“Please.” Tessa laughed. She wasn’t worried about Jared. Between her and Maeve, they kept him in line. Mostly. “When has a man ever got the better of me?”
She deliberately kept her gaze locked on Livi instead of searching the room for Romeo. Talk about ruining her reputation. She didn’t want anyone thinking she was nervous over a guy, even a guy like him.
“Jared would like nothing more than to ride on the tails of your success until he found a way to shove you out of the equation,” Livi said slowly, her eyes locked on Tessa’s face. “You’ve been getting more and more attention, syndication of your articles is picking up and you’ve had some amazing interviews.”
All true. Tessa was one hell of a writer. Oh, she knew Jared liked to tout her as a journalist, but she had no illusions. She wrote very fun, sassy and sexy pieces that all centered around the games between women and men. Flirtations, as the magazine’s name suggested. One Hundred and One Ways to Flirt Your Way to Success, Top Five Pick-up Lines for Savvy Women and The ABCs of Mastering the Sexual Playground were just a few of her recent submissions. Hardly Pulitzer-worthy topics, but they suited her talents and personality, they were extremely popular and they were fun to write. All key reasons why she loved her job.
Jared wouldn’t mess that up. Would he?
Tessa rubbed a finger against the throbbing in her temple, wondering when men had shifted from being a delightful pastime to being a pain in her butt.
“I’m filming a yoga segment tomorrow,” Livi said. “Why don’t you join in? A little balance, a little positive energy, it’d be good for you. I could use a toned body in belly-baring workout gear to bump the ratings.”
Tessa considered it for a moment. A nationally renowned fitness celebrity with a string of successful videos, Livi had just secured a contract with a fitness cable channel to air her new live workout program that she’d titled Stages, for women at every stage of life.
If there was a frustrated, irritated and inappropriately horny stage, Tessa was the girl to represent it. She was also the woman who knew better than to give in to that particular cocktail of emotions since it only led to trouble.
“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