He pulled away from her, nipped her lower lip and then pressed his mouth to hers one more time before releasing his hold.

She looked dazed. He felt about how she looked.

“I thought about it,” he said. “And I realized I couldn’t let this one go. I let you criticize my riding, question my authority, but I wasn’t about to let you get away with cock-blocking me, telling me you’re jealous and then telling me you don’t know if you want me. So I figured maybe I’d give you something to think about.”

* * *

HE HAD KISSED HER. With his lips. His teeth. His tongue. Kissed her in a way she hadn’t really understood kissing could be done. And by the time she’d fully realized she was being kissed, it was over. And she really didn’t know what to do, or what to think.

Gabe was gone, but she hadn’t seen if he’d gone back into the bar, or if he’d left entirely. And she really wasn’t sure exactly what she hoped. If she wanted to push him. If she wanted to see what might happen if she chased him down. If she found him. Or if she wanted to run and hide like the sad, ignorant little virgin she suspected she might be, after all.

Her lips burned. Her body burned.

Kissing was not like she’d thought it might be.

His whiskers had been rough; his hands had probably left bruises behind where he had held her.

And frankly, she hadn’t understood why a person would want someone else’s tongue in their mouth. No matter how many times people had giggled about French kissing in the halls at school or she’d seen Bea get all dreamy over a passionate kiss from Dane...she just hadn’t understood.

Not until Gabe.

And then she had felt...like if he really wanted to consume her that way, he was welcome to do it.

Her whole body felt overly sensitive, lit up. From the inside out.

She ached for more. To have Gabe put his hands on her. All over her.

And actually, that was an exhilarating discovery.

Kissing hadn’t been at all like she’d thought.

It was better.

So much better.

Yes, it had been proved that she didn’t know everything about sex, but she had to concede now that the idea of it was a hell of a lot more fun than she had imagined it could be.

She’d often thought of sex from the point of view of men.

After all, that was what her life was full of. A whole bunch of men.

And while she knew that a lot of women liked that, a lot of them seemed to not like it so much, and she had always suspected that there was some kind of...trade happening with it. Like they were agreeing to do it just because they wanted the guy around, and maybe they liked the attention. And Jamie had kind of imagined none of that would be a good enough reason for her to get naked with someone.