“Mm,” Kerry murmured.

“With one third of the crowd glaring at us, another third of them making veiled but snarky comments, and the remaining third being sweet and sympathetic.”

“Uh.”

“Having,” Dar thought a moment, “pate canapés and white wine?”

Kerry nodded. “Probably.”

“So, instead, we’re here in this nice hotel room, with a lot of chocolate, a big room service menu, and a heart shaped hot tub.”

Kerry had to smile at that. “You’ve got a good point there.”

She relaxed a little, her fingers absently tracing patterns over Dar’s belly. “You gave up a lot today, Dar. Standing by me.”

“Nah,” Dar replied. “Besides, that’s what friends do, isn’t it?


92 Melissa Good Stand by each other?”

Kerry hitched up on an elbow and gazed seriously at her lover. “I mean it, Dar.” Her brow creased. “That meant a lot to me; don’t minimize it.”

Dar met her eyes and a smile tugged on the edges of her lips.

“It felt good.” She twirled a lock of Kerry’s hair between her fingers. “Now, what was that about feeding me chocolate?”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you have a one track mind?”

Kerry gave in with a smile. “All right, you beautiful hedonist. Lie still, and I’ll get the chocolate and a menu.” She leaned over, kissed Dar on the lips, and licked them lightly. “Mm…speaking of chocolate.” She felt Dar’s hands ease her sweater up and slide beneath it. Part of her knew Dar was trying to keep her mind off the terrors of the day, but the larger part of her decided it didn’t care, and that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.

She didn’t really want to think about the hospital. She didn’t really want to think about her family and the raw hatred that had battered her all morning. She didn’t really want to see the slack, blank look on her father’s face, or the lines on the monitor flatten-ing to even.

For right now, she decided, she’d focus hard on the beautiful body poised just under hers, and the touch that was making her guts burn, and the soft, enticing growls chasing the shadows far away.

“HOW’S THAT?” KERRY adjusted the heating pad so that it covered more of Dar’s shoulder, and gave it a solicitous pat.

Dar eyed her arm. “Kerry, you know it’s—”

“Ah ah ah!” Kerry put a fingertip on Dar’s lips. “Do you have that other medicine with you?” She could see Dar debating whether to answer. “Don’t make me go through your bag, Paladar K. Roberts.”

“Heh.” Dar chuckled sheepishly. “Yes, in the right pocket.

Two bottles...but…”

Kerry got up, rummaged in the specified pouch, and came up with the plastic bottles. “Listen, tiger, I know you hate taking this stuff, but you’d make me feel better if you did.”

Dar sighed. “It makes me space out. Just the pain medication’s bad enough, Kerry. I don’t need that other stuff.”

Kerry perched on the bed and pushed a lock of pale hair back behind one ear. She was dressed in her Tweety T-shirt and nothing else. “You sound like such a kid when you talk like that.”

Dar pouted.

“Aw.” Kerry grinned, biting her lower lip a little. “That’s just Thicker Than Water 93

so adorable, I wish I had a digital camera.”

The pout disappeared and an eyebrow lifted. “For what?

Where would you be putting that picture, Ms. Kerrison?”

“On my desktop.” Kerry relaxed onto her side, crossed her ankles, and wiggled her feet. “Right next to the little shot I have of you in your swimsuit.”

Dar blinked. “In my…swim…Oh, you don’t really.”

“Mmhm. I sure do.” Green eyes peered innocently back at her. “The really nice one, that black, semi see-through number.”

She grinned. “The picture I took on vacation.”

Dar just stared at her. “That’s on your desktop?” Her voice cracked on the last word and she blushed. “Kerry, that’s almost—”

“Oh yes, absolutely.” Kerry very much enjoyed Dar’s discom-fiture. “And let me tell you, looking at that when I come back from some of those afternoon marketing meetings…ahhh.” She waggled her eyebrows at her lover, who looked mildly alarmed.

“Dar, c’mon. You’re an incredibly sexy looking woman and you know it, so stop looking at me like I’m nuts.”

“W...it’s not that. I’m just...it’s...” Dar spluttered to a halt.

Kerry held back a smirk. “Do you have any pictures of me on your PC?”

It was amazing how quickly a grown woman could manufacture the impression of a small child caught with its fist in a nice, big cookie jar. “Um…” Dar scratched her ear and tugged on the lobe a bit. “Yeah.”

“Oh yeah? Which ones?” Kerry squirmed a little closer. “The one on the boat?”

“No,” Dar drawled. “Not that one.”

Kerry considered for a moment. “Oh…not that one you took when we were parasailing.”

“Nope.” Dar studied the ceiling, aware of the ridiculous blush that was coloring her skin. “I don’t think you’ve seen these.”

Both of Kerry’s eyebrows lifted. “I haven’t?” She crawled even closer, until she was almost nose to breast with Dar. “Which pictures are they, then?”

Dar evaluated her tactical situation; it wasn’t pretty. At least she’d gotten Kerry’s mind off those damn drugs. “A couple I took out at the island the last time we were out there. After we went diving.”

“Oh.” Kerry frowned, trying to remember the outing. It hadn’t been that long ago, after all, and they’d been diving for hours, then…Her mist green eyes opened wide, and she lifted her head to peer at her lover. “Dar, wait a minute.” Baby blues 94 Melissa Good blinked at her with devastating innocence.

“Hm?” She watched as Kerry blushed, the color making her fair brows stand out vividly. “I got some gorgeous shots.”

Kerry covered her eyes. “You’re not telling me you took pictures when I was sunbathing in the buff, are you?”

Dar ran a finger across Kerry’s scarlet cheek. “All that beautiful orange sunset and you. Incredible.”

“Oh, my God,” Kerry murmured weakly. “Please don’t tell me you have that on your desktop where Maria can see it.”

“Why not? She appreciates fine art when she sees it.” Dar almost burst into laughter when Kerry removed her hand and gazed at her in total shock. “Relax. They’re not on my desktop.”

She gently patted Kerry’s cheek. “I would never do that to you, honey.”

Kerry exhaled, rubbing her face with one hand. “Guess that teaches me to start a teasing war with you, huh?” She gave Dar a rueful look. “Here I thought I was doing so well.” She rolled over and got up, then trudged over to the table and poured herself a glass from the pitcher of iced tea. “Whoo.”

Dar watched her fondly. The thin, almost threadbare cotton of Kerry’s T-shirt clung to her body, outlining it and emphasizing her athletic build. “Wanna see the pictures?”

Kerry almost spat a mouthful of iced tea across the room.

“Pft.” She managed to swallow. “You have them here?”

“Sure.” Dar chuckled softly. “I said I didn’t have them on my desktop.” She pointed. “They’re on the laptop.”

Kerry looked at her, then at the computer, then back at her.

She firmly turned her back on the machine, returned to the bed, then leapt lightly over Dar and curled up at her side. “No thanks, sweetie.” She rolled onto her back, exhaled, and let her body go limp. “The room service we ordered should be here soon. What do you want to do afterwards?”

Dar cupped a hand around one of Kerry’s neatly outlined breasts. “Have dessert.”

Kerry turned her head and met Dar’s eyes. “Dar?”

“Mm?” A lazy smile appeared.

“If you’re trying to distract me,” Kerry took in an unsteady breath, her body already reacting to the sensual touch, “it’s working.”

“Good.” Dar rolled stiffly onto her side and continued her exploration. “My vote is for dinner, dessert, and a nice soak in that tub.” She leaned closer. “’Cause that’s gonna make me feel a lot better than those damn drugs.”

One green eye opened and regarded her suspiciously. “Is this a plot?”


Thicker Than Water 95

Dar eased the thin cotton fabric up. “Oh yeah.”

Kerry half sat up and captured Dar’s jaw, then she kissed her with quiet passion. “If that room service guy knocks in the next few minutes, you’re in so much trouble.”

Dar chuckled deep in her throat.


Chapter

Seven

WELL, KERRY EYED the snow-covered landscape going by, at least I feel a hell of a lot more relaxed than I did yesterday. She flexed her hands inside her lined gloves and tightened her grip on the steering wheel, sparing a glance at the passenger side. “Depressing, isn’t it?”

Dar was examining the view out the front and side windows.

“Um…” It was mostly flat land with dead trees, though the occasional evergreen, dripping with heavy white snow, threw a splotch of color into the mix. “It’s definitely sort of,” she paused,

“bland.”

“Yeah. One of the things I noticed first when I moved down to Florida was how damn colorful it is.” Kerry pulled off the highway and turned onto the road that would eventually lead to her parents’ house. “Sometimes I forget how much it’s not like that in the north in winter.”

Dar settled back, folding her arms across her chest. “Must be nice in summer, though. And it’s kinda pretty, with all that snow and all. Looks like something off a Currier and Ives print.”

“I guess,” Kerry said. “It can be fun around here. I used to have a good time in winter, sledding down hills and ice skating.

And in summer, on the lake.” She noted the new buildings on the low horizon. “They’re finally getting Starbucks out here. Good grief.”

Dar chuckled. “I don’t know, Ker. Doesn’t seem like a bad place to grow up.” She reviewed the passing countryside. “No worse than where I did, at any rate.”

“Hm.” Kerry watched the once familiar landscape go by. She turned right onto a sloping street, bordered on one side by stately walls, the houses behind them hidden from view. On the other side the road pitched down to a snow covered hillside, giving a view across a small valley of more isolated homes on the far side.

How many times had she turned up this road? Walked up it—

from the church, from school…and now it just looked cold and Thicker Than Water 97

strange to her. Someplace she no longer belonged.

“You definitely fit better in the tropics,” Dar commented out of the blue. “You have to wear too much clothing up here.”

Kerry gave her a quick glance, then she turned into the opening in the long, brick wall they’d been driving alongside. “It’s definitely a whole different world.” She pulled up next to a gate and opened her window, allowing a cold, wet draft in. The gate guard bent down to look at her, then almost jerked back in surprise.

“Ms. Kerry!” The older man, dressed in a thick winter parka, smiled. “Been a long time.”

A year. Kerry nodded. “Yes, it has, John. How are you?”

“I’m doing great.” He leaned closer. “I’m sorry about your father.” His eyes flicked briefly to Dar, then back to Kerry. “Terrible thing.”

“Thanks.” Kerry gave him a small smile. He straightened and opened the gate, and she drove carefully through and continued up the driveway. At the end of it was a circular drive and the imposing, classic outline of her family’s home.

A tiny shiver passed over her as she remembered the last time she’d driven down that road, the night she’d revealed her relationship with Dar, the night her father had thrown her into a mental institution.

The night Dar had claimed her, powering her way into the hospital with a ruse so incredible, she still didn’t believe they’d had gotten away with it.

That night, when they’d driven back to pick up Kerry’s things and she’d had her one, last, furious confrontation with her father and left the house, crossing the line in no uncertain terms to go back home to her new life, her new job, and her new lover.

Kerry pulled up on one side of the circle and put the car into park. Fortunately, there were only two other cars there. She suspected they were Angie and Michael’s, and the press seemed to be completely absent. “Well,” she looked at Dar, “here we are.”

“Let’s go then.” Dar smiled at her. “Nice to see this place in the daylight this time.”

Ah. Kerry got out of the car and shut the door, taking a deep breath of the cold air before she trudged around and joined Dar on the short walk up to the front door. Halfway there, Dar wrapped long fingers around hers. It felt wonderful.