Okay. Okay, okay. Let’s take stock of the situation. We are attracted to each other. That’s not a surprise. I knew that before. Okay? Okay, she’s attractive, she thinks I’m attractive, we have similar tastes…she’s smart. It’s really not that surprising, Dar, so get a grip.

She felt better. A little. But all that rationalization didn’t explain just how good it had felt to hold Kerry in her arms and how much her body was craving more of that, so much so that if Kerry had been there, Dar knew she couldn’t have kept her hands from touching that soft skin, or playing with her hair or…

Dar slowly lowered her head onto the back of the couch, feeling the cool surface of the leather become warm against her skin. This was a new feeling for her. Intense, and somewhat out of control, but warm and sweet and very, very distracting. She knew she had to get a handle on that, but right now, she was content to sit and sip her milk, and indulge herself in this emotional whirlpool.

She was surprised when the phone rang, and she stared at it for a 234 Melissa Good moment before she hoisted herself to her feet and went to the table, glancing at the clock as she picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Ms. Roberts, this is Mids Ops,” the vaguely nervous voice said. “Um, you’re on my notify list if we lose anything.”

“Oh yeah? What’d we lose?” Dar asked, curiously.

“Um. Netops,” the voice answered. “They had a fire in the building, and they had to evac. The fire department won’t let them switch to UPS, so…”

“We’re down,” Dar supplied.

“Um, yes.”

“Completely down,” Dar added. “Everything—the network and the mainframes.”

“Yes.”

“Guess you can go home then, huh?” the executive commented casually.

“Uh…”

“No sense in your being there if there aren’t any mainframes to administer. The internal network is on an automatic backup schedule,” Dar reasoned, “so…go on home.”

“Uh…okay, Ms. Roberts, if you say so.”

“Sure,” Dar reassured him. “Bye.” The line went dead, and she put the phone down, padding back over to the couch and sitting down, taking a sip of her milk, letting her mind wander again, daydreaming about sea green eyes and lightly sun-tinged skin, her imagination hearing the roar of the waves and the sound of seashells tinkling in their wake.

Then her eyes popped open and she spat milk out over half the table.

“Holy shit!” she barked, jumping back up and grabbing for the phone again.

“Sonofabitch!” She dialed frantically, then waited. “Yeah, on second thought stick around there. … No, no, it’s my fault. … No. Who else have you notified? Keep going.” She hung up, then slapped herself on the side of the head a few times. “Jesus!”

She dove into her briefcase for her contact book and opened it, bringing it and the phone back to the couch. She dialed a number. “Who is this? Okay, this is Dar Roberts. … Yes, I know. Who won’t let you cut over to backup?

What’s his name? … Okay, what division is he with? … County or city?

Thanks. What damage did the building take?” She listened for a long moment.

“Did the extinguishers go off?” Another long pause. “Christ! Do we have backup 3270s?”

As she listened, she booted her laptop and plugged in the network cord that would connect the machine to the dedicated line dropped into the condo.

“Well, someone better get on the line to Infrastructure in Houston and see if they have a couple mothballed somewhere.” She hung up, then studied her screen. System indicators showed red blinking lights everywhere on the top-level view of the network. “Hell, everything’s down.” People would be calling; she was surprised they hadn’t already.

How long has this been going on? Did the system forget to page me? Dar scrabbled for her pager, then realized she wasn’t wearing it. “What in th—”

She paused, eyes unfocused, then cursed softly. “Son of a stupid bitch.” With her free hand, she dialed the phone, listening for a familiar voice. “Hey.”

“Hey, what’s up?” Kerry sounded a little surprised, but not disappointed Tropical Storm 235

to hear her voice.

“We’re not. Netops had a fire, and the entire network is down,” Dar told her with a sigh. “Some idiot in the fire department won’t let them go on backup.”

“Yikes! You need some help there?”

Dar hesitated. “I’m just going to be yelling at people,” she temporized.

“I can make you hot tea,” Kerry responded readily. “Besides, I don’t think I can sleep.”

Dar drummed her fingers against her leg. “Um. You know, we’re going to have to reroute a lot of stuff if I can’t get the fire department to cooperate. I could use some help in research and identifying available assets.”

Kerry’s voice perked up. “Really?”

Dar gave in and gave up. “Yeah, you can dump into the second ISDN line here. If you want to, that is.”

“I’ll be right there,” came the immediate assurance.

A smile edged Dar’s lips against her will. “See you soon, then. Bye.” She took a moment out to call security, then she went back to her searching. She found the name she was looking for, then glanced up at the TV screen, which was tuned to, of all things, the Disney channel. “Oh… Beauty and the Beast. I love those candlesticks.” She pointed cheerfully at it as she dialed the phone.

“Hello, I need to speak with Walter Blakelock. … No, this is business.” A pause. “I don’t give a goddamn if he’s humping with the mayor’s wife, I need to talk to him.” Another pause. “Either get him on the phone, or I’ll be calling his boss out of bed, too. … Thanks, I’ll wait.”

KERRY DIMMED HER lights as she pulled into the underground parking, slid into place next to Dar’s Lexus, and turned off the Mustang’s engine. She glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror and gave herself a little lecture. “This is business, Kerrison. You are here because the company is in crisis, and it’s part of your job,” she told her reflection sternly. “No doe-eyed looks, no batting of the eyelashes, and no backrubs, got it?”

She exhaled, then cleared her throat and got out of the car, bringing her laptop case with her. She trotted up the stairs and rang the bell, listening for and hearing Dar’s low voice in response. “It’s business, it’s business, it’s business,” she repeated silently, as she pushed open the door and ducked inside.

Dar was sprawled on the couch in her pajamas, one long, bare, muscular leg slung over the end of the furniture and her shirt half unbuttoned. Oh well.

So much for that, Kerry sighed, as every single solitary hormone in her entire body stood up and said, “Hi there!” She managed to give Dar a crisp nod as she put her case down and got her laptop out. “Hey. Long time no see.”

Dar glanced up and over the back of the couch at her, eyes flicking over her as a brief grin appeared. “Hope you brought something more comfortable to change into. It’s gonna be a long night.”

Kerry just managed not to smirk. “Yeah, I feel a little overdressed,” she agreed as her eyes lingered on Dar's bare legs. “I’ll go fix that.” She took herself off to the nearby washroom, leaving Dar to her phone call.


236 Melissa Good Dar’s eyes briefly followed Kerry toward the washroom, and then she returned her attention to her phone call. “Look, Jim, I don’t care what it’s going to take, I need the building back online.” She leaned forward and cradled her head in her hand. “They can’t go on backup power because the fire department won’t certify the electrical substructure as safe. That means I need an electrical engineer in there, and I need them now, not tomorrow or Monday. Got me?”

Kerry got her system going, then she stood up. “Bet you could use some coffee,” she guessed, getting a pathetically grateful look from her boss.

“Thought so. I’ll go make some.” Okay, I can do this. We’re functioning. Kerry felt a little relieved, her initial nervousness fading as she rattled around the kitchen, setting up the coffee maker and starting it going. She returned to the doorway and leaned against it, watching Dar as she persistently threatened, cajoled, and harangued a series of people, finally resulting in a string of curses in two languages that caused Kerry’s eyebrows to lift as the executive slammed down the handset.

Dar glowered at the phone, then looked up, to meet warm, green eyes looking back at her. “Idiots.”

Kerry disappeared, then reappeared a minute later with a cup of steaming coffee, which she handed over before taking a seat next to Dar on the couch. “No luck, huh?”

Dar sighed and leaned back. “I have an electrical engineer headed there from South Carolina, and two backup machines being prepped in Houston, but…it’s not enough.” She took a sip of the coffee, then gave Kerry a look.

“You remembered how I like it.”

Kerry laughed. “Dar, c’mon. You add enough cream and sugar so that it stops tasting like coffee, and there you are.” She patted her companion’s leg, feeling the subtle shift of muscle under her hand as Dar stretched a little.

“Eh, that’s true,” Dar admitted, giving her an affectionate look. “God, what’s next?”

Kerry was searching the database. “Jesus, that board looks like a frigging Christmas tree.” She pulled her laptop back onto her lap as she settled deeper into the soft leather and sat cross-legged next to Dar. She glanced up. “Hey, Beauty and the Beast, I love those candlesticks.” She grinned and shook her head, not seeing the startled look in Dar’s blue eyes. “Yeesh, Dar, this is terrible. We really don’t have a backup if we lose that facility.” She looked up at her boss, who nodded slowly. “Wow.”