Gabriel blinked, surprised at how fast she went from businesslike to motherly to amused to cougar with barely a blink. Talented lady. But as attractive as she was, he didn’t figure he’d be offering up more than his respect.
With that in mind, he lifted the list in a modified salute and suggested he find the groom and discuss the details.
“If you need anything, just call. My numbers are all there,” Pauline instructed. Then she leaned forward and whispered a creative suggestion in his ear that made Gabriel’s brows arch. Before he could refuse, she patted his ass and went on her way.
Amused, Gabriel headed in the opposite direction through the crowded ballroom. Figuring he’d earned it, he grabbed another beer on his way to where Mitch was seated.
“Did I offer my congratulations yet?” he asked, grabbing a chair, then straddling it before tilting his beer bottle toward his friend in a salute.
“So far you’ve offered three warnings, two enigmatic stares and the suggestion that I see a counselor,” the groom-to-be mused with an easy smile. “You finally going to add a congrats to that?”
“On finding a sweetheart like Livi? Sure. But how about a word of advice?”
Mitch gestured with his own beer for Gabriel to go ahead.
“That was quite a chat with your future mother-in-law.” Gabriel gave a silent whistle and shook his head. “You might wanna give thought to running.”
“She’s not so bad,” Mitch responded, looking around. His gaze didn’t land on the blonde barracuda who’d just propositioned Gabriel, but rested instead on her daughter.
“Not so bad?” Gabriel scoffed. “Did you get a load of my assignment list? I’ve served under admirals with less balls than she has.”
Following Mitch’s gaze, Gabriel glanced at his friend’s fiancée. His eyes automatically shifted, though, to the dark-haired angel on the other side of the room, heat speeding through his system at the sight of her. A good-looking woman offering to ride him like a bronco got zip for reaction, but one look at Tessa and he was rock hard.
Damned if he could figure out what was going on.
He deliberately shifted his gaze away.
Lips twitching, he used his chin to indicate Mitch look that way, too.
“Your future mother-in-law has Scavenger in her sights.”
Mitch followed his lead to where Pauline had the tall, quietly shy SEAL cornered. From the look of it, she was actually petting his chest.
“She’ll eat him for breakfast,” Mitch proclaimed, looking both amused and a little worried.
Over their friend’s pending sexual education? Or the weirdness of watching all of the elements of his life mix together? Yet another reason to keep life to a single element, Gabriel figured.
“We should rescue him,” Mitch said, starting to rise.
“Nah.” Gabriel shook his head before Mitch could get to his feet. “It’ll be good for him. A guy needs to push his comfort zone now and then.”
“She might suck the comfort right out of him,” Mitch muttered with a worried frown.
“Some women do that,” Gabriel mused, his gaze cutting across the room to lock on Tessa again.
She was so damned sexy, her smile wide and bright in a way it never was when she looked at him.
Time to change the game, he decided.
He’d played it with amused distance already, and all that’d done was let her get a hold somewhere in the back of his mind.
As he listened with half an ear to Mitch talking, he realized that since Tessa was like no woman he’d ever known before, he’d have to take a different approach in dealing with her.
He was simply going to have to pursue her. That he’d have her went without question, since it was obviously the only way he’d get her out of his system.
He was a man who knew how to strategize, how to plan and how to win.
And he never, ever gave up.
Since Tessa wasn’t on board with his plan, he’d see her as a mission.
A target to be assessed, evaluated and overcome.
He’d figure her out.
He’d have her—on his terms.
Then he’d do what he always did.
Walk away, leaving both of them satisfied.
TESSA DIDN’T CHECK to see if Gabriel was looking her way. She didn’t have to. She knew his eyes were locked on her. She felt the heat of his interest all the way to her belly, where desire curled, unwanted, in a tightly coiled fire just waiting to explode.
Ignoring the edgy call of desire, she smiled and dished out friendly greetings and easy small talk as she worked the room. This was what she did. Socialized, flitted and fluttered, leaving a trail of lust and smiles behind. And if she did it with a little stress still weighing her down, well, hey, nobody else had to know that.
Not that anyone would. Nobody ever looked deep enough to see more than the outer package anyway.
Except Livi.
Still, Tessa gave it her best shot by amping up her smile and focusing on keeping her body at ease as she slid into the chair next to her best friend.
“Hey, you,” Livi greeted. “I was starting to wonder where you were. Pauline was talking about sending out a search party but I convinced her to wait until appetizers.”
“Thanks for saving me that.” Tessa pulled a face at the idea of Livi’s über–control freak of a mother coming in search of her. She wasn’t sure if that would have been better or worse than Romeo.
“Champagne?” a waiter offered.
After a quick glance at the glass, Tessa gestured to Livi’s flute of sparkling cider.
“I’ll have what she’s having,” she decided, giving him a warm smile that almost made him fumble the tray.
“What’s wrong?” Livi asked, her brows drawing together.
“Wrong? Why is it wrong that I’m keeping my pregnant friend company in her drinking choices?” Tessa said with a shrug.
That sounded much better than admitting that she couldn’t quite bring herself to celebrate what she was sure was going to be a painful mistake on Livi’s part. Marriage itself was bad enough. But marriage because she was pregnant? To a military guy?
“Since when do you drink the same thing I do? You’re upset. I can tell,” Livi said with a worried frown. Then her gaze slid past Tessa, the striking blonde’s eyes sharpening a little. Tessa didn’t need to turn around to know that her friend had just spotted the reason for her irritation.
“Are you and Gabriel at it again?” Livi asked, her frown deepening as she shook her head. “I don’t get it. I’ve never seen anyone argue with Gabriel except you.”
“But he’s so easy to argue with,” Tessa intoned. At Livi’s impatient look, she gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I wasn’t arguing with him. Really. An issue blew up at the magazine this afternoon that has me a little edgy is all.”
Not all a lie, Tessa mentally defended, since she hadn’t actually argued with Gabriel. A covert threat to whack him with the pool cue didn’t an argument make. And she had ended her workday with drama.
Usually, Flirtatious was a source of pleasure for Tessa. The magazine she’d founded with Jared Welch and Maeve Bannion was a huge success not only for her