Tropical Storm - DK1 (50 page)

It felt wonderful. Dar’s eyes closed, and this time, she welcomed the dreams.

THEY WERE OUTSIDE a waterfall this time. She was looking out over a small
ledge thick with moss, above a deep pool that caught the falling water with a dull roar.

It was mid-afternoon, and the weather was perfect—nice and cool, but sunny. Other
than the water, the only sounds she could hear were birds, and a few small rustles that
might have been squirrels around them. Otherwise it was quiet enough to hear the
leaves growing.

Warmth stirred against her, and she glanced down to see a blonde head tucked
against her shoulder and one tanned hand resting on her stomach, a surface a good
deal more toned than she could recall herself being since she’d stopped competing in
tournaments a few years back.

It was Kerry...and yet, it wasn’t. The hair, though disheveled, was styled
differently, and the hand resting on her bore a small scar in the half moon between
forefinger and thumb that wasn’t familiar. The body resting against her was darker,
and more muscular as well. She could feel the solid weight of it and the rippled curves
under the arm she had wrapped around the smaller woman.

Strange. And not. A roughly woven blanket covered them from the hips down,
and despite the uneven surface, she felt very comfortable and totally relaxed.

She watched a butterfly flutter down, its yellow and black wings in a stark
contrast to the green around them. It lighted on a flower, pale pink and salmon, that
swayed gently under the weight of the insect. Its wings were spread for balance, and
she watched them almost hypnotically as they opened and closed, seeing the odd, dark
eyes on each one.

She looked straight up and saw a hawk, coursing through the upper canopy and
arching its body to land. A feather floated down, wisps of brown and tan, and landed
on the blanket over her thigh.

Then the sound of the water lulled her back into sleep.

Dar slowly became aware of her surroundings, a mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar, as the well-known comfort of her waterbed combined with the wonderful sensation of someone hugging her. She let her eyes drift open, and saw the muted reflection of sunlight coming through the drawn blinds, sending tiny stripes across her body as well as Kerry’s.

The blonde was in the same position in which she’d fallen asleep last
Tropical Storm
241

night, or, to be more precise, earlier that morning, curled up tightly against her left side with one arm thrown across Dar’s middle. Just like the dream, she mused. Except they were in a bed, in an apartment in Miami, fully dressed, of course, not naked somewhere in the forest outside a damn waterfall.

What a strange dream.
Dar shook her head faintly, then craned her neck to examine Kerry’s hand, where she’d seen the scar in the dream. Nothing but smooth skin met her eyes, and her brows creased in puzzlement.
What was that
all about?
Why would she imagine something like that?
Weird. Very weird.

She dismissed the images and turned her attention to the present. Where their bodies met, she could feel Kerry’s living warmth, and she almost stopped breathing when the younger woman’s hand moved, lightly stroking her stomach through the fabric that separated them. She closed her eyes, savoring the touch and trying not to think about how long it had been since she’d allowed herself to want what she wanted with Kerry.

Not sex. Well…
Her lips twisted a little. Not sex, but closeness, that trust between two people she’d only known twice in her lifetime, and twice…twice she’d learned a hard lesson.
Everyone has their own agenda, Dar. Nobody gives for
giving’s sake, just to get something back.
Something they want.
Something from her. After that, she’d stopped trusting. You wanted sex? Sure, she could do that. It didn’t mean a goddamn thing one way or the other. But nobody got inside, nobody got to where it would hurt if they turned out to be scum, or if they walked away, or if they told her thanks, but they’d gotten what they wanted and now she meant nothing. No. Twice was enough. And yet here she was, after all those years, thinking about trusting again. About letting Kerry inside, letting her get hold of the little bits and pieces of vulnerability that were left in there, and trusting her not to scrape them raw again.

She hardly even knew Kerry.
What am I thinking of?
Hell, she didn’t even know if she was capable of it anymore, never mind if it was a good idea. She sighed, and looked at the clock.
Eleven. Well, I got a few hours of sleep, anyway.

Better get up and see what’s going on at the office, and…

Kerry nestled closer, making a soft sound of contentment, her breath warming Dar’s skin through the cotton. It felt so good—the touch of her skin, the smell of her. It was like drowning. She tightened her arm around Kerry and exhaled softly. Unexpectedly, she found her eyes drifting shut as her body relaxed against Kerry’s, the younger woman’s peaceful somnolence coaxing her back into sleep.
No sense in forcing the kid to wake up. She worked
hard last night, right? A few more minutes won’t hurt.

Kerry realized where she was before she opened her eyes this time. She caught her breath, but resisted panic when she felt the secure hold wrapped around her and realized Dar knew she was there, and hadn’t minded. So she relaxed and enjoyed the sensation, her head pillowed on a very nice shoulder and her ear pressed against Dar’s chest, letting her senses absorb the closeness, and the distinctive scent of her—faint traces of perfume, of soap, the clean cotton smell of her pajamas. Each one was ordinary, but in combination they painted a unique portrait of her new friend. Kerry decided she liked it.

She could hear the heartbeat, slow and steady, and feel the movement as 242
Melissa Good
Dar breathed, and decided it was a really comforting sound to wake up to. She opened her eyes and shifted a little, peering up at the angular face above her to see Dar completely relaxed in sleep.

Jesus…she looks so young like that
, Kerry mused in faint surprise. Without the wary intelligence that so characterized Dar’s face, and the tensions life had put there, she appeared no older than Kerry herself, and the blonde woman found herself wondering just how true that was. Surely someone who was in a position like hers had to be older, had to be more experienced.
Right?
And yet, there was no hint of silver in that dark head, and the creases along her eyes were those Kerry had seen in even the youngest adults in Miami, from the constant squinting into the brilliant sunlight. It would be easy enough to find out, of course. Just send a query for her graduation date from public school into the Dade County archives.

Her more practical side tapped her on the shoulder.
Or you could just ask. I
mean, Jesus, Kerry, you’re practically sleeping on top of her. I don’t think she’d mind
you asking how old she is.
She
put her head back down with a wry smile
. I’m not
sure this is how it’s supposed to work, though. Aren’t you supposed to go through
stages like meeting, dating, having drinks, going to parties in large groups, before you
end up sleeping together?

She let her fingers flex gently against the soft surface. She could feel the bumps that were Dar’s ribs moving under her hand and found her thumb rubbing the skin that sloped down towards her navel. It didn’t feel strange to be touching her like this. In fact, it seemed so normal to her it was sort of scary.

How had the barriers that existed between any two people broken down so quickly between them? Kerry was a touch-sensitive person in any case. She spoke with her hands, and she tended to reach out and make contact with whoever she was dealing with, but this… It was almost like they’d known each other for a long time, it was that kind of comfortableness.
Weird.

She absently traced a line down Dar’s belly.
Oh well, I always was a fast
learner. I hope I can learn fast enough, though. I have absolutely no idea in the world
what to do with her beyond kissing. I wonder if there are books,
she mused, considering the thought. She let Dar’s warm scent enter her lungs.
I bet I can
find something on the Internet. Let’s see… Yahoo, Search, keyword: Sex and women
but not kinky. Response: We have found six zillion seven hundred million references,
please refine your search parameters.
Kerry giggled softly to herself.

“What’s so funny?”

The low, vibrant voice rumbled through the surface on which her head was resting. Kerry managed not to jump, but she glanced up to see sleepy blue eyes regarding her in amusement. “Um…” She muffled another giggle.

“Didn’t mean to wake you up. It was nothing, really. I was…just, um, thinking of cartoons.”

Both dark brows lifted. “Cartoons?” Dar’s voice replied in disbelief.

“Yeah, you know, like Space Ghost.” Kerry thought fast. “Did you know he interviewed Emeril Lagasse the other night?” She started to back away. “I have no idea why we always end up like this. I don’t, um…”

“Hey.” Dar patted her back. “It’s okay, you just do it in your sleep. It doesn’t bother me.” She released the smaller woman, though, sensing her
Tropical Storm
243

discomfort. They had time, and Kerry was going to need it, to get used to the physical dimension they were developing. That was all right. It was going to take Dar some getting used to also.

Kerry rolled over onto her back and stretched. “You’re right though—it is comfortable.” She smiled at Dar. “I’ll have to think about getting one of these.” Then she sighed. “After I figure out what I’m going to do about my parents.”

Dar rolled onto her side, and cocked her head. “Your parents? What do they have to do with a waterbed?” she inquired curiously.

Kerry remained silent for a moment, then she looked up. “They’re putting a lot of pressure on me to come home.” She paused in thought. “And I’m not going to go. It’s just that I have to find a way to tell them without causing a family nuclear holocaust.”

Dar scratched her nose. “They still want you to marry that guy?” Her blue eyes watched Kerry’s face intently.

The blonde woman nodded grimly. “Oh yeah. Brian is graduating from law school this semester. He’ll be done by the holidays, and that…was what they were waiting for.”

“I take it they don’t know you, um…” Dar gestured between the two of them.

“Uh, no.” Kerry winced. “That’s a relatively new development.” A pause.

“I, um, I mean, I always just did what everyone else does—the prom, the whole deal—but I never really…I mean, I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was, you know?”

Dar muffled a grin. “I know.” She gave Kerry an understanding look.

“Been there, done that.”

Kerry smiled at her. “Yeah, I guess you have. So…when I moved down here, everything was just so different. And one Saturday a bunch of my new friends took me to South Beach.”

“Oh.” Dar clapped a hand over her mouth. “I guess that was a revelation.”

“For someone from Saugatuck? Uh huh.” Kerry started to laugh and then exhaled. “Most outlandish thing I’d seen until then was the Saugatuck Duck Festival. Let’s just say my horizons were considerably broadened that weekend.”

“C’mon, Kerry, even in Saugatuck I’m sure there were gay people.” Dar chuckled.

“Well, sure. In fact, when I think back, and I know now what I was seeing, I can remember that. But no one talked about it. It was kept, like the cliché, in the closet,” Kerry explained. “Certainly, in
my
family, it wasn’t discussed.” She exhaled. “But then I…well, it took me a while, but I eventually figured out what I was feeling, and why I was having such a hard time dealing with the thought of settling down with Brian and having a couple of kids.”

“That must have been rough for you,” Dar sympathized. “My father guessed, and he took me aside one day and talked to me about it. I had already figured it out, so it was kind of a relief.”

Kerry looked at her. “He didn’t mind?”

A shake of the dark head. “No. That surprised me. I’d been scared to tell 244
Melissa Good
him, because he was military, and you know that doesn’t really breed liberal thinking. But when I think about it now, knowing what he was…I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

Kerry got off track. “What was he?” she asked softly.

“Navy Seal.” Dar smiled at her wide-eyed reaction.

“Wow. I can’t imagine what that would be like.” Kerry breathed. “It would be…very different for me. They wouldn’t understand that.”

“Ah.” Dar nodded. “That’s tough.” She thought a moment. “Certainly your career is more likely to advance here than in Michigan. The Troy office really doesn’t do what you’re good at.”

Kerry sat up and crossed her legs, pushing her hair behind her ears.

“They don’t care about that. My mother left this message on my machine last night that said I could get some secretarial position in the Troy office, so I could keep my little hands busy while I waited to get pregnant.”

“What?” Dar leaned forward. “Kerry, did anyone tell them this is the 1990s, going on the year 2000?”

“Not in my family,” she responded quietly. “I think they’re firmly entrenched in the 1940s.” Kerry nibbled her lip. “I could just tell them, I guess.”

“Maybe you should start slow…like telling them you’re staying in Miami first,” Dar replied, reasonably. “Before you spring the ‘I’m not marrying what’s-his-face’ and ‘oh yeah, by the way, I’m dating my boss’ on them.” she added with a wry smile. “Before you add, the ‘and she’s a woman.’ ”

“Mmm, you’re probably right,” Kerry acknowledged. “Though I’d get a point for dating my boss, for all of the twenty seconds or so it would take him before he remembered who that was.”
It‘s a tempting thought, though.

“You…aren’t close with your father, I take it?” Dar asked gently.