“Look at me, Lizzy.”
He was asking a lot, considered how tumultuous her emotions were at the moment. It took several seconds and the stillness of his hand on her leg for her to finally comply.
Gabe was breathing roughly. His mouth quirked the tiniest bit. “I don’t know what it is about you, Red, but you make me feel like I’m going to explode.” His fingers moved in a tantalizing little caress that made her breath catch. “Have you ever played baseball?”
She blinked, trying to comprehend the absurd question. “I…no.”
Gabe nodded. “I’ll teach you baseball. But probably not the kind of sport you think I mean.” Still holding her gaze, he bent his golden blond head and pressed a soft, damp kiss onto her burned knee. “Much as I’d like to do otherwise, I think we’ll just try first base tonight. If you don’t like it, say stop and that’ll be it. If you do like it, then tomorrow at the drive-in, we’ll go to second base. Do you understand?”
He continued to place soft, warm kisses on her skin. Seeing his head there, against her legs, when no man had ever even gotten within touching distance before, was a fascinating discovery. She couldn’t have conjured up something so hot, so erotic, in her wildest dreams.
“I think so.” Her throat felt raw, but then she had an absolutely gorgeous hunk of a man kneeling at her feet, staring at her with lust, his hot fingers stroking her leg. “Is what you’re doing now considered first base?”
Very slowly, Gabe shook his head. “No, this is just torture for me.” He gave her a rascal’s grin, and his blue eyes darkened. “For right now, I’m going to just finish putting on the cream. I want you as comfortable as possible. But to keep us both distracted, I’d like to learn a little more about you, okay?”
She probably would have agreed to anything in that moment. She was equally mesmerized and frantic and curious. “All right.”
On his knees, Gabe opened his legs so that they enclosed her; his chest was even with her lap. He scooped more of the cream from his palm and began applying it in smooth, even strokes that felt like live fire. Not painfully, but with incredible promise.
“Tell me why you chose heroism for your thesis.”
Oh, no. She couldn’t explain that, not right now, not to him. She cleared her throat, trying to disassociate her mind from his touch so she could form coherent words. “I’m majoring in psychology. Most of the topics have been done to death. This seemed…unique.”
Gabe tilted his head. “Is that right? What gave you the idea for heroism?”
She bit her lip, trying to sort out what she could tell him and what she couldn’t. “I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of people who managed to muster incredible courage or strength at the time of need.”
“Like the adrenaline rush? A woman who lifts a car to free her trapped child, a man who ignores burns to rescue his wife from a house fire. Those types of things?”
“Yes.” The adrenaline rush that made saving someone important possible. Her throat tightened with the remembrance of how she’d failed, how she’d not been able to react at all, except as a coward.
“Hey?” Gabe finished her legs and carefully replaced the sheet, surprising her…disappointing her. “Are you all right, babe?”
His perceptiveness was frightening, especially when it involved a part of herself she fully intended to keep forever hidden. She went on the defensive without even stopping to think what she was doing or how he might view her response. Meeting his gaze, she said, “I’m not sure I like all these endearments you keep using. And especially not ‘babe.’ It sounds like you’re talking to an infant.”
Rather than hardening at her acerbic tone, his expression softened. “There’s something you’re not telling me, Lizzy.”
Panic struck; she absolutely could not bear for him to nose into her private business. He was everything she wasn’t, and she accepted that.