”He cornered me in the back room two days later, and I told him if he didn’t leave me alone, I’d have my father sic the IRS on him. ”
Kerry’s face tensed into a grim smile. ”In a way, that made it worse. He kept after me in other ways, slamming my work, spreading rumors, until one day, some nice person over at Arthur Anderson hired him away.”
She paused. ”He said it was a boss’s prerogative to get the most out of his employees.” Her eyes searched Dar’s face. ”I think you can see why I never mentioned it,” she concluded, a little wistfully. “Figures he and Steven are friends. Same mind set.”
”B...” Dar could hardly articulate the emotions. ”I’d...nev...”
Kerry curled her hand around the suddenly nerveless fingers still resting against her face. ”I know that,” she replied warmly. ”Believe me, I know that, Dar. It’s just, I felt strange talking about it with you.” She let out a breath, some of the tension dissipating. ”I mean, you are my boss, after all.”
Dar was dismayed. She’d never thought to ask Kerry if staying in her current position was what she wanted to do. She’d only thought of herself, and how she felt about it. But when she opened her mouth to do just that, nothing came out.
She cleared her throat and tried again. ”Are you... Kerry, if you’re not comfortable with this, we could, I mean, there are plenty of places in the company. I just...I...”
Kerry felt the tension build under her casually draped arm resting against Dar’s thigh. ”You said you needed me where I was,” she stated softly.
”I did. I do, Kerry, I...I mean, of course I do, but if it’s going to make you upset, I...” Dar felt herself stuttering, which hadn’t happened
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to her since the fourth grade. She clamped her jaw shut, and swallowed a few times. ”We can make arrangements if you’re not comfortable with this.” There, she managed in a calmer, more even tone. ”I survived without an assistant for years. I can manage on my own again.”
”At what price?” Kerry stood and laid a hand alongside her neck, feeling the rapidly beating pulse under her fingertips. ”You said yourself the pressure was getting to you,” she reminded her lover, whose eyes dropped to the desk. ”I’m fine. I love this job. I love working for you, and I don’t want to go anywhere, okay?” She leaned forward and touched her forehead to Dar’s. ”I just had some nasty flashbacks, that’s all. He’s a jerk, and maybe he reminds me of Dick, the way he gets on my nerves all the time.”
Jesus, when did I get this insecure?
Dar wondered, as she felt her heartbeat start to calm.
What the hell is wrong with me lately, anyway.
It’s like I’m a kid again, going back to being a damn teenager.
”Okay.”
She managed a smile. ”You can tell me more about it later if it bothers you, all right?”
Kerry smiled back. ”All right.” She spared a glance for the phone, still flashing. ”Now, what in blazes do I tell him, Dar?”
”Huh?” Dar's brow creased as she followed Kerry's eyes. ”Oh, right.” She rubbed her temples. ”Um, tell him we’re sending an executive team to North Carolina to take charge, and get the systems back up as soon as possible.”
Kerry reached for the button, then hesitated. ”We are?” she asked, curiously.
A sneaky, seductive grin tugged at one side of Dar’s mouth. ”Yeah.
I figure eight hours to get their asses in gear, and a couple days for us in a little cabin I happen to know about near there.” She hesitated, both brows lifting hopefully .”Sound okay?”
Sea green eyes blinked. ”You mean us?” She pointed at Dar's chest, then at her own. ”You and me, we’re going up there?”
Dar simply nodded.
”Awesome,” Kerry pronounced, then hit the button. ”Hello, John?”
She muted the mic for a moment. ”They don’t have any horseback riding up there, do they?” She released the mic. ”John, we know it’s really bad. You can tell them that Dar’s going up there to take charge personally.”
Pause. ”No shit?” the man replied, clearly impressed. ”That’ll get them off my ass. Thanks Kerry. You’re the best.”
”It’s my pleasure,” she assured him cheerfully, all thoughts of Steven dissolved. She disconnected the line and turned to Dar. ”Now, we were discussing horses, right?”
A chuckle. ”Yeah, they’ve got some trail riding, figured we could do a little hiking while we’re up there,” she offered. ”If we leave tonight, we’ll have tomorrow and Friday to get the network office back up, then the whole weekend to play.” The idea had come to her right 178
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before she’d started over, and she’d put the plan in action before she’d left her office. ”I’ve got Maria making reservations.”
Kerry smiled. ”Want me to go home and pick up our bags?” she offered. ”When’s the flight?”
”Seven, and that would be a great idea.” Dar praised her. ”Make sure you pack some warm stuff, it’s chilly up there.” Her brows lifted seductively. ”A little too much for any scanty lingerie, unfortunately.”
Kerry stood and slid a fingertip down the buttoned closure of Dar’s silk shirt. ”I don’t know, I think you look really sexy in just that old jersey of yours,” she whispered.
A soft chuckle. ”Oh, you do, do you?”
”Mm hmm, ” Kerry lowered her voice even more. ”But then you’re gorgeous, Dar. You’d look sexy in a burlap sack,” she confided, brushing her lips against her lover’s. ”I’m going to go get our stuff. I need some fresh air anyway.” She patted Dar’s leg, then stepped around her desk, pulling her jacket off her chair and swinging it over her shoulders as she headed for the door.
Dar watched her go, then let out a long, slow breath. ”Wow.” She ran a hand through her hair. ”I think I need a little fresh air myself.”
The sunlight winked merrily at her feet in cheerful agreement, but at that moment her phone buzzed. She glanced up to see her private line ringing and the incoming tie line indicator. “Ah.” She pressed the button. “Yes?”
“Dar.” Alastair’s voice sounded harassed. “What in the hell’s going on there? I’ve got the presidents of a dozen companies crawling up my backside with backhoes right now.”
Dar winced at the visual. “Environmental systems blew up at the data center in the Carolinas,” she said. “It’s a mess.”
“A mess?” her boss repeated. “Dar, we’ve busted service levels all over the region there. This is more than a mess,” he said. “What are we doing about it? What’s the plan?”
“Thanks for assuming I had one,” she said. “I don’t goddamn know what we’re going to do about it, Alastair. They won’t give us access to the facility to find out what we even can do.”
He was momentarily silent. “B...”
Dar waited. “You asked.”
Alastair made an exasperated sound. “Dar, I have to be able to tell these people something. I’m getting roasted here. I’ve already got a half dozen talking breach of contract and the rest of them mentioned legal.”
Was it her fault? Dar frowned. “Tell them we’re looking at options, Alastair,” she replied a little testily. “I’m not going to promise to pull something out of thin air. I’ve got to get up there and see what the situation is and...”
“You’re going?” Alastair interrupted her sharply.
“I’ve got a flight in a few hours yeah and...”
“Good enough.” Her boss sounded much happier. “I’ll tell ‘em that.
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They can’t say I didn’t put the best resources on it. But Dar,” he hesitated, “if we don’t fix this, we’ll end up with a big loss I’m going to have to explain to the board.”
“Shit happens sometimes, Alastair. You know that. We’re a technology company and this stuff breaks,” Dar said.
“I know,” her boss replied. “But shit happening right after there’s a major ruckus down there gets sticky,” he reminded her. “And if people are looking for leverage it’ll hand it to them nice and neat.”
Dar gazed at her desktop. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ll do what I can, Alastair.”
“Keep me advised,” Alastair said. “I’ll go tap dance for you and break out the mirrors.”
“YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT, Col.” Kerry stretched her legs out and closed her eyes, sucking in a deep breath of the sun warmed air coming in the window of the Mustang. ”We’re going to North Carolina. We’ve got a big mess there to take care of.”
”Oh, right, yeah, I heard about that,” Colleen advised her. ”My boss was screaming that the interbank transfers won’t go through.” She cleared her throat. ”No problem, Ker, staying out there isn’t any kinda hardship, you know? Breakfast on the ocean, little tuxedoed mannequins puttering about, no problem at all.”
”Great.” Kerry sighed. ”I never thought I’d be glad of a disaster, but I can’t say I regret this one.” She stifled a yawn. ”After we fix things, we’re going up to a place Dar knows near there for a little R and R.” ”Oh?” Colleen sounded more interested. ”Well now, me lassie, you didn’t tell me that. So you and the tall dark one are finally taking some time off together. That’s great.”
”Yeah.” Kerry smiled. ”That’ll be a first for us, even over Christmas we had so much going on, we hardly had time to breathe, much less relax. I’m really looking forward to a few days alone with her.” And wasn’t that the truth. Kerry found herself impatiently wishing the crisis was well over and solved, freeing them to leave the technical problems behind and concentrate on each other.
She knew instinctively that after the past few days, they needed that. There were too many thorn pricks in both of them. Too many tiny, loose ends caused by the trauma and the tension. She felt a little shaky, and she suspected Dar did as well.
A weekend hiking up in the quiet of the wilderness was very, very appealing, and it would give Dar time to really recuperate from her bumps and bruises. ”You think they’ll have a hot tub?” she mused.
Colleen laughed. ”Well, if it’s the kinda place I think Dar likes, I’m sure it will have one. You can do some lovely skiing up in the mountains y’know,” she commented. ”Get yourself a nice fireplace, and 180
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toast you up some marshmallows, girl.”
”Mm.” Kerry could taste the warm, slightly burned morsels in her imagination. Then she imagined sharing them messily with Dar, and grinned, feeling the skin around her eyes crinkling up in amusement.
”Sounds good to me.”
”Heh, your eating habits surely have changed,” Colleen teased.
”And then there’s the food, as well.”
Kerry almost swallowed her tongue. ”Colleen!”
”Ah, ah, don’t you be Colleening me, little Miss Michigan snowballs wouldn’t melt in me mouth,” her friend laughed. ”I’m just joshing, Kerry. Honestly, I think Dar’s the best thing that ever happened to you.”
”Oh yeah, she’s turning me into a pleasure loving little butterball, that’s what,” Kerry laughed. ”But thanks,” she added quietly. ”I’m glad you ended up liking her.” She put her car into gear as the ferry docked.
”I’m going to get our stuff packed, talk to you later, Col. Thanks for staying over again.”
She hung up the phone and steered carefully onto the island, pausing for the spray down before she turned onto the perimeter road and headed to the condo. The sprinklers were on in the center of the island, making an interesting chatter, and sending a whiff of mineral laden moist air to Kerry’s nose.
She pulled into her parking spot, then paused, backing up a little.
”Aww.” She found herself grinning stupidly. The maintenance department had painted her name on the concrete bumper. ”K. Stuart, check that out.” She got out of the car and examined it, the neat black letters crisp against the white concrete, matching the ”D. Roberts” right next to it half hidden behind Dar’s tires.
It was such a tiny, insignificant thing, but it touched something deep inside Kerry, reinforcing her sense that this was, indeed, home.
She gave the Lexus a little pat, then shouldered her briefcase and headed up the stairs, plucking the mail from the mailbox before keying in the lock code.
Chino started whining the minute the door opened, and she dropped her case on the loveseat as she headed towards the kitchen.
”Okay, okay honey, I hear you.” She ambled across the tile floor and opened the gate, letting the puppy out to attack her feet fiercely.
”Hey...hey, careful.” She put the mail down and crouched, petting Chino’s soft fur. ”Okay, okay, I know. I’m glad to see you too.”
Chino whined ecstatically, her whole body wriggling with joy as she chewed on Kerry’s fingers. Then she cocked her head, and looked past Kerry expectantly. She scratched the puppy’s ears. ”I know she’s your buddy, huh?”
Chino blinked, then apparently gave up on Dar, and concentrated on attacking Kerry’s shoes. ”Raowr.” The puppy tugged on a lace, dropping it and barking in outrage when the thing persisted in
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remaining attached to Kerry, and all the animal’s pulling couldn’t budge her.
”Okay, why don’t you go out while I get some stuff done, huh?”
Kerry opened the back door, allowing the puppy to scamper down into the tiny, walled garden.
It was safe for her there, since Dar had spent most of one weekend puppy proofing it. That included making sure there were no gaps under the fence, and taking out the tiny pebbles the animal would surely try to consume. She watched Chino sniff around for a minute, then she went inside and started getting together two bags, starting with Dar’s. which was easy. Jeans, soft, neatly pressed polo’s, two sweaters which were all she owned, her one flannel shirt, the sweatshirt Kerry loved on her, and nice warm socks. And underwear, of course.
Kerry had fun picking out her favorite ones of those, including the really cute ones with tiny pictures of Dogbert on them. Oh, and the baseball jersey and shorts, and her bathroom kit, which held shampoo, soap, her toothbrush and the small bottle of interestingly spicy smelling talc powder Kerry loved to sprinkle over her. She sniffed it and closed her eyes, a tiny humming noise erupting from her throat that almost startled her.
”Jesus.” She clapped a hand on her forehead. ”I’m turning into such a hedonist,” she muttered, putting the bag away and zipping up the carry on duffel Dar always used. But that’s how Dar made her feel, she reflected, all sexy and sensual, like she was taking a bath in pheromones most of the time. Everything seemed more intense, the smell of her, the deep, rich color of her eyes...