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“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.
“Look at you, out here all by your lonesome.”
The ocean washed over the words, the evening air trying to carry them away. But it didn’t take his SEAL training to recognize a female voice.
His mouth almost dropped open when he saw who it was.
“Tessa?”
“Hey there,” she said with a smile that sparkled with more than just a greeting. “It’s so pretty out here. Much nicer than all that stuffy air in there.”
Tessa tilted her head toward the manor, but her eyes didn’t leave his face as she descended the last few steps to join him in the sand. As soon as she did, her feet sank and she grabbed hold of his arm as if she were keeping her balance.
“Mmm, you are in peak condition, aren’t you?” she said as her hand wrapped around his biceps and squeezed. “I don’t think there’s a bigger turn-on than a man with a rock-hard body. And you are quite...hard.”
She let the last word drop off her lips on a sigh, her expression appreciatively seductive.
Gabriel frowned.
What the hell was she doing?
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
Still holding on to him, she bent one slender leg to slide off her shoe, then, the sky-high heel dangling from a strap, she shifted hands to remove the other one.
Gabriel watched the moonlight skim over her bare legs, whimsically wondering if she’d turn into a mermaid if she got too close to the water. Or, more likely, into a siren.
“Everything is just fine,” she said once she’d carefully set her shoes, one upright next to the other, on the bottom step.
This was the first time he’d seen her barefoot. A wave of protectiveness washed over him when he realized how tiny she actually was. Her personality was so big, her sexuality so intense, that it was easy to overlook her size.
Then she smiled, her lips curved and enticing, her eyes glinting with sultry amusement as she speared her fingers into her hair, lifting the dark curls before letting them fall to her shoulders again. Her pleasure at such a simple, yet sensual act sent a shaft of heat straight to Gabriel’s dick.
With any other woman he’d figure this was an invitation.
But Tessa wasn’t any woman.
“So what’s the deal? You were bored in there?” he mused randomly.
“Actually, I’m here to see if you wanted to play,” she said in a sexy tone. She slid her hand over his arm again, the brush of her fingers echoing her words’ husky caress.
“Play?” he repeated, his eyes narrowed.
“Play,” she confirmed with a teasing smile.
Sure she was.
And he was the one being played.
Even if the board was being run by a master he could still see the signs.
And Tessa Monroe was most definitely a master. At games of all kinds. And at running.
He debated calling her out on the move. But the deliberation only lasted a moment before he acknowledged that the risk was high and the payoff low. If he pointed out that he could see the game, she’d probably skip out again. It was probably what she was expecting.
As he stared down into her face, so delicate, yet so vivid, he realized that he was starting to understand her.
Gabriel knew the minute Tessa could pigeonhole him, she’d dismiss him. That was what she did with men. He understood her, since in many ways she was his own mirror image.
Just sexier.
She was also wickedly protective of her friends, appeared to value nothing more than loyalty and had a sweet streak he was sure she’d deny. And since despite her obvious misgivings, she’d agreed to be Livi’s maid of honor, she clearly put her friends’ feelings over her own.
The woman was a study in contrasts and spelled trouble for any man looking for peace and tranquility.
