She sounded breathless, and her voice trembled. “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he crooned, and then, because he couldn’t help himself, he turned his face slightly and nuzzled his nose against the plump, firm curve of her breast.
She screamed, making his ears ring. In the next instant, she launched herself out of his arms and thrashed her way wildly to the floating dock. The back view of her awkward, hasty climb from the water didn’t do a thing to cool his libido. She seemed to be all long legs and woman softness and enticing freckles. The suit, now wet, was even more revealing. Not more revealing than a bikini, but that didn’t seem to matter to his heated libido. He watched her huddle on the dock, wrapping her arms around herself, then hurriedly survey the water.
He owed her an apology. That made him disgruntled enough to grouse, “I’ll be deaf for an hour. You screech like a wet hen.”
Lizzy shook her head, and her teeth chattered. “Something touched me. Something brushed against my leg!”
Gabe stalled. So she hadn’t screamed over his forwardness? From the looks of her, he thought, seeing how wild-eyed she appeared, she probably hadn’t even noticed that he was turned on, that he’d been attempting to kiss her breast. Making a small sound of exasperation, Gabe said, “It was probably just a fish.”
She shuddered in visible horror. “What kind of fish?”
He looked around, peering through the water, which was stirred up from her churning retreat. “There.” Pointing, he indicated a small silvery fish pecking at bubbles on the surface of the lake.
Lizzy carefully leaned forward on her hands and knees, making her breasts sway beneath the wet green suit. “Is it a baby?”
He kept his gaze glued to her body. His tongue felt thick and his jaw tight. “No. A bluegill. They don’t get much bigger than that.”
Her gaze lifted and met his, forcing him to stop staring at her body. “What’d you expect,” he asked, “Jaws?”
Her face heated. To Gabe, she looked sexy and enticing and adorable, perched on the edge of the floating dock, her bottom in the air, her eyes wide and her cheeks rosy. Her brows angled. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Nope.” He waded over to her then leaned on his forearms. No way could he join her on the dock. His wet cutoffs wouldn’t do much to hide his erection. “I didn’t realize you were afraid of the water,” he told her gently. “You should have said something.”
After a deep breath, she sat back. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “I was embarrassed,” she admitted with a sideways look at him. “I hate being cowardly.”
“It’s not cowardly to be unsure of things you’re not familiar with.”
“Will you still answer my question?”
Annoyed that she wouldn’t forget her purpose for even a minute, he shrugged. “Get it over with.”
Her blue eyes lit with excitement, and she dropped her arms to lean toward him. Her nipples, he couldn’t help noticing, were long and pointed.
She smiled. “What were you thinking when you went into the water to save those kids?”
“Thinking?”
“Yes. You saw they were in trouble, and you wanted to help. What did you think about? How you’d get them out, the danger, that your own life wasn’t important…”
“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.”
