“Hey.” The tall, lanky man wandered over. “Whatcha got?”

Mark rubbed his fingertips before he gently removed the picture from the 250 Melissa Good envelope and set it on his desk. “My bonus.” He viewed the item approvingly.

Dar was looking right at the camera, a faintly self-deprecating look on her face as she leaned against a wooden pylon with one shoulder, crossing her long legs at the ankles in a casual, relaxed pose. The sleek black fabric of her swimsuit contrasted with her tanned skin, and the firm, just visible muscles dipped and curved, especially noticeable across her shoulders and in her thighs. “Boy, that’s nice.”

Bill obligingly walked around the desk to see the picture right side up, then almost choked. “Son of a bitch. Where in the hell did you get that?” he squeaked.

“Heh. Pays to do good work, okay?” Mark smirked. “She’s got nice legs, huh?”

Bill leaned closer. “Nice everything. Man, my gonads just crawled up inside my tonsils to get a better look.”

Mark chuckled. “Sure beats working for José. Can you imagine him in a swimsuit?”

Bill made a gagging sound and mock-upchucked into the MIS chief’s garbage can. “Hey, we’ve got that new 64-bit color scanner that just came in.”

He gave Mark a hopeful puppy look.

His supervisor sighed. “Much as I’d love to put that on my desktop, she’d kill me.” He looked at the photo regretfully. “I’d love to have been the one who took the picture, though.”

DAR SMILED AS she entered the office. “Morning, Maria.”

The secretary looked up. “Buenos diás, Dar.” She noted the hint of sun in her boss’s face and the relaxed expression. “And how are you today?”

After a moment’s thought, Dar said, “Great. Things went well up in Orlando, but you probably heard about that already.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, Mr. Montarosa was dancing in the hallways. You would think his wife had finally given him a son.”

Dar burst out laughing. “I’m glad I wasn’t here to see that, ” she remarked with a grin. “But yeah…it was good; definitely a worthwhile trip.”

The secretary hid her surprise at her boss’s good spirits. Dar, laughing on a Monday? “Kerrisita tells me you even got a minute to see the Mickey Mouse,”

she informed Dar, not missing the way a little sparkle came into the aqua of her eyes at the mention of her assistant’s name.

“Yeah, we had some extra time,” Dar replied offhandedly, then she paused and thought. “God, you know, I haven’t been in one of those damn parks for so many years…it was nice to visit again.” She leaned against the door to her inner office. “It felt good to relax a little.”

Maria almost held her breath, watching the gentle, introspective look cross Dar’s face. Dios mío…something has changed in her. “Is good. You needed a vacation,” she told her firmly.

Dar smiled and pushed away from the doorframe, then entered her office.

Closing the door behind her, she crossed to her desk. She put down her briefcase and seated herself, flipping on her desktop computer and leaning back in the chair. Then she opened the case and pulled out something Tropical Storm 251

wrapped in terrycloth, and uncovered it, holding the glass dolphins up to the sunlight coming in her window. With a smile, she put the piece down on the front of her desk and centered it, pleased at the sparkles of rainbow-colored light it scattered everywhere. There. She watched it for a moment longer, then turned her attention to the small, colorful basket sitting in the center of her desk. Mmm. She sniffed appreciatively. Chocolates. A grin appeared, and she munched on the treats as she brought up a disgustingly long list of things to do.

It was almost lunchtime before she looked up after wading through most of the really urgent matters. She’d just gotten off of a conference call about the network failure and was sipping on her second cup of coffee when a soft knock came on her inside door. “C’mon in.”

The door eased open, and a blonde head poked itself inside. “Good morning.”

Dar felt a smile creasing her face unbidden. “Good morning.” She leaned back and motioned the younger woman forward, watching green eyes drift to the dolphins and then back. “Hell of a day, huh?”

Kerry came over to the desk and perched on the corner of it. “It’s been busy, yes. I didn’t realize how things could get backed up when you’re not around for a few days.” She gave Dar a rueful grin. “I just now got my inbox cleared.”

“Me too.” The dark-haired woman propped her head on her hand. She’d been resisting the urge to wander over to Kerry’s office all morning, knowing the blonde woman had as much work to do as she did. “I’ve got staff meetings all afternoon, and José scheduled a new business meeting tomorrow at nine.”

“Marketing wants me to attend some kind of service review panel later on today, and I have a whole bunch of reports on my desk that I think have something to do with network response time.” She pushed back her hair. “I’m not sure where they came from.”

Dar snorted softly. “I can guess. I told them I wasn’t going to touch the response-time issue until exec funded more bandwidth. Looks like they’re trying an end-around. They figure you’re easier to approach than I am. So Marketing’s looking to snare you in.”

Kerry’s brow creased. “Do you want me to send them back?”

Long fingers drummed on the desktop. “No, go ahead.” Dar mused.

“Let’s see what they’re up to.” She reached out and tapped Kerry on the knee.

“Be careful, though, that’s not a nice bunch.”

Dar’s eyes took in the trim figure seated on her desk. “You look nice.”

Kerry smiled impishly at her. “So do you. I like that blue suit.” Her eyes met Dar’s. “I was wondering if it would be strange here today.” She paused, appearing to gather her courage, then went on. “Listen, Dar, I was thinking about this a lot last night.”

“So was I.”

Kerry hesitated. “If… If this is going to be hard for you, if… I-I’d rather we don’t go forward…with this…if it’s going to cause you problems.” Her voice was awkward, and stumbling. “So, if you’re reconsidering, it’s okay, and I understand.”

Dar stared at her dumbly. How arrogant… She’d never considered that 252 Melissa Good maybe it would be Kerry who wanted out of this. She felt her jaw clench hard, and a lump form in her throat. Another lesson. How stupid of me. She shifted her gaze out the window for a long moment, then back. She struggled to keep her voice even and calm. “Second thoughts, huh?”

“No,” Kerry answered very softly. “Not on my part, I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” She stared at her hands, folded in her lap. “I remembered how people talk around here, and I know how much this all means to you.”

Dar stared out at a sailboat making its way against the wind.

“I know what the rules are,” Kerry went on. “I read them again this morning just to make sure I couldn’t find a loophole in them.”

At last, Dar turned back toward her, watching Kerry’s painfully tense body posture shift a little. “Did you want to find one?”

“Yes,” she replied simply.

Dar could see that she was shaking. That was all right. The sense of relief that flowed through her was making her tremble just as much. She reached up and clasped the blonde woman’s hands in hers. “Kerry.” She had to stop a minute. “I’ve been alone for a long time. I used to think that was the best way for me, because I had some very bad experiences when I was younger.” Sea green eyes peered at her uncertainly. “This past week, you made me realize how wrong I was,” Dar said quietly. “What would hurt me is to turn away from this, just because of the risk.” She felt Kerry’s fingers tighten around hers. “I’m not afraid of a little talk.”

Kerry let out a long, shaky sigh of relief. “Okay, I just…wanted to give you one last chance to say stop,” she managed to get out. “Okay?”

They regarded each other in silence for bit. “You just scared the crap out of me. You know that, right?” Dar finally said, in an attempt at humor.

“You?” Kerry wiped at her eyes in irritation. “I don’t know what I would have done if you had taken me up on it.” She exhaled. “You don’t know how hard that was.”

Dar studied her quietly. “I know that you’re a braver person than I am for doing it.” She stood up and gently folded her arms around Kerry, hugging her. “Listen, I have to meet Mark and a few other guys for lunch. Why don’t you join us?”

Kerry returned the squeeze, then sat back. “Sure, that sounds good.”

Unconsciously her hand found itself stroking Dar’s arm. She became aware of it and tucked her hands under her arms, giving the taller woman a wry look.

“We’d better not sit next to each other, though.”

Dar chuckled, and patted her cheek, a motion that slowed and became a caress as she felt the soft skin under her fingertips. Kerry leaned into the touch, hoping no one decided it was time to barge into Dar’s office.

“I see what you mean,” the taller woman murmured with a wistful smile.

The phone buzzed, and she had to make a conscious effort to tear her eyes from Kerry’s and punch the button. “Yeah?”

“Dar, we’ve got a problem in Singapore.” The voice came through. “They can’t get the circuit agreement complete down there, and we need a conference call.”

“Now?” Dar asked.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, I’ve got six people already hanging on. I was going Tropical Storm 253

to bring you in and two people from Infrastructure.”

She came very close to telling them to work out their own problems, but a pair of hands descended on her shoulders and squeezed them.