And lucky, given that his baby momma was a doll like Livi.
“You’re gorgeous,” he told her in greeting.
“I was just going to say the same thing to you,” she said with a soft laugh. “How do you get better looking every time I see you?”
“Clean living and fresh sea air,” he joked, since he’d spent a large part of the past three months on an aircraft carrier. “How about you? Don’t tell me it’s Irish that’s put the glow in your smile.”
“In my smile, in my heart,” Livi murmured with a sheepish grin.
Her gaze cut to Mitch, and Gabriel had to admit, the emotions shining in those eyes were enough to make him wish for a second that he believed in marriage. Because if anyone deserved a happy one, it was the pretty blonde and his best pal.
“Enough with this guy,” Mitch said as he joined them. “He already knows how fabulous you are. Ready to meet the rest of the team so they can know, too?”
Gabriel saw the nerves in Livi’s eyes, felt her take a bracing breath and knew she was battling her instinctive shyness as she was introduced to the large group of men. What must that be like? Gabriel wondered. Not shyness. That was a concept so beyond his comprehension that it wasn’t even worth considering.
But the idea of having a woman put her own fears, her own issues, aside for you... Gabriel was used to women wanting to do a lot of things with his body, and there were just as many who’d be happy to lay claim to his emotions. But he’d never known a single one—his own mother included—who gave a damn enough to put him ahead of anything in their little world.
Once the introductions were through and everyone had offered their wishes, Mitch tilted his head toward the room, indicating the men were on their own. Livi, easily reading him, offered to take the team around and introduce them.
“We’re fine,” Gabriel assured her. “I’m sure we’ll find plenty to entertain ourselves.”
And so they did.
By the time the team meandered through the party, exchanged greetings, snagged beers and commandeered a table in the back, Gabriel had plenty of entertaining options.
What he didn’t have, though, was a clue as to where his quarry had scurried. Because as intriguing as the many offers he’d received were, there was only one woman he was interested in tonight.
The only one who’d ever turned him down.
Tessa Monroe.
His very own angel.
SOME WOMEN ATE when they were stressed, and why not? Who didn’t love the comfort of chocolate?
Others managed their stress by shopping. Because, well, one could never have too many pairs of shoes.
She’d used both tactics from time to time with varying degrees of success. But Tessa often said her favorite go-to guaranteed stress reliever was sex. It loosened the body, eased tension and, if done right—and she tended to do it right—emptied the mind of pesky thoughts and troublesome worries.
But despite her reputation as a man-eater, it’d been a while since she’d had sex, stress relieving or otherwise.
Besides, all things considered—all things being that sex itself was integral to the stress dancing through her system—she’d hit her second-favorite release reliever.
The pool table.
Tessa leaned forward, angling from the waist as she peered down the pool cue and lined up her shot. She wasn’t concerned with the minuscule length of her dress. Hey, she could feel the silky fabric against the back of her upper thighs. She knew she wasn’t sharing anything she didn’t want to. She never did.
Besides, the party was still confined to the main rooms of the manor. Guests likely wouldn’t break away into small pockets until after dinner. She’d have regained her usual poise and control long before then.
“Two ball in the corner pocket,” she murmured.
She had overreacted. A silly thing to do, and she was sure it was because she was worried about Livi. Maybe she was a little stressed because things were so crazy at the magazine right now, too. After a year of running around the country with Livi to promote one workout video after another, it was just weird to be home for so long actually working out of the Flirtatious offices instead of emailing her articles in.
She was just having a little trouble readjusting, getting back into the groove of her life.
That was why work was stressing her out.
Why she was getting all wiggy over seeing Thorne again.
That was all it was. Stress causing a little overreaction.
Because Tessa Monroe never, ever worried about a man.
A man. Tessa hissed between her teeth at the idea of a mere man shaking her confidence. It’d been months since she’d seen the guy. They’d only met the one time last Halloween and she’d taken an instant dislike. Not to the man himself, but to the power he seemed to have over her.
All he’d done was introduce himself and shake her hand on Halloween. His touch had sent a zing of desire through her, more potent than anything she’d ever felt in her life. With just that touch, she’d known he could take over her world. That he could bring her the most incredible pleasure, the wildest joy. And the deepest pain.
Something she refused to allow any man.
Yet here she was, hiding from him.
And all he’d done was flash his smile her way.
Ridiculous, she reminded herself as she watched the pretty white cue ball spin across the green felt. It smacked the blue ball with a loud crack, sending it in a fast diagonal slide into the corner pocket.
She’d overreacted earlier, like she had on Halloween. Just because Gabriel Thorne looked as if he could see all the way into her soul and knew her every secret wish and dream didn’t mean he really could. He might think she was going to fall at his feet simply by virtue of his gorgeous face and sexy body, but he was wrong. Tessa Monroe didn’t fall for any man. Especially not one so used to stepping over the bodies of his groupies to welcome the next conquest.
Who cared if he was the sexiest man she’d ever met in her entire life? The promise of incredible sex would never be incentive enough to give any man the kind of power Gabriel demanded with a single look.
“Three in the side,” she muttered through clenched teeth.
Hell, she made her living understanding the influence of sex appeal. The lure of engaging the opposite sex. The delight of flirtatious interplay. She was an expert. Well, sort of an expert.
At least expert enough to know that this...
She took a deep breath, trying to shake off the needy feelings clutched low in her belly as she attempted to put a name
