A SEAL's Pleasure. Tawny Weber

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СКАЧАТЬ she found the sight peaceful. Fingers clenching and unclenching around the stem of her glass, she took a couple of deep breaths and focused on pulling the soothing air down to her belly until she found some semblance of calm.

      Then she looked back at the group of men who’d just walked into the mansion.

      Her heart raced again. Emotions spun through her, too fast to identify. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care what they were. Only that they spun right back out.

      “Why is he...they here?” she asked, hoping Livi hadn’t caught her slip of the tongue.

      “The team? You don’t think Mitch would celebrate our engagement without his SEALs, do you?” Livi asked with a laugh. Then, before Tessa realized what her friend was going to do so she could have grabbed her arm to stop her, Livi gave a big ol’ exuberant wave.

      As one, the men looked their way.

      But Tessa only saw one man.

      Taller than the rest, his shoulders broad and tempting beneath a lightweight sport coat the same vivid black as his eyes, he wore a simple dress shirt under his jacket, yet managed to look perfectly elegant.

      His gaze locked on her, sending a zing of desire through her body with the same intensity as it had the first time he’d looked her way six months before.

      Tessa Monroe, the woman who’d flicked off movie stars, who’d written articles calling out misogynists and who always—always—came out on top when it came to any encounter with the opposite sex, wanted to duck behind her friend and hide.

      “That’s so sweet of his friends to come all this way to celebrate your engagement to Mitch,” she said hopefully, watching Livi’s fiancé stride through the crowd to greet the group with back slaps and what looked to be laughing taunts. “Isn’t most of Mitch’s team stationed across the country?”

      “They didn’t have to come far. They’re all based in Coronado now. Didn’t I tell you?” Livi asked, her eyes locked on Mitch as if she could eat him up with her gaze alone. “Romeo’s the best man.”

      Romeo.

      Tessa’s smile dropped away as dread and something else curled low in her belly.

      Her gaze cut across the room, honing in on the man she’d secretly dubbed her personal kryptonite after just one meeting. And had judiciously avoided ever since.

      Gabriel Thorne. Aka Romeo.

      His eyes were still locked on her.

      At least a hundred feet separated them, but Tessa could see the heat in that midnight gaze.

      It was as if he could look inside her mind and deep into her soul and see everything she’d hidden away. All of her desires, her every need, her secret wants.

      A wicked smile angled over his chiseled face, assuring her that he not only saw them all, but that he was also quite sure that he could fulfill every single one. And in ways that would leave her panting, sweaty and begging for more.

      There was very little Tessa didn’t know about sex. She appreciated the act, reveled in the results and had long ago mastered the ins and outs of, well, in and out. She knew how to use sex, how to enjoy sex and how to avoid sex.

      So if anyone had told her that she’d feel a low, needy promise of an orgasm curling tight in her belly from just a single look across a crowded room, she’d have given their cheek a pitying pat and laughed at them.

      And now, she admitted to herself, she’d have had to apologize for her mistake.

      “Shall we?” Livi murmured, making as if to hurry across the room.

      “I’ll catch up later,” Tessa promised. At Livi’s frown, she added, “I want to check with your mother and make sure everything is on schedule. You know, maid-of-honor stuff.”

      “Willingly seek out Pauline, who you know perfectly well has everything under control?” Livi’s frown deepened as she planted her fists on her hips. “What’s going on?”

      Over Livi’s shoulder, Tessa could see the men starting to make their way through the crowd toward them. Something clenched tight in her belly and it took her a second to identify it as panic. Desperate to get away but still not willing to upset Livi, her mind raced for an out. Wetting her lips, she shifted her smile from friendly to sultry and leaned toward her friend in a confiding way.

      “There’s a very yummy model here I’ve been wanting a taste of ever since I saw how he could hold up a pair of jeans with his stuff alone. He’s over by the buffet,” she murmured. “You play hostess. I’m going to get a nibble before someone else dishes him up.”

      “Stuff?” Livi’s laugh pealed with delight, her quick hug filling Tessa with enough guilt that she told herself she’d find a model somewhere tonight to flirt with. “Go, taste, nibble, enjoy. Just remember you have to sit at the head table for dinner.”

      The head table. With the bride-and groom-to-be, and most likely their erstwhile best man.

      Tessa offered a weak smile.

      It was enough to make a girl lose her appetite.

      * * *

      WELL, WELL.

      When a party was thrown by a woman who made her living as a fitness trainer, the guests were bound to be hot and gorgeous, with bodies to match. And Livi’s party proved that Southern California had a vast variety of gorgeous to choose from.

      But Gabriel’s body hummed for just one particular woman. Petite perfection, Tessa Monroe was like something out of a dream. A very wet, sweaty, lust-filled dream. With long dark hair that called to a man’s more prurient fantasies and a face made for bad poetry and deep sighs, she was gorgeous even from across the room. Wrapped in a tiny bit of purple silk, her body was fifty shades of amazing, with curves and angles that promised almost more than a mere man could handle. Almost.

      Gabriel had no doubts about his ability to handle her. But he was getting impatient. He’d been waiting to get his shot at the sexy little angel for more months than he cared to admit. And tonight was it. His chance to finally start making good on every hot dream he’d had about Miss Tessa Monroe since their first meeting last Halloween.

      He’d never figured out why she’d taken an instant dislike to him. He hadn’t gotten further than introductions that night before she’d shot him down. A first, and not one he cared to repeat. Gabriel still didn’t know what’d caused her instant animosity. His cologne? His Native American brave costume? A hideous past life experience where he’d kidnapped her from her wagon-train adventure, carried her off into the woods and introduced her to the carnal delights of the flesh?

      Whatever it was, it was standing in the way of all the great sex they should be having. And tonight was the night to see it gone.

      Even as he exchanged greetings with Mitch, clapped hands with his friend’s father, Captain Donovan, and shared friendly nods with various brass surrounding them, Gabriel watched Tessa flee. She’d probably claim that she was simply showing her disinterest in his presence. But he’d seen the look in her eyes. That flash of desire so hot it came with a mind-blowing guarantee. The dismay, reluctance and anger that had followed told him she wasn’t quite СКАЧАТЬ