Forever Buckhorn: Gabe

“Maybe I just noticed the problem first.”

When she shifted to face him, Gabe again eyed her breasts. He felt obsessed. Would her nipples be pink or a rosy brown?

She touched his arm. “Were you afraid?”

Annoyed by her persistence, he leaned back on the dock, covering his eyes with a forearm. “That’s another question.” Gabe wondered if she even realized he was male. He had a raging hard-on, he’d been staring at her breasts with enough intensity to set her little red head on fire, and she hadn’t even noticed. He snorted. Or maybe she just didn’t care. Maybe she found him so lacking, so unappealing, he could be naked and it wouldn’t affect her.

Her small hand smacked against his shoulder. “Not fair! You didn’t even really answer the first question.”

He lowered his arm enough to glare at her. “You didn’t really swim, so we’re even.”

Mulish determination set her features, then she turned to the water. Distaste and fear stiffened her shoulders and, amazed, Gabe realized she was going to get in.

“Lizzy…” He reached for her shoulder.

“If a snake eats me, it’ll be on your head!” She stuck a toe in the water.

Smiling, Gabe pulled her back. “All right. I’ll answer your question.”

The tension seemed to melt right out of her. “You will?”

He sighed long and loud to let her know she was a pest. Yeah, right. “It beats seeing that look of terror on your face.” He flicked her nose as he said it, to let her know he was teasing.

She paid him no mind, speaking to herself in a mumble. “I wish I had my notebook.”

Gabe came to his knees, caught the line holding the boat secure and pulled it in. It was a stretch, but he was able to reach her bag and hand it to her. “There you go.”

Her smile was beatific. “Thank you.”

He gave her a gentlemanly nod. She didn’t notice his body, but at least she appreciated his manners. “No problem. Not that I can tell you anything interesting enough to write down.”

The look of concentration on her face as she pulled out her notepad told him she disagreed. Gabe thought how cute she was when she went all serious and sincere.

Not that a cute, redheaded virago should have interested him. Beyond making him unaccountably hot, that was.

Nose wrinkled against the glare of the sun, she looked at him and said, “I’m ready.”

She looked ready, he thought, unable to keep his mind focused on the fact that he wasn’t interested. Posed on the dock as she was, she made a fetching picture. Her long legs were folded to the side in the primmest manner possible, given her body was more bare than not. She tilted her head and pursed her lips in serious cogitation. The bright sunshine glinted off her hair, showing different colored strands of gold and amber and bronze. Midway down, her braid was darker from being wet, and it rested, heavy and thick, along her side. Her skin shone with a fine mist of sweat, intensifying her sweet scent so that with every small breeze he breathed her in.

His skin felt too hot, but not because of the sun.

Gabe wondered what she’d do if he eased her backward and covered her with his body. Would she scream again? He groaned, causing her to lift one brow. She hadn’t screamed last time because of him. No, she hadn’t even noticed his attention.

“What’s wrong?”

Other than the fact he was attracted to a woman who shouldn’t have appealed to him and didn’t return the favor? He groaned again. “Not a thing.” Once again he reclined on the small dock, crossing his arms behind his head. He was too long for the thing, so he let his knees stick over the side and hung his feet in the water. “Let’s see. What did I think? Well, I cursed. I know that.”

Pencil to paper, she asked, “What did you say?”

“It’s not something to be repeated in front of a lady.”

“Oh. I understand.”

She scribbled quickly across her paper, making Gabe curious. But he already knew she wasn’t about to reveal her words to him. “Thing is,” he admitted, “I don’t really remember thinking anything. I saw the kids and the woman, saw the boat, and I just dove in. I knew they could get hurt, and I knew I could help.” He shrugged, not looking at her. “It’s no more complicated than that.”

“So,” she said, her eyes narrowed in thoughtful speculation, “your heroism was instinctive, like a basic part of you?”

“It wasn’t heroism, damn it, but yeah, I guess it was instinctive to just dive in and do what I could.”

“Did you even think about the danger to yourself?”

Here he was, Gabe thought, lounging in front of her, half naked, and she hadn’t even looked at him once. He knew, because he’d been watching her, waiting to see what she’d do when she saw he was aroused. She’d barely noticed him at all except to give him her disapproving looks.

It nettled him that she was on this ridiculous hero kick. He was a man, same as any other, but that obviously didn’t interest her at all. He wanted her interest, though he shouldn’t have. But looking at her made him forget that she wasn’t his type, that he didn’t care what she thought, that he was only here today on a lark, as a way to pass the time and have some fun.

He wasn’t used to a woman being totally oblivious to his masculinity, and he damn sure didn’t like it.

He wouldn’t, in fact, tolerate it.

Speaking in a low, deliberately casual tone, he reminded her, “That’s another question. I told you I’d answer one.”

“But…”

“We could make another deal.” He closed his eyes as he said it, as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other. The ensuing silence was palpable. He felt the dock rock the tiniest bit and knew she was shifting. In nervousness? In annoyance? If he looked at her, he’d be able to read the emotions in her big blue eyes. But he didn’t want to see if it was only frustration that lit her gaze. He waited, held his breath.

And finally she said, “All right. What deal?”

He opened his eyes and pinned her, his heart pumping hard, his muscles twitching. “I’ll answer another question—for a kiss.”

She blinked at him, her long, gold-tipped lashes lazily drifting down and up again, as if she couldn’t quite believe what he’d said. “A kiss?”

“Mm.” He pointed to his mouth. His gaze never left her face, watching her closely. Anticipation, thick and electric, hummed in his veins. “Right here, right now. One question, one kiss.”

She shifted again. The lake was still, the only sounds those of a cow occasionally bawling or the soft splash of a frog close to shore. Lizzy nibbled her lips—lush, wet lips. Her gaze, bright and direct, never left his face. She drew a deep breath that made her breasts strain against the clinging material of the suit.

Her blue eyes darkened and her words, soft and uncertain, made him jerk in response.

“What…” she whispered, her breath catching before she cleared her throat and started again. “What if I kiss you twice?”

AT LEAST he was smooth-shaven today, Elizabeth thought as she watched Gabe’s face, saw his eyes glitter and grow intent. She felt tense from her toes to her eyebrows, struggling endlessly to keep her gaze on his face and off his lean, muscled body. He was by far the most appealing man she’d ever known—and the most maddening.

When he continued to watch her, his eyes heavier, the blue so hot they looked electric, she made a sound of impatience. “Well?”

In husky tones, he asked, “Two kisses, hm?”

Much more and she’d be racing for the shore. She couldn’t take his intensity, the way he stared at her, stroked her with his gaze. Her breasts felt full, her belly sweetly pulled with some indefinable ache. What could he possibly hope to gain with his present attitude? She didn’t for a minute think he was actually attracted to her. For one thing, men simply didn’t pay that much attention to her. More often than not, she could be invisible for all the notice they took. Secondly, she still remembered his reaction when they’d met. Gabriel Kasper had found her amusing, annoying and, judging by the way he’d looked her over, totally unappealing.

Perhaps, she continued to reason, he only hoped to intimidate her! That would certainly make sense. She swallowed hard and refused to back down. She needed his knowledge. She craved the information that would make her understand what special qualities created a hero. Or a heroine.