Eye of the Storm

Chapter

Forty-seven

THE BOARDROOM WAS quiet as Alastair froze the image on the screen of Dar gracefully ducking her head to receive her medal. He turned in his chair and folded his hands, gazing amiably down the table at the six men seated around it. “Well now, gentlemen. I believe the next item on the agenda was a request from Mr. Ankow regarding dismissing our Ms. Roberts there.”

Ankow gave him a disgusted look. “Don’t think that bullshit changes anything, McLean.”

“Doesn’t it?” Alastair asked mildly, gazing down the table and judg-ing the temper of its occupants. Instead of the hot anger of the previous days, there was now more bemusement looking back at him. “Well, I don’t know, David. I might find it a little hard to explain to the press, much less the stockholders, why I’d do something as stupid as let go someone who is as obviously valuable as Ms. Roberts. You want to give it a try?”

“That doesn’t change what she is. Or what’s going on between her and that Stuart woman.” Ankow stood and pointed.

“David, siddown,” Evans muttered.

“What?”

“Siddown,” the financial magnate said more forcefully. “Much as I hate to admit this,” he looked at Alastair, “and I do hate it, I want you to know that, Alastair. I think the fact that you let this go on is reprehensi-ble.”

The CEO shrugged one shoulder.

“But to do something now would be stock market suicide,” Evans continued. “And I think we all know that.”

Alastair nodded gravely. “Very true. The press office tells me they’ve gotten a ton of requests for interviews with Dar and everyone wants details. Now, I can happily go on the record about her achieve-ments here at the company.” He paused. “And they’ve been very extensive.”

Ankow slapped the table in disgust.

“Well, honestly, David. They have,” Alastair protested. “I’m not making it all up, y’know. It’s in her files. Read them for yourself.”

“We have. It’s the reason we’re all sitting here, instead of out with Eye of the Storm 435

the stockholders demanding a vote on ousting you,” Evans told the CEO

with startling honesty. “You think I want to look like an asshole when I have to explain why I want a top ranked employee with a commendation list the length of my arm tossed out? Just because she’s gay?”

“Just?” Ankow taunted. “I can see the backpedaling now, Evans.

You’re a gutless coward.”

“No, just a realistic one.” The financier turned on him. “I don’t need the boycotts and the bad press. Maybe someone like you, who already has a White Knight skeleton in his closet doesn’t care about that, but I do.”

Ankow’s eyes narrowed. “Bastard.”

“And having it made public you were working for Stuart’s father…well, there’s no way we can make that look good, David,”

Alastair mentioned. “I can see public sympathy being with Kerry, after all, she’s just stood up to the man, then we find out he was undermining her at work, as well as having had her thrown in the hospital. It’s just bad press.”

“Yeah? How’s the press going to respond to knowing ILS found that information out about Stuart’s father?” Ankow countered, but his confidence was slipping and it showed.

Another shrug. “Well, really, it was our duty to disclose the information if it came to our knowledge,” Alastair remarked. “If you want to look at it that way. We provided a public service.”

“Oh, bullshit.”

“Y’know,” Yves Gallreus, heretofore completely silent, now spoke up, “it occurs to me we come out of this quite golden, Alastair. Now that the hearing has been pushed back, our reputation for fairness, for good works, for innovation. It is very striking.”

“Yes, it is,” Alastair agreed gravely, with a tiny twinkle in his eye.

“You really believe that?” Ankow stood up again.

“But of course.” Yves shrugged. “It is always you are thinking about sex here in America. Quite extraordinary, you know? But look, we have provided a good service in the ATM crisis, our new network is much praised, and our employee is accepting medals for bravery on the television. I am not surprised if our stock does not double before the end of the week. So please, why are we sitting here?”

They all looked at him. The Frenchman lifted both hands, assuming a mild expression.

“So you don’t care that this dyke is running your company?”

Ankow’s face was red. “Or that she’s sleeping with her assistant?”

“Not at all,” Yves replied. “Just so long as she provides me with stock splits, why should I give a care to her sexual exploits? Is she perhaps to make a movie of them, to sell at the next stockholder meeting? It would certainly make it more exciting, no?” He glanced down the table.

“Alastair, I am so sorry I missed the last meeting. It seems I would have been much amused by it.”

“So am I, Yves.” Alastair appreciated the Continental viewpoint very much. “Well, gentlemen, I think we’re finished here, unless someone else 436 Melissa Good has further points to raise. Do we want to take a vote on the last motion?”

Silence answered him. “Very well then.” Alastair folded his hands with a satisfied look. “David, you’ve demanded we put the question to the general stockholders at the next meeting whether to retain Dar’s services.”

“That’s right.”

“I’d be glad to have it printed on the schedule, but you’re going to have to get up and explain to the stockholders why, I’m afraid,” Alastair said cheerfully. “Since Dar will be presenting first.”

Ankow stared at him hatefully. Everyone else got up to leave and Yves even chuckled at the comment, shaking a finger at the CEO playfully. After a moment of relishing his victory, Alastair got up as well and walked past Ankow towards the door.

“You won this time.” Ankow stood up, circled him, and held the door shut as the rest left. “But not next time.”

The CEO paused and regarded him. “Y’know, David, I’d be careful if I were you.”

The younger man snorted. “Not to overstep my bounds going after her?” he asked, tauntingly.

“No.” Alastair smiled. “Be careful she doesn’t turn and come after you.” He removed the hand holding the door shut, opened it, and walked past Ankow and into the outer hallway without a further backward glance.

KERRY’S EYES DRIFTED open, taking in the clear, blue sky she could see beyond the edge of the porch roof. It was a beautifully warm, sunny day, with a nice cool breeze coming off the ocean, brushing over the two somnolent figures cuddled together in the rope hammock.

She was perfectly content to remain right where she was, curled up with Dar in the late afternoon light, with a belly full of lobster salad and garlic rolls and a banana milkshake comfortably digesting. It was Wednesday and they were halfway through their vacation. Chino had been having a blast as well and was now sprawled near the hammock, her nose covered in sand.

Kerry sighed happily, as she snuggled a little more closely to the soundly sleeping Dar. The taller woman’s arms were wrapped around her and she could smell the nutty scent of sun tan lotion with its hint of coconut still clinging to Dar’s skin. They were both wearing soft, loose fitting cotton shorts and T-shirts, having gotten back just before lunch from a long morning’s dive off a catamaran diving boat. They had a bike ride planned for just before dinner, then Dar had suggested they merely meander down the main street in Key West and pick out some place to eat that they hadn’t tried yet.

Sounded good to her. Kerry wiggled her toes. She had never, ever, in her life felt this relaxed and she mentally thanked Dar yet again for suggesting the time off. They’d spent their days so far sunning, diving, tak-Eye of the Storm 437

ing long lazy naps like this one, and getting their heads into a completely different space that had nothing to do with work or the bustle of their usual lives.

She’d gotten some killer pictures, including one of Dar sitting on the bottom of the clear, green tinted ocean, nose to nose with a curious dol-phin. That one she was going to have enlarged and framed. It would look fantastic on the wall next to the dining room table and she had two smaller ones of colorful fish she could put on either side. Dar was dubious about the one of her, but Kerry knew it was going to turn out great, especially since she was wearing just a light tank kit and you could see most of her body, including those real, long legs stretched out on the white sand, with her flippers crossed at the ankles.

Mmm. Kerry could picture it, the sleek form in its black swimsuit, with the sheer fabric that just barely let her see the skin underneath.

Gorgeous. She only hoped Dar let her get the thing framed and hung before she realized just how sexy she looked in it. Kerry chortled softly to herself.

The place they were staying in was a small, sort of exclusive resort with little cottages and she found she liked that better than the tiered hotels a little further down the shore. They had privacy, for one thing.

The cottage was surrounded by sea grapes and palms and had two doors, one opening to a path leading towards the resort’s tiny restaurant and shop, the other leading directly out onto a smooth white beach and the sea.

Inside, the cottage was comfortable, more weathered than fancy, with wooden walls and furniture, and colorful, roughly textured fabrics.

There was a small refrigerator, and a two burner gas stove, and best of all, a gorgeous back porch with a two person swing, a chair, and the huge rope hammock they were both currently nestled in.

Heaven. Kerry stretched, feeling the tingle of a faint bit of sunburn on her skin.

Of course, the office was in chaos. She and Dar had decided on a compromise and every night after dinner they sat down and picked up mail, trading the more frantic bits with each other as their respective staffs scrambled to try and handle things while they were gone. And to be fair, they carried their pagers, carefully reviewing the various text messages and deciding which ones were really urgent and which would be good to let junior people handle.

Everyone was learning, and that wasn’t a bad thing at all. Kerry briefly wondered if they couldn’t just make this arrangement permanent, what with teleconferencing and all, then admitted to herself that their positions really did need a little more hands on than this, at least to be done right.

On the other hand... Kerry eyed a bit of color moving past. She hadn’t been able to try parasailing yet, in deference to her healing shoulder, and she really, really wanted to. Maybe she could ask Dar to continue their exile just a little while longer.

“No.” A low, sexy rumble tickled her ear.

438 Melissa Good Kerry peeked upward and grinned. “If we stay here long enough, I’ll be able to.” She waggled her fingers. “It feels a lot better. Honest.”

Dar’s half open eyes regarded her. “Hmm…maybe,” she replied thoughtfully. “If we went double I could sorta hang onto you.”

“Ooo.” Kerry’s eyes lit up. “Yeah!” She squirmed around and ended up half sprawled over Dar’s body. “I like that idea.”

“Really?” Dar tickled her sides and watched her squirm some more.

“Okay. Let’s give it a try tomorrow. Worst they can say is no.” She yawned and closed her eyes again, taking a breath of the salty air with a sense of decadent pleasure. “Mmm. I could so get used to this.”

Kerry stifled her own yawn. “Me too.” She gave Dar’s shirt an idle nibble. “How about we chuck ILS and open up an E-commerce consulting firm down here? Something we can run from a pair of cell phones and a laptop.”

“Okay.”

Kerry paused, then lifted her head and peered at her half dozing partner. “You’re not serious.”

Dar nodded.

“Really?”

A blue eye appeared. “In a frigging heartbeat.” It closed again.

“Hmm.” Kerry put her head back down. Dar had visibly unwound in the past couple of days, erasing, to Kerry’s eyes, years off her age. Even her speech had slowed down a little, taking on just a touch of her father’s distinctive drawl, and Kerry suspected her lover was going to have a tougher time than she was getting back into work mode come next Monday morning. “You like being a beach bum, don’t you?”

Dar opened her eyes and studied the wood ceiling as it swayed over head. “I guess,” she replied. “Yeah. Maybe I do, I mean…” She shifted a little. “I don’t mind working hard, but yeah, I’d like to do it in cutoffs and sneakers sometimes.”

“Well, you are the CIO and top honcho in Miami. Change the dress code,” Kerry replied practically. Then she paused and winced. “Oh. Wait.

No. José in shorts.” She buried her face in Dar’s shirt. “Never mind.”

Dar laughed. “I know, I know.” Her lips pursed slightly. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you don’t feel the same way. I think you like the snazzy office and it fits your style.”

Kerry glanced up, startled.

“That was a compliment,” Dar assured her.

“Mmm. You make me seem so preppy.” Kerry’s nose wrinkled. “But yeah, you’re right. I like dressing up. It makes dressing down on the weekends so much nicer.”

“Well,” Dar considered the issue, “how about I let you take over ILS

and I can run a consulting firm out of the condo in my jammies and we can get a place like this to bum around in on the weekend?”

Kerry’s brow contracted, as she tried to figure out if Dar was joking, or serious, or halfway between both of those things. Maybe it was just the general chaos they’d been through, which wasn’t over, either.

Eye of the Storm 439

Maybe Dar was only joking.

Kerry watched the pale eyes open and gaze dreamily up at a black-bird perched on the edge of the roof. “Is that what you really want to do?” she asked quietly. “Leave the company?”

Dar took a long time to answer, as though she were looking at the question from a number of different angles. “I’ve done a lot there,” she commented.

“Yes, you have. But there’s a lot more to do,” Kerry replied. “You’re changing the way the entire company does business, Dar, and you’re doing a hell of a job at it.”

“Thank you.” She paused. “Part of me wants to finish that.” She looked at Kerry. “But part of me wants to stay right here. The part of me that got the shit scared out of it in the building.”

Kerry stayed quiet.

“I don’t want to put so much energy into my job anymore, Kerry,”

Dar admitted. “I want to spend more time doing things like this. Enjoying the act of living. Enjoying being with you.” She shook her head. “It can go so fast.”

Kerry let out a little breath. “Well, if that’s what you want to do. Do it.”

“But that’s not what you want to do.” Dar touched her nose. “I don’t know. Maybe we can compromise or something.”

“Maybe.” She smiled. “We’ll work it out, Dar. But you know, a weekend place down here isn’t a bad start.”

Dar smiled back. “No? Hmm. Well, it’s further north, but I know of a little spot you might be interested in. It’d take a lot of work though. The place is pretty run down.”

Kerry lifted her head right up. “I get to see you use power tools?”

She watched the grin form. “Ooo, I’m not gonna pass that up. It’ll be fun.

I’d like to kinda start from scratch. See what we could make of a place.”

“We’ll go take a look, then,” Dar promised, then glanced at the sun.

“Hmm. I think we’ve got a date with a couple of bikes, don’t we?” She stretched her body out, yawning again. “And something spicy for dinner?”

“Sounds good to me,” Kerry agreed, sitting up and carefully getting out of the hammock, the wood floor warm under her bare feet. She walked over to the railing and leaned on it, then turned as Dar joined her and walked hand in hand with her partner inside the cottage.

THEY WATCHED THE sunset from the beach, the sky painted in so many shades of color Kerry lost count of them. She lifted her camera and took another shot, then lowered her hands, to wait a few minutes before her next exposure. Chino had tired herself out racing up and down the sand and was now curled at Kerry’s feet in a damp ball.

“That’s going to be a nice series,” Dar commented, leaning back against a piece of driftwood.

440 Melissa Good

“Sure is.” Kerry lifted her longneck beer bottle and took a swallow.

She was seated between Dar’s legs and now she leaned back against her, as Dar wound an arm around her waist. They were both barefoot and half covered in the grainy sand of the beach, and Kerry sighed as she finished off her beer.

Her third, as a matter of fact, since today was the first day she’d been able to drink, having stopped taking the pain medication for her shoulder. Her head buzzed gently and she could feel the faint displacement as the alcohol hit her system. “Think I better stop.”

Dar peered over her shoulder, then nibbled her ear. “Getting light-headed?”

“Mmm.” Kerry closed her eyes. “Yeah and I don’t feel like staggering back to the cottage.” Dar’s arms tightened around her. “It’s so beautiful here.”

“You’re not looking at anything.” Dar chuckled.

“Here.” Kerry put her hand over Dar’s and squeezed. “Right here, where I am.”

“Oh.”

“I’m really glad you thought of this, Dar. I’m having such a good time. Are you?” Kerry murmured.

Dar gazed out at the sunset, which washed them in golds and reds.

“Oh yeah,” she agreed, with a smile. “Best vacation I’ve ever had.”

“Like that’s saying much.” Kerry laughed. She opened her eyes and lazily lifted her camera, focused on the newly painted sky and snapped a frame. Then she shifted and turned around, rolled onto her back, and aimed the lens at her companion.

Oh. Kerry found that sharp profile softened and gilded in the crimson light, its dark frame of hair wind whipped, leaving a lock half obscuring one glistening eye. She closed her finger over the shutter and squeezed it with infinite care to protect the image gazing back at her with a gentle, loving expression. It was Dar’s soul showing, and Kerry captured it, knowing she had in her hands something very special. She lowered the camera and put the lens cap on.

“Needed to waste the last exposure?” Dar inquired, with an arched eyebrow.

Kerry moved the hair out of her eyes. “No.” She traced a lighter streak. “Stay here long enough, you’ll be as blonde as I am.”

Dar snorted. “I’ll have solid gray hair before that.” She fingered the sun-streaked mahogany bit. “Speaking of which…see any in there yet?”

With a feeling of vague familiarity, Kerry patted her lap, then bent over Dar’s head and ran her fingers through the dark strands. “There better be. I found two in mine the other day.” She riffled a thick patch over Dar’s ear, near her temples, then checked the other side. “Damn it, Dar.

Did you use hair color?”

The blue eyes looked up with a hurt expression. “It’s not my fault,”

she protested. “And no. I most certainly did not use anything of the kind.”

Eye of the Storm 441

“Lucky genes.” Kerry leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

“You ready for Cajun shrimp?”

Chino heard her voice, got up, and shook herself vigorously, scattering sand all over them. “Oh, thanks, Chino.”

“Rowf.” Chino came over and licked her face. They got up and shook out the large towel they’d been sitting on, then walked up the beach towards the town, with Chino trotting at their heels.

“I DON’T THINK that’s going to work,” Dar said into her cell phone, her eyes on her laptop screen as she leaned back and propped her feet up on the small table. “We’re going to have to route around that section. It doesn’t have the bandwidth to keep up with the new net.”

“But that is where they are located, Dar. What are we supposed to tell them? To move?” José asked testily.

“No,” Dar replied in a mild tone. “Build a new drop point into the contract and tell them we’ll foot the front end cost of the installation, with the understanding that they’ll have to pay it out over the course of the five year pact.”

A momentary quiet. “All right. I can do that,” José answered slowly.

“That’s a workable idea.”

“Great,” Dar replied. “Anything else for me?”

“Uh.” José shuffled some papers on his end. “No. There is nothing else. Eleanor?”

“I have something.” Eleanor’s cultured, but New York accented voice came over the line.

“Yes?” Dar stroked Chino’s head and ruffled her soft ears.

“What are they drugging you with?” the Marketing VP asked. “I really wanna know.”

Dar laughed, drawing Kerry’s attention. The blonde woman had been outside on the porch and now she came indoors, wandered over and cocked her head in question. “Eleanor wants to know what you’re drugging me with.”

Kerry leaned close to the phone. “Watermelon wine coolers,” she called through the receiver, having discovered Dar’s fondness for the odd drink, “and barbecued shrimp.”

“You guys should try it sometime,” Dar added, stifling a yawn.

“Maybe we can have the next executive strategic retreat down here.”

“Maybe you should stay there,” José groused, but with a note of humor in his voice. “We get more things done this way, when we’re not screaming at each other.”

Dar pursed her lips and acknowledged privately that the sentiment wasn’t wholly unjustified. “Maybe I’ll bring some back with me,” she bantered back. “We can replace the bottled water with this watermelon juice.”

Both VP’s and Dar chuckled.

“Hell, I’ll chip in for an entire watermelon patch if it keeps you like 442 Melissa Good this,” Eleanor remarked. “You’re turning human.”

“Amazing what a little sun will do,” Dar replied drolly. “Or maybe it’s not having to see the inside of those walls for a week.”

“Whatever.” The Marketing VP snorted. “Well, we’ve got work to do, so we’ll let you get back to communing with fish, or whatever it is you’re doing.”

Dar accepted a tortilla chip loaded with spicy salsa and munched it nosily. “Okay,” she managed around the mouthful. “Later.” She hung up and finished chewing, then swallowed the mouthful. “Mmm.” She circled Kerry’s leg with one arm. “Wanna commune with some fish with me, my little Yankee?”

“Only if the fish is broiled and on a plate.” Kerry leaned over and kissed her, removing some chip crumbs in the process. “Keeping up with you on a jet ski all afternoon worked up an appetite.” She went back for another kiss, this one lasting longer. “But a little night diving might be fun.”

“Oh yeah?” Dar slid a warm hand over her hip. “With or without water?” She took advantage of Kerry’s position and nibbled her exposed ribcage, nipping a fold of skin lightly between her teeth.

“Eek.” Kerry captured her jaw and pulled, finding a better place for her lips. “How about both?” she suggested. “That way I can have that brownie dessert again and not feel like such a piglet.”

Dar chuckled. “You’re on.”

“Not a long trip out though. We’ve got an early start planned for tomorrow,” Kerry reminded her.

Ah yes. Their all day long excursion. “Did you make sure we can take Chino?” Dar asked. “Some dive boats allow dogs, some don’t.”

“Yes, we can. They asked what breed she was and when I told them a Labrador, they asked me if I wanted to reserve a dive kit for her,” Kerry smugly informed her. “I thought they were joking, but they’re not.

They’ve got these bubble helmets for dogs, so I said sure.”

Dar’s jaw dropped a little. “We’re taking the dog diving?” She glanced at Chino, who wagged her tail. “Cool.” She scratched the animal’s ears. “You gonna like that, girl? Play with the fishies?”

“Growf.” Chino stood up on her hind legs and licked Dar’s arm.

“Take that as a yes.” Dar got to her feet and pulled Kerry closer, fitting their bodies together in a sensual slide of sun-warmed skin. “How about an appetizer before dinner, then?” She stole another kiss.

Kerry smiled, tangled her fingers in Dar’s shirt, and tugged her gently towards the large, comfortable bed.

The taller woman came willingly, grasping the zipper on Kerry’s fleecy, sleeveless cutoff shirt and pulling it down slowly to expose sun tinted skin. She ran a finger down the center of Kerry’s breastbone, and her lover inhaled sharply in reaction.

Kerry moved closer and nuzzled a button open, exploring with the tip of her tongue and tasting Dar’s skin, the soft, fine hairs tickling her senses. “I like the new oil you’re using.” A tang of banana and coconut Eye of the Storm 443

filled her nose as she breathed in and she nudged another button open.

“Mmm. If you’re going to do that, I’ll skip the oil and just smear bananas all over me,” Dar teased, as she undid the zipper at the bottom of Kerry’s shirt and peeled it back over her shoulders, slid her hands down her lover’s back and down under the waistband of her cotton shorts.

“Sticky.” Kerry nibbled playfully around the curve of one breast.

“But definitely nicer than coconut bits.” She undid the other two buttons impatiently and ran her hands over Dar’s body. “That could get…”

“Gritty,” Dar agreed, sliding slowly out of Kerry’s reach as she knelt and pulled the smaller woman’s shorts down with her, allowing Kerry to step out of them, then easing upright again as she ran her fingers along the backs of Kerry’s thighs.

“Umpf.” Kerry uttered a small sound, as she loosed the brass button holding Dar’s faded denim shorts closed. Her body pressed forward in simple reaction, rubbing skin on skin, as Dar brushed her hair aside and nipped lightly at the skin just under her ear, then suckled her earlobe, warming the side of Kerry’s face with her heightened breathing.

She moved the shorts down Dar’s hips, and her lover stepped out of them, then settled both hands snugly around Kerry’s waist. “Ah ah,” she scolded softly, “no lifting.”

A soft growl vibrated in her right ear, almost a purring sound, and she chuckled in response, as Dar shifted her hold lower and half turned, simply falling backwards onto the bed and pulling Kerry along with her.

“All right. Gravity works,” she rumbled, as Kerry slid up the length of her body and settled above her, pinning her arms down with a seductive smile.

“I gotcha.”

“Yep,” Dar agreed, thoroughly enjoying the view. “Now what’cha gonna do with me?”

Kerry kissed her. “Well. I’m gonna start here,” she bit the skin over Dar’s jugular playfully, then continued down her throat to her collarbone, “and see where I end up.”

“Ooo. I’m in trouble,” Dar teased, moving her lower arms and running her fingers up and down Kerry’s sides.

“You bet you are,” Kerry agreed, as she threw herself into her task.