”Sorry to disappoint you,” Dar replied. ”Now, unless you actually have something to say, I have a Jacuzzi and a nice warm bed waiting.”
She let a frank grin shape her lips, watching the minute reaction in Shari’s pale eyes.
A tiny shake of her head followed. ”I’d forgotten how different you look when you smile,” the other woman mused. ”You going to be in town long, Dar?”
Uh oh. ”Just until tonight, then I’m heading up into the mountains for a few days,” she replied, cautiously. ”Why?”
A shrug. ”Thought maybe we could just sit down and talk for a few minutes.” She paused. ”You seeing anyone?”
Dar could hardly believe what she was hearing, and she felt a cool anger start to brew. ”Yes,” she answered quietly. ”Despite your prediction.”
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A soft snort. ”I’d love to meet her?” she wrinkled her nose in question.
Dar caught her balance. ”You just did,” she answered mildly.
”Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to be going.” She gave Shari a nod, then turned and started back towards the car.
”I hope she knows what she’s getting into,” Shari yelled after her.
Dar stopped, and turned. ”You were right about something.” She gazed at her through the icy drizzle. ”I had no idea what love was.” She watched in savage satisfaction as the comment was understood, then she turned her back and walked off.
KERRY WAS GLAD it was light out. She was tired, and she knew her reflexes were suffering, but the traffic was very light. ”Right turn up there?” She asked softly, her eyes flicking to her companion.
Dar nodded.
Kerry was worried. Dar had been withdrawn since she’d gotten back into the car, allowing her head to rest against the glass of the window, her reflection bleakly evident to Kerry’s watching eyes. A little hesitantly, she reached over and folded her hand over Dar’s, encouraged when the long fingers tightened over hers immediately.
”You okay?”
”Yeah,” Dar sighed. ”Just tired.” She turned her head and studied Kerry’s profile. ”I think I need a nap.”
Kerry glanced at her. ”Me too,” she confessed. ”My hand’s aching from this cold. How’s your knee?”
Dar waggled her free hand and grimaced.
Kerry waited a beat, then took a breath. ”That woman still bothering you?”
The jaw muscles along Dar’s face clenched, then relaxed. ”It...she just brought up some old, bad memories, that’s all.”
”Mm. ” Kerry waited, but nothing else came. ”Anything you want to share?”
Dar thought about that a long time, as rows of damp, gray shadowed trees went past them. ”I...” She stopped, then cleared her throat. ”I never...I’ve never really talked about any of that with anyone before. Maybe a pair of friendly ears would help.”
The corners of Kerry’s mouth crinkled up, as she guided the car carefully across the slick road and up a long driveway, where a sign announced the presence of the hotel where they were staying. ”I think that could be arranged.” She pulled the car up under the valet parking overhang, and put it in park. ”C’mon.”
Dar willingly followed her up the stairs, shouldering her overnight bag and giving the valet a brief smile as Kerry turned the keys over to him. They approached the desk, and Dar gave her name quietly to the desk clerk. “We were supposed to check in last night, but...”
”Yes, Ms. Roberts. Your office called and told us.” The woman smiled at her. ”We held the room. It’s no problem, and um...” she
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chuckled a little, ”I think you have a little surprise waiting up there.”
Dar and Kerry exchanged wary glances. ”A surprise?” Dar asked.
”What kind of surprise?”
The woman smiled cheerfully at her. ”Now, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, but don’t worry. It’s nothing bad.” She handed over the room keys. ”Here you go. We have room service available twenty four hours, and you’re on the concierge floor, so you can just ask as you get off the elevator if you need anything.”
Dar sighed. ”Thanks.” She took the key and gave Kerry hers, then followed the smaller woman as they went to the elevator. ”I hate surprises,” she groused.
Kerry patted her belly tolerantly. ”C’mon, Dar. It’s probably a fruit basket,” she scolded her boss. ”Would you relax? All the hotels do that for VIP’s nowadays.”
”Mmph.” Dar leaned back against the elevator wall and tried to stifle a yawn. ”Yeah, I guess.” She waited for the doors to open then pushed off the back wall and trudged through them, giving the wide eyed concierge a nod before moving past his desk.
Their room was on a corner, and Dar pushed the keycard in, then pulled it out, turning the handle when the light flashed. She shoved the door open.
The scent of chocolate hit them and stopped them both in their tracks. ”Whoa,” Dar got out, as she flipped the lights on.
It was a large room, with a wide window and one big, comfortable looking bed. A door to one side led to a bathroom, and one on the other side to a tiled Jacuzzi. In front of them was a round table, which was currently covered with a huge, completely stuffed, overflowing basket of assorted things of the species chocolate. Dar found herself staring at it with a stupid grin. ”Oo.”
Kerry peeked past her. ”Thought you didn’t like surprises?” she commented, giving her boss a slap on the behind as she moved past her to put her bag down.
”Tell you what, anytime you want to surprise me with fifty pounds of chocolate, you go right ahead,” Dar responded, plucking the card from the ornate holder and examining it. ”It’s from Alastair.”
”Gee.” Kerry grinned. ”What a surprise.” She came over and peeked at the card. ”That’s really sweet of him.”
”Well.” Dar poked into the basket’s contents. ”Considering we just saved his gray flannel butt, it’s not unprecedented.” She glanced at Kerry. ”There were twelve major accounts on the line if we hadn’t gotten that stuff working this morning.”
Kerry stopped dead, and stared at her. ”Why didn’t you tell me that?” she asked, stung.
Dar glanced at the table top, and fiddled with the card. ”No sense in both of us being worried sick, I guess. I don’t know. I should have.”
She gave Kerry a contrite look. ”Not that you could have done more 212
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than you were doing.” She paused awkwardly. ”I’m sorry.”
Kerry gave her a vexed look. ”No, but it would explain why you were so damned tense.” She started to go on, then saw the almost imperceptible flinch in Dar’s face.
Not now, Kerry.
Her mind warned her.
Not now. She’s tired, you’re tired, and she apologized for not
saying anything. Just drop it.
”Jesus, Dar, tell me next time, huh? So I can chew my nails along with you?” She gave her boss a lopsided grin.
Dar relaxed a little. ”I will,” she promised, stripping off her jacket and hanging it up in the small closet. ”Wonder how long it’ll take us to get through that basket.” She turned a grin of her own on Kerry.
The blonde woman gazed at the huge thing in trepidation. ”I think we’ll get sick to our stomachs if we try,” she commented wryly, taking off her own jacket and tugging her shirt out from her jeans. ”He must have worked pretty fast. It’s not even nine o'clock.”
”Well.” Dar pulled off her sneakers and tossed them near her bag, then slipped her sweatshirt over her head, dropping it neatly on the chair before unbuttoning her flannel shirt and removing it. ”If I could get seventy T1 circuits and routers installed before dawn, I guess he could handle a basket of chocolate.”
She leaned back and stretched, wincing as both shoulders popped before she straightened and ran her fingers through her hair, rubbing the back of her neck. ”God, I’m tired,” she admitted. ”I’m glad that’s over. We can rest here until dinnertime, then drive up to the cabin. It’s about an hour from here, and it looked like the weather’s clearing a little.”
”Sounds good to me.” Kerry ambled over to her, already having shed her pants and half unbuttoned her shirt, while she worked on unfastening Dar’s jeans. Her fingers slid easily under the waistband, and she unhooked the first button, letting her thumbs trace the ripple of muscles just under the skin. She leaned forward and gently kissed the soft skin, feeling the ribs move under her lips in an uneven breath.
The room’s air was cool against her skin as Dar peeled her shirt off.
Dar’s hands slid slowly down her arms, then released them and moved across her ribcage, causing a jolt of pure sensation as the wandering fingers brushed over her breasts. ”Thought you were tired, ” Kerry burred, nuzzling her face against a soft curve.
”The smell of all that chocolate must have woken me up,” Dar replied, catching a thin fold of skin between her teeth and nibbling it gently. ”Thought you were tired?”
Kerry undid the second button and moved lower, tracing the edge of her lover’s navel, then working up to the tip of her breastbone. ”I wish I could blame it on the chocolate,” she murmured, inhaling greedily. ”But it’s not that smell that’s giving me these goose bumps.”
”Mm, yeah, lookit that.” Dar’s fingertip made a lazy trail across her shoulder, then her lips traced the same path, as her body woke fully, forgetting about the long night and the frustrations of the day. Even the
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last, haunting echoes of the past caused by Shari’s appearance faded, replaced by the solid, comforting present now wrapped around her body. She stepped out of her jeans, finding herself being tugged towards the bed, and she gladly tumbled into it, her arms full of warm, bare skin.
Kerry rolled her over, and pounced on top of her, ending up with Dar’s earlobe lightly caught between neat white teeth. ” You let me know, ” she whispered in a muffled tone, ”when I start squashing you, okay?”
Dar chuckled low in her throat, and gave her a pat on the butt. ”Not a problem. I hardly feel it.” Which wasn’t quite true, but close enough.
She stretched and wrapped her legs around Kerry’s, and surrendered herself to a pleasant wave of passion.
THE PHONE RANG, dragging Kerry out of a sound sleep. She fumbled the receiver off the hook, managing to get it somewhere near her ear. ”Yeah?” she cleared her throat. ”I’m sorry. I mean hello?”
”Hey,” Mark’s voice echoed weirdly. ”Kerry?”
She pulled her wits around her, gently moving away from Dar’s warm body. ”Eyah. I’m here. Go on,” she paused. ”Mark?” A glance at the clock told her it was close to four p.m., and she rubbed her eyes, having been startled out of a weird, but interesting dream.
”Dar there?” Mark inquired.
Kerry glanced down at the long, powerful arm circling her stomach and grinned quirkily. ”She’s here. She’s sleeping. What’s up?”
”Oh, nothing really. Um, she should probably, uh, check her email when she gets a chance, ”Mark said, innocently. ”You know, nothing urgent.”
”Actually, I was going to ship the laptops back to Miami. I was hoping for a few days without them,” Kerry admitted. ”Is it something important, Mark?”
He chuckled softly ”Nah, Sunday night’ll be fine. She just might want to check it before Monday morning, though.” A rattle of keystrokes. ”By the way, you guys are furking big time no shit heroes around here today.”
”I bet.” Kerry let herself back down onto the pillow, and snuggled back against Dar, who immediately hugged her closer. ”Mm.”
”What was that?” Mark asked.
”Uh, I was just agreeing.” Kerry mentally slapped herself. ”Well, I’m glad everyone’s happy about it. I guess there’ll be one huge meeting on Monday, though, huh?” She sighed. ”That’ll be a trip. I can just imagine the arguments.”
Mark chuckled. ”Uh, well, yeah. It’s certainly going to be quite a Monday,” he agreed. ”Listen, you guys have a great time up there, okay? Relax, take it easy, unwind a little.”
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Kerry yawned. ”Will do. I’ll bring you back some maple syrup or pecans or whatever the heck they have up here.” She listened to the laughter, then hung up, and allowed her body to sink back down into the warm pit she’d been resting in, while she sleepily regarded the quiet, peaceful room.
Dar was really out, she knew, glancing back over her shoulder. Dar had fallen asleep after they’d made love, and had hardly moved an inch in the intervening hours. Kerry debated going back to sleep herself, then realized they’d have to start moving around shortly if they wanted to get up to the cabin.
”First things first,” she decided, reaching for the phone. ”The only thing we’ve both eaten in the last twenty four hours just about is a half dozen Snowballs and a gallon of coffee. Even Dar can’t live on that.”
”Sure I can,” the soft mumble tickled her ear. ”That’s, what, two of the food groups, right?”
”Shh.” Kerry dialed the phone, after checking a card on the dresser.
”Hi, this is, oh, you know what my room number is, great,” she said, as someone answered. ”I see you’ve got pizzas? Okay, can I have two small.” She got a poke in the ribs. ”Um, sorry, two medium pizzas, one a vegetable combo, the other with...” She gave Dar a look. ”sausage, and pepperoni on it.” Another poke. Kerry sighed. ”And extra cheese.”
Dar grinned, and nuzzled the back of her neck.
”Thanks, and a pitcher of iced tea, please. Excuse me? Oh, yes, no, that’ll be fine.” Kerry finished ordering and hung up, then squirmed around in Dar’s arms and regarded her fondly. ”Mark says we’re heroes.”
”I bet,” Dar responded sleepily, her eyes still closed. ”Guess we gotta get moving, huh?”
”Mm.” Kerry idly traced a tiny scar on her lover’s chin. ”You said you wanted to get up there before dark.” She watched as Dar’s eyelids fluttered open, revealing her startlingly blue eyes, and allowing Kerry to gaze into them.
To drown in them. Slowly, she leaned forward and kissed Dar lightly on the forehead, then hugged her, unable to either define, or explain the suddenly overwhelming sense of devotion and connection she felt.
This was just so precious, she wanted to cradle it gently in her hands, and never let it go. Dar’s hand smoothed the back of her hair in a familiar gesture, and she let herself sink into the embrace, feeling a resonance chime deep inside her.