by Tawny Weber
Following Mitch’s gaze, Gabriel glanced at his friend’s fiancée. His eyes automatically shifted, though, to the dark-haired angel on the other side of the room, heat speeding through his system at the sight of her. A good-looking woman offering to ride him like a bronco got zip for reaction, but one look at Tessa and he was rock hard.
Damned if he could figure out what was going on.
He deliberately shifted his gaze away.
Lips twitching, he used his chin to indicate Mitch look that way, too.
“Your future mother-in-law has Scavenger in her sights.”
Mitch followed his lead to where Pauline had the tall, quietly shy SEAL cornered. From the look of it, she was actually petting his chest.
“She’ll eat him for breakfast,” Mitch proclaimed, looking both amused and a little worried.
Over their friend’s pending sexual education? Or the weirdness of watching all of the elements of his life mix together? Yet another reason to keep life to a single element, Gabriel figured.
“We should rescue him,” Mitch said, starting to rise.
“Nah.” Gabriel shook his head before Mitch could get to his feet. “It’ll be good for him. A guy needs to push his comfort zone now and then.”
“She might suck the comfort right out of him,” Mitch muttered with a worried frown.
“Some women do that,” Gabriel mused, his gaze cutting across the room to lock on Tessa again.
She was so damned sexy, her smile wide and bright in a way it never was when she looked at him.
Time to change the game, he decided.
He’d played it with amused distance already, and all that’d done was let her get a hold somewhere in the back of his mind.
As he listened with half an ear to Mitch talking, he realized that since Tessa was like no woman he’d ever known before, he’d have to take a different approach in dealing with her.
He was simply going to have to pursue her. That he’d have her went without question, since it was obviously the only way he’d get her out of his system.
He was a man who knew how to strategize, how to plan and how to win.
And he never, ever gave up.
Since Tessa wasn’t on board with his plan, he’d see her as a mission.
A target to be assessed, evaluated and overcome.
He’d figure her out.
He’d have her—on his terms.
Then he’d do what he always did.
Walk away, leaving both of them satisfied.
3
TESSA DIDN’T CHECK to see if Gabriel was looking her way. She didn’t have to. She knew his eyes were locked on her. She felt the heat of his interest all the way to her belly, where desire curled, unwanted, in a tightly coiled fire just waiting to explode.
Ignoring the edgy call of desire, she smiled and dished out friendly greetings and easy small talk as she worked the room. This was what she did. Socialized, flitted and fluttered, leaving a trail of lust and smiles behind. And if she did it with a little stress still weighing her down, well, hey, nobody else had to know that.
Not that anyone would. Nobody ever looked deep enough to see more than the outer package anyway.
Except Livi.
Still, Tessa gave it her best shot by amping up her smile and focusing on keeping her body at ease as she slid into the chair next to her best friend.
“Hey, you,” Livi greeted. “I was starting to wonder where you were. Pauline was talking about sending out a search party but I convinced her to wait until appetizers.”
“Thanks for saving me that.” Tessa pulled a face at the idea of Livi’s über–control freak of a mother coming in search of her. She wasn’t sure if that would have been better or worse than Romeo.
“Champagne?” a waiter offered.
After a quick glance at the glass, Tessa gestured to Livi’s flute of sparkling cider.
“I’ll have what she’s having,” she decided, giving him a warm smile that almost made him fumble the tray.
“What’s wrong?” Livi asked, her brows drawing together.
“Wrong? Why is it wrong that I’m keeping my pregnant friend company in her drinking choices?” Tessa said with a shrug.
That sounded much better than admitting that she couldn’t quite bring herself to celebrate what she was sure was going to be a painful mistake on Livi’s part. Marriage itself was bad enough. But marriage because she was pregnant? To a military guy?
“Since when do you drink the same thing I do? You’re upset. I can tell,” Livi said with a worried frown. Then her gaze slid past Tessa, the striking blonde’s eyes sharpening a little. Tessa didn’t need to turn around to know that her friend had just spotted the reason for her irritation.
“Are you and Gabriel at it again?” Livi asked, her frown deepening as she shook her head. “I don’t get it. I’ve never seen anyone argue with Gabriel except you.”
“But he’s so easy to argue with,” Tessa intoned. At Livi’s impatient look, she gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I wasn’t arguing with him. Really. An issue blew up at the magazine this afternoon that has me a little edgy is all.”
Not all a lie, Tessa mentally defended, since she hadn’t actually argued with Gabriel. A covert threat to whack him with the pool cue didn’t an argument make. And she had ended her workday with drama.
Usually, Flirtatious was a source of pleasure for Tessa. The magazine she’d founded with Jared Welch and Maeve Bannion was a huge success not only for her ego, but for her bank account.
But like sexy men, even a great career had its irritating moments.
“What did Jared do?” Livi asked, correctly honing in on one of the sources of Tessa’s troubles. “You need to watch out, Tessa. I know you think you’ve got a handle on him, but he’s a snake.”
“Please.” Tessa laughed. She wasn’t worried about Jared. Between her and Maeve, they kept him in line. Mostly. “When has a man ever got the better of me?”
She deliberately kept her gaze locked on Livi instead of searching the room for Romeo. Talk about ruining her reputation. She didn’t want anyone thinking she was nervous over a guy, even a guy like him.
“Jared would like nothing more than to ride on the tails of your success until he found a way to shove you out of the equation,” Livi said slowly, her eyes locked on Tessa’s face. “You’ve been getting more and more attention, syndication of your articles is picking up and you’ve had some amazing interviews.”
All true. Tessa was one hell of a writer. Oh, she knew Jared liked to tout her as a journalist, but she had no illusions. She wrote very fun, sassy and sexy pieces that all centered around the games between women and men. Flirtations, as the magazine’s name suggested. One Hundred and One Ways to Flirt Your Way to Success, Top Five Pick-up Lines for Savvy Women and The ABCs of Mastering the Sexual Playground were just a few of her recent submissions. Hardly Pulitzer-worthy topics, but they suited her talents and personality, they were extremely popular and they were fun to write. All key reasons why she loved her job.
Jared wouldn’t mess that up. Would he?
Tessa rubbed a finger against the throbbing in her temple, wondering when men had shifted from being a delightful pastime to being a pain in her butt.
“I’m filming a yoga segment tomorrow,” Livi said. “Why don’t you join in? A little balance, a little positive energy, it’d be good for you. I could use a toned body in belly-baring workout gear to bump the ratings.”
Tessa considered it for a moment. A nationally renowned fitness celebrity with a string of successful videos, Livi had just secured a contract with a fitness cable channel to air her new live workout program that she’d titled Stages, for women at every stage of life.
If there was a frustrated, irritated and inappropriately horny stage, Tes
sa was the girl to represent it. She was also the woman who knew better than to give in to that particular cocktail of emotions since it only led to trouble.
“You’re focusing on pregnancy workouts right now, aren’t you?” Tessa remarked with a laugh. “I’m not sure breathing positive energy to my uterus is going to relax me a whole lot.”
“I’m the only pregnant woman in the crew,” Livi countered with a wave of her hand. “There’s a new mom, a retired nurse, a teen and an older man, too. That’s the point of these workouts. They work for everyone. But if you don’t want to work out, why don’t we do a spa day? Massage, facial, mani-pedi. The works.”
“It sounds great, but I should probably go into the office. I’ll chat with Maeve, see if she’s got any idea what’s going on,” she said.
“Work over pampering,” Livi said, pretending to be shocked. “That doesn’t sound like the Tessa Monroe I know.”
Tessa grimaced. It didn’t, did it?
A rare and unwelcome feeling of uncertainty washed over her. Was it her life that was in turmoil? Or was it her that didn’t fit her once-perfect lifestyle?
The worry that’d been following her around like an itchy backpack took on yet another layer. Tessa leaned in to ask Livi’s advice. Before she could say a word, though, she felt a chill over her shoulder.
“What’s this I hear?” Pauline said as she slid into a seat next to them. “Our wild child is losing her edge?”
Tessa’s urge to confess disappeared.
If she’d learned one lesson good and well at her momma’s knee, it was to never show weakness. Especially not to a woman like Pauline. Or the blonde barracuda, as Livi’s video crew called her.
With just a twitch of her chin, Tessa’s confidence was back. Her smile turned sharp, her body language sliding into sassy as she turned to greet Livi’s mom.
“I’m as edgy as can be,” she claimed, lifting her glass of sparkling cider to toast the older woman. “How about you, Pauline? Now that Livi’s off the market, are you going to hit the clubs with me?”
“You won’t have time for clubbing,” Pauline said, waving the invitation away with the same lack of enthusiasm as it was offered. “The wedding is going to take a great deal of time and energy. As maid of honor, a lot of the work is going to fall to you. I hope you’re capable of handling it, Tessa. I’d hate to see Olivia having to pick up the slack if you’re out playing games. Or worse, to have her dream wedding turn into a disappointment.”
“Mother,” Livi growled, her sweet face turning ferocious.
As much fun as it would be to see her friend stand up to the woman who until a couple of months ago had run her life, Tessa knew the stress wasn’t good for Livi, or for the baby.
She laid her hand over Livi’s clenched fist and gave it a squeeze before angling her body just a little. Enough to put herself between daughter and mother.
“Please,” she told Pauline with a dismissive laugh. “When have I ever left anyone disappointed? I’ll do everything in my power to give Livi the wedding of a lifetime.”
After another few seconds with that assessing stare, Pauline gave a slow nod.
What the hell? Tessa wanted to ask. Since when did she merit doubt?
A tight, aching ball of doubt knotted in her stomach, all of her worries from the evening feeding the pain.
Was Pauline inadvertently right? Was she losing her edge?
A couple stopped at the table to congratulate Livi. As the bride-to-be and Pauline fell into conversation with them, Tessa’s worried gaze wandered the room.
When her eyes landed on the sexiest man she’d ever known, the only man who might possibly be more than she could handle, her frown deepened. Instead of backing up Gabriel Thorne against that poolroom wall, stripping him naked and riding him like a bucking bronco, she’d run away. Why? Was she afraid she couldn’t handle him?
Tessa exchanged her cider for champagne and took a contemplative sip. Wetting her lips and letting the taste of the sweet bubbles coat her tongue, she shoved aside her earlier fears. Being worried about not handling any man—even a man like Gabriel Thorne—was about as crazy as being afraid of having body-melting, pleasure-screaming multiple orgasms. Something she was quite sure he could provide, with a few interesting twists thrown in.
A shot of lust speared straight through her, landing low in her belly with a familiar sexual zing.
That was the perfect answer, she realized.
She was going to seduce Romeo.
Not only would it get him out of her system, but it would also prove that she was just as edgy and in control as ever.
And then, emotionally steady, mentally refreshed and physically sated, she could do what she always did with men.
Thank him for the good time, consign him to her been-there-done-that list and, more important, move on with making her life exactly what she wanted it to be.
Fun and easy.
* * *
WELL, WELL.
Gabriel wasn’t sure what’d changed.
Maybe it was a couple of glasses of wine.
Maybe the sun had fully set.
Hell, maybe it was the spices on the grilled-prawn appetizers circulating around the room.
Whatever it was, Tessa had gone from icily pretending he didn’t exist to giving him assessing looks that were hot enough to melt his shorts from twenty yards away.
She hadn’t approached, nor had she done more than look. But a woman like Tessa? She knew how to say one hell of a lot with just a glance.
He kinda liked it.
He just wasn’t sure what he wanted to do about it yet.
Oh, sure, his melting shorts and their happy contents knew exactly what they’d like to do.
But a man didn’t live through countless missions, a war and a childhood that put both to shame without learning to carefully question a gift horse before sticking anything in its mouth. Even if the gift horse was the sexiest filly he’d ever seen.
Her big blue eyes were even more appealing filled with sexual speculation. Not to dis the chilly disdain from before. That’d been kinda sexy, too.
“You ever notice how parties like this tend to have rumors flowing right along with the booze?”
Gabriel tipped back his beer bottle for a drink before slanting Jackrabbit a sideways look. He didn’t say anything, though, figuring the guy could bait his own hook for this little fishing trip.
“Rumors like the one that says that your success with the ladies is nigh on legendary,” the other man continued in a musing tone. “Can you believe it? Legendary.”
“Well, you know what they say about rumors, don’t you?” Seeing where this was going, Gabriel’s grin was as sharp as his tone was casual. “They’re like smoke.”
Jackrabbit pulled a face before nodding. “And where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
“I like serving with a guy who thinks fast.”
“I heard a lot of other rumors tonight. Wonder how hot they are.”
“You looking to start your own gossip site specializing in Navy news?”
“Nah, just getting to know the guys I’ll be serving with. It pays to have a good handle on the team’s successes, right? And on their failures.”
“You keep digging around in those rumors, you’ll hear one sure truth.” Gabriel’s smile turned deadly. “I don’t fail.”
“Then you won’t mind a little bet based on one of the rumors I heard?”
His instincts said to tell the guy to get a different hobby.
But Gabriel’s entire world revolved around his service to the SEALs. Which meant he put his team ahead of everything. So making peace with this idiot for the good of morale before they went into training was the right thing to do.
“What’s the bet?”
�
�I heard that for all your legendary prowess with women, you’ve been shot down in flames by one particular lady. Tessa Monroe, who, if I hear right, is as wild as she is sexy.” Jeglinski’s smile turned mean. “That had to bite, being turned down by a woman like that. Even worse to have her blowing you off like I saw earlier. Damn, man, those were some cold looks she was sending your way.”
Not bothering to wonder who had spread that bit of news, or resent that it was true, Gabriel focused instead on keeping his expression amused as he waited for the rest.
“So here’s the wager. I’ll bet you can’t get the sexy Tessa Monroe into bed. Given that we’re gonna be busy for the next few months training in the Pacific, I’ll even give you until Irish says ‘I do.’”
So pissed he actually saw little red spots dancing through his vision, Gabriel had to call up every bit of control to keep from grabbing the guy by the throat. He wanted to pound the guy so hard they’d have to change his call sign to Flatrabbit. Who the hell was this idiot, objectifying women that way? Talking about Tessa as if she was a piece of tail or trampy frog hog who chased SEALs for sex.
“Bro, you might want to do a little studying. One of the reasons for my legendary success with the ladies is probably beyond your comprehension, but it’s rather simple.” Gabriel stepped forward, getting into the other man’s space with a chilly smile made all the colder by his icy tone. “It’s called respect. I never offer them anything less.”
“Does that mean you’re backing down?”
Disgusted, Gabriel turned on his heel and strode away without bothering to answer.
A quarter hour later, he stood on the beach at the base of the mansion’s steps, hands shoved in his pockets as the sight of the ocean soothed away his anger.
He’d learned young the dangers of losing control. Whether it was because of anger or alcohol, the damage was the same.
Jackrabbit was an ass, but Gabriel recognized his type. A small dog protecting its territory did the same thing. Yapped challenges it couldn’t meet, trying to look tough. He’d back down once he’d accepted the new order of things. And now that Gabriel and Scavenger were assigned to Coronado permanently along with Irish, that new order could begin.