A SEAL's Pleasure

by Tawny Weber

  “More,” she urged, forcing herself to lift her head. It wasn’t until she did that she realized it had been resting on his incredibly toned, deliciously sculpted abs.

  A wicked smile curving her lips, she found her second wind. And used it to kiss her way over those abs and up to take him into her mouth.

  As distractions went, it was delicious.

  11

  GABRIEL HAD HAD a lot of sex in his life.

  He considered himself something of an expert at it, actually. Because of that expertise, he could easily discern the difference between good-enough sex—the kind that relaxed the body and cleared the mind—and great sex, the kind that blew the mind and pushed the boundaries of pleasure.

  But sex with Tessa?

  His gaze cut across the moonlit beach, easily finding her in the crowd dancing around the bonfire. Her hair was up tonight, swirled into some sort of tangle of curls that made her look as if she’d just rolled out of bed.

  Sex with Tessa was beyond anything he’d experienced before.

  He’d expected it to be intense. She was a woman who nurtured her sexuality; she was an expert in the games between the sexes. He’d seen for himself how responsive and sensual she was during the myriad of sexy-talk sessions they’d shared.

  He’d been ready for great.

  He’d been prepared for mind-blowing.

  He’d even anticipated a little addiction and need.

  Yeah. He’d been ready for all of that.

  But the sweetness? The protective feeling he’d had while watching her sleep? And that possessive urge to grab her tight so she could never get away?

  Those had been a shock.

  He was a man who specialized in explosions.

  But what’d happened between them yesterday—every one of the seven times—had leveled him in every way.

  But Tessa?

  His scowl deepened.

  He’d never slithered out of a woman’s bed without a word. He considered that disrespectful. And he’d certainly never had a woman leave his—usually they had to be pried out with the equivalent of an emotional crowbar.

  So he didn’t figure he could write off his morning-after experience to karma or paybacks. And while he readily acknowledged that Tessa had her own sexual MO, he didn’t think she made a habit of sneaking out of a man’s bed without a word, either.

  But she had his.

  He did know that waking that morning ready for another round of mind-blowing sex only to find himself alone had totally sucked. It’d sucked even harder to spend the day missing Tessa at every turn. He walked into the hotel lounge to be told she’d left a few minutes before to lead the wedding guests on a hike over the island. He’d joined the hike and found out she’d asked one of Livi’s trainers to lead the hike so she could join the bride at the spa. He’d looked for her at lunch but apparently there had been a flower-petal emergency. Everywhere she was supposed to be, she suddenly wasn’t.

  It didn’t take intelligence training to know she was avoiding him.

  He clenched his teeth as frustration and anger stirred up a tasteless cocktail in his belly.

  He’d known she’d do this.

  Dammit, he’d called it two months ago. That was why he’d launched Operation Romance. Because he’d been damned if he’d be tossed into her easily dismissed pile of discarded lovers. Because he’d known there was more to the spark between them than just hot sex.

  Images of the previous day and night flashed through his mind—hot bodies sliding together in a perfect symphony of tangled limbs, escalating passion and out-of-control orgasms—and forced him to amend that to incredibly hot sex.

  This thing between them was about more than sex, though.

  Operation Romance had done more than delay sexual gratification. It’d proved that he and Tessa truly connected. They fit. From their tastes in entertainment to their personalities, their devotion to fitness to their love of sushi. He felt inspired when he talked to her. As if there was more to his life than his career. He felt at peace when he was with her, as if he’d finally found that something that’d been missing for so long that he hadn’t even realized it was gone.

  Apparently what Operation Romance hadn’t done, though, was achieve its long-term objective. To keep Tessa hooked after the ecstatic cries of her orgasms had faded.

  Her sneaking out this morning had convinced him that despite everything they had between them—all of the potential for more—she’d still walk away.

  She’d throw away what they had without a backward glance.

  What in the hell was her issue?

  Gabriel would happily change his Navy rating to join the IDC if it meant he could find out why. Leaving explosives for Information Dominance Corps would be a small price to pay to know what had gone wrong.

  Gabriel’s gaze easily found Tessa again. Shoulder to shoulder with a couple others on a log, she looked as if she was having fun. But even from a distance he could see the wall she put up between herself and everyone else. He knew firsthand just how effective that wall was. Hell, he’d constructed a carefully planned operation to get past it, hadn’t he?

  Yet another plan he hadn’t followed through on.

  His fists clenching and unclenching, Gabriel tried to shake off the sick feeling in his gut, to squeeze it away.

  He’d give a lot to blow something up right now.

  * * *

  TESSA HAD BLOWN IT.

  She’d thought she was so smart.

  Seduce Romeo, use the distraction of sex between them as a buffer to get through this week. Keep it light and easy and, yes, maybe prove that she was still the same ol’ Tessa. A naughty man-eater who could seduce a guy stupid and walk away without another thought.

  She’d managed the seducing him part incredibly well.

  The memory of their lovemaking sent shivers of desire through her body so strong they actually drowned out the fear.

  Because the seduction had gone too well. Sex with Gabriel had been the most powerful thing she’d ever felt. The most incredible time she’d ever had.

  She’d been worried she’d lose herself in him.

  Instead, she’d found herself.

  Curled up in a quiet corner of the hotel veranda, she watched the lunch crowd disperse, grateful that there was no sign of Gabriel. She’d been avoiding him since she’d woke in his arms yesterday, the two of them wrapped together as though they’d found heaven. She’d lain there imagining the two of them wrapped together for the rest of their lives, each of them completing the other.

  And then she’d totally freaked out.

  Thinking that a little distance between them until she could handle the unfamiliar emotions ricocheting through her system would be best, she’d sneaked out.

  Her gaze shifted to her shoes, a cheer-me-up gift she’d bought herself yesterday while working on that distance. She had four more pairs up in her room. But no amount of shoes, shopping or partying had changed her feelings about Gabriel.

  Unable to sit any longer, she got to her feet and paced by the railing, the ocean beyond doing nothing to ease her turmoil. It was a good thing that her specialty was on writing about the chase and not the relationship. Fitting, since she had no idea how to have one.

  As if on cue, her cell phone rang a jive beat.

  “Maeve,” she answered, grateful for the distraction. “Hey.”

  “Whoa, I didn’t figure you’d pick up,” Maeve said, her surprise coming through the line loud and clear. “I thought you’d be all tied up in wedding stuff.”

  “Nope, I’m totally free,” she said, thinking back to her visit to the florist that morning with Livi and Mitch’s mom, Denise. It’d been her first experience as an invisible person. “Why did you call if you didn’t think I’d answer?”

&
nbsp; She was pretty sure she knew, though.

  In case she was right, Tessa moved away from the cheerful brunch crowd, crossing the balcony toward the stairs.

  “I was going to leave you a message. Not that messages are a good way to impart this sort of thing, but I figured voice mail was better than email. And texts? Those always suck. Might as well develop a texting font called screw-you-I’m-too-busy-to care.”

  Her breath tight in her chest, Tessa dropped to sit on the top step, the ocean a blur in the distance.

  “Maeve,” she said quietly, forcing the words past the knot in her throat. “You’re babbling.”

  “Right.” The redhead’s shaky breath whooshed over the phone line, making Tessa shiver. “Another takeover offer came in this morning.”

  “I thought we had a plan. Revamp our format, up our game and hold out for more money.”

  Scowling at the ocean, Tessa wondered why people couldn’t slow the hell down. She was in the middle of this ridiculous identity crisis. How was she supposed to figure herself out if everything kept changing?

  “I guess word got out. Two other media groups contacted Jared yesterday, so he figured he’d up the game a little and gave all three companies our tentative proposal. The big boys were seriously impressed with the new direction and changes. Either that or they just got freaky over competition. Whatever it was, they came in immediately with a new offer.”

  Typical. Tessa rolled her eyes.

  Then Maeve laid out the offer.

  Holy crap. There was nothing typical about that kind of money.

  Tessa’s brain shut down.

  She couldn’t think.

  She could barely breathe.

  Her head buzzed in time with the tiny dots dancing in front of her eyes.

  “Tess?”

  “You’re serious?” Tessa said, repeating the dollar amount. Her share was at least ten times more than she made in a year. “That’s a real offer?”

  “Real enough that Jared wanted to bring you home to nail down the contracts before they change their minds. I told him next week was soon enough, though.”

  Tessa couldn’t blame him. The deal sounded too good to be true. But even her usual cynicism couldn’t stand up to the hope unfurling in her belly. This offer was big enough to not only give her breathing room to figure out what to do with her life, but it was also impressive enough that nobody hearing it would think she was a talentless fraud. Which was even more important than the money, she realized.

  “How’s Jared handling it?” she asked.

  “Last time I saw him, he was breathing into a paper bag.”

  Tessa didn’t have a paper bag, so she dropped her head between her knees and tried to breathe.

  “We have to accept the offer.” Maeve’s voice was faint but echoed through Tessa’s head, as if she was talking from a cave. Not surprising given the angle of the phone. “You agree? We have to take it?”

  Her head spinning a little slower now, Tessa slowly straightened to stare at the wild dance of the waves over the ocean’s surface.

  “Well, we don’t have to do anything,” she said, grateful to hear a little confidence in her voice.

  “But?”

  “But we’d be crazy not to.”

  “Okay, that’s not all, then,” Maeve said after giving a relieved sigh so big, Tessa was surprised it didn’t fluff her hair.

  “There’s more?” Unable to sit any longer, Tessa slid out of her shoes. She wasn’t about to mess up the darling canvas platforms by wearing them on the beach. Scooping them up, she hurried down the stairs toward the beach.

  “There’s more. Are you sitting down?”

  “Sitting? You’re kidding, right? I feel like dancing.” Tessa kicked up a little sand with a laugh, feeling as if some of her fears scattered along with the tiny grains.

  Then Maeve told her what more was.

  Tessa didn’t even feel her darling canvas platforms slide from her fingers. Her knees gave out, her butt hitting the sand with a thud.

  She didn’t know if she responded. She didn’t remember hanging up. All she could do was stare at the water and wait for the buzzing in her head to abate.

  Eventually she shivered, realizing the sun was setting and she’d been plopped here for who knew how long. Before she could get up, a shadow fell.

  Out of the corner of her eye she noted two very large feet encased in a pair of military-style hiking boots. She didn’t recognize the footwear, but the heat pooling in her belly recognized the wearer.

  Still, she’d suffered a shock. Maybe her belly was wrong. Tessa shielded her eyes with one hand, letting her gaze climb a pair of deliciously long legs clad in worn denim, then rest for a moment on the zipper—behind which lay the key to heaven—before she resumed her inspection with abs worth drooling over, a glorious chest covered in black cotton and shoulders draped in a loose jacket. Her gaze finally reached the face etched forever in her brain. And, if she wasn’t careful, on her heart.

  A face that was sporting a scowl.

  Tessa frowned. Had she ever seen him scowl before?

  “Your alert must be faulty,” Romeo said, the chilly distance in his voice sending a trickle of guilt down her back. Like the scowl, that was new.

  And apparently new wasn’t always a good thing.

  Tessa frowned, dropping her hand to stare at the ocean again. Was new ever a good thing? She’d always thought so, but lately new seemed to be tossing her life into a crazy whirlwind, mixing everything up and leaving her confused.

  A part of her wanted to jump up and grab Romeo, to share her news while leading him in a frenzied happy dance over the sand.

  A part of her just wanted to grab him.

  The little voice in her head warned her to keep quiet, to decide what she wanted and how she felt before sharing her news. Maybe even verify a few things. Otherwise she might end up looking like an idiot.

  Instead of just feeling like one.

  She slid a sideways glance at Romeo’s feet and sighed.

  Yeah. She’d definitely screwed up. She just wasn’t sure if the screwup had been in leaving him in bed yesterday. Or in joining him there in the first place.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, the chill replaced with concern.

  Was she? Tessa blinked, her brow creasing as she tried to decide.

  “What alert?” she finally asked after replaying his greeting a couple times in her head.

  “The one that warns you that I’m approaching. You know, so you can be somewhere else.”

  Busted.

  Any other time, Tessa would have laughed.

  All she could manage right now was a wave of her hand, though.

  “So what’s wrong? You upset that I finally caught up with you?”

  More like upset that all she wanted to do right now was curl into his arms for a hug. And not even a prelude-to-sex hug. A real, filled-with-affection-and-support hug.

  “You might find this difficult to believe, but not everything revolves around you,” Tessa said defensively. Except that some things did revolve around him, which meant that while she might not be willing to offer an explanation, she did owe him an apology. Sighing, Tessa offered a remorseful shrug. “It’s really nothing. I’m fine. I just have some things to think through.”

  Hoping he’d get the hint, she turned to stare at the ocean again. But the view didn’t soothe. Instead, the wild waves crashing over rocks added to the urgent sense of turmoil pounding through her system. What was she supposed to do?

  Apparently she wasn’t going to figure it out sitting here. So she got to her feet and rubbed her hands over her arms to chase away the sudden goose bumps, before bending down to scoop her shoes out of the sand.

  “Did you want to walk on the beach?” he offered
quietly. “It might help you clear your head.”

  “Are you going to chew me out for not sticking around yesterday?” she asked, knowing she deserved it but not able to deal with that just yet.

  “How about I hold off on the lecture and just offer to be a strong shoulder, a sounding board or maybe even a friend of sorts,” he said. His dark gaze was mellow, his tone quiet. Tessa wondered if this was his attempt at innocuous. She’d tell him it was useless, since a man with his level of sex appeal, power and energy could never be considered harmless. But he was so sweet, all she could do was smile.

  “Sure. A walk on the beach would be nice.” Following his gesture, she made her way toward the water. Too chilly to sunbathe, the beach was sparsely populated, making for an easy trek to the ocean’s edge.

  Enjoying the feel of wet sand beneath her bare feet, she focused on the wind in her hair and the sound of the ocean, letting them soothe her in a way she’d never realized nature could.

  She slid a surreptitious glance at the man walking quietly alongside her.

  Well, nature, or Gabriel.

  The longer they walked, the more stress fell away. It wasn’t until they’d reached a place in front of one of the upscale resorts that she realized that the odd feeling in her belly was peace. Just the thought of it almost made her trip in the sand.

  “Break?” Gabriel suggested.

  “Sure.” Glancing at the plush lounge chairs set back from the water’s edge, then down at the satin fabric of her long maxi dress with its brilliant turquoise and fuchsia flowers, she shrugged and dropped gracefully to the sand.

  A position her butt was getting familiar with today.

  “Here’s fine,” she said, smiling up at him. She gave a rueful nod to the hut-style building just beyond the lounge chairs with its little windows boarded up. “Too bad the bar is closed.”

  She could definitely use a drink.

  “That’s okay,” he said, dropping down next to her, settling his long legs straight out beside her. Then he pulled a small bottle out of his jacket pocket. “I brought wine.”