Kerry giggled softly. “It’s his wife.”
“Well, that explains why he was hugging her,” Dar mused. “She must be in love…to do something as crazy as that.”
“You got that right.” Kerry shook her head gently. “Ooo. Did you see that? She almost fell overboard!”
“He’s freaking out,” Dar noted, watching the screen with interest. “Oh shit! Is that an anaconda?”
“He’s probably going to kiss it.” Kerry laughed. “Oh, good, he got her back in the boat, and now they’re both kissing the damn snake.” She sighed.
“Amazing what love will make you do. Look, she’s got mud in places the good Lord never intended women to have mud.” They both fell silent for a bit as Dar shifted the compress on Kerry’s head. “Dar?” Kerry finally said, her voice rising in question.
“Mmm-hmm?” Dar inclined her head. “What?”
“What on earth did you have to check in the South Miami office at ten PM?”
An awkward pause ensued. “Um…” Dar cleared her throat and spoke reluctantly. “I didn’t,” she muttered. “I, um, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Sea green eyes looked at her as Kerry turned her head and gazed up.
“You…mean you just…came out here?”
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A faint nod answered her. “I, um… You can never tell, with knocks on the head, and I was kind of concerned, so I, uh…yeah,” Dar replied defensively.
“Peace of mind, you know? I just wanted to make sure everything was all right.”
“Mmm.” Kerry thought about that. “That…makes me feel very special.”
She curled her fingers over Dar’s where they were tucked around her waist.
“Thank you. I was feeling pretty lousy before you got here. I’m really glad you came.”
Dar smiled contentedly and let her cheek rest against Kerry’s hair. “So am I,” she murmured, a little surprised at the thought.
It really was kind of crazy, if
you thought about it.
So she didn’t.
“Know what I think would make me feel even better?” Kerry looked up at her.
“Ice cream?” Dar suggested ingenuously.
“Close.” Kerry gently reached up and curled one hand around Dar’s neck; she pulled herself upwards and they kissed. She felt Dar’s arms catch and support her as their tongues touched and explored, and the next thing she knew, there was a knowing tug at the waistband of her cotton shorts and the pain in her head was forgotten.
“Mmm.” Dar licked a drop of water off Kerry’s nose. “Holistic medicine. I like it.”
“Mmm.” Kerry repeated the sound. “Me, too.”
THE SUN CREPT across the carpet, scattering a few dust motes as it splashed its way across the couch and its two occupants. Outside, a car door slammed, and an engine sputtered to life as a weed cutter started up nearby and buzzed into life.
Kerry half jumped up, startled at the strangeness of her position. She blinked her eyes open and frowned, taking a moment before she realized where she was. Still cradled more or less in Dar’s arms, missing most of her clothing. “Oh, Jesus.” They’d fallen asleep on the couch, with the television still on, now displaying a lurid infomercial featuring Chuck Norris with the sound thankfully off. Kerry licked her lips and fuzzily remembered sensual touches, a subtle craving that grew as she lay there quietly just breathing in Dar’s scent.
Whoa.
She reached up and touched her forehead where the bump had gone down a lot but was still tender, then slowly unwrapped her fingers where they were still closed around Dar’s. Kerry turned, glancing up at her companion.
The dawn light peeking in the window slanted over her and painted her tanned skin, catching the barest hint of chestnut highlights in the dark hair.
The muscles in her face were relaxed, save for the tiniest movement under the lids of her closed eyes, and Kerry found herself almost holding her breath just watching the tremors and absorbing the wonderful feeling of the arms still clasped around her. It was such a gorgeous feeling. With a sigh, Kerry glanced at the clock, then patted Dar on the arm lightly. “Dar?
Slowly the facial muscles tensed, then the eyelids fluttered, revealing those amazing blue eyes, which blinked, then focused on her. “Oh, um…” Dar shook her head a little to clear it. “Morning.”
Kerry smiled wryly. “Uh, yeah.” She glanced at the window. “Looks like we sorta dropped off there, and I know you’ve got an appointment.”
Dar yawned, then disengaged her arm and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, I do.”
She let her head fall back again. “Unfortunately.” A pause, then the blue eyes were studying Kerry intently. “How are you feeling?” She reached up and brushed her fingertips over Kerry’s forehead. “Looks better.”
“Feels better.” Kerry sat up, flexing arms and legs stiff from being in one position for hours, and took a deep breath. “Not too bad,” she decided. “Buh.”
She rubbed her face with one hand. “Didn’t expect to end up sleeping on top of you. Sorry about that.”
“Eh.” The taller woman stretched her body out, arching her back a little
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and stifling another yawn. “I survived,” she replied, sounding a touch surprised. “Couch is pretty comfortable, really.” She removed the shirt draped over the back of the furniture and pulled it on over her head. “Glad your gardeners don’t trim near the windows.”
Kerry glanced down at herself, mildly shocked at not being shocked at being pretty much naked. She retrieved her own shirt from the floor near the couch and eased it on over her head. “Eyah, they’re not exactly conservative here, but I don’t think my landlord would appreciate ungluing the eyeballs from the glass.” She gazed at Dar, then leaned over and gave her a hug.
Dar hugged her back. “You’re damned nice to wake up to, Kerry.”
Kerry smiled into the fabric over Dar’s shoulder and exhaled, then she patted her boss on the side. “C’mon, let me get us some breakfast, then you can take off. You don’t want to be late.”
Yes, I do.
Dar suddenly found herself very much wanting to remain right where she was. But she sighed and released Kerry, waiting for the blonde to stand up before she joined her, working a kink out of her back with a grimace.
“You don’t need to make breakfast. I can just grab some coffee when I get there. They have a little café on the bottom floor.”
“Dar.” Kerry poked her. “You come all the way out here, just to pat me literally and figuratively on the head, and you won’t let me make you toast?
Get real.” She shook her head as she ambled into the kitchen, putting up some coffee and getting a loaf of raisin bread out of her refrigerator. “Dar, do you…yow!” The dark-haired woman had silently come up behind her and was peering over her shoulder. “Jesus. How do you do that?”
“Cinnamon raisin toast?” Dar inquired hopefully, her brows lifting in interest.
“Well, yeah. You didn’t think I was going to give you white bread, did you?” Kerry laughed. “I mean, Dar, let’s be honest here—you’re many things, but white bread isn’t one of them.”
Her boss smiled charmingly at her. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Her eyes twinkled. “I love raisin toast, especially with cream cheese and jelly.”
Kerry eyed her. “With chocolate sprinkles?” she hazarded.
Dar’s eyes brightened. “Got any?”
“Good grief.” Still sleepy, Kerry put the toast up in her four-slice toaster then sidled over, tucking herself against Dar’s left side and wrapping an arm around her waist. “But, you know…” she acknowledged with a stifled yawn,
“I have more in common with you than I do with my sister. Weird.” She considered the differences. “She hates computers; she hates reading; she hates shockingly graphic but curiously satisfying violent movies…”
Dar threaded her fingers into Kerry’s disheveled pale hair and tilted her face up, bending her head down and kissing her gently.
Kerry exhaled softly as they parted. “She’d hate to see that.” Her voice was tinged with wistful sorrow.
“Does she know?” Dar asked seriously. “Do your parents?”
A single shake of Kerry’s head. “No, they have no idea. They don’t even suspect.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How did yours react?”
Dar hesitated as the scent of toasting cinnamon filled the kitchen, along with that of fresh coffee. “My father knew before I told him. He…” She 292
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laughed softly. “I thought he was going to lose it if I told him. I couldn’t tell him for the longest time because I thought he…I thought he would be disappointed.”
The toast popped up, and Kerry reluctantly let go of her companion and removed it, spreading some butter on each piece and pouring Dar a cup of coffee. “He wasn’t?” she finally asked, hesitantly.
Dar took a bite, and chewed. “No, it was almost…what he told me was…” She cleared her throat. “Let me see if I can imitate him. ‘Lookee here, Dardar, just because the generals yap about that don’t ask don’t tell crap, don’t mean there ain’t lots of boys that don’t like to share a foxhole, if you know what I mean?’ ”
Kerry took a sip of her coffee and muffled a chuckle. “Oh, I always wondered about that. I saw a special about aircraft carriers once, where they have all those tiny bunks all on top of each other.”
“Eyah. Well, we had a long talk about it, then we went over to Sawgrass Mills and spent the afternoon comparing our tastes in women.” Dar shook her head ruefully. “That was really strange.” She studied Kerry’s bowed head seriously. “Kerry?”
“Hmm?” The blonde woman glanced up. “You’re so lucky. I can’t imagine sitting down and…Jesus, he’d kill me.” She gave her head a little shake, then glanced at the window. “Um, it’s getting late, I guess we’d better get going. I know I have to…” Dar had set her coffee down and put a hand on either side of Kerry’s face, gazing down at her. “What?”
“If you need to talk, you can,” the dark-haired woman said quietly. “I’ll listen.”
Kerry felt her breath become short, and she sucked in air nervously, hunting through Dar’s expression and searching the blue eyes intently. “I don’t…I don’t know what you mean, Dar.”
A quiet hurt filled the blue eyes. “All right.” Dar dropped her hands.
“Anyway, the offer’s out there.” She picked up her cup and took a swallow, half turning away. “Guess I’d better get going.” A feather touch on her arm made her glance over her shoulder to see pained and confused green eyes peering at her.
“We don’t have time right now,” Kerry got out, as though the words were dragged from her. “But…I’ll take you up on that offer later.”
Dar put an arm around her neck and pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head. “That’s a deal.” She felt the blonde woman snuggle closer, almost huddling against her.
Who hurt Kerry
? It was obvious to Dar that someone had, and a dark, bubbling anger erupted in her at the thought. “Lemme go get poked and prodded. Meet you back at the office, okay? On the way back, I’m going to stop by my place to change.”
Kerry plucked at the cutoff sweatshirt and faded jeans. “I think you look just fine.” She broke out of her funk and gave Dar a smile. “Guess the office would be scandalized, huh?”
“Oh yeah.” Dar snorted. “I’d never hear the end of that.” She caught Kerry’s lips again, and this time took her time, feeling the smaller woman collapse against her. She let her hands run down Kerry’s back, touching and rubbing gently, until she felt the blonde woman’s ribs expand sharply as her
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breathing roughened, and her touch started sliding across Dar’s belly, searching for a path to her skin. They both broke off, breathing hard, hands still exploring, until Kerry let her forehead rest against Dar’s collarbone.
“Gonna be a long day.” Dar sighed wryly.
“Oh yeah,” Kerry agreed. “Did you have to do that?”
A soft chuckle. “Don’t forget to set up that staff meeting for Friday. If I don’t go over all this fourth quarter stuff with everyone, Mariana’s going to have a cow.” She glanced around, then touched her belt. “Did I…oh, damn.”
Kerry also looked around in some alarm. “What?”
“Forgot my cell phone.” Dar tapped the side of her head. “I’m losing it. I don’t know where my brains been the past few days. Even Maria said something about it.” She gave Kerry one last hug. “Oh well. See you in the office.”
“See you.” Kerry reluctantly let her go and watched her leave in pensive silence. Then she looked down and plucked at her shirt, realizing she had it on inside out. And backwards. “Jesus.” She softly tapped the side of her own head. “That makes two of us.”
DAR WAITED QUIETLY as an efficient and far too cheerful nurse poked her arm with a needle roughly the size of an Olympic javelin.
“Just a moment, dearie. It won’t hurt a bit.”
“You shouldn’t lie to patients,” Dar growled, feeling the lancing pain as the needle found its mark. “It’s not nice.”
“Now, now.” The nurse patted her arm. “We don’t want our patients worrying unless they need to. It’s nothing but a prick.”
“I’ve been saying that about guys for years,” Dar remarked, trying not to look at the vial filling with the rich, red blood coming out of her arm.
“What?” the nurse queried.
Dar rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”
The door pushed open, and Dr. Steve poked his head in. “Hey, sweetpea.”
Dar glared daggers at him, receiving a charming smile in return. The nurse finished, removing the tube, covering the seeping needle hole quickly with a cotton ball and tightly stretching a Band-Aid over it all. “There you go, all done.” She bustled out, leaving Dar with her doctor.
“C’mon, c’mon, stop with the sour look, Dar.” Dr. Steve came in and leaned on the examination table where she was sitting. “I hear you had a moment of terror at the Heart Institute.”
Blue eyes regarded him dourly. “I got over it.”
“Ooo, aren’t we tough.” Dr. Steve laughed and patted her knee. “You can play that corporate killing machine with other people, Dar, but I’ve known you since you weren’t tall enough to lick my knees, so don’t try it with me.”
Dar scowled. “Did she leave any blood in there? She must have taken six quarts.”
He waved her off. “Psh. Two vials, you big baby. How’re you feeling?”
“Better,” his reluctant patient admitted. “Took a few days off, went up to Orlando and just played tourist for a couple days.” She paused. “Haven’t had 294
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a headache since the day after I was here last time.”