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She’d used both tactics from time to time with varying degrees of success. But Tessa often said her favorite go-to guaranteed stress reliever was sex. It loosened the body, eased tension and, if done right—and she tended to do it right—emptied the mind of pesky thoughts and troublesome worries.
But despite her reputation as a man-eater, it’d been a while since she’d had sex, stress relieving or otherwise.
Besides, all things considered—all things being that sex itself was integral to the stress dancing through her system—she’d hit her second-favorite release reliever.
The pool table.
Tessa leaned forward, angling from the waist as she peered down the pool cue and lined up her shot. She wasn’t concerned with the minuscule length of her dress. Hey, she could feel the silky fabric against the back of her upper thighs. She knew she wasn’t sharing anything she didn’t want to. She never did.
Besides, the party was still confined to the main rooms of the manor. Guests likely wouldn’t break away into small pockets until after dinner. She’d have regained her usual poise and control long before then.
“Two ball in the corner pocket,” she murmured.
She had overreacted. A silly thing to do, and she was sure it was because she was worried about Livi. Maybe she was a little stressed because things were so crazy at the magazine right now, too. After a year of running around the country with Livi to promote one workout video after another, it was just weird to be home for so long actually working out of the Flirtatious offices instead of emailing her articles in.
She was just having a little trouble readjusting, getting back into the groove of her life.
That was why work was stressing her out.
Why she was getting all wiggy over seeing Thorne again.
That was all it was. Stress causing a little overreaction.
Because Tessa Monroe never, ever worried about a man.
A man. Tessa hissed between her teeth at the idea of a mere man shaking her confidence. It’d been months since she’d seen the guy. They’d only met the one time last Halloween and she’d taken an instant dislike. Not to the man himself, but to the power he seemed to have over her.
All he’d done was introduce himself and shake her hand on Halloween. His touch had sent a zing of desire through her, more potent than anything she’d ever felt in her life. With just that touch, she’d known he could take over her world. That he could bring her the most incredible pleasure, the wildest joy. And the deepest pain.
Something she refused to allow any man.
Yet here she was, hiding from him.
And all he’d done was flash his smile her way.
Ridiculous, she reminded herself as she watched the pretty white cue ball spin across the green felt. It smacked the blue ball with a loud crack, sending it in a fast diagonal slide into the corner pocket.
She’d overreacted earlier, like she had on Halloween. Just because Gabriel Thorne looked as if he could see all the way into her soul and knew her every secret wish and dream didn’t mean he really could. He might think she was going to fall at his feet simply by virtue of his gorgeous face and sexy body, but he was wrong. Tessa Monroe didn’t fall for any man. Especially not one so used to stepping over the bodies of his groupies to welcome the next conquest.
Who cared if he was the sexiest man she’d ever met in her entire life? The promise of incredible sex would never be incentive enough to give any man the kind of power Gabriel demanded with a single look.
“Three in the side,” she muttered through clenched teeth.
Hell, she made her living understanding the influence of sex appeal. The lure of engaging the opposite sex. The delight of flirtatious interplay. She was an expert. Well, sort of an expert.
At least expert enough to know that this...
She took a deep breath, trying to shake off the needy feelings clutched low in her belly as she attempted to put a name on whatever it was she felt.
This thing she was feeling for Thorne was just a chemical reaction. Not a big deal. After all, sexual sparks were as easy to come by as a good Wi-Fi connection. All it took was tapping in to the right signal, a password or a clever hack and voilà. A world of possibilities, right there at a girl’s fingertips.
Tessa straightened, leaning on the pool cue as she inspected the table. The sound of laughter and chatter filtered through her focus, reminding her that the cocktail party was heating up in the rooms beyond. Figuring she had another three, maybe five minutes max before she’d be missed, Tessa bent low again, planted her feet in their five-inch heels and arched the small of her back in order to see the shot she wanted.
“Seven, side.” The words were barely a breath of air as she took aim. As the ball spun toward its target she felt a little more of her tension ease and control reclaim its place in her body.
She’d simply forgotten his appeal over the past five months. Out of sight and all that. Which was proof enough that she had nothing to worry about. If she could so easily dismiss a man’s sex appeal—and, oh, baby, did he ooze sex appeal—then he clearly wasn’t a threat to her peace of mind.
By the time she’d lined up the ten ball, Tessa’s nerves were as rock solid as her aim and her mind calm.
All she had to do was remember that she was in control. She didn’t have to make changes at the magazine if she didn’t want to. And as for Gabriel? Well, there wasn’t a man alive who’d gotten the best of her. So why should this one be any different? Before her mind could begin a litany of warnings of why he was already different, she took aim and sent the cue ball sailing.
Just because he oozed the kind of charm that promised to leave her grateful when he broke her heart didn’t mean she was going to let him. Silly man; he had no idea who he was dealing with. If he did, he’d know what every man had ever said about her since she’d turned fifteen was true—that Tessa Monroe’s body might be hot as hell, but her heart was as cold as ice.
Ice, baby, she reminded herself with a chilly smile.
By the thirteen ball, she was comfortably confident again. Damned if she wouldn’t enjoy putting Gabriel Thorne back in his place, she decided. She knew plenty of women who’d want a man like that at their feet, who’d want to make him into a pet just to prove they could. Not Tessa. If she wanted something slobbering on her feet, she’d get a bulldog. Nope, the only place for a man like that was away from her. Far away.
Back in control, enjoying the inner peace that came with it, Tessa added a little hip wiggle to her next shot, letting her body zing with the delight as the balls cracked together.
“There’s nothing prettier than a woman who’s mastered the art of body English.”
Damn it all to hell.
Tessa’s heart jumped. She couldn’t stop its silly reaction, but she made sure it didn’t show. She didn’t straighten. She didn’t let her expression change. She simply lifted her gaze from the soothing expanse of green felt to the disturbing view on the other side of the pool table.
Dear lord, Gabriel Thorne took tall, dark and handsome to unbelievable lengths. From the broad expanse of well-muscled shoulders to the tips of his size-fourteen boots polished to a high gloss, he exuded strength. The sharp angles of his face, with its knife-edged cheekbones and golden skin, contrasted against hair so black it gleamed blue, and his eyes were just as dark.
Why did he have to be so freaking perfect?
Good-looking guys were a dime a dozen. Tessa was so jaded that sex appeal barely registered anymore. Power? It still inspired a little ping of sexual awareness in her belly but it was easy enough to ignore if she wanted.
But all three in a single man?
Almost irresistible.
Almost.
Gabriel Thorne, or Romeo as he was more suitably called, had one irredeemable strike against him.
He was actually Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Thorne.
US Navy SEAL.
Her stomach churned.
And the only thing higher on Tessa’s off-limits list than a military man was a man so dedicated to the military that he devoted his life to becoming the best in order to serve in it.
“I came in here for a little privacy,” she finally said, slowly straightening. As she did, she knew the draped neckline of her dress gaped, most likely offering a clear view all the way down to her skimpy pink panties. She reluctantly gave Gabriel credit when his eyes didn’t shift from her face. Most men—no matter how well intentioned—couldn’t resist a peek at the goods. “Why don’t you be a doll and give it to me.”
She waited for him to barge through that opening with a tasteless comment, actually hoping he would so she could find a solid, pinpointable reason to dislike him.
Because the excuse that he made her edgy wasn’t working very well.
“C’mon, angel, don’t you want to say hi after all these months?” he invited, his palms wide as if to invite her to c’mon over and do just that. Probably by wrapping her legs around his hips and planting a hot, juicy kiss on him. Or maybe that was just her little fantasy hello.
“That’s the funny thing about distance. It doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder,” Tessa mused, leaning one hip on the pool table and swinging her foot. The move hitched her short skirt a little higher on her thigh, catching Romeo’s eye. This, apparently, was on his approved list to ogle because his gaze heated as it skimmed over her smooth skin from the edge of her skirt to her hot pink toenails and right back up again.
“Now you’re going to break my heart,” he teased when his eyes met hers again. “Are you trying to say you didn’t miss me?”
Despite his almost overwhelming appeal, Tessa was able to say quite honestly, “Nope, sorry. I didn’t at all.”
He gave her a long look, his eyes dark and almost spookily intense, as if he had some sort of power to see into people. Tessa lifted her chin, daring him to accept what he saw.
And waited, as her stomach clenched, to hear his opinion.
“I never took you for the type who hid at a party,” he said instead, leaving Tessa to ignore the weird disappointment clenching her belly. “If I’d have had to guess, I’d figure you’d be front and center out there. A drink in hand, that gorgeous smile flashing as you flick off admirers and break hearts left and right.”
“Isn’t that an appealing visual?” Tessa mused, ignoring the reality of it. “Maybe I’ll give it a try after I finish this round.”
His eyes only left her for a moment, long enough to see that she only had two balls left. Instead of leaving, though, he leaned against the wall and gestured with his chin toward her hand.
“You seem to know your way around the stick.”
Tessa made a show of sliding her fingers up the cue, skimming suggestively around the tip before sliding them right back down. Gabriel, being a man, watched the move and smiled. She just wished that smile wasn’t so wickedly appealing. As much in defense against it as to replace the needy images flashing through her mind at the sight of him, she tapped the cue against her free hand a couple of times, then tilted the tip toward him in a mocking salute.
“Anytime you want me to take aim at your balls, you just give a whistle,” she said, putting a little extrahusky suggestion in her tone. “You do know how to whistle, don’t you?”
Gabriel’s smile was pure appreciation, either for the movie quote or for her not-so-subtle threat. Knowing him, probably both.
“Angel, you want to play, I’m your man.” He moved around the table so fast Tessa didn’t have time to steel herself against the intense need that hit her when he reached her side. That was her excuse and she was sticking to it, dammit.
“I’ll bet we’d have a fascinating game between us,” he told her in that midnight voice of his. His fingers curled loosely over hers on the cue, guiding her hand back down toward the shaft. A zing of desire shot through Tessa’s body, her knees shaking as heat, needy and intense, curled in her belly. Had she ever gone wet and weak with just a touch?
Only once, she admitted to herself as she tried to clear her head. Only once—the last time he’d touched her.
She stared at Romeo. His pitch-black eyes were bottomless. Not cold—just the opposite, in fact. They were so hot that Tessa was terrified she’d burn before she lost herself in those depths.
Since terror wasn’t a feeling she was familiar with—or planned to experience long enough to get used to—she tilted her chin in challenge.
“Fascinating?” She put every bit of disinterest in her tone she could muster, keeping her expression amused. “Maybe. But it takes two to play, and I’m really not interested.”
Arching a brow, she slid her hand out from under his and left him gripping the stick alone.
There.
She knew that comment would slay a lesser man. Send him falling to the floor with his hands over his assets—metaphorically speaking.
Gabriel wasn’t a lesser man, but the refusal should still take care of him, she decided as she sashayed from the room.
A quick glance in the mirrored wall as she left gave her the perfect—and unobserved—look at his smile. Tessa tried not to groan.
Because that wicked grin said she’d been way too optimistic.
* * *
GABRIEL GAVE THE pool cue in his hand a light shake, absently checking the balance as he watched Tessa stride out, her hips swaying with enough temptation to send her skirt swirling around legs that had helped sell a million fitness videos.
The tiny purple dress was the same color as a breathtaking sunset he’d watched from a beach in Costa Rica a while back. Her long black hair tumbled in waves over her back and, despite the heels—damn, those had to be at least five inches—she was still as tiny as one of the Little People his Cherokee grandfather used to weave into stories around the campfire.
Shaking the memory away, Gabriel’s easy smile faded into a frown. What was it was about Tessa Monroe that made him think of his past? Stupid, since he’d never met anyone like her before. Crazy, because the only place he had in his life for women was the present moment. And useless, since nobody knew better than Gabriel how important it was to defuse explosives before they blew up in his face. And there was nothing with more potential to detonate than the past.
And nothing more explosive than a sexy woman with an attitude.
“Yo, Romeo.”
Gabriel blinked away his unusually deep thoughts and gave his buddy an easy smile.
“Yo, Scavenger,” he drawled, watching the tall man move into the room with an air of someone escaping a torture chamber. “Had enough of the party already?”
“I’m not the one hiding in an empty room,” Scavenger laughed, humor lighting his usually intense features. A first-class medic with recon skills that were nigh on magic as far as Gabriel was concerned, Scavenger tended to be on the quiet side. But he saw everything.
Something that Gabriel valued on the SEAL team.
But not in his private life.
Not that he had anything to hide. Hell, he was an open book. As long as the book opened to the page he was on today.
“What’s up?” Gabriel asked, knowing that look in his friend’s eyes. Part assessing, part caution, it meant the other guy was debating whether he wanted to share his thoughts or not.
“Jackrabbit’s gonna be a pain in the ass,” Scavenger finally said quietly, the words accompanied by a loose shrug.
Gabriel considered the warning. Because as casually as it was offered and as few words as it contained, if Scavenger had sought him out to say it, it was definitely a warning.
“There’s always a period of adjustment when we join a new team,” Gabriel pointed out, even though they’d been assigned to the team for six months already. Until they trained together, deployed together, they wouldn’t feel like a team. “He’ll get used to me.”
“Don’t think he’ll get used to losing, though,” Scavenger offered with a quick grin. “Watch your back. He’s looking for an edge.”
With a nod to acknowledge that he’d received the warning and would heed it—probably—Gabriel took aim at one of the last two balls on the table, letting it ricochet off the other to send both into different pockets.
“Thanks for missing the party out there to let me know,” Gabriel said, meaning it. He might not care that some guy had issues, but he knew Scavenger’s concern was the good of the team, which meant those issues would have to be dealt with. “You have to beat the women off with a stick yet?”
It was a source of never-ending amusement to Gabriel and most of the team that Scavenger, in all his shyness, was consistently hit on wherever they went.
“They wouldn’t be all over me if you were there. Isn’t that part of your rating? To take point on all social excursions, engage the female predators in order to allow the team to carry out their mission unmolested?”
“Is that what this is?” Gabriel laughed as he put the cue back in its stand. “You want me out there as a shield?”
“Nah, Irish was looking for you,” Scavenger said, his cheeks a little toasty. “You were supposed to help him with something?”
