Authors: Tawny Weber
“More responsibility? Extra work, a higher link in the chain of command?” His laugh was easy, but again, there was a hint of something beneath the surface. “Who needs all that?”
Tessa plucked at the fabric of her blanket, realizing that there was so much more to this man than his sexy looks and charming surface. Suddenly, she wanted to know everything. To ask a million questions that she knew would inspire a million more.
But that wasn't her style. She was all about the surface, baby. Ignoring the dissatisfaction tapping at her shoulders, she set aside her curiosity.
“So SEALs don't need college degrees,” she mused in a lighter tone. “Just a rock-hard body? Or is that something they issue along with your uniform?”
“Body compliments of the US Navy?” He laughed. “Nah. I brought mine from home, but the military definitely put their mark on it. The workouts we do are pretty intense.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, remembering the workout video Livi had planned based on the SEAL workout. She'd dropped the project, though, so Tessa had never gone through the exercises. “You guys are the best. I know the basics, but do you actually train every day?”
The conversation easily shifted to fitness, then to the various places their respective careers took them in the name of exercise. It helped to tell herself that she was doing this for her best friend. After all, the better she understood his career, the more supportive she'd be for Livi and Mitch.
But the reality was, Tessa was fascinated.
She lost track of time as she and Romeo talked, their conversation moving from SEAL training to exercise in general when she told him about the months she and Livi had toured with a burlesque troupe, bumping and grinding their way to fitness.
The buzzer by her door rang, letting her know that security had let someone up to see her.
Tessa frowned, wondering who would visit so late.
“Someone's here,” she told him, uncurling herself from the couch. “I've got to go.”
She was surprised that she actually regretted it.
“It's midnight,” he pointed out.
No way. Tessa glanced over her shoulder at the clock on the wall, shocked that they'd talked for so long.
“Do you turn into a pumpkin now?” she asked, peering through the peephole of her front door. Whoever it was apparently hadn't gotten off the elevator yet because she couldn't see anybody.
“No, but creepazoids come calling late at night.”
“I thought you said you were on a submarine,” she teased.
“I said I spend a lot of time on a submarine.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Did that mean he wasn't underwater somewhere? That maybe he was there, on the other side of her door just out of view?
“I'll be fine,” she told him. “I live in a secured building, I have a button right next to the door that will call security and I'm a black belt in tae kwon do.”
“You're a martial arts expert?” he asked.
“You're surprised?” More than willing to let her impression of him slide back toward the gutter, Tessa didn't challenge him. Instead, she kept her tone neutral. Neutral was the easiest way to let most guys hang themselves.
“Impressed,” he said, obviously smarter than most guys. “Want to spar a little next time we see each other?”
“Won't that be the week of the wedding?” she pointed out, hoping he'd correct her. Since he didn't, she added, “I'm thinking wedding week on Catalina is probably not the best time or place for sparring.”
“Then we'll have to find something else to do,” he promised.
Oh, the many varied and tempting possibilities that filled her mind. All of them were exciting, most of them were better done naked and, oh, so many of them could be easily scheduled between wedding obligations.
She couldn't decide which to suggest first.
The doorbell saved her from having to answer.
“I'm going now,” she told him.
She waited for another macho warning, maybe instructions on how she should or shouldn't open the door. Why did men always think they had to do that? she wondered. It was so irritating. As if women didn't have a clue how to watch out for themselves.
“I'll talk to you soon” was all he said, though. Before Tessa could do more than give a surprised blink, he added, “Think about me.”
And just like that, he was gone.
She stood there for another second, the phone still pressed to her ear as she tried to process everything that'd happened in the past two hours.
She was pretty sure she'd just had the most interesting conversation with a man she'd ever experienced.
She thought that maybe, possibly, she and Romeo were on the verge of something she'd rarely had with a manâa friendship.
And she was positive that despite their friendly, interesting and completely nonsexual conversation, she was totally turned on.
The only thing she wasn't sure of was when she'd get her hands on the man so she could do something about that.
Then her gaze flew to the door.
A slow smile curved her lips, and she tossed the phone to the couch and hurried across the room.
Her hand on the doorknob, Tessa stopped.
Glancing down at her nightie, she wasn't surprised to see that her nipples were visible, pebbled against the soft cotton. Her toes were bare and she wasn't wearing any panties. Probably not the best attire to greet a visitor.
Then again, she hadn't invited him over.
So if he got all worked up at the sight of her, that was his problem. A problem he'd have to live with since she planned to stick with her no-sex-with-Romeo policy.
Her smile taking on a teasing edge, she shook back her hair, arched her back just enough to thrust out her breasts and then pulled open the door.
He wasn't there.
Nonplussed, she frowned.
She looked to the left, then to the right.
Nobody.
Tessa clenched her teeth against the bitter taste of disappointment. She wanted to blame Romeo, but he hadn't said he was at the door. He hadn't even teased or hinted or led her on in any way.
Nope, that was all her.
Dreaming like a romantic pushover, making up pretty scenarios because she was all gooey over a guy and wanted the fluffy trappings to go with her unfamiliar feelings.
She pulled in a deep breath through her nose, trying to bottle up the scream of frustration that was pounding through her.
A rich, sweet fragrance filled her senses.
Stargazer lilies?
She glanced down.
“Oh,” she breathed.
There, knee-high, was an exotic arrangement of purple, red and hot pink spearing out of a triangular glass vase.
Irritation melted into shock before pleasure swept through her. Tessa swore she felt her heart stumble before righting itself.
Unable to resist, she kneeled down to lift the vase, inhaling again the delicious scent. Were they from Romeo? She couldn't see a card in the foliage. Because he'd delivered them in person?
Anticipation dancing through her body like a live wire, she looked around expectantly, sure he'd pop around the corner or stride down the hall at any moment. But thirty seconds passed, then another, and finally, feeling a little stupid, she cupped her arms tight around her flowers and shut the door.
She carried them directly to her bedroom, setting them on her bedside table and checking again for a card or note. But there was nothing to indicate who they were from.
But she knew.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she grabbed the phone and hit Redial. Her smile dimmed when she reached a recorded voice explaining that the number she was trying to reach didn't exist.
Her lower lip in danger of hitting the pouting zone, Tessa slowly set the phone down and focused on the flowers again.
She was sure they were from Romeo. Because hey, clearly covert ops were right up his alley. She breathed in their scent, rubbing one petal of waxy silk between her fingers. The cynical part of her mindâthe part that'd ruled most of her twenty-five yearsâwarned that the flowers, like the phone call, were all a part of whatever game he was playing.
He'd thrown down the gauntlet at Livi's engagement party, insisting that he wanted romance before they had sex. This was obviously a part of that romance scheme.
She could be irritated. Maybe she should be. But she wasn't. She couldn't even bring herself to pretend. Instead, Tessa turned off the lights and climbed into bed.
Then she drifted off to sleep with the heady floral scent wrapped around her, a dreamy smile on her face and thoughts of Romeo in her head.
* * *
T
APPING
HIS
CELL
phone against his thigh, Gabriel wondered if Tessa liked the flowers. He tried to imagine her face when she opened the door. He knew he'd surprised her, but he wasn't sure what would follow the surprise. Pleasure or cynicism? He wished he were there to watch.
And that, he realized, was the first time he'd ever wished to be somewhere else when he was on duty. It was definitely the first time he'd called a woman from halfway around the world.
And speaking of being halfway around the world, his time was upside down, too. Despite the rising heat of the morning sun, it was time to power down. He looked out over the desolate terrain, absentmindedly cataloging the differences between it and the high desert of the Mojave, where they'd spent the past month conducting nighttime urban-warfare training. This week they'd moved the training halfway around the world.
Given that command had sent them here to train for a week meant that things were quite likely about to get interesting. Gabriel had no concern over interesting assignments. He lived for those.
He was concerned about living through the next one, though, if last night was anything to go by. The men should be operating as a team by now. They'd been assigned together long enough, trained enough, that operations like this should be smooth and seamless. That last night's session had been anything but was an issue.
More specifically, one member was an issue.
Gabriel's shoulder twitched, as if it'd help shake off the nagging irritation that was riding him. He scanned the camp, noting that half the team was still milling about with the support personnel. His gaze landed on Jackrabbit for a long moment before he deliberately turned his back and headed for his tent.
As comfortable in the canvas room as he'd be in a hotel, Gabriel pulled the flap closed and stripped off his shirt. It was clean. He'd put it on after the shower he'd taken before calling Tessa. But it was too damned hot to sleep fully clothed.
He tossed it and the scrambled cell phone onto the small folding table next to his cot.
“Yo, Scavenger,” he said to the man on the opposite cot, whose face was buried in a weapons manual. “You ever heard of a
Magic Eye
picture book?”
“Yeah, there's a series of them. Hidden picture books with 3D images made with stereograms.” Scavenger squinted at the ceiling. “I think my younger sister used to have a few. Probably still does. You want me to have her ship you one?”
“Thanks. But the last thing your sister shipped me was a box of cinnamon cookies that almost chipped my tooth and a doll stuffed with weeds and wearing a piece of her dress.”
Scavenger laughed and set down his book, then rolled on his side and propped himself up on one elbow.
“She'd read that cinnamon was an aphrodisiac, and I think the doll had some sort of love spell on it.” Still grinning, Scavenger arched his brows. “You didn't eat any cookies while you were holding that doll, did you?”
“You're kidding, right?” Gabriel had been pursued by some determined women in his life. But none so creative as Scavenger's seventeen-year-old sister. “Those cookies were hard enough to be shot out of an AK-47.”
“She's a lousy cook. The doll probably tasted better.” Scavenger pulled a face, then shrugged, dismissing his sister as only an older brother could. “So you want a book? I've got other sources if you're worried about what she might hide in the pictures.”
Smirking, Gabriel dropped to his bunk to unlace his boots.
“You might want to be worried about a few other things, too,” Scavenger suggested.
Gabriel glanced up at the urgency coming through his friend's quiet tone.
“I'm not worried.” Before the other man could launch into a lecture, Gabriel shook his head. “Believe me, I'm aware. It'll work out.”
“He made deliberate missteps that put you in danger.”
Missteps like a throw that fell short by just enough to pull Gabriel off balance, unexplained static over his mic that cut off vital information and taking that building from the north instead of the south, forcing Gabriel to change trajectory at the last second.
“There's no proof that those were deliberate. And the operation was a success.”
“There's no guarantee the next one will be, though.”
“There's never a guarantee.” He took an extra moment to make sure his boots were perfectly aligned under his cot, using the time to beat back the irritation still nagging at him. He didn't know if Jackrabbit had been trying to make him look like an ass last night, or if the guy was trying to do serious damage.
When he straightened, he met Scavenger's angry gaze with a calm look.
“Some teams take longer to build than others. Some trusts are harder to earn.” He thought of his call to Tessa. He was pretty sure he'd made a few more vital steps there tonight in earning her trust.
“How long?”
Gabriel shrugged, shucking his fatigues. Not bothering to pull back the blanket, he dropped to the cot wearing just his shorts, hoping the generator-operated cooling unit would keep them from boiling at noon.
“He's not going to stop unless someone makes him,” Scavenger said, holding tight to the subject like a dog with a bone. “He can't take the fact that you're better than he is at his own rating, and every other thing. He's totally tweaked over the fact that he's being shown up by an NCO.”