Forever Buckhorn

“Oh, for pity’s sake. It wasn’t anything like that.” Forgetting that he needed to stay in the water, he levered himself up beside her on the dock in one fluid movement. The dock bobbed, making her gasp and flatten her hands on the wood for balance. Water sluiced off his body as he dropped next to her then shook his head like a wet dog. Lizzy made a grab for him to keep from getting knocked in, but she released him just as quickly and frowned at him.

“So what was it like?”

He leaned back on his elbows and surveyed the bright sun, the cloudless sky. “Hell, I don’t know. I didn’t think anything. I saw the boat, saw the kids—and just reacted.” Before she could say anything about that, he added, “Anyone would have done the same.”

“No one did do the same. Only you.”

He shrugged. “I’d already gone in. There was no reason for anyone else to.”

“You were quicker to react.”

“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.

His mouth, firm and sensual, wholly masculine, twitched slightly. “Two kisses, two questions.”

It was what she’d wanted. And then he added, “Ten kisses, ten questions—but understand, Lizzy, I’m only a man. Kisses are all I can barter and remain a…gentleman.” He turned his head slightly toward her, and his voice dropped. “Or does that matter?”

She stiffened. Did he suggest her kisses could make him lose control? Not likely! Mustering her courage, she asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“This…what?”

She waved a hand at his lazy form. “This game. Why trade for kisses? Why trade at all? Is it really so hard to answer a short interview?”

His jaw tightened, and he shut his eyes again. After a moment, still looking more asleep than alert, he said, “You need to loosen up a little, Red. It’s a nice afternoon, the sun is warm, the water’s cool. We’re all alone. Why not play a little?” He looked at her, his gaze probing. “Is the idea of kissing me so repulsive?”

She filled her lungs with a deep breath. So she was just a game, a way to pass the time. The arrogant jerk. She’d have to remember to make a note of that, that some heroes were not always perfect in their behavior, some of them enjoyed toying with women.

She straightened her shoulders, refusing to let him intimidate her. “No, not at all.”

“Then we don’t have a problem, do we?”

The only problem, evidently, was her inhibition. But in the face of all she could learn from him, did her reserve really matter? Suddenly determined, she squelched her nervousness and said with firm resolve, “Okay, a kiss for a question.”

She waited, braced for his sensual assault, but Gabe simply continued to watch her. Not by so much as the flick of an eyelash did he move. Her stomach cramped the tiniest bit and she lifted an eyebrow.

She was both disappointed and relieved when she asked, “You’ve changed your mind?”

With one indolent shake of his head, Gabe crooked a finger at her. “C’mere, Red. You’re going to do the kissing, not me.”

In reaction to his potent look, more than her stomach cramped, but the feeling wasn’t at all unpleasant.

“Oh.” She looked at his gorgeous body stretched out in front of her—and started shaking. His shoulders were wide and bunched with muscles, as were his biceps. The undersides of his arms were smooth, slightly lighter than the rest of his skin. She’d never considered a man’s armpits sexy before—just the thought was ludicrous—but she’d never seen Gabriel Kasper’s. Seeing the hair under his arms was somehow too intimate, like a private showing. She looked away from that part of him.

His chest, tanned and sprinkled with golden brown hair, had the lean hard contours that spoke of a natural athlete. Her pulse fluttered.

His abdomen was flat, sculpted, and if his underarms were too personal, his navel was downright sexual. The way his body hair swirled around it, then became a silky line that disappeared into the very low waistband of his shorts… Her eyes widened.

With his wet cutoffs clinging to his body, there was no way to miss his obvious arousal. Fascinated, she couldn’t help but stare for a moment. Never, not in real life, anyway, had she seen an erection. Heat exploded inside her, making her cheeks pulse, her vision blur.

Her gaze flew to his face, desperate, confused, excited. His grin, slow and wicked, taunted her. He didn’t say a word, and she knew he was waiting for her to back down.

She couldn’t. Not now, not with him challenging her. But…

Licking her lips, Elizabeth croaked, “Are you sure we should do this?”

He shrugged one hard shoulder in a show of negligence. “No one will see. Don’t be a coward, Lizzy. It’s just a kiss.”

Just a kiss. She remembered how those women on the dock had hung on him, how every woman who passed in a boat had stared at him with hunger. He was used to kissing, used to so much more. She couldn’t recall any other man in all her acquaintance ever demanding such a thing from her. No wonder she was at a loss as to how to proceed. She preferred to arm herself with knowledge, to learn from a book what she didn’t understand. But she hadn’t known to research this particular theme. She frowned with that thought. Were there books to help you bone up on kissing a sexy-as-sin, half-dressed reclining man?

She eyed him warily. “Why don’t you…sit up?” The idea of leaning over him, of being that close to so much masculine flesh, flustered her horribly.

Without hesitation, Gabe shook his head. “Naw, I’m already comfortable. So quit stalling.”

He was right; the quicker she got it over with, the better. Like getting a tooth pulled, it meant just a flinch of pain, and then you were done.

Not giving herself time to think about it, she slapped one hand flat on the dock beside his head, bent down and brushed her mouth over his in a flash of movement. She straightened just as quickly and, avoiding his gaze, put her pencil to paper. Her voice shook slightly, but she ignored the tremor as she asked, “Now, when you leaped into the water with the runaway boat, were you afraid?”

“No.”

She waited, her pencil ready, but he said no more. Elizabeth rounded on him, her nerves too frazzled for more games. “That’s an awfully simplified answer.”

He gave her a wry look. “It was an awfully simplified kiss.”

Unable to help herself, she looked at his mouth. Her lips still tingled from the brief contact with his. It took all her concentration not to lick her lips, not to chew on them. Her heartbeat was still racing too quickly, her stomach was in knots of anticipation…no! Dread, not anticipation. She had to be philosophical. “You mean, if I made the kiss longer…”

So softly she could barely hear him, he said, “Why don’t you give it a try and see?”

She could do this! She was not a fainthearted ninny. Determination stiffened her spine. Sensual awareness sharpened her senses. She gave one quick nod.

Laying the pencil and paper aside, she bent, clasped her palms over his ears to anchor both him and herself, then kissed him for all she was worth.

Never having done much kissing, she had no idea if she was doing it right. But she mashed her mouth tightly to his, turned her head subtly so their lips meshed, and sighed. Or maybe it was more a growl filled with resolution.

His lips felt firm, warm. This close, his scent was stronger, drifting over her, making her insides fill with a new and unexpected need. He was so hot, his skin where they touched almost burning her. Her chin bumped his, their noses rubbed together, and her wrists rested on his silky hot shoulders. She stopped moving her mouth and simply breathed deeply.

Gabe groaned, then promptly laughed, startling her enough that she sat up and stared at him in hurt and confusion.

With a small smile, using only one rough finger, he stroked her bottom lip. His words were as gentle as his touch, and just as devastating. “You haven’t done much kissing, have you, Lizzy?”

Indignation would be misplaced; obviously, he could already tell she was inexperienced, so why should she deny it or be embarrassed? He could see what she looked like, had even used the same insulting taunt of Red she’d heard in grade school. He could probably guess at the other names—freckle face and scarecrow. And no doubt he understood the way she’d been ignored in high school, when all the boys were chasing cheerleaders with bubbly personalities and model faces.

None of that hurt her anymore. She had found more important things to do with her time. With an accepting shrug, she agreed. “Pitifully little, actually.” And even that was an exaggeration.

Amazingly, his smile turned seductive. He came up on his right elbow, wrapped the fingers of his left hand around her nape and pulled her close. Against her mouth, he whispered, “Then allow me.”

His tongue… Oh gracious. His mouth opened hers with almost no effort. His tongue touched, teased, not really entering her mouth, but making her crazed with small licks and tastes, softly, wetly stroking. She held herself very still so as not to disturb him or interrupt his progress.

Slowly, in infinitesimal degrees, he pulled his mouth away. His hand still held her neck, his fingers caressing, and he stared at her mouth. “You’re not kissing me back, Lizzy.”

“I…” She hadn’t realized he wanted her to. All her senses had been attuned to what he was doing, not what she might do. “Sorry.”

With a groan, he took her mouth again, not so gently this time, a hungry greed coming through to curl her toes and make her fingers go numb. Elizabeth leaned into him, tilted her head the tiniest bit to better accept his mouth. She braced her hands against his chest, then jerked at how hot his skin was, the way his chest hair felt on her palms. Her breasts tingled, and below her stomach an insistent tingling demanded her attention.

She panted, and this time when his tongue touched her mouth, she captured it, stroking her tongue against him.

She wasn’t sure if it was her heartbeat or his that rocked her. His hand left her head and captured her elbow. She found herself being slowly lowered to the dock, but she didn’t care; she just wanted him to go on kissing her like this, creating the overwhelming turmoil inside her. She liked it. She liked him—his taste, his hardness, his scent.

His chest crushed her breasts, but not uncomfortably. It helped to ease the ache there, but then the ache intensified, especially when he moved, abrading her taut nipples. She gasped.

He was braced over her with his elbows on either side of her head. Tentatively, uncertain how far she should go, Elizabeth placed her hands on his back. His tongue stroked deeply and she moaned, arching into him.

Gabe pulled away with a curse. He stared into her eyes, his face so close she could see his individual lashes, and then with another soft curse he sat up and gave her his back.

She struggled for breath, not certain what had happened, if she’d done something wrong. She pressed her palms flat on the rough wooden dock and tried to secure herself. Her head was spinning, her heart beating so wildly she thought it might punch right out of her chest. Her lungs felt constricted, and she couldn’t get enough air, which forced her to pant. And there was the most delicious tingling sensation deep inside her.

Gabe ran a hand through his hair, but he kept his back to her. She could see the straight line of his spine, the shift of his muscles as he, too, breathed deeply, quickly. With his attention elsewhere, she devoured him with her eyes. His skin was bronzed, testimony to how much time he spent on the lake, and a striking contrast to his fair hair and burning blue eyes. His damp shorts rode low on trim hips, but all she could see was tanned flesh.

Abruptly he shifted and speared her with a look, as if he’d sensed her regard. Over his shoulder, his gaze razor sharp, he growled, “Ask your damn question.”

Still gasping, Elizabeth tried to gather her wits. Question? Her muddled mind came up with one reply. “Are you tanned all over?”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than she realized her mistake. Gabe’s eyes widened comically. There was a moment of startled hesitation, then he threw his head back and laughed, the sound bouncing off the placid surface of the lake to return to her again and again, making her brain hurt and her face throb with heat.

Appalled, she started to sit up, but just that quick, Gabe caught her shoulders and pinned her in place.

“Where are you going?” he asked, his voice a husky rumble. His mouth was still slightly curled in amusement.

Elizabeth tried to think. “I…I meant to ask you—”

“I know what you meant,” he growled around another smile. “You want me to skin off my shorts so you can get a good look at my backside, just to appease your curiosity?”

Yes. “No, of course not!” He loomed over her, making rational thought impossible. But then, everything about Gabriel Kasper, from their first meeting to now, had been impossible.

“Liar.” There was no insult in the accusation. In fact, he said it with amused affection, like an endearment. Then he kissed her again, softly, slowly. Elizabeth felt a constriction in her chest that had nothing to do with the way he held her and everything to do with the realization of all she’d missed in life.

The kiss wasn’t consuming, but sweetly sensual. As Gabe lifted his head, he looked at her breasts, gently crushed against the hard planes of his chest. A slight tremble went through him as he swept one fingertip over the upper swell of each breast. “Are these real, sweetheart?”

Her breath strangled at the feel of his hot, rough finger stroking her there, in a place no man had ever touched. Eyes wide, she muttered, “What are you talking about?”

“You have such a sexy body.” That taunting fingertip dipped slightly into her cleavage, causing her heart to pick up a quick, almost frantic beat. “And these breasts…so plump when you’re so trim everywhere else. So soft when you’re mostly firm. I just wondered if Mother Nature had really been so generous, or if you’d had a little help.”

She stared at him, her mind blank, unable to think while he was touching her. She was aware of the sun hot against her skin, of the slight breeze that stirred the humid air, of the gentle lapping of the lake on the shore. But all of it was overshadowed by Gabe and the blue flare of his eyes.

Grinning, Gabe murmured, “Maybe I should just find out on my own?” His fingers spread over her chest, just below her collarbone, and jolted her into awareness.

She caught his wrist and stared at him hard. “They’re real!” Then, because she was embarrassed over his attention, she muttered, “What a stupid question.”

Gabe easily freed his hand from hers and wrapped his fingers around her skull, stroking her hair, smoothing it. “You must have never gone braless in your life.”

Heat washed over her face, then down to her breasts. “Of course I haven’t.”

His thumb rubbed her cheekbone, the corner of her mouth. He shifted, his chest moving over hers, pressing. “Such a little innocent. Such a surprise.” He looked at her mouth.

“Gabe?”

“Just one more,” he whispered, husky and deep.

She thought to tell him that he’d owe her a lot of conversation for this, that she had plenty of questions he was going to have to answer, but the moment he took the kiss, she forgot all that.

His hand slid down her side to her waist, shaping her, measuring her, it seemed, then drifted to her hip. His touch was sure, his fingers rough, callused. He met bare skin on her upper thigh and made a raw sound of pleasure, causing her to quiver in response.