Melissa Good - Tropical Storm

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” Kerry said with a sigh.

“I usually don’t, so no,” Dar told her crisply. “Come on.” She eased out of the passenger side and waited for Kerry to gingerly emerge from the driver’s side door into a thick blanket of warm rain.

Kerry shielded her eyes from the downpour, wincing as she put weight on her left leg. “Ow.” She grabbed hold of the doorjamb and gingerly flexed her leg. “Damn.”

Dar circled the car. “What?” She reached out, then let her hands drop in some confusion.

“Banged my kneecap on the steering wheel.” Kerry grimaced. “Must have twisted something.” She cautiously put weight on the leg again, then threw her arms out in reflex as it threatened to collapse under her. “Son of a—” Dar grabbed her, holding her steady until she caught her balance again.

“Watch it.”

“Yeah. Sorry,” Kerry muttered in an embarrassed tone. “I’m fine.”

Dar sighed and walked her over to the Lexus, which was parked haphazardly facing the Mustang, its lights illuminating the scene. She opened the door and guided Kerry inside, then shut it carefully behind her and walked around to the other side. As she got in, she glanced over at her unwilling passenger. Kerry was huddled against the door, her arms wrapped around her, a shell-shocked look on her pale face. She plucked aimlessly at the torn pieces of her shirt with faintly shaking fingers.

“Here.” Dar reached behind her and pulled out a dark blue sweatshirt, which she handed to the younger woman. “Put that on. The air gets a little chilly in here.”

Kerry stared at the shirt. “No, it’s okay.” She moved back a little. “I’m fine.”

“Look, pretend you don’t hate my guts for about another forty-five minutes, and this’ll be over, all right?” Dar snapped, her temper frayed at the edges. “Just put the damn thing on.”

Pale green eyes gazed back at her. “I don’t.”

“What?” Now that the adrenaline had drained out of her, Dar was wishing for a few sweatshirts herself, along with a mug of hot milk and a couple of other creature comforts she hadn’t had a in a long time.

“Hate you.” Kerry reached out and took the clothing from her. “I’m sorry.

I’m just a little out of my mind right now.” She turned the shirt right way around and pulled it over her head. “Thanks.” She looked down at the shirt. It had the word Navy embroidered across it in gold, and was lightly scented with Dar’s perfume.

It was strangely comforting. She wrapped her arms around herself, exhaling as the dry cotton warmed her skin, and closed her eyes, wishing it all 54 Melissa Good was just a nightmare she’d eventually wake up from.

Maybe she was in shock. Certainly, her thoughts were going every which way, as the shaking slowly subsided and she tried to reconcile herself to what had just happened. Jesus, they could have… Her mind swerved away from the thought, and she glanced over at the car’s other occupant, outlined in the luridly orange light of the streetlamp, deep in thought herself.

The profile was strong, and yet there was a surprising vulnerability to it that vanished as Dar felt the attention and straightened up. Kerry reached out instinctively and put a hand on Dar’s wrist, waiting for those pale eyes to focus on her. “Thanks,” she said again. “Even if you rescued me for legal reasons, I appreciate it.”

Dar studied her briefly, her expression unfathomable. Then she blinked, and her gazed shifted a little. “That was really my personal cell phone,” she remarked. “But you’re welcome.”

Kerry stared at her in puzzlement, and after a brief moment, they both sort of half shrugged. Dar started the car in silence and pulled away from the curb.

STILL IN A DAZE, Kerry slowly walked into her office. As they pulled onto the highway, she’d remembered that all her things were still there, so Dar had nodded and driven her there without comment.

Now, Dar entered behind her, and Kerry noticed for the first time that she certainly wasn’t in one of her power suits. Water-stained jeans and hightop sneakers, along with a hooded sweatshirt minus its sleeves, painted a very different picture than the one her mind remembered from their previous encounter.

She looks a lot younger, for one thing. Kerry suddenly realized the executive wasn’t much older than she was. Her tanned skin seemed to absorb the light, and the pitiless fluorescents revealed nicely toned muscles in her arms and shoulders which rippled softly as she moved around the office.

Dar’s eyes stopped as she reached the desk, and she studied the piles of paperwork strewn forlornly across it. A look of regret crossed her face, and she lifted her gaze to meet Kerry’s. “I know you did a lot of work on this.”

Kerry perched on the edge of her desk, and thumbed through a printout.

“I almost wish I hadn’t. I felt like I was coming so close…” She let the papers fall and looked up. “Why did you let me do that?”

“You were close.” Dar sat down on the chair next to Kerry’s and let her forearms rest on her thighs. “It’s complicated,” she replied quietly. “A lot of things just wouldn’t fall into place, and I needed numbers.” She shifted. “It was the last thing I threw out.” She reached over and nudged the report. “One last set of reports came in, and I just couldn’t do it.”

Kerry circled her desk and sat in her chair, pushing the overlong sleeves back on the sweatshirt. “So, we just become numbers,” she commented softly.

“I don’t think I understand that very well.”

A shrug. “It’s what we all are.”

“Mmm,” Kerry murmured. “Even you?”

Dar nodded wearily. “If it’s any consolation, I’m very sorry.”

Tropical Storm 55

Kerry looked at her pensively. Dar had changed in her eyes. She no longer appeared to be the icy cold, practical executive. This was a person. One who under other circumstances she might have liked. “Me too,” she replied.

“I’ll probably end up going home to Michigan. I’ll miss a lot of things here.”

Dar looked up. “There are other jobs out there. We might even have something you might…”

Kerry shook her head. “No.” She took in Dar’s puzzled expression. “It’s complicated.” She played with a pencil on her desk, turning it over and over.

“You know, it’s really too bad, Ms. Roberts, because in another place…another time, I think you and I might have been friends.” She glanced up regretfully, and was captured in blue eyes that unexpectedly swallowed her whole.

But it only lasted an instant, and then Dar was sighing and standing up.

“Maybe.” She ran a hand through her dark hair. “But right now, we should get you home,” the executive stated. “I have to run back by my office and finalize things.”

Kerry played with her pencil, biting on the eraser for a moment before looking up. “Can I come look at your numbers?” Her eyes fastened on Dar’s face, knowing she’d caught Dar by surprise. “I’m sorry.” She managed a half grin. “I don’t give up easily.”

Dar inhaled sharply at the sudden and unexpected challenge. She was exhausted, they were both drenched, Kerry was injured. It was late. It was insanity to even consider, insanity even for Kerry to have asked, or more like, presumed. She found those intense green eyes watching her intently and saw those lips twitch into a friendlier shape and… What the hell.

“Sure.” Dar wasn’t sure that voice was even hers. What the hell am I doing?

Then she thought about it. Well, what could it hurt? The kid’s sharp, and maybe a fresh set of eyes… “I’ve got some first aid stuff there for those cuts.”

The hint of a smile turned into a full one, if only for a brief moment, and it transformed Kerry’s face. “You wouldn’t happen to have some coffee there too, would you?”

Dar relaxed a little. “We do.” She indicated the door. “I think it may even stop raining.” She paused, as thunder rolled overhead. “Okay, maybe not.”

Kerry flipped off the lights as they left, and she limped after Dar with her briefcase slung over her shoulder. “How much wetter and more miserable can I possibly get?”

Dar almost chuckled as she shook her head. “Guess we’ll find out.”

KERRY SETTLED BACK into the leather seat, refusing to think about what she was doing. That left her mind free to watch the rain lash against the windshield during the drive cross-town, as she listened to the soft music Dar had chosen. Her cuts hurt, but they weren’t that bad, and her knee seemed only to be twisted. It wasn’t giving her much trouble while she was sitting, though she suspected she’d be limping for a few days. Things could definitely have been a lot worse.

Dar shifted her grip on the wheel, glancing right as she changed lanes, and Kerry noticed an ugly bruise that covered her knuckles. One was even scraped, and a stain of dried blood was visible in the low light from the dashboard. “What happened to your hand?”

Dar glanced down, then returned her eyes to the road. “I banged it into something,” she answered absently.

Kerry looked down at her own hand, bruised from her earlier impact with the wall and raised an eyebrow at the similar markings. Hmm. She pondered that a moment, then shifted her attention to the weather again.

Waves of rain were rippling across the street, moving in and out of the lights and reminding her vaguely of snowstorms back home.

She was running on pure adrenaline, though, and she knew it, and she hoped she was home in her own bed when everything came crashing down on top of her. Because she’d been working on the report, she’d only slept a few hours the previous night, and the long hours were beginning to wear on her.

Another look at Dar’s profile made her wonder if Dar wasn’t having the same problem. There were shadows under her eyes that the dim light revealed, and she was blinking a lot, which was something Kerry did when she was very tired. “Guess you’ve been working pretty hard on this thing too, huh?”

Blue eyes flicked to her face. “It’s been a long week, yes.” Dar guided the Lexus into the parking lot of the corporate headquarters and parked under the entrance overhang, ignoring the No Parking signs. She got out and waved at the security guard as he emerged. “Just me, Jack.” The man waved back and tucked himself back into his guard station, out of the rain. Dar waited for Kerry to join her, then led the way into the building, swiping her security card at the entrance in a smooth, graceful motion.

Kerry tipped her head back as they entered the lobby, looking up through the atrium which rose the entire length of the building. “Whoa.” She hugged the sweatshirt to her, glad of its warmth as the cold air flowed around them.

“This is, um…” She tried to find a politically correct term. “Um, it’s…”

Tropical Storm 57

“Pretentious,” Dar commented wryly, as she keyed the elevator. “It’s supposed to be.” She held the door for her smaller companion, then let it close and punched the fourteenth floor, slipping her keycard in when the elevator beeped a complaint. “Lesser mortals are supposed to stand in awe in the lobby.”

Kerry leaned against the wall and stifled a yawn. “Be careful, Ms.

Roberts,” she warned. “If you keep that up, I might get the idea you have a sense of humor.”

Dar looked at her, then, slowly, the faintest hint of a grin twitched her lips. “Sorry, they make you leave that as a deposit when you get issued your keycard.” She held up the item, then gestured for Kerry to precede her out of the elevator as it reached its destination.

Dar’s office was dimly lit by her twenty-one-inch monitor, and the small desk lamp she usually worked by at night. Her screensaver was on, jungle animals prowling across the dark surface accompanied by soft sounds. As they approached the desk, a macaw cried softly, and Dar reached over and gave her trackball a spin, bringing up the worksheet she’d been looking at before she’d left earlier. “Take a look,” she offered. “I’ll get some Band-Aids.

You mentioned coffee?”

Kerry perched on the edge of Dar’s very comfortable leather desk chair and looked around. “So, this is how the other half lives, huh?” she murmured, then turned her attention to the executive. “Um…where are you going to get coffee at this hour?”

Dar looked at her. “The kitchen. Yes or no?”

A blonde brow lifted. “You have a kitchen in here? Let me guess, it comes with a microprocessor that cooks things for you, right?” She saw Dar’s lips twitch again and smiled herself. “Okay, okay. Sure. I’d love some coffee.”