“Paul’s new, and he’s young, but he really did sound like he knew what he was doing, and I—”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Dar cut her off. “Do yourself a favor and don’t cover up for him. Everyone takes the heat for their own mistakes, remember?”

Clarice pursed her lips and exhaled. “You sure haven’t changed much at all.”

That got an amused quirk of Dar’s lips. “You expected me to? Hope you weren’t holding your breath,” she remarked. “There’s a reason everyone would rather deal with Kerry.”

A shift. “Yeah, she’s pretty sharp,” Clarice said. “Where’d she come from?”

Dar sensed a ruffle in the waters. “She was part of an account we consolidated down here,” she said. “I’ll send her a note, tell her you’re looking to relocate.”

“Thanks.” Clarice stood up. “I’ll go talk to her myself. I just wanted 54 Melissa Good to make sure you didn’t have a problem with it. Maybe she’ll have a minute now.”

“I’m sure she’ll find time,” Dar answered.

“Hmm...she’s really efficient, that’s true,” Clarice said. “I can see I have a lot to learn from her.” She turned and walked out, closing the door behind her with a distinct snick.

Dar gazed plaintively at her ceiling. She was reaching over to hit her intercom button when her inner door cracked itself open and a blonde head poked inside. “Ah. I was just about to call you.”

Kerry entered and closed the door behind her, running the fingers of her right hand through her hair as she made her way across the office. “We got the overseas links to the UK straightened out,” she announced. “And they were able to get permission for that new link station in India.”

“Good.” Dar laced her fingers together behind her head and leaned back. “Clarice was on her way to see you. She wants to move back here.” Dar considered. “And I think she’s heard about us.”

“Sweetie, you drinking my tea in a meeting doesn’t really help hide that.” Kerry perched on the edge of Dar’s desk and let her hands rest on her knee. “Not that you weren’t welcome to it.”

“Damn.” Dar exhaled. “I did do that, didn’t I? Oh well.” She laughed softly. “Have you had lunch yet? Want to go downstairs?”

“Is that an invitation from my boss?” Kerry answered playfully.

“No, I haven’t; and I’d love to, since all I’ve had so far today is a handful of chocolate kisses.”

“Good.” Dar stood up. “I’ll be down at the base Friday and all next week, eating God only knows what.” She slipped on her jacket and straightened it, smoothing the line of the crisply tailored skirt in the same motion. “C’mon. I think they have pot roast today.”

“Is that going to be a little weird for you?” Kerry asked, as they walked out the door and through the outer office. María was already at lunch, and the room was, for once, quiet. “Going back there, I mean, not the pot roast.”

“A little,” Dar admitted. “I’ve got a lot of memories invested in that place, both good and bad.”

Kerry waited until they were on the elevator before she spoke again. “Can I come down there with you one of the days, just to see it?

I’m curious.”

“Hgrm.” Dar held the door open for her. “It wasn’t exactly the nicest place in the world to grow up, Ker. Mostly sand, palmetto scrub, and mosquitoes.”

They strolled across the lobby, passing several people headed in the same direction who called out greetings. “Is that a no, then?” Kerry asked. “I mean, if you’d rather I didn’t, that’s okay, Dar. I think you know enough of how I feel about your upbringing to know you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”


Red Sky At Morning 55

The noise in the lunchroom stalled further conversation, and they got in line after exchanging hellos with Mark and Duks, who had snuck in just ahead of them. Dar took the opportunity to capture a chocolate mousse hiding behind two pieces of fruitcake and listen to the chatter.

She’d been frequenting the lunchroom more often the last few months—

not as regularly as every day, but at least once a week, so her presence no longer drew outright stares and whispers.

She still found it easy to imagine the covert attention, though. But she’d been dealing with that since her first overall promotion to regional manager, and by now, it was more an amusing way to pass the minutes than anything else. Or play with their minds. Dar reached out an idle hand and arranged a lock of Kerry’s blonde hair, getting a raised eyebrow from her lover. She tweaked the hair, and Kerry turned her head, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “I’d love you to come on down to the base with me.”

“Next Friday good?” Kerry asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling in amusement. “I’ve got stuff scheduled the rest of the week.”

“Fine.” Dar turned her attention to the cafeteria server. “Pot roast, potatoes, gravy on the side.” She watched the lady assemble the plate, looking up inquiringly with her spoon over the two choices of vegetables. Dar merely raised an eyebrow at her and received her plate, naked of green invaders. “Thank you.” She followed Kerry over to the large round table where Duks, Mark, Mariana, and several others were already seated, discussing a movie that had just opened the previous week.“You seen it, DR?” Mark asked as they sat down. “Your kinda flick, I thought.”

“Why? Did it exceed the severed body part quotient of Aliens? ”

Kerry asked, making everyone chuckle. “During dinner the other night, we were watching Braveheart on disc, and boy was I glad we weren’t having steak.”

“Hey!” Dar objected. “It was your pick, remember? Not mine. I wanted to watch The Ancient Secrets of Rome, but no...”

Another laugh went around the table, easy and unforced. Dar dipped her roast into her gravy contentedly, enjoying the banter as Duks and Kerry started arguing over the historical accuracy of the picture. She listened to Kerry’s laugh and watched the smiles go around the table, and it occurred to her quite suddenly that for once she was damned happy with her life.

She paused in mid-bite, just to savor the knowledge. Then she washed her mouthful down with a sip of milk and pretended she didn’t see Kerry stealing a spoonful of her mousse. “Hey.”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“You all interested in going out on the water next weekend? We can do a cookout on the beach, that kinda thing,” Dar said. She’d caught Kerry flat-footed by surprise, she knew, and the way Kerry’s expression 56 Melissa Good read, she half expected her lover to reach over and check her for fever.

Mark accepted instantly. “Sure. Sounds great.”

“Yes, I agree,” Mariana recovered. “Thanks, Dar. What a great idea.”

“Absolutely.” Duks nodded solemnly. “I will bring the beer.”

Dar sucked on her milk, enjoying the sensation she’d caused. It was the first time, she acknowledged, that she’d instigated a party, usually leaving Kerry to do the social arrangements for them. Well, she decided, it was about damn time.

Yeah.

THE COOL BREEZE blew across the patio, ruffling the soft cotton of Dar’s pants leg as she pushed against the stone wall with one bare foot, rocking them gently in the net swing chair they’d recently installed. It was just big enough for two people, providing those two people really liked each other, and a comfortable way to sit and watch the moonlight travel across the water. Kerry was curled up in her arms, and they both held glasses of sweet white wine for sipping.

“You surprised me today,” Kerry murmured.

“With the party?”

“Mm.”

Dar had her eyes closed. “Good surprise or bad surprise?”

“That’s not a serious question, is it?” Kerry asked. “Of course it was a great surprise, and a great idea, by the way.”

“Good.” Dar rested her cheek against Kerry’s head. “I sort of figured anything that involved water, boats, sun, food, and beer would be okay with you.” She felt Kerry’s body shake as she laughed. “I’m just warning you, if you and Mark decide to have a belching competition again, I’m gonna tape it, convert it to an mpeg, and broadcast it companywide on Monday.”

Kerry laughed harder, almost spilling her wine. “You wouldn’t.”

Dar chuckled. “You wanna stake your dignity on that?” She put her glass down on the table next to them and put both her arms around Kerry. “Feeling any better, by the way?”

Kerry let her chuckles wind down into a sigh. “Yeah, thanks for asking.” She put her now empty glass down next to Dar’s and folded her hands over her lover’s. She caught a hint of smoke in the air from the beach club, mixed with the salt tang of the sea, and decided life just couldn’t get too much better than this. “Clarice made an appointment to come see me after Thanksgiving.”

“Mm.”

“She kept making pointed comments, I kept ignoring them.” Kerry yawned a bit. “I think I found her something in product development, though.”

“If she gets too obnoxious, let me know,” Dar rumbled. “I don’t Red Sky At Morning 57

want her taking potshots at you.”

Kerry tilted her head to observe the angular profile above her. “I can handle her, Dar. It’s not her fault she picked my personal property to get a crush on.”

Both of Dar’s eyebrows lifted. “Hmm. Maybe we’d better go back to that leather place and get me a leash and collar,” she suggested with a smile. “I could get your name on it in rhinestones. What do you think?”

“I dare you.” Kerry regretted the words the instant they came out of her mouth. “Oh, no, wait—forget I said that, Dar. Just erase it from your— Don’t you look at me like that!” Kerry reached up and tweaked Dar’s nose. “Stop it! Just don’t you even think about it.”

Dar pouted. “You don’t think I’d look good as a love slave?”

Kerry’s nostrils flared. “Ooh.” She blinked. “Now there’s an image.”

They both started laughing. “Dar, you’re a lot of things, but submissive isn’t one of them,” Kerry told her fondly. “Putting a collar on you would be like tying a bow on the tail of a tiger.” She grinned.

“Pretty, but definitely not functional.”

Dar gave her a little squeeze. “I’d do it for you,” she said. “Because you do own me, body and soul. You know that, right?”

“I do?” Kerry murmured.

Dar nodded.

“What an incredible gift that is.” The words were a mere whisper.

“Especially since I think you know I feel the same way.” Kerry ran a delicate fingertip over Dar’s lips. “I’ll take good care of you, Dar. I promise.”

“Does that mean you’ll get me a leather collar after all?” Dar teased.

“Dar, c’mon.” Kerry had to smile, though. “Maybe you should get me a collar.” She countered. “I should have been spanked with a newspaper for that stunt I pulled in New York.”

Her partner regarded her. “What would you wear it with? Your kickboxing gi?” She pondered, “We could get you one in each color.”

She reached over and tweaked Kerry’s nose. “And would you stop beating yourself over the head about that damned plane flight already?”

Kerry chuckled silently, letting her head rest against Dar’s chest, savoring the salt touched breeze. Then she drew in a breath and bit her lip, stifling a laugh. “Oh, you know, I think I do have something they’d go with.”

“You do?” Dar cocked her head.

“I went shopping while you were gone.”

“Uh oh.” The dark-haired woman chuckled nervously. “I wasn’t gone that long.”

“Hehehe.” Kerry hid her face with one hand. “You ever have one of those spur of the moment fits of insanity?” She sighed. “My inner 58 Melissa Good radical took over and I got…um…”

“Pierced?”

“Blurp.” Kerry bit her tongue as she tried to get her jaw shut without removing it from harms way first. “Dar! Don’t you think you’d have noticed?”

“Mm.” Dar started unbuttoning Kerry’s shirt. “I’d better make sure.

Hold still.” She persevered, despite her partner’s squirming and helpless laughter. “Oo…what’s that in there? Oh, wait. Sorry.”

“Bbrr…” Kerry resorted to biting Dar in the hand, as hers were trapped against her body. “Thifs nof a prisici!”

“Defintely too warm for that. Think of what it would feel like with a…” Dar yelped as the pressure increased against the sensitive space between her thumb and forefinger. “Okay…okay!”

Kerry waited, her teeth poised, gazing up at her partner from between slightly shaggy bangs as they each dared the other to continue.

“I only have fangs for you, Paladar,” Kerry warned, giving Dar as much of a steely glare as she was capable of.