The man climbed to his feet and glared at her. “Not just me’s got a problem with you. Better watch your back, ’cause someone’s gonna put a knife in it.” He stumbled off, pulling his companion with him.
Dar watched them go, then let her body lean slowly back against the wall, very aware of concerned green eyes that were studying her in the dim light.
“Morons.”
“Are you okay?” Kerry whispered. “Jesus, Dar, those people are crazy.
Maybe you should have called the police.”
Dar gingerly felt her ribs, then sighed. “No thanks. I’m not in the mood to be spending a couple of hours doing paperwork, I’ve got better things to do.”
She picked up her towel and bag, then nodded toward their cars. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” She glanced around, spotting a shadowy figure watching them from under a tree nearby. Dar strained her eyes, but she couldn’t make out the features, and she finally turned away with a grim look.
They quietly parted as they reached the car lot, and Kerry went to her car, unaware of the pale blue eyes that watched her until she was safely inside.
Only then did Dar open the door and slide into the leather seat of the Lexus with a stifled groan. The ache in her side throbbed painfully and she sat a moment, leaning against the steering wheel before she straightened up and started the car, putting it in gear and following Kerry’s taillights out of the parking lot.
A grudge? Or something more.
The man’s words bothered Dar, and she briefly wondered if some co-worker had taken the opportunity to get back at her. Someone like José, for instance.
Would he be that stupid? That venal?
The executive sighed. He was that stupid, yes. And hotheaded on top of it. Maybe the chance had just been too much for him to pass up. A couple of bucks slipped to an already pissed-off moron and no dirt on his hands. With a sigh, Dar tried to put it out of her mind and concentrate on something more pleasant.
Who happened to be driving just in front of her, moving the Mustang through the relatively light traffic with casual skill. They would use the hot tub, that’s for sure, then have a light dinner, and her strawberries were waiting—no way was she going to waste time going to the doctor’s for a few bruises. Hell, she was tougher than that.
KERRY STRETCHED OUT stiffened muscles as she got out of the car, and waited for Dar to lock the Lexus before she joined her companion for the short walk up the stairs. She had her overnight bag with her, and she slung it over her shoulder, following Dar inside and letting the smell of clean wax and wood fill her lungs as she stepped inside.
“Watch it, had the floors waxed this morning,” Dar warned her with a smile. “You up for the hot tub?”
“Ooo, you bet.” Kerry laughed and nodded. “I’ll go put my suit on.” She hesitated, then eased closer and put an arm around the taller woman, driven by a nameless need for Dar’s touch. “You sure you’re okay? I thought that creep hit you pretty hard.”
Dar exhaled softly, closing her arms around Kerry. “Yeah. I’m a little sore, but I’ve had worse.”
Kerry gave her a gentle hug. “Okay.” She released the taller woman, then she moved towards the kitchen. “I’m about dying of thirst, can I get you something?” She waited a beat. “Let me guess—a glass of milk.”
Dar ambled into her bedroom to change. “I think I’m being tweaked,” she called back.
Kerry grinned, and opened the door to the refrigerator, standing there and blinking for a long moment at what she saw. “Hey, Dar?”
“Yeah?” The voice floated in.
“Dar, there are things in your refrigerator,” the blonde yelled.
Her companion came in, adjusting a strap on her swimsuit. “There are?”
She peeked. “Oh yeah.” She laughed sheepishly, giving Kerry wry look. “I didn’t want to get teased. I thought you’d appreciate something other than peanut butter and ice cream.”
Kerry fell silent for a moment, then she turned, her face serious. “You know what I do appreciate?” she asked quietly. “I appreciate that what I think matters to you.”
Blue eyes blinked at her. “Kerry, of course it does,” Dar said, a little taken aback. “Surely you realized that.”
She smiled slightly. “I…in the office, sure, but…” She shrugged. “It’s just a different feeling, I guess.”
Dar brushed a thumb across her jaw line and studied her as the chill air of the refrigerator bathed both of them. “I very much care about what you think,” she told her companion seriously, then indicated the open appliance.
“I hope I at least guessed partly right.”
Tropical Storm
311
Kerry peeked over her shoulder. “Oh, what cute bananas.” She picked one up. “It’s a bananalette.”
“Junior Chiquita,” Dar supplied, peering in as well. Clemente’s staff had added to her list, she noted. “You hungry?”
Kerry peeled the banana and bit off the end. “Mmhmff.” She nodded.
“Okay, I’m going to order something up from the restaurant. We can nibble while we’re in the tub. Sound okay?”
“
Mfff
. Unless you order onion soup. That could get messy,” Kerry replied with a grin.
“Wasn’t what I had in mind,” Dar responded drolly. “You…trust me to order for you?”
“Implicitly.” The response was affectionate as Kerry wandered out, collecting her swimsuit while Dar picked up the phone.
She placed an order. “And Carlos, I’ll leave the front door open. We’ll be on the porch,” she informed the order taker.
“Will do, Ms. Roberts. You want to open the bottle, or shall I?” the cultured Hispanic voice answered.
“You can do it. Just ice it down,” she decided, then hung up, walking to the porch door and pushing it open. The damp, salt air hit her. She took a deep breath of it, then winced as her ribs pulled against the soreness. “Bastard,” she cursed softly as she tugged the padded top off the hot tub and flipped the switch that started the water circulating. “Let’s see…boil, steam, poach. Okay, that’s better.” She dipped a finger in, then paused, turning to look out over the ocean as the tide was coming in.
It was a pretty night, with only a few high clouds chasing across the stars, and the moon was at half full, casting a dim, pale line across the ruffled waves. The air was full of the scent of the sea and was a little less humid than it had been. Dar drew it in with pleasure, closing her eyes as the breeze brushed back her hair.
A warm hand touched her skin, and she turned to see Kerry standing next to her, also gazing out at the water, her skin golden against the dark fabric of her suit.
Dar let her eyes travel down her companion’s form and smiled. “You look nice in that suit,” she complimented Kerry quietly.
Kerry glanced up, a touch surprised, and she looked down at herself with a wry smile, smoothing her hand down over the fabric. “Thanks. I…” She paused awkwardly. “Thanks.” The taut fabric didn’t hide much, and Dar’s admiring eyes sent interesting prickles across her body.
First a rose, then she has
stuff for me here, now a compliment…must be my lucky day.
Kerry sighed happily, taking Dar’s arm. “Shall we?”
They entered the hot tub, which was nice and warm and swirled around them in a rush of steam and strong water smell. Kerry settled down next to Dar and leaned back. “Ooo, this feels great.”
Dar allowed the warmth and the motion to relax her. “Yeah,” she agreed.
“Especially after the gym. I think I overdid it with those weights.” She shifted her shoulders a little and winced. “Ouch.”
Kerry shifted onto her side and reached over, gently massaging the tense muscles. “I saw you. The little mini-Arnolds over there were dropping 312
Melissa Good
barbells on themselves trying to keep an eye on you, y’know.”
Dar chuckled wryly. “They were, huh?”
“Not that I blame them, because I was watching you too,” Kerry admitted with a smile. “I was really glad to see you when that guy was being such an asshole, though.” She traced a gentle line down Dar’s upper arm. “I know you hate when I say this, but…you really are quite the hero when you want to be.”
“C’mon, Kerry, don’t hang that title on me,” Dar protested gently. “All I did was get in some jerk’s way. That doesn’t take courage, just a bad attitude.”
Kerry quietly gazed at her. “Maybe, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had someone stand up for me. It felt good.” She lowered her eyes to the water thoughtfully.
Dar studied her. “You have a really independent mind, you stand up for yourself pretty well,” she offered, cautiously.
“Survival mechanism.” Kerry smiled faintly and played with the water.
Dar sensed her companion was edging slowly toward opening up to her and revealing whatever it was that caused the veiled sadness behind those sea green eyes. And she wanted to know, she wanted to understand what had hurt Kerry so. And she wanted to beat the living daylights out of whoever had done it. “Survival’s not a bad trait,” she replied gently. “I guess I have…I don’t know. My father used to call it my ‘in yer damn face’ instinct.” She chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I’m pretty sure I got it from him. I go into things without thinking sometimes. I just react, and then worry about the consequences later.”
“Mmm.” Kerry nodded. “It was like you saw those people tonight before they even came at us. One minute I was walking along, the next you had me all covered up and protected—so fast.”
Dar exhaled, stretching her legs out into the water. “I didn’t really think about it,” she confessed with a shrug, then turned as the door opened, and a server in blue slacks and a white starched shirt entered with a laden tray. “Ah, dinner.” She signed the check and added a tip to it and let the server go after they set the plates on the small ledge of the hot tub.
“Wow.” Kerry nibbled on a coconut shrimp. “I should have known you’d order everything I like. Dar, what am I going to do with you?”
“Anything you like,” the dark-haired woman answered absently, as she poured a glass of cold, sweet wine and set it down beside Kerry’s plate. “Here you go.”
Kerry took the glass and sipped it slowly, enjoying the tasty chill as it traveled down her throat. Dar had settled back and was chewing on a mini shish kebab, her pale eyes hooded as she kept silent for a bit. She searched the planed, angular face intently, then made up her mind. It would be hard, she knew that. But she trusted Dar, and…well, she just trusted her, that was all.
Not here, though, and not right this moment.
“Thanks.” She snuggled closer to the taller woman and touched her glass to Dar’s. “It’s so pretty out here. I love the smell of the water so close.”
The dark head nodded. “It took me a while to get used to it, but now, god, it’s such a relief to get out here after battling all day. I think it’s all that’s kept me sane this year,” she admitted, sliding a casual arm around Kerry’s shoulders and pulled her closer without really thinking about it. “Until you
Tropical Storm
313
got here, that is.”
Kerry smiled back and gladly surrendered to her intense craving as she settled against Dar, nuzzling her shoulder gently and kissing the soft skin there, tasting the chemical tang of the water in which they were floating.
“Glad I could contribute to the cause.” She tilted her head up and gazed at Dar, admiring the clean, smooth planes of her face and feeling a deep surge of the strong emotion she’d been feeling lately. “Thanks for inviting me out here.” Dar’s eyes bathed her in a quiet, gentle affection that went straight through to her heart.
“Kerry, you’re always welcome. I very much enjoy your company, and l…I really like having you here.” She felt awkward, and she cleared her throat a little, taking a breath to steady herself.
Dar meant that.
Kerry looked up and saw the open look in her eyes, and knew she’d come to a crossroads she hadn’t expected quite so soon. But then, their relationship had evolved and morphed so fluidly it had taken her breath away just thinking about it. “I love being with you,” she answered, softly.
Dar’s eyes brightened visibly. “Listen, I know we’ve just really met each other, but…”
Kerry reached over and put a finger on her lips. “Let’s get out of the water,” she requested. “I think we need to talk.”
LEANING AGAINST THE bathroom doorframe, Kerry toweled her hair dry and watched Dar standing at the kitchen counter getting them both some hot chocolate. Contrary to her previous good humor, Dar now seemed almost sullen, and she wondered at the sudden mood change. Had Dar sensed her own apprehension? Kerry exhaled, as she fought conflicting emotions that were making her stomach roil.
She really liked Dar. And that was the problem, unfortunately. As long as she could consider this just a crush, or at worst, a playful experiment, things were okay. She didn’t have to worry about what her family would say, or what consequences there were, because, after all, it was just a little fling, right? Just a dabbling in the strange and interesting waters of her altering sexuality?
A soft clank of a spoon made her look up; the scent of chocolate floated across the condo and reached her as the soft whirr of the microwave started up. Kerry patted her face dry with the towel, her body reacting unexpectedly when she caught the scent of Dar’s body wash in its nap. “Mmph, that’s more than a toe,” she uttered, glancing past the towel towards her companion.
It wasn’t just a fling anymore. Dar was getting more serious. She was getting more serious. This was already way past a crush and had gone further than an experiment. It was wandering into realms that made her stop and take stock of where she was, where she wanted to go, and who she wanted to be with; a sudden change in her perspective she hadn’t expected and didn’t honestly know how to deal with. She was head over heels in love, and it scared her. Kerry swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat, this sudden need clashing with a lifetime of learning that her wants and her needs just really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Above 314
Melissa Good
all, she didn’t want Dar getting hurt, and she could sense that both of them were moving towards a point where it would be easy to do that.