“Thanks, Tory. I will.” Pia waved good night and let herself into the condo. It was after 11 p.m., but she wasn’t tired. The anxiety and worry of the long day had hyped her up to the point where she wasn’t sure she would be able to sleep at all. When she reached the bedroom, she stepped quietly to the chair that she’d drawn up to the bedside earlier.

“Tory leave?” KT asked drowsily.

“Yes. How are you doing?”

“Better. You?”

“Fine.” Pia lifted the book. “If you don’t mind the light, I thought I’d just sit here and read for a while.”

“You don’t need to stay. Go home and get some sleep.”

“We’ve had this conversation before.”

KT sighed. “And Tory called me frigging stubborn.”

Pia laughed quietly. “Comparatively speaking, I think I just qualify as plain stubborn.”

“You and Tory are pretty good friends, huh?”

“Yes, we are.” Pia settled into the chair and inched it forward until she could see KT’s face as they talked. Unconsciously, she reached out and stroked KT’s hair. “You really should sleep.”

“Did the two of you used to…date?”

“Very briefly, a long time ago.” Pia rested her hand on KT’s shoulder, rubbing her fingers lightly over KT’s skin. “How did you know that?”

“Something about the way Tory yelled at you. There was a certain degree of familiarity to it.”

Pia laughed. “Very observant.”

“So what happened?”

“Tory was still in love with someone else.” She spoke gently, her fingers drifting to KT’s jaw.

“Did she break your heart?”

“No,” Pia said with conviction. “No one broke my heart.”

“So why”

“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“Just tell me what you’re waiting for.”

Pia sighed, and had she not been so exhausted from the day, she might no have answered. But KT’s skin was so soft beneath her fingers and her face so unguarded that Pia forgot her usual caution. ” I want the woman I’ll spend the rest of my life with to be the only one.”

“Forever,” KT said drowsily.

“Yes “

“I screwed up pretty badly back then,” KT murmured.

“That’s between you and Tory.”

KT turned her face until her cheek rested against Pia’s palm. The cool strength of Pia’s fingers gave her comfort. “Do you think I’m a lost cause?”

“No,” Pia whispered. I think you are beautiful, in every way. “Go to sleep now, honey.”

Nearly asleep, KT asked what she never would have let herself ask had she been fully m control. “Would you hold me again like you did this afternoon?”

Pia didn’t stop to think what it might mean-that KT asked or that she couldn’t for one second imagine saying no. She set her book aside and eased onto the bed. In a motion hat felt a natural to her as breathing, she settled KT’s head against her breast.

Chapter Twenty

“Why don’t you go check on her?” Reese said quietly as she drew the soft strands of Tory’s hair through her fingers. It was just after 5 a.m., and the room had begun to lighten as the sun rose over the harbor. She knew Tory was awake, even though she hadn’t moved her head from Reese’s shoulder where she’d fallen asleep the night before. There was a stillness in her body that wasn’t there when she slept and a tightness in her muscles that belied her restful pose.

“Have you always been able to read my mind?” Tory touched a kiss to Reese’s shoulder while tightening her hold around Reese’s waist.

“Not at the very beginning.” Reese moved her hand from Tory’s hair to the center of her back and massaged her gently, the movement pressing Tory’s bare breasts to Reese’s chest. “I didn’t realize for the longest time that you lusted after me.”

Tory laughed. “I should think it would have been obvious to you when I couldn’t keep my hands off you, even when you’d been shot.” Recalling that night, and her terror, she tensed.

“Freak accident,” Reese murmured, turning until Tory lay beneath her. She braced herself on her elbows and framed Tory’s face in her hands. Then she kissed her forehead. “If you’re worried about KT, you should go see her.”

“Pia is with her. She would have called me if there was a problem.”

Reese nodded. “I know. But you’re still worrying.”

Tory smiled, softly and opened her legs so that Reese could settle more comfortably between them. She loved being able to hold her while they talked, about anything, it seemed. Reese made it possible to discuss the really hard things because she never allowed distance to come between them, no matter what had transpired. Tory counted on that, in the moments when she was most uncertain. She caught the thick hair at the base of Reese’s neck and tugged Reese’s head down until their mouths met. She took her time with the kiss, because it was the first of the day and it might be hours before they could share a moment as private and wholly theirs as this one. The baby would awaken soon, needing to be fed and readied for her day at Kate and Jean’s, Reese would leave for the early-morning class at the dojo, and she would head for the clinic after dropping Regina off. None of those thoughts was foremost in her mind, only the distant sense of urgency to connect, to renew herself through the love that sustained her. She didn’t notice when her grip on Reese tightened, or when she hooked her heels over Reese’s tight thighs and arched her pelvis into her lover. She wasn’t aware of her heart beating wildly or the soft undulations of her hips or the sudden tension in Reese’s body. As she stroked her tongue over Reese’s, she savored the warmth that began in her heart and settled deep in the core of her, transforming with each second from the quiet comfort of belonging to the sharp edge of pleasure. When she felt the first hint of the pressure coalescing between her thighs, she drew her head away with a gasp. “Oh my.”

Breathing fast, her eyes the navy blue of the sunset over the dunes, Reese grinned. “Yeah. Oh my.”

“Do we have time?”

Reese shifted enough to allow a hand between their bodies and smoothed her fingers between Tory’s legs, coating her fingers with the evidence of Tory’s desire. When Tory arched her back with another sharp gasp, Reese groaned quietly. “Plenty of time.”

“And it’s about time.” Tory moaned as she caught Reese’s hand and pressed Reese’s fingers inside.

“Tor?” Reese said anxiously.

Already contracting around Reese’s fingers, eyes nearly closed, Tory shook her head restlessly. “Eight weeks, sweetheart. Eight weeks and I’ve missed you so much.”

Reese could feel Tory’s orgasm gathering and couldn’t have abandoned her then for any reason. She rested her forehead against Tory’s shoulder and carefully moved within her, following the demanding thrust of her lover’s hips with gentle replies of her own.

“I love you.”

“So good,” Tory whispered, digging her fingers into Reese’s strong back. “So good, so good.”

Reese closed her legs tightly around Tory’s as she stroked Tory to climax, feeling her own release build swiftly through her trembling limbs. When Tory threw her head back and convulsed around Reese’s fingers, Reese exploded. She cried out once before burying her face in Tory’s neck, coming hard and deep.

“Oh my,” Tory sighed after a moment.

“Uh-huh.”

“I think that was a record.”

Reese laughed, then shifted some of her weight off her lover and rolled onto her side. Gently, she eased her fingers out but kept her hand cupped lightly between Tory’s thighs. “You’re wonderful.”

Tory leaned her forehead against Reese’s, tracing her fingers along Reese’s jaw. “I realized something last night. Something that should have occurred to me a long time ago.”

“What?”

“That you’re the person that I belong with. Just you. Always you yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

“Tory,” Reese murmured reverently. She drew Tory close, fitting their bodies together until nothing separated them. “I’ll do everything I can to always be here for you.”

“I know.”

“About what my father said the other day”

“No.” Tory put her fingers gently to Reese’s mouth. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

“All right.” Reese kissed Tory’s fingers. “What about KT? Is she going to be all right?”

“It depends on what you mean.” Tory sighed. “I don’t think she’s going to have a long-term problem with substance abuse, but she’s so…” She struggled to express what she hadn’t wanted to admit but what had been so clear to her the night before. “God, she is so lonely.’”

“I was lonely too, before I met you.” Reese rocked Tory unconsciously. “It took meeting you for me to know that. Maybe it works that way for some people.”

“Oh, baby,” Tory said gently. “Sometimes, you break my heart.”

Reese frowned. “Why?”

“Because I worry that I won’t be able to love you well enough.”

“Oh yeah,” Reese responded with a laugh. “That was pretty obvious a few minutes ago.”

Tory slapped her lightly on the shoulder. “I wasn’t talking about that.”

“The only reason it happens the way it does the reason that I can’t hold back when we make love, is because you love me just the way I need to be loved.” She kissed Tory softly. “Don’t ever doubt it.”

The faint sound of fretful, waking noises came to them through the baby monitor next to the bed. Both turned instinctively toward the sound.

“Guess the other reason I’m so happy just woke up.” Reese kissed the tip of Tory’s nose and drew away. “I’ll get her and bring her in here for breakfast.”

Tory caught Reese’s hand before she could get out of bed. “Thanks for being so good about KT. A lot of women wouldn’t understand,”

“If I thought she could or would hurt you, I’d feel differently.”

There was an unwavering edge in Reese’s voice that made Tory realize that for all of Reese’s gentleness, she would fight for anything that threatened what was hers Tory, Regina, and, Tory knew in her heart, her country.