Free So Irresistible by Lisa Plumley

over her shoulders, thumbing over the flimsy straps on her dress. All that could be known was wanting .
    It was as if, by kissing him, Gabriella had lit the fuse to something unstoppable and explosive and urgent. Their bodies pushed together, crowding in the booth. Their hearts raced, hard and fast. Their breath caught and held. They gasped between kisses as though those kisses were more sustaining than oxygen.
    Gabriella had never experienced anything like it—and she couldn’t get enough of it, either. She craved Shane—and his confident, arousing touch, too. That’s why, after a little more conversation, she and Shane left the brewpub hand in hand. Her friends’ teasing catcalls sounded, but Gabriella didn’t care.
    She didn’t care because she and Shane were heading to her car . . . and then they were stopping just outside it, unable to resist another kiss. And another. They were groping with hands and hearts and smiles toward something she hadn’t come to the brewpub for—but now that it was within reach, she needed it.
    She needed Shane’s hands, big and agile and gentle. She needed his mouth, kissing her neck. She needed his body, full length against hers as they leaned together on the passenger side of her trusty Toyota and lost themselves in another kiss.
    The chilly late-night April air made Gabriella shiver. So did the sound of Shane’s voice as he dealt with that problem.
    “Cold?” he asked. “Here. Let me warm you up.”
    He did, and in ways that had nothing to do with their bodies. Because his smile reached into her heart somehow and made her feel safe in his arms. His gentleness affected her, too. Gabriella didn’t know if it was his difficult upbringing that had made him so considerate of her feelings or if it was innate in him. All she knew was that she liked it.
    She liked him . Probably more than she should have.
    If love at first sight existed, she thought irrationally as she caught sight of Shane’s handsome, rugged face in the moonlight, then she’d caught a whopping bad case of it tonight.
    She only wished Shane hadn’t quite guessed at her inner self so readily. She wasn’t entirely comfortable knowing that he’d been able to deduce her difficulty in trusting people within a half hour of their meeting. Gabriella had thought she’d kept that tendency of hers pretty much hidden. God knew it gave her enough trouble with her staff—and sometimes her friends.
    But Shane, surprisingly, had seemed . . . accepting of that quality in her. Maybe that was because he was the same way?
    He didn’t seem to be, Gabriella mused as they finally slid into her car. In fact, Shane seemed completely trusting—of her, of their situation, and of what was to come . . . however much nakedness, hotness, and mind-scrambling sex resulted from it.
    Maybe that was the mind-set that came from not following rules. After all, he had said, quite succinctly, rules are made to be broken. That sacrilege alone should have made Gabriella not want him. Instead, it seemed to have made her want him more.
    She did love a bad boy.
    But only for tonight, Gabriella assured herself. Tomorrow, she’d be back to following the rules, obeying tradition, and observing the proper chain of command. Tomorrow, she’d be back to doing things her dad’s way. Just like she’d vowed to do since coming home to Portland.
    After all, doing all those sensible things was going to repair her relationship with her family. She was counting on it. Because, obviously, she’d pushed rebellion just as far as it could go—and she’d learned to regret it, too.
    Mischievously, she eyed Shane. “I already know you don’t like rules or tradition. How do you feel about the chain of command?”
    “That depends on who’s doing the commanding.”
    “What if it’s me?”
    “Then it’s got all kinds of possibilities.” Through dark and unexpectedly hopeful eyes, he glanced at her. “My place is just a few blocks away, if you’re feeling