She let her eyes roam the skies overhead, watching a hawk circle lazily. Dar reclined next to her, breaking off mouthfuls of her assorted goodies and popping them in Kerry’s mouth as they shared companionably.

”Jesus, this has been such a long week,” Kerry commented.

”Uh huh.” Dar fed her another bit of cornbread. ”I’m glad we had a few days up here just to relax.” She paused. ”Well, sort of,” she chuckled. ”Barring a fall from a horse or two.” She brought out a large thermos and uncapped it, releasing an intoxicating scent of chocolate into the air.

Kerry accepted the cup of hot chocolate, and gave Dar a gentle kiss.

”It’s been wonderful despite the horse.” She gazed into the blue eyes.

”We’ll have to come up here again when we can spend more time.”

They were sitting in the bottom of the boat, with their heads resting against the padded back seat, and Dar shifted, slipping an arm behind Kerry and drawing her closer.

Kerry put the cup down, and half turned, sliding her hands over Dar’s shirt and tangling her fingers in the fabric, as she willingly met the lips searching for hers. They tasted each other for a breathless moment, then backed off a little, as Dar reached up and stroked Kerry’s face. ”I wish we didn’t have to go back.”

Kerry studied her face, evaluating the statement. ”You mean that.”

The blue eyes dropped. ”Yes.” Dar exhaled, as she regarded the rippling water. ”I keep trying to dredge up interest in going back into that office on Monday, and I just can’t,” she confessed. ”I don’t know if I can just go back to business as usual.”

Kerry's blonde head cocked to one side. ”Dar, I don’t understand. I thought you’d worked things out with Alastair. Did something else happen?” She put a hand on her lover’s arm in concern.

A soft laugh. ”Sort of.” Dar’s lips twisted into a wry smile. ”We happened,” she stated quietly. ”I don’t think I can put that aside, when I have to be the company bastard anymore.” She glanced up at Kerry 264

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honestly. ”There are things I’ve done that I couldn’t do now, not and look you in the eye at the end of the day.”

Kerry felt a little shocked. She hadn’t expected that, hadn’t even considered it, really. ”Dar, you don’t know that. I mean we’ve hardly had a chance to—”

”I do know it,” Dar interrupted gently. ”I knew it that afternoon up at Disney.” She picked up Kerry’s hand. ”When I wouldn’t trade a roll in the sack for a contract just because you were there.”

A slow intake of breath. An exhale. ”Oh.”

”Yeah,” Dar murmured. ”What you think of me matters, Kerry. I’ve never had to worry about that before.” She tangled her fingers with her lover’s. ”I can’t do things the old way.”

Kerry tried to jump start her brain into action. ”Find another way then,” she offered, faintly. ”We can do it, you and I.”

A long pause, as the hawk called overhead, lonely and regal.

Finally, Dar blinked. ”Maybe,” she murmured. ”I guess we’ll find out.”Kerry studied her lover’s body language, often a far more accurate guide to her feelings than her speech was. “Are you tired of doing what you’re doing, Dar?”

The sound of the waves floated over them for a few minutes. “I...”

Dar paused. “I think I’m just tired of it never ending,” she admitted. “It never gets any better. It’s just one fight after another, one crisis after another. I’m just over it.”

“Wow,” Kerry murmured.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Dar went on. “I was just thinking it would be damn nice to just take a few weeks off and, I don’t know, just do nothing.”

“Funny,” her partner mused. “I couldn’t wait to start working because I felt like I was finally doing something useful with my life.”

She nudged the sail a bit with one foot. “The one thing I knew I didn’t want to be was someone who just stayed home and did nothing.”

Dar looked at her. “Wow,” she echoed.

“But you know what?” Kerry continued. “It would be okay to do that if it was with you. I could spend the rest of my life just doing nothing with you and be happy.” She looked at Dar’s profile. “And no, I’m not just saying that because it’s romantic and goopy and it would make you feel better.”

Dar’s lips twitched, as she bit off exactly that accusation. “Well,”

she sighed. “Now that Alastair’s okay with us maybe we can work together to change things back there,” she said. “At least I’ll have success to go back with. Maybe that’ll help.”

Kerry traced Dar’s cheekbone with her finger. “If not, we’ll make a change,” she said. “Now we can be partners all the time, and I know that’s going to make a difference to a lot of people in how they treat me.”


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“Good or bad?” Dar wondered.

“Both,” Kerry acknowledged. “But you take your advantages where you find them. I learned that the hard way growing up.”

“Mm. We’ll see,” Dar said. “What the hell. Let’s give it a try.

What’s another challenge anyway?”

Kerry nodded, profoundly relieved. ”Right.” She rubbed Dar’s hand against her face. ”Speaking of challenges, you ready to learn to sail?”A smile spread across Dar’s face. ”Yeah.” She cupped Kerry’s cheek affectionately. ”Teach me.”


Chapter

Twenty

”WHEW.” KERRY ADJUSTED the strap on her laptop case and handed over her suitcase to the skycap, as Dar bent her head to listen to his mate, who was processing their boarding passes. ”We’ve got time for a cup of coffee, Dar. You interested?”

Dar glanced over her shoulder and smiled. ”You bet.” She accepted the boarding passes from the porter, and rejoined her companion, zipping up her jacket a little as they moved along the concourse towards the door. ”I think we’re getting outta here just in time. Did you see those clouds?”

Kerry peered back the way they came, where lowering, gray clouds obscured the sunset, and nodded. ”Yeah, I think you’re right, partner.”

She patted Dar on the back. ”Unless I’m really mistaken, you’re going to miss a snowstorm.”

Dar’s ears perked up. ”A snowstorm?” She grinned, and bumped into Kerry’s shoulder with her elbow. ”That wouldn’t be so bad. I always wanted to have a snowball fight with someone.” She let out a breath, and paused before they entered the terminal. ”Maybe next time.”

”You want a snowball fight? You got it, but let me warn you it’s only fun for about the first ten minutes.” Kerry smiled, her eyes crinkling up all the way. “After that, you just want dry towels and hot chocolate.”

“Problem with that?”

“Nope.” She tucked a hand into the crook of Dar’s elbow and walked her inside, dodging a moving cart as they moved towards the security station. ”Whoops, time for the strip search.” She released Dar, and put her laptop case and purse on the belt, then shrugged out of her jacket and added that, since it had her cell phone and pager in the pockets. Then she stepped through the security gate and smiled at the guard as she went to pick up her things.

”Excuse me, we need you to open this,” the young woman behind the table stated, holding onto Kerry’s laptop firmly.

Kerry sighed. ”Sure.” She unzipped the case and laid it open, exposing the slate gray top of her computer. She was aware of Dar’s close presence, as the taller woman was also being asked to open her bag. ”Why don’t we have this much trouble at Miami,” she muttered Hurricane Watch

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under her breath.

Dar chuckled softly, unzipping the case and opening it. “I’m not carrying Cuban cigars, that’s why.”

”Could you turn them on, please?” the woman asked, implacably.

Blue eyes and green met in wry exasperation. ”Sure.” Dar flipped her power switch on, then reached over and got Kerry’s. ”I have Pinball loaded on there if you’re interested.” She remarked to the guard.

The woman looked frostily at her. ”Thank you. Could you turn on your phones and pagers, please?”

One dark eyebrow rose. ”You don’t want me to do that,” Dar drawled.

”Yes ma’am, I do, unless you’d rather do it in the security offices,”

the guard answered.

Dar shrugged, and flipped the devices on, then counted under her breath to ten. On six, both pagers went off, and both phones started beeping, indicating voice mail.

The guard backed away from the desk, with a frightened look.

”I told you,” Dar sighed, picking up her pager, and glancing at it.

”Damn it, there must be three dozen pages on this stupid thing.”

”Yikes.” Kerry picked hers up, and pressed the button. ”Oh, gee, I’m glad I’m just your assistant. I’ve only got two dozen.” She shook her head. ”I mean, didn’t they figure out we were together?” She glanced up at the guard, who had been joined by two others. ”We’ve been on vacation for two days,” she explained. ”Our office tends to freak out.”

Dar was muttering, and cursing under her breath as she reviewed her pages, then she looked up at the silent guards. ”Oh, for god’s sake, they’re pagers, not grenades.” She tugged her identification out of a pocket of her laptop and tossed it over to them. ”There.” She tugged her jacket back on, and shoved her phone in the pocket, then took her ID

back. ”Excuse me.” She started down towards the gate, still muttering.

Kerry found herself facing them. ”Um, it’s been a long week,” she explained, zipping up her laptop and shouldering it. ”May I?” She held out her hand, and was given back her pager. ”Thanks. Have a great day.”She walked off, resisting the urge to look back over her shoulder, and hurried to catch up with Dar. ”Hey, wait up.”