The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [218]
Immediately, Gabe’s rough palm settled on her thigh in a possessive hold that thrilled her.
“How’s your sunburn today?” he murmured, gently caressing her.
Staring at his dark hand on her leg, she shrugged. “Much better. It was a little tender this morning, but now I hardly notice it at all.”
He slipped his fingers beneath the skirt of her dress and began tracing slow, easy circles on her flesh. Her breathing deepened. “And this? Does this hurt you, Lizzy?”
She shook her head, too startled, too excited to speak.
The light turned green and Gabe pulled away. He used one hand to steer while his gentle fingers continued to pet her bare skin. “Tell me what other firsts we’re talking about.”
His warm touch was hypnotic and she found her legs parting just a bit so his searching fingers could drift lazily up the sensitive inside of her knee. “Swimming in a lake.”
“Oh, yeah.” He flashed her a grin. “Think you might want to be daring and try it again sometime?”
This must be old hat to him, Elizabeth thought, as he easily maneuvered the car one-handed while deliberately arousing her with the other. He was such a rogue.
“Yes.” She’d try anything Gabe wanted her to. She trusted him.
“Any other firsts?”
“Well, there’s…this.” She indicated his hand beneath her skirt, slowly inching higher. She sucked in air and concentrated on speaking coherently. “The kissing and touching and the way you…talk to me.”
He glanced at her and she said, “I love the way you talk to me, Gabe. No man has ever spoken so intimately with me, much less said the kinds of things you say.”
“You’ve known a lot of fools, sweetheart.”
Her smile trembled. “There, you see? And all this business with first base and drive-in movies. I feel like I’m just starting to really see the world.”
Gabe squeezed his eyes closed for a heartbeat, and she added, “You’re also by far the most unique hero I’ve interviewed, so I suppose that’s a first, as well.”
How in the world she’d managed to string so many words together, she had no idea. Her thoughts felt jumbled, her nerve endings raw. Leaning slightly toward him, she touched his shoulder. “Gabe, can I ask you something?”
Twilight was settling in on the small town, making it almost dark enough to hide what they did with each other. Elizabeth smoothed her hand over his shoulder, then down to squeeze his biceps. She soaked in the feel of the soft cotton T-shirt over solid muscle. Gabe felt so good.
He worked his jaw. “You can ask me anything, babe.”
Hesitantly, she explained, “It’s sort of a request.”
His hand left her as he pulled into a gravel lot behind several other cars, waiting to pay at the drive-in entrance. Elizabeth looked around in wonder. People milled about everywhere, some walking to a concrete-block building that she assumed housed the cameras and perhaps a concession stand. Others leaned in car windows talking to neighbors. Some were sitting outside their cars or trucks or vans, watching the sky darken and the stars appear. The screen was huge, situated in front of row after row of metal poles holding speakers. It fascinated her.
“Ask away.”
“Oh.” Turning to Gabe, she bit her bottom lip, then because she was unable to look at him and ask her question, she gave her attention to the surrounding lot. “Would it be okay if I touched you, too? I mean, like with first base and second base? Touching you last night…that was another first. I had no idea a man felt so…contradictory.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed hard. He adjusted his jeans, slouched behind the wheel a bit more and closed his eyes. “Contradictory, how?”
Elizabeth knew her face was flaming. Actually, her whole body was flaming. In a rough, strangled whisper, she said, “Soft in some places, so hard in others. Sleek and alive. I’d…I’d like to feel your chest, under your shirt, and I’d like to feel you…there, inside your