“Have I ever mentioned how much I love to undress you?” Tory murmured.

“Once or twice.” Reese said thickly, reaching down to gently tug Tory’s blouse from her jeans.

“It’s the fi rst time all week we’ll actually be going to bed together.”

Tory pushed Reese’s shirt off and let it fall, then pulled up her T-shirt.

Reese obliged by raising her arms and Tory stripped her. Her silhouette in the moonlight was a breathtaking combination of hard planes and subtle curves, her body almost too sharply honed. Tory brushed her hands over Reese’s chest, lingering on the subtle swell of her breasts.

“God, you’re beautiful.”

Reese trembled, her breath coming faster. “It’s late and you’ll need to leave early to get back to the hospital in the morning.”

“I know what time it is.” Tory trailed her fi ngers slowly down Reese’s stomach to her fl y and opened her pants. Hooking both thumbs around the waistband and catching Reese’s briefs in the same grip, she pushed them down. “Kick off your shoes.”

“Tory,” Reese whispered, an edge of uncertainty in her voice.

Kneeling, Tory worked Reese’s clothing off one leg and then the other until she was nude. Then she leaned forward and pressed her face against Reese’s abdomen, encircling her hips with both arms. She

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RADCLY fFE

kissed the base of her stomach and ran her hands lightly over Reese’s ass. “You can’t know how much I missed you. Even with you home again, it catches me in the middle of the day. This ache I have for you.”

She tilted her chin up but she couldn’t see Reese’s expression, only the distant shadow of her face. “I need you inside me tonight.”

Reese groaned quietly and cupped Tory’s face with both hands.

“Baby, I’m not sure…”

Tory rubbed her cheek over the soft delta between Reese’s legs and pressed a kiss to her center. Then she rose and wrapped her arms around Reese’s neck. “Don’t be afraid.”

“When…when I touch you I feel like I’m running, running for my life and you’re all that can save me.”

“You’re not lost, darling.” Tory guided Reese’s hand to her breast.

“And I’m right here.”

Shaking, Reese kissed her tenderly, with infi nite care, and slowly unbuttoned her blouse. She reached one hand behind and released Tory’s bra as Tory skimmed off her jeans and panties. With her mouth against Tory’s neck, Reese circled her waist and pushed her toward the bed. Tory went down on her back and Reese followed, her thigh between Tory’s legs. Her voice was hoarse and tight. “Here with you like this, I know who I am.”

“Then be with me. You can’t hurt me.” Tory shifted until Reese was between her legs and then hooked her calves over Reese’s thighs.

She kissed her, drawing Reese’s tongue into her mouth, and rocked her hips in invitation.

Reese gave herself to the heat of Tory’s mouth and the call of her body. When she felt her control slip and the choking need that verged on desperation surging through her, she tried to pull away, but Tory only held her more fi ercely.

“Don’t go,” Tory whispered, cradling the back of Reese’s head in one hand and grasping Reese’s wrist with the other. She pushed Reese’s hand between them, down over her belly. “Be with me. Be in me. I need you.”

“I love you,” Reese gasped, sliding into her, submerging herself in the solace only Tory could provide. “Tory. Tory.”

“Always…” Tory arched to take her deeper. “Always right here.”

Reese pushed Tory to the edge, thrust after thrust, until she was about to crest, and then grew still inside her. When Tory cried out,

• 120 •

Winds of Fortune

imploring her not to stop, Reese whispered, “I will never leave you.”

While Tory trembled on the brink, Reese slid down the bed and took her into her mouth. As Tory came, she grasped Reese’s free hand and their fi ngers entwined.

Tory held her inside as long as she could, and continued to hold her hand after Reese slipped from her and lay panting with her cheek pillowed against Tory’s stomach. Tory traced the wedding band on Reese’s fi nger while she stroked Reese’s face, thinking about her promise to love and cherish.

“I wish I could give you everything you need,” Tory whispered.

“You give me more.” Reese moved up the bed to take Tory into her arms. She cradled Tory’s head against her shoulder and kissed her.

“You give me things I never knew I needed. More than I ever dreamed of having.”

“Sometimes I feel selfi sh.”

“No.” Reese sighed. “You aren’t. You never have been. It’s me.”

Tory raised her head. “You know what? Our life has been upside down since April, and this week has been really hard.” She kissed Reese fi rmly. “I’ll give myself a break if you’ll do the same.”

Reese laughed. “Is this like a timeout for grown-ups?”

“Something like that.” Tory ran her fi ngers through Reese’s hair, then curled up against her again. “We’re together, and we always will be, no matter where either of us may be. For now, that’s all that matters.”

“That’s everything.” Reese pulled the covers over them and held her tightly. “I’ll see you in the morning, baby.”

Holding to that promise, Tory fell asleep to the sound of Reese’s heartbeat.

• 121 •

• 122 •

Winds of Fortune

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Oh man,” Bri moaned, curling onto her side as she reached down to caress Carre’s face with trembling fi ngers. Her head still buzzed from waking up in the middle of an orgasm. “Babe, what are you doing?”

“Making you feel good.”

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Because I woke up and I thought about us being at the hospital all week and that we’ll probably be there most of the weekend, and I wanted to take care of you.” Caroline rubbed her cheek against Bri’s belly. “You wouldn’t let me last night, remember?”

Bri combed her fi ngers through Carre’s hair. “I didn’t think I could come. I’ve been so twisted up all week, I wasn’t even horny.”

“You didn’t think you were.” Caroline scooted up on the bed and pulled Bri’s head against her breasts. “But baby, you’re always horny.

Besides, it’s good for you. It always relaxes you.”

“Is that what you call it?” Bri closed her eyes briefl y and pretended that it was just the two of them together with nowhere to go and nothing to fear. But she could only hold on to the dream for a few seconds.

“What time is it?”

“Four thirty, about. It’s still dark outside.” Caroline rubbed Bri’s shoulders. “We should leave in about an hour. You go ahead and sleep some more. I’ll wake you up.”

“Don’t know if I can.”

“You okay?”

Wordlessly, Bri nodded, tightening her grip on Carre. She’d been in scary situations a few times at work—the fi re, the shootout in the dunes, the drug bust that went bad. She’d been scared, sure, but even that night when she’d been dragged into the brush and beaten, she hadn’t felt this powerless. She’d always fought back. “I think something bad might happen, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

• 123 •

RADCLY fFE

“Remember what your dad said last night. That he wasn’t going to worry about you because he knew you were strong.”

“Yeah,” Bri mumbled.

“Being strong doesn’t mean you can’t be scared.” Caroline tilted Bri’s face up and kissed her eyes, then her cheeks, then her mouth.

“And you don’t have to be strong all the time, baby.”

“Oh fuck,” Bri blurted as the tears came and she couldn’t stop them. Carre rocked her and made soft little sounds of comfort, and Bri clung to her like she couldn’t ever remember holding on to anyone before. Maybe she had, when she was little—before her mother died, before the house grew silent and her father so sad—but she couldn’t remember. Then she was a teenager and she was fi ghting everyone because she was different, and everywhere she turned someone said she couldn’t be who she was, and she had to be strong because Carre risked so much in loving her. And now—now she was grown, and she wanted to be strong like Reese was strong—strong and brave no matter what happened. But she didn’t feel strong.

“I don’t know…” Bri gulped and willed herself to stop crying. “I don’t know how I’d make it if I didn’t have you.”

“Oh baby,” Caroline murmured, stroking Bri’s hot, damp face.

“Don’t you know by now I need you to need me? Just like I need you.”

She kissed her forehead. “You are such a blockhead sometimes.”

“I’m trying so hard, but I’m never going to be like Reese.” When Carre drew back, there was enough morning light fi ltering through the skylight in their second fl oor apartment that Bri could make out the frown on her face. “What?”

“Do you think Reese is strong all the time?” Caroline shook her head. “Don’t you get that part of the reason Reese seems so strong is because she has Tory? Jeez, all you have to do is watch them.”

Bri remembered waking up in the ICU waiting room and seeing Tory holding Reese. Comforting her, pretty much like Carre was doing now. Thinking that Reese wouldn’t want anyone to see her so vulnerable, she had looked away. She hadn’t wanted to embarrass Reese, but maybe she had been wrong in thinking that she would. She wasn’t ashamed to have Carre hold her. She just felt lucky.

“How come you know these things and I don’t?” Bri complained, rubbing her face against the inside of her arm to wipe away the last of her tears.

• 124 •

Winds of Fortune

Caroline laughed. “Because we’re made differently and different things are important to us.”

Bri frowned. “I don’t get it.”

“I know, baby,” Caroline said gently. “It doesn’t matter as long as you know that I don’t always need you to be strong and I need to feel strong for you too sometimes.”

“If anything happens to my dad I don’t want anybody around except you.” Bri took Carre’s hand. The tears were close again. “Okay?”

“Reese and Tory love you, baby.” Caroline kissed Bri until Bri relaxed into her arms. “I’ll be right there, I promise. But you can’t shut them out.”

“Thank you for…you know. Being with me.”

“You’re gonna make me mad if you say that again.” Caroline pulled Bri on top of her and held her tightly. “There’s only one thing I want you to say to me. You know what it is.”

Bri rested her forehead against Carre’s and whispered, “I love you so so much.”

❖

“You made it,” Nita exclaimed as Tory hurried into the offi ce at just after three in the afternoon. “You’d better sit down. You look exhausted.”

“I only slept a few hours last night, but I actually felt rested when I woke up this morning.” Tory dropped onto the sofa with a grateful sigh.

“It’s just been a tense day.”

Nita frowned. “Problems with Nelson’s surgery?”

“He came through the procedure with no major problems, but the surgeon said he saw a little more bleeding post-op than he’d like.

They’re just watching him for now.”

“Maybe you should head back, then.”

Tory shook her head. “There are some things I have to do here.

Reese will be there in an hour or so. We’ve got it covered.” She pointed a fi nger at Nita. “Besides, you have a closing to go to. So—go.”

“You’re sure.”

“Positive. Call me later.”

Nita shrugged off her lab coat, hung it on a coat tree inside the door, and grabbed the soft brown leather shoulder bag that doubled as

• 125 •

RADCLY fFE

her briefcase. Murmuring her thanks, she hurried out.

The few moments it took to drive into town were the fi rst free minutes she’d had all day. Unfortunately, the fi rst thing she thought of was Deo. There was no reason to think that Deo would be at the closing, for which she was glad. A day or two without seeing her would put everything into perspective. She was only temporarily off-balance because she hadn’t expected to meet anyone who stirred her up the way Deo had. Nothing to worry about.

So, she’d met an attractive charming sexy woman who had turned her on. So what? So what if she’d tossed and turned for an hour the night before, too keyed up to sleep, unable to purge the memory of Deo’s warm breath against her stomach from her mind. So what if she’d awakened for the fi rst time in months with a hum of arousal singing through her blood. All perfectly normal, perfectly natural. No crime in acknowledging involuntary responses she had no plans to do anything about.

Case closed.

❖

“How does it feel to be a homeowner?” Elana Torres asked, handing Nita the keys with a warm smile.

“Wonderful,” Nita replied automatically, and on one level, she was thrilled. The house had charmed her from the beginning with its history and faded grandeur, and she looked forward to restoring it. The project would occupy her free time, what little of it there was, and in the end, she would have something exceptional of her own to show for it. But undercutting the excitement was a thread of sadness that she was doing this alone. Her fi rst home, a signifi cant dream realized, and she had no one special with whom to share the pleasure.