She finally turned her head to one side, and reveled in the sight of her lover’s angular profile just above her. “Wow.”
Dar smiled in pure reflex. “Wow?”
Kerry exhaled, and nuzzled her. “Wow. As in, wow, that was one of the neatest surprises I’ve ever gotten.” She squeezed Dar’s ribs. “Wow, as in wow, you have no idea how glad I am to see you. And wow, as in wow, 32 Melissa Good you just made a really cruddy day absolutely perfect.”
Dar blushed at the effusiveness. “Hmm.”
Kerry laughed in delight. “Oh, my god. It is so darn good to see you, Dar.”
The blue eyes twinkled happily. “Same here.” She hugged the smaller woman. “I was in the Houston airport, and the gate for my flight back to Miami was right next to the gate for a plane coming here. I just ended up on the wrong one.”
“Uh uh. Right one,” Kerry mumbled contentedly. “I was just about to call you. This thing blew up on me today.”
“Yeah?” Dar asked, surprised. “Thought it was pretty straightforward.” Impulsively she scooped Kerry up, getting a startled squawk from her lover, then dropped them both onto the bed. “But that’s all right. I had a pretty lousy day myself.”
Kerry sprawled lazily over her and rested her chin on Dar’s collarbone. “Somehow, it’s really hard for me to give a raccoon’s butt about that stuff right now.”
Hmm. Dar had been having the same thought, as the aggravation of the day evaporated effortlessly. “You can fill me in tomorrow. And I booked myself back to Miami on the same flight as you have.”
“Awesome.” Kerry chuckled. “They all wanted to meet my boss. Just goes to show you, be careful what you ask for in life, huh?” She spared a moment to indulge in the guilty pleasure of imagining walking into Allison Consulting tomorrow with the ultimate in attitude with her. “Heh.”
She studied Dar. “Do you have any luggage with you, or did you just...”
“I just.” Dar grinned. “So I’ve gotta wash this stuff out tonight and wear it again. Guess I’ll have to buff it tonight.” They grinned and chuckled.
Kerry plucked at her jeans button. “You went to HQ in this?”
“Yup. I woke up late this morning and I didn’t have time for anything else. Figured Alastair would rather me there in this, than not there.”
“Were you right?”
“Oh yeah. We managed to get the pinhead to back down, but it’s gonna get ugly.” Dar sighed. “He’s gonna tour Miami.” She combed her fingers through Kerry’s pale hair. “Alastair warned me he likes to get personal.” She hesitated, worried about her lover’s reaction. “And that he’d make us an issue.”
A blonde eyebrow lifted. “My job performance stands for itself,”
Kerry answered proudly. “As for anything else, he can kiss my butt.”
Dar grinned. “That’s my girl.” She half sat up, leaning closer to whisper. “And if he comes within a foot of your butt, I’m going to remove his testicles.” She paused. “Got me?”
Kerry held it in for a moment, then she laughed helplessly. Dar joined in, then they let that wind down. Kerry sighed. “Is Alastair really worried?”
Dar nodded. “Yeah. But I had time to think about it on the flight up Eye of the Storm 33
here. Unless he can prove it’s affecting the company in a negative way, there’s not much he can do.” She paused. “I mean, yeah, we broke the rules. But it’s not like it’s the first time it’s happened at ILS. He can make it pretty public, though, and damned uncomfortable for us.”
“Everyone knows anyway, Dar. We get invitations addressed to both of us all the time,” Kerry reminded her, with a smile. “And being publicly linked with you doesn’t bother me.” She paused. “I’ve had a lot of time to myself to think about that the last couple of weeks.”
Dar studied the determined look on her lover’s face and a sense of relief flooded through her. “Guess we’ll take it as it comes, then.” She traced Kerry’s jaw-line with a finger. “I told Alastair if I had to choose, there wasn’t any contest.”
“He knew that,” Kerry replied quietly. “He’s not stupid.”
Dar laughed. “Funny. That’s exactly what he said.” She lifted her body up and leaned over, finding Kerry waiting for her. Their lips touched and a shudder of pure reaction swept through her body. Fingers started exploring her, then Kerry paused and nudged her with her head.
“Mmm?”
“Let’s get your clothes taken care of. ’Cause you certainly can’t borrow mine.”
Obligingly, Dar rolled up off the bed and pulled Kerry up with her.
The smaller woman immediately unbuckled her belt, then slid fingers under Dar’s waistband and unbuttoned them.
Dar reciprocated by tugging Kerry’s shirt free and unfastening it, unable to prevent her hands from slipping beneath the fabric and starting a teasing exploration of the familiar body pressed lightly against hers.
The cool air of the room hit her shoulders as Kerry pulled her shirt off and she reluctantly relinquished first one hand, then the other to remove it entirely, managing to do the same for her without totally tangling them both up in fabric.
“Sometimes,” Kerry breathed against her skin, as she nibbled a path up her breastbone and reached around to unhook her bra, “it’s very nice being shorter than you.”
“Oh really?” Dar purred, working on her lover’s jeans, then running light fingers over her back as Kerry kicked her pants free. “Mmm. Red hearts, huh?” she teased gently, pulling at the waistband of Kerry’s underwear.
“Look who’s taking.” Kerry moved down and kissed her navel, then bit at the sedate, white briefs covered with a plethora of Dogberts.
“Nerd.”
Dar slid her arms around Kerry and picked her up, then fell sideways onto the bed, rolled over and settled her lover’s bare body on top of her, welcoming the explosion in her senses as Kerry’s touch claimed her.
Guess I’m wearing wet clothes tomorrow, she remembered thinking, just before a low, breathy growl in her ear made tomorrow, and clothing, and everything else...
Irrelevant.
34 Melissa Good WAKING UP NAKED in bed with Dar Roberts was about the nicest thing Kerry could readily conceive of, she decided, having done just that.
She stretched a little under the soft quilt and snuggled closer, feeling really rested for the first time in two weeks.
They had managed to get Dar’s clothes washed and hung up in the bathroom, but it had been pretty late before that happened, and she wondered if the darn things would even be half dry by now.
The sun peeked in and Kerry peeked back, then put her head down on Dar’s shoulder, using her lover’s body to block out the intrusive rays.
A soft chime made her look up again to see her mail icon blinking.
She made a face at it. Dar had done a very quick review of her initial findings last night and, with a grim look and a shake of her head, immediately sent the files off to Duk’s auditors.
Not good.
Though, watching Dar browse Allison’s data files in the nude certainly had lent a piquant note to the proceedings. Or maybe surreal was the word she was looking for. At any rate, her instincts had been confirmed by her lover’s experience and now that bleeping blinking icon was probably Duks having a multiple coronary over the prelims.
But she didn’t want to check it. She didn’t want to move one inch from where she was, or tear her ear away from the soothing sound of Dar’s heartbeat, slow and steady under her.