by Tawny Weber
When he turned it her way, she knew he could see all the way into her most secret desires, that he knew her deepest, darkest needs. Needs that she’d never had fulfilled, never trusted a man enough to share. Would Romeo know how to do her right?
She’d bet he would.
She skimmed her palm over her breast, the tip pebbled with need and tingling at her touch. Heat coiled, wet and needy in her belly. Lips pursed, she glanced at her bedside table with its drawer full of satisfaction.
All it’d take was a quick spin with one of her battery-operated toy friends and she’d be loose with pleasure.
But as much as she wanted the satisfaction, she resisted. Her body was so tight it probably wouldn’t even take batteries to send her over the edge. But if she came because she was all hot for Romeo, it’d be as though she was dedicating her orgasm to him.
Tessa shook her head at the ridiculousness of that idea. But after another yearning glance at the drawer, she decided to take her pacing to the living room.
Not bothering with a robe, she side tripped into the kitchen wearing just a ruffled nighty, the soft white linen floating around her as she poured herself a glass of wine.
She just needed sex.
A fast, hot roll between the sheets, a few orgasms for two, maybe a bone-melting body slam against a wall.
Easy enough. All it’d take was a guy.
Tessa sighed, then took a medicinal gulp of wine.
The problem was, she only wanted one guy.
She couldn’t have sex with some other guy while she was fantasizing about Romeo. That’d just be wrong.
Not just because she had a policy against having sex with a man if he wasn’t good enough to put all fantasies out of her mind for the duration.
Nor because she didn’t think it was fair to use a guy as a sex substitute. Not that most guys would care, but that wasn’t the point.
She couldn’t do it because she was pretty sure that all it would do was make her want Romeo more. It would be like craving an ice cream sundae and settling for a sugar-free Popsicle.
She knew most people thought that because she was so sexually confident, she slept with anyone, anytime. That she was having sex five nights a week, juggling partners as if they were circus tricks or that she had to change partners like other people changed sheets because she was so jaded.
Wouldn’t they be shocked to find out she hadn’t had sex in six months.
Tapping her fingers on the black granite countertop, Tessa frowned at her wine. Had it really been six months without sex?
Who was she?
She felt as though she didn’t even know anymore.
Feeling a little sick to her stomach, Tessa drained the rest of her wine. She deliberately set the glass on the kitchen counter and walked out of the kitchen before she was tempted to go for a refill.
Because if a sexless six months weren’t enough to make a girl want to drink, all of these stupid self-doubts definitely were.
She started pacing again, feeling lost in her own living room as she tried to sort through the weltering mess of emotions knotted in her stomach.
She’d never been so grateful to hear a telephone ring.
It was either Livi or Maeve. Nobody else ever called her this late. She grabbed the phone midpace and answered without checking the display.
“Distract me,” she said instead of offering a greeting. She’d take any distraction—even if it was techno-babble. Or worse, another endless debate over the merits of roses versus lilies in a bridal bouquet.
“Hello, angel. That’s a difficult offer to resist.”
“Romeo?”
Talk about a distraction. Her lips curved before she could stop them, heat curling low in her belly at the sound of his voice. How long was she supposed to resist a man who could get her wet and ready with just a few well-chosen words?
Tessa’s smile gave way to a sigh.
Was that why he was calling? To pick up where he’d left off two days ago? A little phone sex?
“It’s a little late to be calling,” she said, suspicion adding a chill to her tone.
“It’s barely ten in your time zone,” he said, his shrug coming through clearly, even over the phone line.
“My time zone? Does that mean they’ve booted you out of Coronado already?” She should be glad. If he didn’t live nearby, those little dessert treats at Livi and Mitch’s would be few and far between. But the feeling in her stomach felt more like disappointment than happiness.
“Nah, they love me in California.” His words were light, the tone easy and fun, but there was an edge there. “I’m doing some training somewhere else, though.”
Training for a mission?
Tessa sank onto her couch, pulling a pillow close to hug to her chest. She wanted to ask if it was dangerous, but she was pretty sure most everything the SEALs did was probably dangerous.
“Why are you calling?” she asked, both to distract her sudden worries and because she was genuinely curious.
“I told you I’d be in touch. Consider this me, touching...” His pause was so loaded with sexual power that Tessa wouldn’t be surprised if the phone melted. Then he continued in his usual tone, “Base.”
“Touching base?”
“You know, talk. Have a conversation. See what’s going on and what you’ve been up to.”
She’d just bet that was what this was about.
“You’re calling to chat,” she repeated, disguising her surprise with a heavy coating of sarcasm. “As if we’re, what? Girlfriends?”
He laughed.
“Did you want to be my girlfriend?”
“You might not have noticed, but I’m a woman,” she proclaimed in an arch tone, ignoring the fact that she’d used the word girl first.
“Believe me, I noticed. A man would have to be dead a year to not notice.” Before she could make a clever comeback, he asked, “Have you seen Livi since the éclairs the other night?”
“Livi?” Surprised, Tessa sat on the leather arm of the couch, frowning in the dark. “I had lunch with her yesterday. Why? Is something wrong?”
“Nope, just wondering if you’d seen that picture the doctor sent home with her and Irish.”
“The sonogram?” Tessa slid from the arm of the couch onto the cushion. Livi had said everything was fine.
“Yeah, that’s what Irish called it. Something to do with an ultrasound.”
“What about it?” Hurt and worry tangled together as Tessa wondered what Livi hadn’t told her. She understood that Mitch would know; he was the baby daddy. But why would Livi keep news from her? Especially bad news. Weren’t they best friends?
“Did you understand it?”
Tessa blinked a couple of times as she tried to process that question.
“Did I understand what? The picture?” Not quite past the anxiety attack he’d inspired, Tessa frowned. “I think it’s made with sound waves or something.”
“Angel, I spend a lot of my time on a submarine. I’m trained in sonar. And I still couldn’t find the baby in that picture.” He sounded so frustrated.
She bit her lip to keep from laughing.
“I think it’s sort of like those Magic Eye picture books. Did you ever look at those when you were a kid? You have to relax your eyes and let the page blur to see the actual image.”
“I wasn’t much into reading as a kid,” he admitted. “But if training in sonar didn’t help, I doubt a picture book would.”
He sounded so frustrated. Since nobody was there to see her, Tessa grinned. Snuggling deeper into the couch, she pulled the cashmere throw from the back and tucked it around herself.
“So what did you say if you couldn’t see the baby?” she asked.
“I asked if it had a penis, of course.
”
With a burst of laughter, she accused, “You did not.”
“Hey, that’s what guys want to know. We’re all about the equipment.”
Pretty sure that talking about his equipment while sitting in the dark was not a good idea, Tessa just hummed.
“Okay, I didn’t put it quite like that. I gave him a thumbs-up, asked if Livi and the blur were healthy, then suggested we finish cleaning the Ma Deuce. That’s a big gun, by the way.”
“More equipment?” she murmured before adding, “That’s about how I handled it. With a few oohs and aahs thrown in, of course.”
“But you didn’t see anything?”
“Nope. Just a bunch of wavy lines,” she admitted with a sigh. Then she frowned into the dark. “This is why you called me? To ask about Livi and Mitch’s sonogram?”
“Nope, that was to break the ice. You know, to bypass your suspicious nature and get you to talk to me.”
Tessa had to pry her chin off her chest before she could respond.
“You admit it?”
“Why not. You’re smart, you’d have figured it out. This way, I’m honest and upfront, but I’m still on the other side of your defenses.”
She wanted to declare it a fail, but, dammit, he was right.
“Aren’t you clever,” she declared, impressed despite herself.
“Yeah,” he said, sounding satisfied. “So what’d you do today?”
And just like that, they slid into the conversation he’d been calling for.
Her earlier unasked question popped into her mind, and before she could stop, it meandered right off Tessa’s tongue.
“How long have you been a SEAL?” She waited to be told that was top-secret information.
“Five years with the SEALs, twelve in the Navy,” he said easily.
“You joined right out of high school?”
“I joined as soon as I turned eighteen,” he clarified. “I wasn’t much into school, so I took the GED when I was sixteen.”
“Your parents were okay with that?”
“Nobody voiced any objections.” His words were smooth and easy, but Tessa could hear the undercurrent there. She wanted to ask questions, to delve deeper. But she knew he’d sidestep her curiosity. After all, that was what she’d do.
“So you didn’t have to have a college degree to be a SEAL?” she asked instead, figuring that was safe ground.
“Only to be an officer.”
“And that’s not something you wanted?”
“More responsibility? Extra work, a higher link in the chain of command?” His laugh was easy, but again, there was a hint of something beneath the surface. “Who needs all that?”
Tessa plucked at the fabric of her blanket, realizing that there was so much more to this man than his sexy looks and charming surface. Suddenly, she wanted to know everything. To ask a million questions that she knew would inspire a million more.
But that wasn’t her style. She was all about the surface, baby. Ignoring the dissatisfaction tapping at her shoulders, she set aside her curiosity.
“So SEALs don’t need college degrees,” she mused in a lighter tone. “Just a rock-hard body? Or is that something they issue along with your uniform?”
“Body compliments of the US Navy?” He laughed. “Nah. I brought mine from home, but the military definitely put their mark on it. The workouts we do are pretty intense.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, remembering the workout video Livi had planned based on the SEAL workout. She’d dropped the project, though, so Tessa had never gone through the exercises. “You guys are the best. I know the basics, but do you actually train every day?”
The conversation easily shifted to fitness, then to the various places their respective careers took them in the name of exercise. It helped to tell herself that she was doing this for her best friend. After all, the better she understood his career, the more supportive she’d be for Livi and Mitch.
But the reality was, Tessa was fascinated.
She lost track of time as she and Romeo talked, their conversation moving from SEAL training to exercise in general when she told him about the months she and Livi had toured with a burlesque troupe, bumping and grinding their way to fitness.
The buzzer by her door rang, letting her know that security had let someone up to see her.
Tessa frowned, wondering who would visit so late.
“Someone’s here,” she told him, uncurling herself from the couch. “I’ve got to go.”
She was surprised that she actually regretted it.
“It’s midnight,” he pointed out.
No way. Tessa glanced over her shoulder at the clock on the wall, shocked that they’d talked for so long.
“Do you turn into a pumpkin now?” she asked, peering through the peephole of her front door. Whoever it was apparently hadn’t gotten off the elevator yet because she couldn’t see anybody.
“No, but creepazoids come calling late at night.”
“I thought you said you were on a submarine,” she teased.
“I said I spend a lot of time on a submarine.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Did that mean he wasn’t underwater somewhere? That maybe he was there, on the other side of her door just out of view?
“I’ll be fine,” she told him. “I live in a secured building, I have a button right next to the door that will call security and I’m a black belt in tae kwon do.”
“You’re a martial arts expert?” he asked.
“You’re surprised?” More than willing to let her impression of him slide back toward the gutter, Tessa didn’t challenge him. Instead, she kept her tone neutral. Neutral was the easiest way to let most guys hang themselves.
“Impressed,” he said, obviously smarter than most guys. “Want to spar a little next time we see each other?”
“Won’t that be the week of the wedding?” she pointed out, hoping he’d correct her. Since he didn’t, she added, “I’m thinking wedding week on Catalina is probably not the best time or place for sparring.”
“Then we’ll have to find something else to do,” he promised.
Oh, the many varied and tempting possibilities that filled her mind. All of them were exciting, most of them were better done naked and, oh, so many of them could be easily scheduled between wedding obligations.
She couldn’t decide which to suggest first.
The doorbell saved her from having to answer.
“I’m going now,” she told him.
She waited for another macho warning, maybe instructions on how she should or shouldn’t open the door. Why did men always think they had to do that? she wondered. It was so irritating. As if women didn’t have a clue how to watch out for themselves.
“I’ll talk to you soon” was all he said, though. Before Tessa could do more than give a surprised blink, he added, “Think about me.”
And just like that, he was gone.
She stood there for another second, the phone still pressed to her ear as she tried to process everything that’d happened in the past two hours.
She was pretty sure she’d just had the most interesting conversation with a man she’d ever experienced.
She thought that maybe, possibly, she and Romeo were on the verge of something she’d rarely had with a man—a friendship.
And she was positive that despite their friendly, interesting and completely nonsexual conversation, she was totally turned on.
The only thing she wasn’t sure of was when she’d get her hands on the man so she could do something about that.
Then her gaze flew to the door.
A slow smile curved her lips, and she tossed the phone to the couch and hurried across the room.
Her hand on the doorknob, Tessa stopped.
Glancing down at her nightie, she wasn’t surprised to see that her nipples were visible, pebbled against the soft cotton. Her toes were bare and she wasn’t wearing any panties. Probably not the best attire to greet a visitor.
Then again, she hadn’t invited him over.
So if he got all worked up at the sight of her, that was his problem. A problem he’d have to live with since she planned to stick with her no-sex-with-Romeo policy.
Her smile taking on a teasing edge, she shook back her hair, arched her back just enough to thrust out her breasts and then pulled open the door.
He wasn’t there.
Nonplussed, she frowned.
She looked to the left, then to the right.
Nobody.
Tessa clenched her teeth against the bitter taste of disappointment. She wanted to blame Romeo, but he hadn’t said he was at the door. He hadn’t even teased or hinted or led her on in any way.
Nope, that was all her.
Dreaming like a romantic pushover, making up pretty scenarios because she was all gooey over a guy and wanted the fluffy trappings to go with her unfamiliar feelings.
She pulled in a deep breath through her nose, trying to bottle up the scream of frustration that was pounding through her.
A rich, sweet fragrance filled her senses.
Stargazer lilies?
She glanced down.
“Oh,” she breathed.
There, knee-high, was an exotic arrangement of purple, red and hot pink spearing out of a triangular glass vase.
Irritation melted into shock before pleasure swept through her. Tessa swore she felt her heart stumble before righting itself.
Unable to resist, she kneeled down to lift the vase, inhaling again the delicious scent. Were they from Romeo? She couldn’t see a card in the foliage. Because he’d delivered them in person?
Anticipation dancing through her body like a live wire, she looked around expectantly, sure he’d pop around the corner or stride down the hall at any moment. But thirty seconds passed, then another, and finally, feeling a little stupid, she cupped her arms tight around her flowers and shut the door.
She carried them directly to her bedroom, setting them on her bedside table and checking again for a card or note. But there was nothing to indicate who they were from.