The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [208]
He’d get Lizzy over her ridiculous notions of guilt. He’d make her see herself as he saw her—a sexy, adorable woman filled with mysteries and depth. And he’d make damn sure she enjoyed herself in the bargain.
7
ELIZABETH FELT like she was floating, her feet never quite touching the ground. She said hello to the people she passed on the main street while heading to the diner to meet Misty and Honey Hudson. She hadn’t had much sleep the night before, having been too tightly strung from wanting Gabe and from the slight lingering discomfort of her sunburn.
Today it was a toss-up as to which bothered her more. Gabe had stayed an additional hour, but he hadn’t resumed the heated seduction. Instead, he’d been so painstakingly gentle, so filled with concern and comfort, it had been all she could do not to curl up on his lap and cuddle. He’d have let her. Heck, he’d tried several times to instigate just such a thing.
By the time he’d left and she’d prepared for bed, she’d been tingling all over, ultrasensitized by the brush of his mouth, the stroke of his fingertips, his low husky voice and constant string of compliments.
He thought her freckles were sexy. He thought her red hair was sexy. Oh, the things he’d said about her hair. She blushed again, remembering the way he’d looked at her while speculating on the contrast of her almost-brown brows and the vivid red of her hair, wondering about the curls on the rest of her body.
He was big and muscular and outrageous and all male. She’d already decided that if he was willing to begin an involvement, she’d be an utter fool to rebuff him. The things he made her feel were too wonderful to ignore.
When she entered the small diner, several male heads turned her way. They didn’t look at her as Gabe did, but rather with idle curiosity because she was a new face. She located the women, talking to a waitress at the back of the diner in a semiprivate booth. They all had their backs to her as she approached.
She was only a few feet away when she heard Misty say, “I think he’s dumbstruck by his own interest. She’s not at all the type of woman he usually goes after and he doesn’t know what to make of that.”
Honey laughed. “That’s an understatement. Sawyer told me Gabe started chasing the ladies when he was just a kid, and he usually caught them. By the time he was fifteen, they were chasing him.”
The waitress shook her head. Elizabeth recognized her as one of the women who’d been at the docks the day she’d first tracked down Gabe.
“That’s nothing but the truth,” the woman said. “Gabe can sit on the dock and the boats will pull in or idle by just to look at him. He always accepts it as his due, because it’s what he’s used to. I remember how he reacted when Elizabeth first showed up there. He didn’t like her at all, but then she didn’t seem to like him much, either, and I sorta think that’s the draw. He’s not used to women not gushing all over him.”
“I just hope he doesn’t hurt her. Gabe is a long way from being ready to settle down for more than a little recreation. But every woman he gets together with falls in love with him.”
Misty agreed with her sister. “He’s a hedonistic reprobate, but an adorable one.”
Elizabeth was frozen to the spot. She wasn’t an eavesdropper by nature, but she hadn’t quite been able to announce herself. In love with Gabe? Yes, she supposed she was halfway there. How stupid of her, how naive to think he’d be truly interested in her for more than a quick tumble. As the women had implied, he evidently found her odd and was challenged by her.
The differences between her and Gabe had never felt more pronounced than at that precise moment. Because she was so inexperienced, not just sexually but when it came to relationships of any kind, she knew she