She had learned not to hope for it. She had almost succeeded in learning not to want…anything. With Deo, she had surrendered to the wanting, but that was all she was willing to risk.
“Deo,” Nita murmured. “Deo, hey. We have to get up.”
“Sure?” Deo kissed Nita’s neck and rolled her thigh suggestively between Nita’s legs. “You’re still wet.”
“And you’re insatiable.” Nita played her hands up and down Deo’s back, then squeezed the hard muscles in her ass. She wanted to wrap
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her legs around Deo’s thighs and pump her still engorged sex into Deo until she came again. She couldn’t, precisely because she wanted to so much. She had to get some distance before she was incapable of saying no. “We both need to go to work.”
“I hear rain.”
Nita watched rivulets of water stream across the skylight above their heads. The sky beyond was the color of ash, thick and foreboding.
“You won’t be going up on any roofs today.”
“No chance you can go in late?” Deo nudged her crotch into Nita’s leg. “I’m getting another hard on.”
“When aren’t you?” Nita laughed shakily. She wanted her. She wanted her in ways she hadn’t imagined possible. Wanting her inside her body was the easy part. That she understood. That she could even control, if she wasn’t touching her. The part she couldn’t, wouldn’t embrace, was the comfort, the peace she felt when they talked and Deo listened. When Deo understood. When Deo accepted. “Come on, rise and shine before you get too worked up.”
“Too late,” Deo muttered, pushing up on her arms. “Why do I feel like you’re running away?”
“I’m not,” Nita said fl atly, carefully keeping her voice level. She had to set the limits, and quickly, before the pull of Deo’s desire undid her. “There’s nothing to run away from. We agreed, remember? One night. One night to let the pressure out of the steam cooker we seem to have fallen into.”
“Did it work for you?”
“You know it did.”
“And that’s it?” Deo grated. “You get off a few times, then you walk out and forget it?”
“Don’t make it more than it was,” Nita said softly. She touched Deo’s face. “Or less.”
“I want to see you again.”
“Deo, get up.” Nita pushed lightly against Deo’s shoulder. She couldn’t have this conversation with their bodies tangled together, with the slick slide of Deo’s skin making her so hot inside. Not when Deo was hard and wet against her leg. “Please.”
Deo pushed up and off until she was sitting by Nita’s side. “I’m not Sylvia. I’m not going to force you to have sex with me.”
“She didn’t force me,” Nita said coldly, refusing to ascribe her
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guilt to someone else. “I wanted her to fuck me.”
“You think I buy that?”
Nita threw the covers aside and got out of bed. She unhurriedly began gathering her clothes from the fl oor. “What you think about it doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t do this, Nita,” Deo said, swinging from bed and standing naked beside her. “Don’t pretend last night wasn’t good.”
“Last night wasn’t good, it was excellent.” Nita pulled on her blouse. “Your reputation doesn’t do you justice.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“What do you want?”
“I already told you. I want to see you again.”
“For sex.” Nita slid into her slacks.
“No.”
Nita snorted.
“Yes,” Deo exclaimed, clearly frustrated, “but not just—”
“What kind of arrangements do you usually make with women who you want to have sex with more than once?”
Deo frowned. “What you do mean, arrangements?”
“What do you say to them?”
“Jesus,” Deo muttered, grabbing a pair of jeans from a nearby chair and yanking them on. “I don’t sign a contract.”
“All right. Terms then.” Nita found her purse, fi shed out a clip, and pulled her hair back. “No expectations. No strings. Nonexclusive.
Right?”
A muscle bunched along the edge of Deo’s jaw. “More or less.”
“That could work,” Nita mused. “It might be good to blow off steam again, so to speak.”
“What?” Deo snapped. “You’ll call me for a fuck?”
“Actually I was thinking of something a little more civilized—
along the lines of dinner and sex.” Nita found her shoes and gathered the rest of her things. “Would you drive me home, please?”
Deo shrugged into a work shirt, her hands trembling. “I want more than sex.”
“Since when?”
Deo grabbed Nita’s shoulders, then immediately loosened her grip when she saw Nita wince. “Since you.”
Nita’s resolve wavered. Deo was angry, but her eyes were soft.
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Soft and gentle, and wounded. Nita wanted to believe that Deo wanted more than her body. She wanted to give in to the longing to confess her fears and uncertainty, but she didn’t trust her own needs. She’d lost herself once, and Deo unhinged her in much the same way Sylvia had.
She couldn’t deny her physical urges, or even control them when Deo was around, but she could keep from risking her sanity again. She eased out of Deo’s grip. “I’m sorry. I’m not interested in anything more than last night.”
“Last night was already more than just sex.” Deo kicked into Docksiders and headed toward the hall. “You can pretend anything you want.”
Silently, Nita followed her retreating back. It might work. If she could somehow just keep her affair with Deo in the bedroom. And keep Deo out of her mind.
❖
An hour later Deo slammed into the real estate offi ce, dripping water in streams onto the fl oor.
Elana Torres broke off talking with Pia, who sat on the corner of her desk, and regarded Deo with surprise. “Something on fi re? Hard to believe with the weather.”
“Joey around?” Deo said, stomping over to her desk to collect her messages.
“He’s got an appointment with me in an hour for therapy,” Pia said. “Considering the weather, he probably just fi gured he’d show up at the job—”
“We work whether it rains or shines. He knows that.” Deo grabbed her mail and shuffl ed through it, scarcely able to read the addresses through her fury. When she had dropped Nita off, Nita had kissed her on the cheek and thanked her for a great time before sliding out of the truck and disappearing without a backward glance. Thanked her! Jesus Christ. What was she now, a fucking gigolo?
Pia appeared at her elbow and asked in a low voice, “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, crap, Deo. Don’t pull that with me.”
Deo tossed aside her mail and stabbed the button on her answering
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machine. Nita’s voice hit her like a hammer. Deo, it’s Nita—
“Fuck,” Deo seethed, punching the stop button.
“Ah ha.” Pia tugged Deo’s sleeve. “Let’s go have coffee.”
“I’ve got to get out to the site.”
“It’s pouring, Deo. There’s not much work going to happen today.”
With a sigh, Deo surrendered and let Pia drag her to a coffee shop around the corner.
“So, what gives?” Pia asked.
“I don’t know. I wish I did.” Deo pushed her coffee aside. Her stomach was queasy.
“Let me guess. Nita.”
Deo nodded.
“You slept with her.”
“Yeah.”
Pia sighed. “Deo, sweetie. Nita is not like your usual…girlfriends.
I mean, some of them I’ve really liked, but… they were goodtime girls.
Party girls. Nita is, I don’t know, deeper than that.”
“What’s your point,” Deo grumbled.
“I love you, you know that, right?” Pia gently stroked Deo’s hand.
“Right?”
“Just say it, Pia.” Deo was tired, and her head hurt, and—worse—
her heart hurt.
“I just mean, she probably expected something besides goodbye in the morning.”
Deo laughed bitterly. “Wrong. What she expected was I’d be available next time she wanted a dependable fuck. Other than that, she’s not interested in my company.”
Pia’s jaw dropped. After a second, her eyes narrowed. “She said that? She said that to my cousin! Why that—”
“Whoa. Whoa. Easy.” Deo laughed in spite of herself. “Even you just said that’s about all I’m good for.”
“That’s different. I can say it about you if I want to.” She closed her fi ngers over Deo’s hand. “What am I not understanding here?”
“Nita and I…we’ve got this thing, this energy between us,” Deo said, feeling helpless. “More than physical. But she doesn’t want it to be about anything except sex.”
“Because she thinks you’re a player and won’t ever change?”
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“I don’t know. I think…I think she’s okay having sex with me, because she can control that.”
“She can? That doesn’t sound like you.”
Deo remembered the way it felt when Nita teased her right up to the edge of coming while refusing to let Deo touch her. It was maddening and frustrating and made her come harder than she’d ever come in her life. And if she didn’t stop thinking about it now, she was going to have to drive out to the beach for a little solo action in the truck before she went to work. “It’s different with her.”
“Uh-huh.” Pia rested her chin in her hand. “So her reluctance isn’t necessarily about you and your fucked up ways.”
“Thanks, Cuz.” Deo couldn’t very well say that Nita had been abused by some woman and acted like Deo would treat her the same way. She rubbed her eyes, wishing she was still in bed and Nita was holding her the way she had this morning when she was still half asleep, stroking her and making her feel like she belonged somewhere.
“There’s some other stuff going on. I don’t think it’s all about me.”
“Good,” Pia said briskly, sitting back in her seat. “Because if it was just that she didn’t like you for anything other than your talented hands and your hot mou—”
“Jesus, Pia. Cut it out.” Deo blushed. “You’re my cousin. You’re not supposed to say stuff like that.”
“Oh, please. I’ve been listening to girls swoon over your skills for years.” Pia smiled as Deo squirmed. “Does she really mean something to you? It’s not just your ego acting up because you’ve fi nally run into a woman who doesn’t want any more from you than you’re usually willing to give?”
“No. She makes me…” Deo’s throat tightened and she looked away until the tension in her throat eased. “She makes me feel like I matter.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Pia whispered. “You do.”
“Yeah, well. You’ve always made me feel that way. But this is different.”
“I know.” Pia stroked Deo’s clenched fi st where it rested on the table. “If Nita doesn’t trust you or what she’s feeling for you, then prove to her that she can.”
“How,” Deo whispered.
“Don’t give up.”
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Nita stared at the lab report, but she didn’t register the values.
Her mind was completely consumed with Deo. Exactly what she feared would happen was happening. She craved her. The way her skin slid under her fi ngertips, the way her breath wafted over her breast as she slept, the way her eyes gleamed when she was pleased or being pleasured. She ached to hear Deo murmur her name and to feel the tender touch of her fi ngertips against the small of her back. She longed to share her thoughts, knowing she could tell her anything because she had already confessed her worst secret and her greatest shame, and Deo had not rejected her. She’d only to recall the soft brush of Deo’s hot mouth on her tense and waiting fl esh and she was ready to explode.
“God, not again,” she whispered.
“Nita?”
“Oh, sorry,” Nita blurted, feeling herself color when she realized Tory was standing in front of her desk. She hadn’t even heard her come in. “I was just…” She lifted the paperwork in explanation.
“I hate to bother you but Reese is here, and there’s a problem.”
Immediately, Nita stood, her fi rst thought of Deo up on a roof in this gale. Her stomach lurched. “Is someone hurt?”
“Oh,” Tory said quickly. “No. I’m sorry. It’s something else. She’s next door in my offi ce. Come over when you can.”
“I’ll come right now,” Nita said, hurrying to join Tory.
Reese turned from the photographs she had been perusing on the wall and nodded to Nita, her expression grim. “How are you this morning, Nita?”
“I’m fi ne, Reese,” Nita said, grateful for how much practice she had in allowing her professional performance to hide her emotional chaos. She wondered what people would think if they knew she was so desperate to see and touch another woman she was practically coming apart. Knowing that her urgency stemmed from her long relationship
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with Sylvia and the uncertain, often frantic nature of their interludes, didn’t make the desperate longing any easier to tolerate. But she’d had a lot of practice living with unrequited need too. “Is there some problem with the post on the victim from last night?”
“Not that I’m aware of.” Reese gestured to the chairs in front of Tory’s desk and waited until Nita sat beside Tory, then said, “We received a bulletin about an hour ago that seriously bad weather is headed our way. In fact, there’s better than an eighty percent chance we’re going to see hurricane force winds up and down the Cape in about seventy-two hours.”
Nita started. “Here? I’ve never heard of a hurricane this far north.”
“Apparently, it happens every twenty or thirty years or so.”
Reese lifted her shoulder. “Depending upon wind patterns and ocean temperatures, hurricanes have tracked up the coast this far or even farther.”
“I’m on the disaster response committee,” Tory explained to Nita,
“and all of the emergency personnel—EMTs, fi re rescue, the Sheriff’s Department—will be on twenty-four hour alert until this is over. If you’re planning to stay—”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Nita interrupted.
“The Cape is only a mile or so wide at this point,” Reese pointed out. “We’re going to get fl ooding and the roads will probably go out.
We’ll defi nitely lose power.”
“In other words, things are going to get nasty,” Nita said, “and we’re going to be cut off from the rest of the Cape and the mainland.”
“Very possibly,” Reese replied.
Nita looked at Tory. “There are going to be injuries, not to mention the usual medical emergencies.”
“Yes,” Tory said. “And if it really gets bad, we’re not going to be able to transport people out, possibly for days.”
“I’m staying.” Nita turned to Reese. “I know you’ve already got a plan in place, but can you just run it down for me.”
“You and Tory will oversee all emergency medical management.
Make sure the clinic is well stocked, and if you can identify patients who could get into trouble without immediate access to hospital facilities, get a list to me so we can evacuate them now.”
“We’ve got a handful of patients who drive to Hyannis for dialysis
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or have home units,” Tory informed her lover. “They would be better off on the mainland just in case we’re looking at four or fi ve days without power. Even generator backup might not be enough.”
“I’m following two children with sleep apnea using positive pressure ventilators at night,” Nita pointed out. “We should advise those families.”
“Yes.” Tory grabbed a notepad and started taking notes. “Reese, when you make the general announcement, remind everyone that they should be certain to have enough medication to last ten days along with all the other necessities. Bottled water, batteries, lanterns, packaged foods—the usual disaster items.”
“I’ll call the hardware stores as soon as we’re done to let them know there’s going to be a run.” Reese dropped her hand to Tory’s shoulder as she wrote and caressed her softly. “Gladys and the Chief are working on an announcement right now and we’ll get it out on the radio within the hour.”
“Nelson? Don’t tell me he’s in the offi ce,” Tory said with a frown.
“He’s at home for the time being. He threatened to come in, so I sent Gladys over there to keep him in the loop. That’s as quiet as we’re going to be able to keep him.”
“What about the extended care facility?” Nita glanced at Tory.
Between the two of them they did site visits once or twice a week to the elderly residents of Beech Forest Manor. She could think of at least a dozen patients who were bedridden or who required intensive care around the clock.
“Reese?” Tory asked.
“Several of the offi cers are on their way there now to talk to the facilities director,” Reese informed them. “We’re hoping that most can stay with family members off Cape. As for those who can’t be relocated within the next twenty-four hours or who have nowhere to go, we’ll move them to a more central location if we have to.”
“Town Hall?” Tory asked.
Reese nodded. “That’s what I was thinking, or the church, or both depending on how many people we have without power or whose houses sustain structural damage.”
“Should we evacuate the whole town?” Nita questioned.
“Currently, we’re recommending that people leave voluntarily,”
Reese answered. “But even if the state orders an evacuation, you know
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not everyone is willing or able to leave.”
Tory sighed. “I know.” She covered Reese’s hand with hers as she continued to make notes with the other. “Neither one of us is going to get home much until this is over. Will you call Jean and Kate and ask them to take the baby and the dog.” Tory met Reese’s gaze. “And leave today.”
Reese leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Already done.
They’ll stop by here so you can say goodbye to Reggie, and then they’re going to drive to your sister’s.”
“That sounds great. It will make keeping in touch with everyone easier.” Tory rubbed her cheek absently against Reese’s arm. “Thank you, darling.”
Nita averted her gaze, feeling as if she were intruding on a private moment, even though there was nothing inappropriate about anything Reese and Tory said or did. Still, every gesture, every intonation, every unspoken word was so intimate, it left her aching. Totally without volition, she thought of Deo and was struck by an overwhelming urge to call her. She just wanted to connect with her before the world went crazy.
“What should we do about regular patient hours?” Nita asked, trying to maintain her focus. She couldn’t think about Deo now, even though part of her wanted nothing else.
“For today, we’ll keep them as they are,” Tory said. “I’ll have Randy call everyone who’s scheduled for the following week and bring the urgent ones in tomorrow. The rest we can reschedule if we need to.”
“Sounds like we have a plan.” Reese cupped the back of Tory’s neck and kissed her cheek. “I’ll call you. Don’t work too late.”
Tory gripped Reese’s arm and kissed her mouth. “Be careful.”
“Always,” Reese murmured. She straightened, nodded to Nita, and strode out.
Nita watched her go, appreciating why men and women would follow her into battle. She radiated not just confi dence and competence, but that supreme certainty that defi ned command presence. Nita recognized it because her father had it. So did Sylvia, except Sylvia’s confi dence was laced with cruelty. Unlike Reese, Sylvia was motivated by power, and sex was her weapon. Nita had been as enthralled by Sylvia’s power as she had been subjugated by it. Now she wondered why.
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“Please let me know what I can do,” Nita said, rising. “I’m going to get back to seeing patients.”
“Thanks.” Tory caught Nita’s hand. “And thanks for staying. If this gets as bad as Reese thinks, we’re really going to need you.”
“This is my home now. I’m not leaving.”
“I almost forgot—your house! You’d better call Deo and make sure she knows what’s coming.”
“If we get a break, I’ll run down there and talk to her,” Nita said quickly before she could think about what she was doing and change her mind.
“Go now. We can handle things here. And who knows when you may get another chance.”
“I won’t be long,” Nita said, already starting for the door. Her heart speeded up with anticipation, and she didn’t even try to pretend it wasn’t because she would soon see Deo.
❖
“Deo!” Joey yelled up the stairwell. “You got company.”
“In a minute,” Deo called back, bracing the plywood against the new French doors with her shoulder as she rapidly drilled in four screws to hold the wood in place. She scanned Nita’s bedroom. It was as secure as they were going to get it. Putting the drill aside, she dusted off her hands on her pants and started down the stairs. She slowed as she reached the bottom. Nita was waiting for her.
“Sorry, I know you’re busy,” Nita said uneasily.
“That’s okay.” Seeing Joey’s avid stare, Deo took Nita’s arm and led her into the dining room out of earshot of her cousin and the other guys. “I thought you were at the clinic?”
“I am. I was—I…” she swept her arm to take in the rest of the house. The ground fl oor windows were already covered with plywood to protect the new glass from the expected winds. “I guess you know about the storm?”
“Contractors live and die by weather bulletins—just like fi shermen.” Deo shrugged. “Don’t worry about this place. We’ll get it buttoned up tight.”
“I’m not worried about the house.” Nita realized she had no good reason for running across town and Deo must know that. Oddly, she
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didn’t care that her motives were transparent. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to be standing up on the roof when things got bad.”
“Once we fi nish here, I’m going into town. There’s a disaster response team—”
“I know about it. Reese was just out to the clinic.”
“I volunteer. Helping the merchants board up their storefronts, getting boats into dry dock, whatever heavy lifting needs to be done,”
Deo admitted almost shyly.
“That sounds critical—and diffi cult. It’s already raining harder, and the wind is coming up.” Nita touched Deo’s hand briefl y and just the fl eeting contact calmed the wild churning in her stomach. “Don’t worry about this place. Go do what you have to do so you won’t be out there when this gets worse.”
“Worried about me?” Deo grinned, but her eyes held no hint of laughter.
Deo’s searching look was so intense that Nita couldn’t help but lean toward her. The ache of emptiness she had been carrying since they’d parted suddenly fi lled with heat. She gasped.
“What?” Deo’s voice was low, husky. She caressed the outside of Nita’s arm from her elbow to her shoulder and down again. “What?”
“You will be careful, won’t you?”
Deo moved a step closer. “Is that what you drove over here to say?”
Nita’s thighs trembled and she backed up a step until her back touched the wall. “I just…the house…I just wanted to—” She shivered as Deo braced both arms against the wall by her shoulders and snugged her pelvis into Nita’s. “Oh, don’t.”
“You say no to me a lot,” Deo murmured, drawing her lips along the edge of Nita’s jaw. “Why is that?”
“Because, because…” Nita turned her head and covered Deo’s mouth with hers. She slicked her tongue over Deo’s lips and just as quickly pulled away. “Because I usually want to say yes.”
“You know,” Deo rasped, fl exing her thighs and rubbing her crotch over Nita’s, “that doesn’t make any sense.”
Nita stroked Deo’s cheek. “I know. I’m sorry.”
Deo rested her forehead against Nita’s and slowly shook her head.
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“Don’t be sorry. Just don’t run away from me.”
“I’m afraid,” Nita whispered.
“I know.” Deo kissed her, gently. “So am I.”
“Can’t we just keep it simple?” Nita implored, digging her fi ngers into Deo’s shoulders. She loved her muscles, how strong she was, and how tender despite it.
“Simple.” Deo pressed closer, fusing her belly and breasts to Nita’s. Her mouth was against Nita’s ear, her lips hot and silky. “You mean simple like…just sex.”
Nita leaned her head back and closed her eyes, hoping if she couldn’t see Deo she might be able to think clearly. In the next instant, she realized how foolish that was, because with her eyes closed all she could do was feel, and Deo was pressed against her, her body hot and hard and demanding. “I don’t know what I mean anymore.”
Deo let out a long sigh. “Good. That’s good. That’s a place to start from.”
Nita laughed shakily and opened her eyes. “Now who isn’t making sense?”
“Why did you tell me this morning that you didn’t want anything from me except a fuck now and then?”
Deo’s words sounded as if they were forced out through ground glass, and Nita knew that she had hurt her. Her fi ngers shook as she pushed them through Deo’s hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to use you.” Nita imagined how it must seem to Deo, because she knew how diminished she had felt when Sylvia had come to her for sex but wouldn’t allow her anything else. “God, Deo, I’m so sorry.”
“Answer the question,” Deo whispered. “What are you so afraid of?”
Nita turned her face away. She couldn’t answer that question, because if she did, she’d have to face what it meant, and she wasn’t ready. “I can’t.”
“I’m not going to sleep with you again until you tell me. It might drive me crazy, but I mean it.” Deo gently turned Nita’s face back to hers and kissed her, a deep slow possessive kiss. “I think about you all the time. I want you right now. Inside me. I want to fuck you and come inside you.”
Nita groaned. “Stop.”
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“Sorry. I can’t.” Deo tilted her head, listening to the rain drum against the wood-covered windows. “I’ve got to get back to work.
Something big is coming.”
Before Deo could disappear, Nita gripped her shirt. “I don’t know when I’ll see you again. Will you call me? I can’t…I can’t think, I can’t work if I don’t hear from you.” She bunched Deo’s work shirt in her fi sts and pressed her forehead to Deo’s shoulder. “God, I hate this.”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Deo lifted Nita’s face with her fi ngers beneath her chin. “Nita, I’m not going anywhere. You can talk to me anytime you want. Just call me.”
“Could it be that easy?”
“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” Deo kissed her again, gently, and backed away. “Drive carefully.”
Nita let her get all the way across the room before she called after her. “I lied this morning. I want to see you. Just…see you.”
Deo looked over her shoulder. “Then I’ll fi nd you.”
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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Nita sat with Tory and the disaster response coordinators in a small stuffy room in Town Hall. Someone had closed the tall narrow windows against the heavy rain that now fell in unbroken sheets, and with only fans to move the heavy air around, she felt like she was breathing wet cotton wool. She could barely remember everyone’s names. It was after eleven, she’d seen patients for over twelve hours on not much sleep the night before, and she was worried. Worried about the impending storm and what it meant for the community, worried that she and Tory might not be able to handle a full scale natural catastrophe even with the help of the highly skilled local EMTs and paramedics, and worried about Deo. Deo hadn’t called, and when Nita had fi nally broken down and tried her offi ce number around nine p.m., her call had been forwarded, but she hadn’t reached Deo.
“Camara Construction.”
“Hello, this is Nita Burgoyne. Is Deo around?”
“Oh, hey Nita…I mean, Dr. Burgoyne…it’s Joey. Last I heard from her she was still out on the harbor, tendering people in from their boats.
The sea’s already too rough for people to ride this out on board.”
“How long will she be out?”
“Dunno. Quite a while yet, I fi gure, and then tomorrow she’s got a list of places that need their windows shuttered. Going to be a crazy few days.”
“Yes,” Nita said absently, wondering when Deo would sleep. She worried that Deo was doing diffi cult work in dangerous weather when she had to be exhausted. Would she be careful on the water, the water that held such pain for her?
“She’ll be checking in soon. You want her to call you?”
“No. No…just tell her I called.”
“Sure. Hey…you want her cell phone number? She doesn’t always
• 219 •
RADCLY fFE
get the calls out there, so you might get relayed right back to me—”
“That’s not necessary, thanks. Sorry to bother you, I know you must be busy.”
“No problem. Uh, hey, Nita. I was wondering…”
“Problem with your hand?”
“No. Pia said I’m doing great. I was just wondering if you’d like to have dinner some night. You know…with me.”
It took Nita a minute to decipher what he’d said, because she didn’t register his meaning at fi rst. Then, she struggled for the right thing to say. “Joey, that’s really nice of you, but I don’t think so. Thank you, though.”
“Yeah, that’s okay. Deo said you wouldn’t go for it.”
“Did she.” Nita wondered just when and what Deo and Joey had discussed about her.
“But what the heck, if you don’t try you’ll never know what you might be missing, right?”
“Right,” Nita said slowly. “You’re absolutely right.”
Now, more than two hours later, Nita still hadn’t heard from Deo.
She hoped Deo wasn’t still ferrying people back and forth in the harbor.
Growing more desperate by the minute just to hear Deo’s voice, she nevertheless made mental notes on the plans being discussed. Deo was doing her job, and Nita needed to do hers.
“Reports from the head of the business bureau indicate that most of the tourists have already left or will be leaving in the morning,” Reese said to the group. “If the forecast hasn’t changed by midday tomorrow, we’ll order a mandatory evacuation of all nonresidents. That should give everyone time to get off the Cape even though we anticipate travel times could be close to twelve hours. That still gives us a twenty-four-hour window before the big winds and surf get here.”
Someone who Nita thought might be the head of the town council gathered up a pile of papers and said, “Then I think we’ve done everything we can for the moment. Let’s reconvene tomorrow morning at eleven for an update.”
Tory turned to Nita as the other members in the room began to leave. “I’ve had Randy block out tomorrow afternoon for urgent patients. I can come to this meeting if you want to run out to Beech Forest in the morning and see how many residents are staying.”
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“That’s fi ne. I’m available if you need me sooner.”
“Great, thanks. You should try to get some sleep while you can.”
“Yes,” Nita said, even though sleep was not what she wanted. She bid Tory and the others good night and fortifi ed herself for the short walk to her car.
Outside, the night was moonless, and shards of rain slanted beneath the inadequate cover of her umbrella and battered her face. Giving up on the hope of remaining dry, Nita slammed her umbrella closed and made a run for it. Once inside the car, she looked toward the harbor, wondering where Deo was. The visibility was so poor she couldn’t see anything at all. Frustrated, she started her car, but instead of heading toward home, she drove in the opposite direction toward Deo’s condo.
The parking space in front of Deo’s unit was empty and Nita pulled into the adjoining spot.
“Five minutes,” Nita whispered. “I’ll just wait for fi ve minutes, and if she doesn’t come home, I’ll call her again in the morning.”
When she realized she was staring at her watch, Nita tilted her head back and closed her eyes, trying not to silently count the seconds.
❖
As Deo jumped from her truck and made a dash for her condo, she heard a car door open and close nearby. Surprised that anyone was out in the middle of the night in the worst weather she could ever remember, she slowed and peered through the rain. A second later, she recognized Nita. Her swift surge of pleasure was almost immediately replaced by concern.
“Jesus, Nita,” Deo yelled, grabbing Nita’s arm and pulling her under the shelter of the short roof that protected her front door. “What the hell are you doing out here? It’s four in the morning!”
“I just stopped by to see if you were all right. I guess I fell asleep.”
Chilled from her sudden soaking, she cuddled closer to Deo as Deo fumbled with the lock. “I should go so you can get some sleep.”
Deo pushed the door open and tugged Nita inside. She kicked the door closed with her foot, grasped Nita’s shoulders, and kissed her hard. “Don’t be crazy. You’re not going anywhere.”
Nita automatically wrapped her arms around Deo’s shoulders and kissed her back. “You’ve got to be beyond exhausted. Everything has
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just gotten so crazy so fast, I wasn’t sure when I would be able to see you again.” She hugged Deo closer. “Now I have. That’s enough.”
“Maybe it is for you,” Deo murmured, kissing Nita’s neck. “But it isn’t for me. I need a shower to get warm, and then I want to crawl into bed with you.”
Nita leaned back and smiled fl eetingly. “What happened to your mandate about no sex?”
“I didn’t say anything about sex.”
“Good, because you’re going to sleep.” Nita grasped Deo’s hand, guided by instinct and too tired to think of all the reasons she shouldn’t be doing what she was about to do. She wasn’t just tired—she was frightened, she was cold, and she was lonely. Life had turned upside down in twenty-four hours, and the one solid point in her universe was Deo. “Would you mind very much if I shared your shower?”
Deo shot her a glance. “Do I look dead to you?”
“No,” Nita replied throatily, “you look…delicious.”
“Cut it out,” Deo said unconvincingly.
Nita laughed. “Say that like you mean it.”
“I can’t.”
“Good.”
When they reached the bathroom and Deo began shedding her clothes, Nita realized she’d made a mistake. What Deo needed was a hot shower and as much sleep as she could get. And Nita couldn’t even look at her without wanting to touch her. She backed toward the door.
“On second thought, I’ll skip the shower for now.”
Naked, Deo reached around her and held the door closed with her hand. Her body pressed against Nita’s. “Take your clothes off.”
“Deo—”
“Do it, Nita,” Deo whispered and moved in for a kiss.
“You said you weren’t going to have sex with me.” Trembling, Nita turned her head away so that Deo’s kiss only caught the corner of her mouth. “This is cruel.”
“You don’t like the way you feel right now?”
Drawing a shaky breath, Nita shook her head back and forth. “I don’t like wanting you so badly it hurts and knowing I can’t have you.”
She turned her head back, struggling not to cup Deo’s breasts in her hands. “I’m trying to give you what you want. You said you didn’t want it to be just about sex.”
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“What do you want, Nita?” Deo held still even though she wanted to rub herself over Nita’s body. “Forget about me and what I want or what you think I want you to be. Just say what it is you want.”
The silence grew until the air felt so heavy Nita didn’t think she could pull it into her lungs. Her heart raced and her chest ached. She couldn’t remember the last time she thought about what she wanted instead of what she couldn’t have and shouldn’t desire and didn’t dare dream of.
“Tell me,” Deo said, her eyes boring into Nita’s, her mouth just a breath away from closing over Nita’s.
“I want…” Nita shuddered and gripped Deo’s arms. Deo’s skin was so hot she felt feverish. “I want to make love with you and not be afraid you’ll be gone as soon as you come. I want to see you on the street and not have you pretend you don’t know me. I want…god, I want…”
“Go ahead,” Deo whispered. “You can say it.”
“I want not to hate how much I want you.”
“Do you?” Deo inched away until their bodies didn’t touch, but she cradled Nita’s cheek in her hand, still watching her eyes. “Do you hate wanting to make me come?”
“No,” Nita said breathlessly.
“Do you hate wanting me inside of you, making you come?”
Beyond words, Nita shook her head.
“Are you afraid of me?”
Nita closed her eyes. The intensity in Deo’s face made it impossible for her to think. She was turning liquid inside, her bones were melting.
She felt so exposed it was as if she had no skin. She almost expected to look down and see rivulets of blood collecting around her feet.
“Nita,” Deo murmured. “Nita, are you afraid of me?”
“No, God, no.”
Wordlessly, Deo unbuttoned Nita’s blouse. Then she reached around her and released her bra, gently baring her breasts. She kissed her as she opened her slacks and pushed them down along with her panties. “Let’s shower.”
While Deo turned on the water and the room fi lled with steam, Nita removed her shoes and the rest of her clothes. The shower was small and when she stepped inside she couldn’t help but touch Deo. “I suggest we make this fast, or I can’t be responsible for what happens.”
• 223 •
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Deo grinned as she lathered her body with a bar of soap. “What happened to that great self-control?”
“I lost it somewhere after the second time you rubbed your breasts over me.” Nita refused to look down, because if she saw any more of Deo than her face, she was going to drop to her knees and take her right there. “Give me the soap.”
“I have to be back out there in about three hours.” Deo swirled soapy circles over her breasts and belly with both hands. “I’ve been keyed up all night, because of everything that’s going on and because when I wasn’t too busy to see straight, I thought about making love with you.”
Nita turned her back so she couldn’t touch her. “The shower will relax you and you’ll be able to sleep.”
“I need to come fi rst. If you weren’t here, I’d fantasize about you and masturbate.”
“God,” Nita moaned. “Stop it.”
Deo pressed against Nita’s back. “You can watch me or you can let me fuck you.”
Nita leaned forward and braced her arms against the shower wall, the tension in the pit of her stomach so profound she wasn’t sure she could keep standing. “If I let you come inside me, will you go to sleep then?”
“Yes,” Deo grated, thrusting against Nita’s ass.
“Well, seeing as how it’s therapeutic.” Nita pivoted, but immediately pushed Deo away with both hands on Deo’s shoulders.
“Go get ready. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“It’s what you want?”
Nita kissed her softly and ran her fi ngers through her hair. “Yes.
It’s exactly what I want.”
Deo stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel on her way out of the bathroom. Nita took her time drying off, enjoying the novel feeling of not needing to hurry, of not fearing that if she didn’t grab every ounce of pleasure just as quickly as possible, it would all disappear like mist at sunrise. She was excited, her skin so sensitive it was almost painful to touch. She was wet and swollen, and she throbbed with the persistent ache of desire. Her arousal felt wonderful, and it was beyond wonderful to set it free.
Nita wrapped a towel around her breasts and joined Deo in the
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bedroom. A single light burned on the far side of the bed, illuminating Deo as she lay on her side, a sheet pulled up to her waist, her head propped in her hand as she watched the door. She smiled as Nita approached.
“I thought you might fall asleep,” Nita said, letting the towel fall.
“Not likely,” Deo said, lifting up the sheet.
Nita slid beneath it and reclined on her side, facing Deo. She traced the circles beneath Deo’s eyes. “Sweetheart, you’re so tired.”
“I need you,” Deo whispered. “More than anything.”
When Deo inched closer to kiss her, Nita felt a fi rm weight settle against her thigh and caught her breath. As she drew Deo’s tongue into her mouth, she caressed Deo’s side and the curve of her hip until she reached her knee. Then she skimmed her fi ngers up the inside of Deo’s leg until she closed her fi ngers around the cock nestled between Deo’s legs. She pushed her tongue deeper into Deo’s mouth and slowly rotated her wrist.
Deo groaned and pushed her hips forward.
“Don’t be in a hurry,” Nita whispered, kissing Deo’s throat. She kept up the motion of her hand, a steady, rhythmic push and pull. Deo’s breath shivered in and out and Nita clenched inside. “I love to excite you.”
“You’re making me a lot more than excited. I’m so pumped.” Deo jerked and thrust into Nita’s fi st.
“Be good.” Nita licked Deo’s nipple. “You’re not allowed to come in my hand. Not this way.”
“Then stop what you’re doing,” Deo gasped.
Nita laughed and pushed Deo onto her back, then straddled her.
She hissed in a breath as Deo’s cock bumped against her sex. “Oh, I’m going to like having you inside me.”
“Jesus,” Deo whispered, sliding one hand down between them to steady herself. “I need to be inside you. Are you ready?”
Nita leaned forward and kissed her. “Mmm. Very. Hold still now.”
Watching Deo’s face, Nita slowly settled down, taking her inside one slow inch at a time. Briefl y, Deo’s knuckles brushed against her clitoris and Nita bit her lip to distract herself from the jolt of pleasure that threatened to trigger her orgasm before she was ready. Finally, when Deo was completely buried, she let out her breath.
• 225 •
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“Feel good?” Nita whispered.
“Great.” Deo’s thighs quivered with the effort not to move. “Will you do something for me?”
“If I can.” Nita’s lids drooped as the pressure grew inside her.
“Will you let me make you come fi rst this time?” Deo tilted her hips ever so slightly, pressing into Nita’s clitoris. “I want to watch you come while I fuck you.”
“Yes,” Nita gasped. “I’ll do anything you say.”
Deo cupped Nita’s breasts in her hands and rubbed her thumbs over her nipples. “Just don’t fi ght it. I don’t care if you come in thirty seconds. Just trust me and let go.”
Nita covered Deo’s hands with hers and rocked back, forcing Deo even deeper. Then she slid forward, and back again. Once, twice, faster, and then faster until her hips were a blur and her breath rushed out in broken sobs. Her fi ngers linked with Deo’s as white heat fi lled her belly, then her breasts, and fi nally exploded deep inside her. Her head fell back and she screamed wordlessly.
Feeling as if her chest might implode, Deo jerked upright and wrapped Nita in her arms, half sitting as Nita whimpered and trembled in her lap. Before Nita stopped coming, Deo carefully guided her sideways and onto her back, following her until she was between her legs and still inside her. Burying her face against Nita’s neck, she struggled to hold still until Nita caught her breath.
“Nita,” Deo groaned, “Nita, I have to fuck you. Please, please can I?”
Nita fi sted Deo’s hair in both hands and weakly wrapped her legs around the backs of Deo’s thighs. “Come inside me. I want you to come inside me.”
Deo bit down on Nita’s neck as she eased out an inch, then sank into her again, out an inch, in again, then two, then three, then more until she was pulling all the way out and driving back in with every stroke. Nita raked her nails down Deo’s back as Deo’s thrusts grew erratic and her breathing frantic.
“Come, baby,” Nita murmured, stroking Deo’s sweat soaked back.
“Come inside me. Come hard.”
Deo pushed up on both arms as she pumped down with her hips.
Then she threw her head back and cried out, her eyes wide and blind with pleasure.
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Nita stopped breathing, paralyzed with wonder. She’d never seen anything as beautiful in her life. When she tightened her legs and pulled Deo into her as far as she could, the sudden unexpected pressure forced her into another orgasm.
“Don’t you move,” Nita gasped as Deo collapsed on top of her.
“Don’t you dare move. I’m still coming.”
“Can’t,” Deo mumbled, her head pillowed on Nita shoulder. “I’m wasted.”
“That’s good. That’s just really good.” Nita laughed and stroked Deo’s hair. “You sleep now baby.”
Nita lay very still, listening to the angry world outside and the steady, comforting sound of Deo’s even breathing. When her muscles fi nally relaxed, she let Deo slip out of her and eased Deo onto her side.
Deo muttered a faint protest but didn’t move as Nita carefully untangled her so she could sleep comfortably. Then she curled up in Deo’s arms and closed her eyes, satisfi ed and unafraid.
• 227 •
• 228 •
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tory sat up on the sofa, alert to the sound of quiet footsteps on the deck. A shadow moved across the glass doors, and she heard the quiet snick of a lock sliding open. The restless unease that was always with her when Reese was away disappeared instantly.
“I’m here, darling,” Tory called softly. There was enough light from the almost-dawn that she didn’t bother to turn on the nearby lamp.
“Why aren’t you upstairs in bed?” Reese asked, her voice sounding hoarse as she settled onto the couch next to Tory. She pulled off her tie and tossed it onto the end table, then loosened her gun belt and laid it carefully by her side.
“Because you’re not there.” Tory leaned her cheek against Reese’s shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Have you been out all night?”
“Most of it.” Reese sighed and leaned her head back. “We’re going to get hit, Tor. With high winds and storm surge at the very least.”
“When?”
“Late tomorrow and on into the night, probably.” Reese stroked Tory’s arm. “Did you hear from Kate?”
“They made it to Cath’s about midnight. Traffi c was backed up everywhere. The baby was asleep.”
“Mmm.”
Realizing that Reese was nearly asleep, too, Tory lifted Reese’s legs and guided her down until she was stretched out on her back. After retrieving Reese’s holster and placing it on the nearby table, she unlaced her shoes and dropped them on the fl oor.
“Can’t sleep now,” Reese muttered.
“Yes you can.” Tory curled up beside her, draping her body over Reese’s, and closed her eyes. Reese was rumpled and tired and barely
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present, but she was warm and her body was solid and her heartbeat steady. She was everything Tory needed to anchor her in the coming storm.
❖
Nita heard the shower running and checked the clock. Just after six a.m. She stretched and the muscles in her inner thighs protested.
Smiling, she thought about why she was sore, and the memory of straddling Deo’s tight, narrow hips while she rode the thick length of her made her clench inside. Tossing the covers aside, she rose quickly and hurried into the bathroom.
“Morning,” Nita said, slipping into the shower next to Deo. She wrapped both arms around Deo’s waist and kissed her.
“Sorry,” Deo murmured after a minute. “I was trying not to wake you.”
“That’s all right.” Nita smoothed her hands over Deo’s shoulders and down her arms. “I need to call Tory. I have a feeling we’re going to be running the clinic twenty-four hours a day from now until this is over.”
“How are you feeling?” Deo soaped her hands and caressed Nita’s breasts, giving a low growl of approval as Nita’s nipples hardened into dark pebbles against her palms.
Nita caught her breath sharply. “I woke up thinking about you inside me.”
“I woke up wanting to come inside you again.”
“Handy,” Nita whispered, her eyelids fl ickering as Deo played with her breasts.
“Are you going to let me?” Deo skimmed one hand down Nita’s belly until her fi ngertips touched the soft triangle with the diamond-hard center nestled between her legs. Then she circled slowly and pressed.
Nita whimpered and let her head fall back against the shower wall.
“Oh, baby, that feels so good.”
“To me too.” Deo’s breathing kicked up a notch. “You didn’t answer.”
“What was the question?”
Deo slid a fi nger inside her. “Whether you were going to let me come inside you again.”
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“Oh yes. Yes. As often as you like.”
“I’m going to make you come now.”
“I know.”
“You know why?” Deo murmured, kissing Nita slowly.
Nita shook her head, her eyes closed, pelvis lifting to take Deo deeper.
“Because I love to make you come, and you know it.”
Nita forced her eyes open. Deo was very close, her dark eyes black, all pupil. She was staring so intently Nita could feel the heat on the backs of her eyelids. Deep inside her orgasm unfurled and spread, powerful wings beating against the heavy air of her desire. “Is it really so simple?”
“No.” Deo added another fi nger, then another, and another. She barely managed to get her arm around Nita’s waist as Nita’s legs gave out. Still, she held her gaze as Nita trembled on the brink of orgasm.
“It’s not simple at all.”
“Don’t let me fall.”
“No, no I won’t.” Deo slipped her tongue deep into Nita’s mouth and Nita came.
❖
“You and my dad should leave this morning,” Bri said, yanking on her uniform pants. She shoved in her shirt and hastily threaded her belt through the loops. Carre sat on the edge of the bed watching her, and Bri could feel her bristling from across the room. Without meeting her eyes, she repeated what she’d been saying since the night before. “It’s not safe here, babe, and I’m going to be out on patrol pretty much all the time from now on.”
“I can take care of myself, Bri,” Carre said. “You don’t have to worry.”
“But I will.” Bri leaned her shoulders back against the wall and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “My dad just got out of the hospital.”
“I know, baby, and that’s one reason I’m staying. You know he’s not going to leave.” Caroline crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Bri’s shoulders. “When you go in today, I’ll head over to Nelson’s. We’ll be fi ne.”
“If you’d just go inland, I wouldn’t have to worry,” Bri said, afraid
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she sounded like she was whining. In fact, she was pretty sure she was whining.
“What are you scared about, baby,” Carre said gently.
Bri shook her head.
Carre bumped her pelvis into Bri’s and bit her lightly on the tip of her chin. “Say.”
“Cut it out,” Bri said grumpily.
“Nuh-uh.” Carre nibbled on Bri’s lower lip. When Bri cupped her butt, she smiled. “Better. But you still have to talk.”
Bri growled and skimmed her hand under the back of Caroline’s T-shirt.
“We’re not having sex,” Carre whispered, kissing the corner of Bri’s mouth. “We’re just having a moment.”
“Thirty seconds will do it.”
“Yeah,” Carre said breathily, “maybe. But you’re not getting thirty seconds. Not unless you tell me what you’re scared of.”
“A couple weeks ago, I thought my dad was going to die,” Bri said so quietly Carre could barely hear her.
Carre grew very still, holding Bri. Waiting.
Bri took a shaky breath. “That was really scary.”
“I know, baby.”
“No, you don’t know what I mean.” Bri cupped Carre’s face. “I love my dad, I do. But you…with you it’s different. I won’t be able to come take care of you if things get bad. If something happens to you because I’m not there, I’m going to lose it for good.”
“Oh, baby, no,” Carre whispered. She threaded her fi ngers into Bri’s hair and caressed her neck. “I’m going to be fi ne, and you are going to do what you need to do, because people are depending on you. And because it’s your responsibility and that’s who you are.” She kissed her softly. “Don’t you think I’m afraid for you?”
“I’ll be okay.”
Carre smiled. “You expect me to trust you, but you have to trust me, too.”
“Just be okay. Okay? Please.”
“Promise. I love you.”
Bri rested her forehead against Carre’s and closed her eyes. “Me too. So bad.”
“Got thirty seconds?”
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“I just got dressed.” Bri said, sounding unconvincing.
“Okay. A minute and thirty seconds, then.” Carre grabbed Bri’s hand and pulled her toward the bed. “Get over here and give me something to think about until I see you again.”
“Two minutes,” Bri muttered, fumbling with her belt. “I’ve got at least two minutes.”
❖
At the sound of a gunshot, Reese grabbed the marine next to her and dove for cover, scrambling with one hand for her weapon while shielding the body beneath her with her own. She swept the ground in front of her, and her right hand closed over the grip of her revolver.
“Keep your head down,” Reese grunted, yanking her weapon free from its holster.
Tory clamped both hands around Reese’s wrist. “Reese! Reese, we’re safe. You’re home. Reese!”
Forms took shape in the murky light. The desert, cold and black as death at midnight, blindingly bright and scorching in the light of day, faded from her mind’s eye and Reese saw her living room, her kitchen, and beneath her, her wife. “Tory. God, Tory. Did I hurt you?”
“Darling, no, of course you didn’t.” Tory smiled shakily. “Put your gun away, darling.”
Reese stared at the weapon gripped in her hand and Tory’s fi ngers clenched around her wrist so tightly they were white. “I’m sorry. God.
What was that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a tree coming down.” Tory released her hold on Reese’s arm. “It doesn’t matter. Everything is all right.”
“No it isn’t.” Reese pushed away, re-holstered her weapon, and slumped back against the sofa, not looking at Tory. “Did I hurt you?
I’m sorry.”
Tory sat up in the narrow space between the sofa and the coffee table, which had been pushed aside when Reese had pulled them off the sofa and onto the fl oor. Her hip ached from landing on it, but that wasn’t what hurt her. Reese looked haunted, tortured, and she simply couldn’t stand it anymore. She got to her knees and straddled Reese’s lap. She held her lover’s face in both hands and forced Reese to look at her. “You are not to say that to me anymore. You have never hurt me.
• 233 •
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You never will. You have nothing to be sorry for. You’re exhausted.
That was instinct. Your instinct to protect me. To protect those you love and are responsible for. I love you for that.”
Reese’s eyes were bruised with uncertainty, and Tory slid her hands higher, into Reese’s hair. She leaned down and kissed her. “You did your duty. You served when called. You have nothing to be ashamed of just because part of you questioned why you were there.” She stroked Reese’s face. “I let you go, because I knew that you had to, but I’m not ashamed that I didn’t want you to go. I won’t apologize for that, and I won’t apologize for saying that I don’t want you to go again.”
“Tory,” Reese whispered, circling her waist. She laid her cheek between Tory’s breasts. “If I didn’t have you I’d be lost.”
“No you wouldn’t,” Tory murmured, brushing her lips over Reese’s forehead. “But you don’t have to worry about it, ever. I promise.”
“I have to go to work soon.”
“I know. So do I.”
“I wish you weren’t going to be here for this.” Reese kissed the base of Tory’s throat, then lower between her breasts.
“I can’t be anywhere else. You’re here, and I won’t leave you. And I have a responsibility too.” Tory reached between them and opened the buttons on her blouse, then cradled Reese’s cheek against her breast.
“Listen to my heart. It beats for you. You and only you, for all my life.”
Reese shuddered and Tory felt tears on her skin.
“I know you’ll be careful,” Tory said, “and so will I. And when this is over, we’ll make love and I’ll make sure you know just exactly where you belong.”
“As if I could forget,” Reese whispered, tilting her head back and grinning weakly.
Tory smiled. “Well, I’ll enjoy reminding you just the same.”
❖
Nita curled up in the big chair in Deo’s bedroom and watched Deo dress. She loved to see her move, especially naked. When she stretched to pull pants off a hanger in her closet, the muscles in her back and shoulders bunched and rippled. Her ass tightened, and Nita had a quick
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memory of running her hands over those muscles and digging her fi ngers into them as Deo thrust between her legs. She must have made a small sound because Deo turned in her direction.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Deo narrowed her eyes and studied Nita in the soft light from the bedside lamp. Nita’s skin held a hint of heat beneath the smooth tan surface. “You’re thinking about sex.”
“No I’m not.”
“Uh-huh.” Deo stepped into her briefs, then pulled on her pants.
Naked from the waist up, she walked toward the dresser on the wall behind Nita. She stopped by the chair, leaned down and kissed Nita soundly, then kept going. “Yes you are. Why don’t you want me to know?”
Nita was about to make a fl ip reply about preferring to take her by surprise, and then the entire building shook, rattling the windows in their casements. The room dimmed as the scant light from the cloudy gray sky disappeared. Rain hammered against the skylight. A small TV on Deo’s dresser was turned down so low the sound of the weatherman’s words were barely audible, but the map behind him with its large red arrows and heavy black circles centered over the New England coast told the story with dramatic effectiveness. Nita appreciated, as she hadn’t until that moment, that before the day was out they were all likely to be in deadly danger. “I can’t look at you or think of you without wanting you, and that makes me uncomfortable.”
Deo jerked a white T-shirt over her head, then grabbed a clean khaki work shirt from a pile in her dresser drawer. Leaving both untucked, she settled onto the arm of Nita’s chair and regarded her contemplatively. “Desiring me doesn’t feel good.”
“Actually,” Nita said softly, “it feels wonderful.”
“But.”
“If I forget-0.8 “i 0 o9 o6637 Tc 0.s9Rhe4l745 -0.00015575 Tc -91d.4n 000bT 9c4062 0 T o66900545 Tc 230.661 bed a cle 2-189.471 3cs y
• 235 •
RADCLY fFE
“Another set of these.” Nita gestured to her jeans and T-shirt, far more casual than her ordinary work attire. “When I got home this morning, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be getting back there anytime soon.
I came prepared.”
“This morning? Meaning you were out all night?” Tory asked as they hurried down the hall.
“Uh-huh.” Nita held the door open for Tory, who gripped the handrail to steady herself on the slick stone landing as the wind threatened to upend her.
“Must have been something special to get you driving around in this last night,” Tory shouted as they linked arms and dashed towards the Jeep where Sally and Randy huddled in the back seat, waiting.
“I didn’t plan on it,” Nita shouted back. “But she is special.”
Tory spared Nita a quick glance as she pulled open her door.
“Deo?”
“Yes.” Nita bolted for the other side of the car and clambered into the passenger seat.
“Everybody all set?” Tory called, glancing briefl y over her shoulder to Sally and Randy. At the chorus of yeses, she put the Jeep into four-wheel-drive and sluiced her way out of the parking lot that now resembled a small pond. She wanted to get Randy safely home, and she wanted to get into town. She’d be needed there, and she’d be closer to Reese.
With too much water sheeting over the windshield for her to see anything at all, she gripped the wheel and drove the road from memory, praying she wouldn’t hit a downed tree or electric wire. The tension inside the Jeep was hot and thick, but her people—her friends—were good in a crisis, and she trusted them to handle whatever might come.
She spared a second look in Nita’s direction and grinned.
“Deo, huh,” she muttered under her breath. “Good for you.”
“Yes,” Nita whispered. “Yes, I really think she is.”
❖
The lobby of Town Hall with its wide, curving staircases fl anking each wall was bustling when Tory, Nita, and Sally arrived. Tory immediately dispatched Sally to set up a triage area in a shallow alcove just inside the front doors, and she went in search of the medical staging
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area. From the cacophony of voices growing louder with each step she took, Tory surmised that a fair number of the townspeople had already decided to take shelter there rather than ride out the wind and water at home. She slowed at the foot of the stairs as she spied someone she hadn’t expected to see.
“Nelson! What are you doing here?”
Nelson Parker, fi fteen pounds lighter than his usual weight, still looked imposing in his sheriff’s uniform. He grinned sheepishly. “I’m not doing anything here I wouldn’t be doing at home. Just minding the phones.” He pointed to a short wave radio and an array of receivers lined up on a nearby table. Caroline sat at one end of the table with a stack of fi les in front of her. “Someone’s got to coordinate the various response teams, and I told Gladys to stay home with George and mind their house. Talking doesn’t take much energy. Besides, Caroline won’t even let me lift the report folders.”
Tory frowned. “As long as all you do is talk. And you don’t leave this building. I mean it.”
“I understand.”
“Have you seen Reese?”
“Just a little while ago. There’s some folks cut off way down at the West End where the roads are fl ooded out. She took one of the big trucks down to get them.”
Tory bit her lip. She wanted to call Reese just to be sure she was all right, but she probably had patients waiting. “Will you let me know when she gets back…or if you hear from her?”
“Sure thing.”
“Thanks.” Tory headed up to the auditorium on the second fl oor. A large banner with a red cross made it pretty hard to miss the emergency medical station. So did the tall dark-haired woman in a white T-shirt and black jeans who sat on a stool suturing the forearm of an elderly woman.
“KT!” Tory exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Didn’t want to miss the party,” KT said, shooting Tory a grin.
“I already told her she was foolish,” the sprightly octogenarian said, giving KT a fond look. “Coming in this direction when everyone else is going the other way. Of course, the girls are prettier out here.”
KT laughed and eyed Pia, who stood nearby with a clipboard.
“Some of them sure are.”
• 241 •
RADCLY fFE
Tory clasped KT’s shoulder briefl y. “We can use the help.
Thanks.”
“No problem.” KT caught Tory’s gaze. “It’s a good time to be with family.”
“Yes,” Tory murmured, accepting an intake sheet from Pia for someone with a sprained knee. “It is.”
❖
Two hours after she arrived, Nita fi nally took a break. Glancing around the room, she was satisfi ed that all the urgent patients had been dealt with. While she, KT, and Tory had screened or treated everyone in need of medical care—chiefl y for problems stemming from attempts to secure or evacuate homes—volunteers saw to the townspeople who had come seeking shelter. Now, everyone had a cot, a small bag of snacks, and sundries. From the weather reports and the din of driving rain against the windows, the worst of the tempest was nearly upon them.
Nita wasn’t frightened for herself. The 100-year-old building had undoubtedly weathered nature’s wrath many times, and she had no doubt it would again. But in the rare free minutes she’d had between tending the sprains, lacerations, and occasional broken bone of some of those emergency workers and storm victims, she feared for Deo.
Hundreds of residents and tourists had refused to evacuate in the hopes of riding out the hurricane in their homes and hotels. Already some areas of town were fl ooded, and the real people in danger were those stranded and the rescue personnel who attempted to reach them and their animals in trucks and small outboard boats. Deo was one of those rescuers. She was out in the storm somewhere, assisting with her trucks and generators and other emergency equipment.
Nita hadn’t seen her for over twelve hours, and she wondered if Deo had stopped long enough to get warm and catch a meal. She worried that she’d take chances, risking herself in atonement for the one life she hadn’t been able to save.
“How are you doing?” Pia asked, sinking onto the bench against the wall where Nita huddled to get out of the fray.
“Oh,” Nita said, her heart tripping crazily for just a second, Pia’s coloring, her dark beauty, was so like Deo’s. “I’m all right. A little tired.” She laughed selfconsciously, glad Pia couldn’t read her mind.
• 242 •
Winds of Fortune
“I can’t actually remember the last time I slept a full night.”
“Me neither.” Pia rested her head against the wall. “I told KT I didn’t want her to come, but I’m glad she’s here. Have you heard from your family?”
“No, but I’m not too worried about them, because…you know, a cop’s family. They’ll be looked after.”
“That’s good.” Pia tracked KT on the far side of the room as KT
and Tory wended their way between cots, checking on patients. “It’s funny how things work out. KT and Tory used to be lovers.”
“Really.”
“Mmm. A long time ago. They were separated for a lot of years, but I don’t think they ever stopped loving each other. And now,” Pia said softly, “KT is mine and somehow we’re all family.” Pia shifted her gaze to Nita. “Family isn’t always what we expect it to be, is it?”
Nita laughed bitterly. “No, it certainly isn’t.”
“Joey’s out on a cleanup crew with Deo,” Pia said. “I didn’t want him to go, but he wouldn’t let her have all the fun.” She shook her head. “He worships her. I think he wants to grow up to be just like her because he thinks she gets all the girls.”
“He might be right,” Nita said, strangely unbothered by the allusion to Deo’s reputation with women. Deo had awakened in her arms that morning. Deo had come for her, unguarded and vulnerable, the night before. That was truth. The rest didn’t matter.
“All my brothers love her, but it doesn’t make up for Gabriel. Deo said she told you about Gabe.”
“Yes.”
“That’s a big deal, that she told you, you know.”
“Yes, I know. I know how much she’s suffered.” Nita sighed. “I hope she isn’t out there taking chances…trying to prove something.”
“My uncle is the only one who hasn’t forgiven her. It was an accident, for God’s sake. She was just a kid, and we all did dumb things when we were kids. Jesus, it was just as much Gabe’s fault for going out with her as it was hers for taking a boat out when she was drunk.”
“What?” Nita frowned. “What did you say?”
Pia looked confused. “About what?”
“Deo wasn’t driving that boat. Her brother was.”
“No. That’s not what the sheriff said. That’s not what Deo told us either.”
• 243 •
RADCLY fFE
“Who do you think told the sheriff what happened?” Nita stood abruptly. “Of course she wouldn’t blame her brother. He was dead.”
“She told you Gabe was driving?” Pia jumped up. “God damn her.
I can’t believe she did that—let us all believe all this time that she got Gabe out there when no sane person would be on the water.”
“Why can’t you believe it?” Nita said, her attention drawn to a noisy group of men in yellow slickers and heavy black rain boots coming through the door. In the midst of them, she recognized Deo.
“She’d rather hurt than hurt someone else. Excuse me.”
Nita caught up to Deo in the coffee line.
“I bet you could use a sandwich to go along with that coffee.”
Deo’s look of surprise turned to one of pleasure. “I was hoping you’d be here.”
“Were you now.” Nita knew there were people all around them, but she couldn’t see anyone except Deo. She couldn’t hear a single voice except hers.
“Yeah.”
After Deo got her coffee, Nita took her hand and led her to a quiet spot beneath the broad sweeping staircase. “Is this your fi rst break all day?”
“More or less.” Deo sipped her coffee, then brushed her thumb over Nita’s cheek. “You okay? You look a little tired.”
“Someone has been keeping me up nights.”
Deo grinned. “Really.”
“Really.” Nita parted Deo’s rain slicker and slid her hand inside, settling her palm on the crest of Deo’s hip. “And when she’s not keeping me awake making love to me the way no one ever has, I’m awake thinking about it.”
“That’s funny.” Deo leaned closer and brushed her mouth over Nita’s. “I’ve been thinking about the same thing all day. Keeps me warm out there.”
A wolf whistle sounded from somewhere nearby and Deo scowled, sliding her arm around Nita’s waist as she scanned the nearby faces.
Then she grinned. “Joey, take your eyes someplace else.”
“What, and miss all the action?” Joey skidded to a halt next to them, the coffee in the cup he held in his uninjured hand sloshing over the rim. “Hi Nita.”
“Hi Joey,” Nita said. “Are you taking care of that hand out there?”
• 244 •
Winds of Fortune
Joey glanced down at the splint on his forearm as if he had forgotten it was there. “Oh yeah. I can do most anything with it now.”
“If you re-injure it,” Nita warned, trying to sound stern but fi nding it hard to raise any temper with the charming young man, “it will just take months longer to heal.”
“Forget that,” Deo grumbled. “He’s been freeloading long enough.”
“Listen,” Joey said eagerly, “I just heard there’s a bunch of power lines down and a few buildings caught fi re. Fire crews are out already, but they’re probably gonna need some of our equipment. We should go, Deo.”
“Okay,” Deo said, never taking her eyes from Nita’s face. “Send Marco and his crew out with the other truck. Then grab us some sandwiches and I’ll meet you outside in a minute.”
“Got it. See you, Nita.”
“Bye, Joey.” Nita leaned into Deo and the icy water from Deo’s soaked jeans seeped into hers. “You’re cold. You should rest awhile before you go out again.”
“I’m okay.”
“If you work like this you’ll get hurt.”
“I’m okay. Better than okay now.” Deo kissed her again and tossed her cup into a trash can. “I gotta go.”
Struck by sudden disquiet, Nita pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her waist beneath the heavy slicker. “Don’t try to be a hero.”
“Me?” Deo laughed. “You know that’s not my style.”
“Don’t pull that attitude with me,” Nita said gently. “I know how brave and caring you are—even if you try to hide it.”
“What?” Deo’s voice caught. “I’m not—”
“Yes, you are. I see you looking after Joey. I see you out there in this miserable, dangerous weather, hour after hour, helping everywhere you can.” Nita could still feel Deo’s pain when she’d told her about Gabe, and that other storm, and all she’d lost. “I know how much you care—you never told your family what really happened that night with Gabe. You took all the blame.”
Deo jerked. “Who told you that?”
“Pia.” Nita tightened her grip when Deo tried to pull away. “Don’t be angry with her. It just came up.” She laid her cheek against Deo’s,
• 245 •
RADCLY fFE
her mouth close to her ear. “I think you’re wonderful.”
“Yeah?” Deo relaxed in Nita’s arms. “It matters, what you think.
It matters a lot.”
Leaning back so she could see Deo’s face, Nita read the questions in Deo’s eyes. Questions Nita knew the answers to but feared to say. A loud crash sounded somewhere outside. The fl oor vibrated and shutters clattered. Deo was about to go back out into that angry night, and Nita couldn’t let her take all the chances. “You matter to me, Deo. You matter a lot.”
“That’s good,” Deo whispered. “Because I’m falling in love with you.”
Nita didn’t know how to believe her, wasn’t sure she dared. She had never been enough for anyone—not enough for Sylvia to choose her over the privilege of a life that was a lie, not enough for her family to stand by her against the brotherhood of blue. Why should Deo change her free-wheeling ways for her? Nita’s voice shook. “I didn’t think that was your style.”
“Neither did I.” Deo smiled a lopsided smile. “But I think you hooked me the fi rst time I saw you at the clinic. You were cool and beautiful and a little pissed, and I fell a little bit in love—”
Nita pressed her fi ngertips to Deo’s mouth. “I should tell you not to say that. Hell, I should probably run.” She moved her fi ngers and kissed her. “But I’m not going to. Call me when you get a chance. I need…I need to hear your voice.”
“You won’t change your mind, will you?” Deo eased free of Nita’s grip and backed up a step. “You’ll be here?”
When their bodies separated completely, Nita ached. She wanted to reach out and grab her, hold her there. Keep her inside, out of the storm. Inside with her. Nita shivered. She wanted her inside her.
“I won’t go, Deo,” Nita said just as Deo started to turn away. Deo looked back, the questions still in her eyes. “I’ll be here waiting for you.”
“Then like I said before, I’ll be back.”
Nita watched her until she disappeared with another group of excited men and women. She recalled the suffocating loneliness she used to feel watching Sylvia drive away. She didn’t feel that way now.
She missed Deo immediately, but unlike with Sylvia, the ache came from something she had found, instead of lost.
• 246 •
Winds of Fortune
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Pull up onto the sidewalk over there,” Deo told Joey, pointing to a ring of emergency vehicles parked haphazardly around the mouth of a wide access alley that led to one of the huge wooden piers in the far West End. A commercial fi shing building on the end of the pier was burning, and the fl ames and the refl ections from the light bars on top of the police cruisers, rescue rigs, and fi re engines shimmered eerily through the inky rain.
“They’ve got a lot of boats up in dry dock,” Joey yelled, yanking on the emergency brake. “If the pier collapses and takes them too, it’ll be a hell of a loss.”
“Raise the other guys on the walkie-talkie,” Deo said, already out of the truck, hard hat in hand and a Maglite under her arm. Frigid rain lashed the back of her neck. “Tell them to get out here with hydraulic winches and joists. We’ll shore it up if we have to.”
“I’m on it.”
Deo ran down the pathway, struggling for balance as her boots sank into the saturated sand. Closing in on the confl agration, she skirted thick coils of fi re hose and mounds of equipment that suddenly loomed up out of the darkness like predatory beasts. Even fi fty yards away, the heat from the burning building caused sweat to stream down her face.
Squinting through the billowing smoke, she spied Reese.
“Reese!” she shouted above the roar of the inferno. “How bad is it?”
“Might save the building,” Reese yelled back. “If the pier doesn’t collapse. Incident Commander’s down there now checking it out.”
“Let me go see what he needs.”
Reese lifted the restraining tape that Bri and Allie had used to cordon off the area, although there were no gawkers to discourage.
“Got a radio?”
• 247 •
RADCLY fFE
“Yeah.”
Deo didn’t see anything at fi rst except the burning building, and then she caught the wink of a fl ashlight under the pier and followed the blinking pinpoint of light. Soon she came upon three men standing ankle deep in water underneath the 200-year-old pier. The tide was out or they would have been up to their thighs in sea water. The creosote soaked pilings supporting the pier would not burn easily, but they would burn. Unfortunately, time and weather and ocean salt had weakened some of them already. Above their heads, the fi re raged.
Recognizing Alan Peterson, the fi re marshal, Deo sloshed over to him. “How does it look?”
Peterson spared her a glance as he hammered a metal temperature probe into one of the horizontal joists. “We’re okay for now, but if we don’t contain the spread mighty fast, we’re going to lose this pier. Some of these beams are going to go up like kindling.”
“We can probably jack it up in enough places to buy you some time,” Deo said. She’d only worked this close to a fi re once before, and that had been nothing near the scale of this one. The sound of air being sucked into the building to feed the fi ery furnace was like an enormous dragon breathing in huge rasping gusts.
“If we don’t do something fast, it won’t make any difference,”
Peterson yelled back. “I’ll have to pull my team out of there and let it burn.”
“I’ve got a crew on the way. Five minutes.”
“Okay, you’ve got fi fteen.”
“I hear you!”
Deo ran toward the street and met Joey coming down.
“They’re here!” Joey exclaimed breathlessly. “They’re offl oading gear onto the Jeep and will have it down here in just a couple minutes.”
“Let me show you what we’ve got,” Deo said, grabbing his arm.
She guided him back down the circuitous path, tugging him along when he slowed to gape at the fi re.
“Holy cripes,” Joey shouted. “They’ll never save that building.”
“Let’s worry about the pier.” Deo shone her light over the ancient timbers. The sky overhead was now a rosy grey. The fi re above them was closer. “We need to get supports under here to shore up the joists, every twenty feet or so.”
• 248 •
Winds of Fortune
“Man,” Joey said, gazing upward. “It’s almost right on top of us.”
“We’ve got a little time,” Deo assured him. “Come on, let’s get our crew down here.”
Deo turned and sprinted, slowing when she realized Joey wasn’t with her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he had stopped to stare at the burning building again. “Joey, move it!”
He turned, his back to the pier and the pyre above, a look of innocent amazement on his face. He didn’t see the section of roof above him break free and start to fall. Deo didn’t even have time to scream.
She launched herself at him and struck his chest with her shoulder middive just as the world erupted in fl ame and fury.
❖
“Tory,” Chief Nelson Parker said in a low urgent voice. “I just got a call from Bri. She says casualties from a fi re on one of the piers are coming our way. ETA two minutes.”
“Did she give you anything else?” Tory swallowed back a wave of fear. Why had Bri called? Why not Reese? “God, Nelson, we’re not set up for major trauma here.”
“At least one serious. The others didn’t sound too bad—a few burns, couple lacerations.”
“All right.” Tory motioned to KT and Nita to join them as she continued thinking aloud. “We’ll stabilize here and transport anyone who needs it. Nelson, I need a vehicle standing by that’s capable of getting out of here, no matter what the roads look like.”
Nelson grimaced. “I’m not sure we can do that. Route 6 is pretty much underwater.”
Tory shook her head. “I don’t care if you have to pull a boat out of the harbor. If I have injured that need transport, I want them transported.”
“Trouble?” KT asked, her demeanor nonchalant but her eyes sharp and intent.
“What’s going on?” Nita looked from Tory to KT, her expression turning to alarm.
“We have incoming,” Tory said, hurrying towards the treatment area. “Nelson, get some people to clear a path through the lobby up to here. And ask Sally to come up.”
• 249 •
RADCLY fFE
“I’m on it,” he said.
“KT,” Tory said, automatically assuming the role of team leader.
It was her town, her clinic, her call. “You’re the trauma surgeon. You’ll get the most serious. Sally, Nita, and I will take the others. If you need help, call me.”
“Pia can give me a hand,” KT pointed out. “She’s an excellent assistant.”
“All right, fi ne.” Tory surveyed the corner of the room where they had piled their emergency medical supplies and instruments. “Hell, we don’t even have treatment tables. Keep the patients on the gurneys they come in on and treat them there.”
“This reminds me of operating in Southeast Asia when I was a resident and I did that charity tour,” KT said, her eyes bright with adrenaline and anticipation. “Remember, Vic? I told you we had to work with fl ashlights when the generators went out.”
“Hopefully we’re a little better off than that,” Tory muttered, but she wasn’t entirely certain that was true. Her worst fear was that they’d have serious injuries they wouldn’t be able to handle with their limited resources. She met KT’s gaze. “We could be in trouble here.”
KT swept a hand down Tory’s arm and squeezed her fi ngers.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks.”
“I’d better get Pia and set up.”
Tory watched KT amble away as if she had all the time in the world. She knew that blasé manner was a practiced disguise perpetrated to instill calm in others. KT was already mentally planning, organizing, and executing any number of potential emergency scenarios in her head, and as soon as she saw her patient, every action would be choreographed with deliberation and certainty. Tory trusted Nita’s competence, but she depended on KT in a far more personal way.
“Nita,” Tory said, refocusing. “You triage—your ER training’s more recent than mine.”
“Got it,” Nita said, grabbing several packs of sterile gloves and tucking them into the waistband of her jeans.
“Let’s hope we don’t need blood,” Tory said. “We’ll have to make do with—”
“Here they come,” Nita announced as the loud thud of the heavy
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front doors banging open followed by a rising jumble of voices signaled the arrival of the paramedics with their casualties.
Nita leaned over the balcony and tracked the progression of the emergency teams across the lobby and up the stairs. Three grimy fi refi ghters and a paramedic maneuvered a stretcher up the stairs with surprising speed. Behind them, paramedics and police offi cers guided several more walking wounded. At the top of the stairs, Tory directed the stretcher bearers toward KT. Nita focused on the other injured still slowly making their way up. Her stomach sank when she recognized Joey Torres leaning on Bri Parker for support. His face was streaked with soot and blood, and his clothes were soaked. Then she picked out the brunette offi cer, Allie, with another injured fi reman.
Why wasn’t Deo with Joey? Anxiously, Nita scanned the crowd again. Deo wasn’t there. Deo wasn’t anywhere she searched.
Fighting a wave of dizziness, Nita pushed her way to the stretcher.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Blood seeped down Deo’s forehead and angry red blisters covered the left side of her neck. Burns. Sandbags cushioned Deo’s head. Head injury?
“What happened?” Nita demanded, struggling for calm. She wanted to shove everyone out of the way so she could touch Deo, just touch her. “Where else is she hurt?”
“Put her over here, guys,” KT directed. “Let’s have a look.”
“Deo,” Nita said, as if expecting Deo to answer. “Deo, sweetheart?”
Pia pushed into the crowd. “Deo? Oh my God.”
“Baby,” KT said to Pia, blocking her view of her cousin on the stretcher, “let me take care of her. You go help the others.”
Nita tried to edge around KT to get to Deo, but a hand on her arm held her back.
“Let KT work, Nita,” Tory said. “She’ll take care of her.”
Nita spun away. “I won’t get in the way. I just need to—”
Pia caught Nita’s arm. “Tory’s right, honey. Come on. Joey’s over here. He needs your help.”
“Joey.” Nita took a breath and the part of her that functioned despite her own anguish and fear clicked on. Her mind cleared. “Yes.
• 251 •
RADCLY fFE
Of course.” She looked to Tory. “You’ll let me know as soon as I can see her?”
“I’ll make sure you’re notifi ed as soon as KT gives the word,”
Tory said.
Squaring her shoulders, Nita forced herself to turn her back on the scene of KT working on Deo’s still form. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. She fi sted her hands, hoping to stop the trembling before she reached Joey. Pia was already with him, kneeling in front of the chair where he slumped, a bloody gauze pressed to his cheek.
“What happened?” Nita asked as she pulled on gloves. She glanced at the clipboard by his feet. His blood pressure was a little bit low, but Sally hadn’t noted anything urgent.
Joey shivered and his eyes glistened with tears. “Oh man, I fucked up. How’s Deo? Is she hurt bad?”
“KT is looking after her right now,” Nita replied, her voice sounding strangely fl at to her own ears. Funny, her whole body was numb, but she knew exactly what she had to do for Joey. “Let’s take care of you. Tell me how you got hurt.”
“The building…part of the roof…it was on fi re and it fell.”
Nita placed her index fi nger on the radial side of his wrist. His pulse was thready and fast. If he wasn’t young and healthy, he’d probably be in shock. “Pia, would you get him a blanket. He’s wet and cold.”
“I’ll be right back, Joey, sweetie,” Pia said, rising quickly.
“Deo pushed me out of the way,” Joey continued miserably. “I didn’t see it falling, and she pushed me out of the way.” Tears ran down his face. “Something hit her and she fell and I…oh, fuck, it’s all my fault.”
“It’s okay. Let me see your face,” Nita requested abruptly. She couldn’t hear any more about Deo if she hoped to be able to work.
The laceration on his cheek was long, but not too deep.
“Are you hurt anywhere else? What about your hand? Did you re-injure it?”
Joey stared down into his lap. His splint was wet and sandy but intact.
“It’s okay. I didn’t fall on it.” He turned anguished eyes to Nita.
“Can I see her? Can I please see her?”
“In a little while.” Nita straightened and her vision dimmed. For a
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second, she thought she might faint, and then she felt a steadying hand on her elbow.
“Hey,” Reese said gently. “Nita, are you all right?”
“Yes. Yes, thanks.” Nita took in the white bandage wrapped around Reese’s left hand. “You’d better let me look at that.”
Reese followed her gaze, then shrugged. “It’s nothing much. A few burns.”
“She pulled Deo out from under the stuff that was on fi re,” Joey announced. “She saved her.”
“Then I owe you thanks,” Nita said. “More than I can say.”
“No you don’t,” Reese said. She scanned the area, her gaze landing on the activity around the stretcher. “How is she?”
“I don’t know yet.” Nita couldn’t think about what was happening behind her. She couldn’t think about Deo lying so still, blood on her face. She couldn’t. “Is there anyone else injured?”
Reese shook her head. “Just bumps and bruises. Nothing major.”
“You need that hand looked at,” Nita repeated.
“I’ll have Tory do it,” Reese said. “I want to let her know I’m okay.”
“Yes. Yes, you should do that. Go fi nd her.”
“Nita, you okay?” Reese peered at her with concern.
“Yes. Fine. Go ahead. Tory needs to see you.”
Reese hesitated, then stepped away as Pia returned with a blanket and wrapped it around Joey’s shoulders.
“Can you irrigate out that laceration on his cheek,” Nita asked,
“and steri-strip it closed. I don’t think he’ll need sutures.”
“Sure. I’ll change that splint too.” Pia gripped Nita’s arm. “Why don’t you go see what’s happening with Deo. Maybe KT can give you an update now.”
“Thank you. I’ll do that.”
Nita didn’t recognize herself. She’d been in the midst of more medical emergencies than she could count. She’d taken care of the young and the old, victims of horrifying car crashes and brutal assaults and senseless accidents. She’d handled it all, calmly, even remotely.
And now, she was terrifi ed. The very thought of Deo being hurt left her disoriented, as if she were cast out to sea, far from land with no idea which direction led to safety.
• 253 •
RADCLY fFE
She had to get to her.
The chaos around Deo had settled down to a controlled fl urry of activity, and Nita was able to get close enough to see her. She wasn’t awake, but her eyes moved restlessly beneath closed lids. A white sterile cloth with a hole in the middle covered her stomach, and just as Nita looked down, KT made a two-inch vertical incision below Deo’s belly button.
“Is she bleeding internally?” Nita felt an icy hand grip her heart.
“Don’t know,” KT responded without looking away from what she was doing. “Her blood pressure’s been a little bit up and down, and I want to make sure nothing is going on inside. We can’t rely on X-rays or CT, since we don’t have any.” She tossed Nita a grin. “So we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way and look.”
“What about her head?” Nita asked.
“She’s got a good bump on her temple.”
As KT talked, she slid a clear plastic IV tube into Deo’s abdomen through the incision she’d made, and Sally hooked up an IV bag to the other end. The clear fl uid ran into Deo’s abdomen. Nita knew that in a few minutes, they would lower the IV bag and let the fl uid run out.
If it was clear, there was a good chance there was no internal injury. If Deo was bleeding inside, it would be pink or red. If that happened, Deo might very well die there, because as good as KT was, she couldn’t operate in the middle of Town Hall.
“The scalp laceration’s no big deal,” KT went on. “Her pupils look fi ne. With luck, it’s just a concussion. Refl exes are normal, so I think her neck’s okay, too.”
“Thank God.”
“You want to assist here?” KT asked.
“I’ll get Tory if you need help,” Nita said, her legs suddenly weak.
“I can’t. I…she’s…we’re lovers.”
“Hell, Nita, why didn’t you say something.” KT shook her head.
“I’m okay here. You should go sit down until I can fi ll you in the right way.”
“I’d rather stay.”
“Okay, then pull up a chair and hold her hand.”
“What?”
“Hold her hand. It will be good for her, and it’ll be good for you.”
• 254 •
Winds of Fortune
“I might be needed if we have more injured.”
“If Tory needs you, she’ll let you know.” KT deftly inserted a series of sutures closing the incision in Deo’s abdomen. “Right now, just be her lover.”
“Yes.” Nita reached for an unoccupied chair and pulled it close.
She sat down and took Deo’s hand. It was cool and still. She held it to her cheek. “That’s just exactly what I want to do.”
• 255 •
• 256 •
Winds of Fortune
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Tory assured herself that KT had things under control with Deo and that none of the fi refi ghters or paramedics were suffering from smoke inhalation or other life-threatening problems. Then she went in search of her lover.
“Nelson,” Tory said sharply, coming upon Reese and Nelson in a huddle at the perimeter of the activity. “You’re supposed to be sitting down monitoring communications. Not briefi ng with your offi cers.”
“I was just—” Nelson began.
“And you,” Tory said, grasping Reese’s sleeve, “require medical attention. Now. I don’t have time to go through our usual song and dance about this.”
Reese took one look at Tory and said, “Chief, I’ll check in with you later.”
Nelson’s eyebrows rose, but he merely nodded and hastily made himself scarce.
“Sit down right here, darling,” Tory said more quietly, guiding Reese to a wooden folding chair. Her initial relief at having seen Reese walking in under her own power had given way to alarm when she’d seen the smudged bandage carelessly wrapped around her hand and forearm.
“How are you doing?” Reese asked, obediently sitting.
“I’m not the one who’s injured.” Tory pulled on gloves and carefully removed the gauze. “How did this happen?”
When Reese hesitated, Tory pulled off her gloves, squatted down in front of her, and braced her hands on Reese’s thighs. Looking up into her face, she said gently, “I already know that you’re all right. I won’t be frightened by hearing how you got hurt. It’s important for me to know. I’m your lover.”
Reese brushed her fi ngers over Tory’s cheek. “I keep wanting to protect you, but I can’t, can I?”
• 257 •
RADCLY fFE
“You do protect me.” Tory smiled wearily. “But not the way you think. I don’t want to be protected from the truth, especially not when it’s your truth. But you shelter my heart, and that makes me strong.
That’s the gift you give me.”
“Thank you,” Reese murmured. She looked at her hand. “Deo got hit with burning debris. I pulled her away from it and got a bit singed.”
Tory waited.
“The wind came up faster than anybody expected,” Reese said, covering Tory’s hand where it rested on her thigh. “The fi re really took off, and a section of the roof broke loose. It was a fl aming torch, and it came down so fast there was no time to do anything. There was no time.
No time to warn anyone. No time to fi nd cover.”
“God, that sounds terrifying.”
“I had people on the ground and no way to warn them.”
Reese’s gaze turned inward and Tory realized she wasn’t recalling the events of an hour ago, she was back in Iraq with the night on fi re and her marines dying. Tory’s fi rst instinct was to bring Reese back, out of that place, away from that horror, but she didn’t. Instead, she held Reese’s uninjured hand more tightly, biting her lip to hold back the words of comfort Reese didn’t need.
“I couldn’t get to them in time. Some went down. I lost them.”
Reese focused on Tory’s face, her eyes fi lled with torment. “I lost them, Tor.”
“Not tonight, you didn’t,” Tory whispered, praying she was saying the right thing. She wouldn’t insult Reese by denying what Reese had gone through out there in the desert. If Reese felt responsible, nothing she could say would change that. But she didn’t have to stand by and let Reese suffer for the rest of her life for something Reese couldn’t change. “Casualties of war, isn’t that what you’re taught? That people die, no matter what you do. I know in my heart if you hadn’t been there, more would have died. I know that with everything I am. And if you won’t believe me, believe this—Deo’s alive tonight because you were here, doing your job.”
“I do believe you.” Reese tugged on Tory’s hand and pulled her up and against her body, then rested her cheek against Tory’s breast. “Tory, you are the truth in my world.”
• 258 •
Winds of Fortune
Tory stroked Reese’s hair. “Then trust you did your best, and trust it was enough.”
Silently, Reese nodded.
Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, Tory saw Bri halt hesitantly a few feet away, her worried gaze fi xed on Reese. She smiled and motioned her over. Then she gently drew away from Reese and found another pair of sterile gloves. “Let’s see that hand, Sheriff.”
Reese held out her arm as Bri joined them.
“Got a report for me, Offi cer?” Reese asked, her voice strong and steady.
“Yes ma’am,” Bri said smartly. “The fi re chief just radioed in.
Both fi res are under control. The rest of Deo’s crew is still working on the pier, but it looks good.”
“Good. What about civilians?”
Bri glanced down at a paper in her hand. “The chief got calls from a dozen families who are without power or are fl ooded out. They’ll need to be evacuated to here.”
“Who’s on that?”
“I told Smith and Allie to grab something to eat, and then start with those families with elderly or kids. Is that okay?”
“Sounds good.” Reese winced as Tory trimmed torn skin from around a blister on the back of her hand.
“Sorry,” Tory murmured. “These aren’t too bad, but they’ll do better if I get rid of some of this debris.” She sighed. “I really wish you could manage not to use your body as the fi rst line of defense.”
Bri laughed and Tory glared at her.
“Uh,” Bri said, backing up a step. “So that’s it, then. I’m just going to grab a coffee and say hi to Carre, and I’ll be ready to head out.”
“I’ll be with you in fi ve,” Reese said. “Don’t forget to restock the cruiser with emergency supplies.”
“Roger,” Bri said, hurrying away.
“How’s she doing,” Tory asked, applying burn ointment to Reese’s hand.
“Solid. She’s got a natural instinct for command.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
Reese chuckled. “Better than good. Someday, she’ll take Nelson’s place.”
• 259 •
RADCLY fFE
“Not you?” Tory taped the gauze she’d wrapped around Reese’s wrist and got unsteadily to her feet. She wore her ankle brace, but after eighteen hours on her feet, nothing could prevent her leg from stiffening. Reese rose quickly and slid an arm around her waist.
“These few weeks as acting chief have been more than enough for me,” Reese said. “Now it’s about time you took a break.”
“I’m all right.”
“No you’re not. Come on.”
Tory tried to protest, but Reese just ignored her.
“Sit here,” Reese commanded, indicating a bench along the wall.
“I’ll be right back.”
Bowing to the inevitable, Tory slumped down, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. The sound of Reese calling her name and gentle shaking brought her awake. She rubbed her face.
“Oh my God, I fell asleep.”
Reese handed her a cup of coffee and a hastily assembled ham and cheese sandwich. “For about fi ve minutes. Here. Refuel, Dr. King.”
Tory took a bite because she was too tired to argue and suddenly realized she was hungry. She fi nished the hasty meal and washed it down with a gulp of coffee. “Thanks.”
“Just doing my job,” Reese said as she leaned down and kissed her.
Reese’s eyes were clear and sparkling. The pain that so often rode through them was gone. Tory brushed Reese’s hair back with her fi ngertips. “Welcome home, darling.”
“It feels really good to be here. I love you.”
“I love you.” Tory listened to the rain and the wind. The storm was not over, but perhaps the worst had passed. “You’ve got people to see to, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“You will be careful out there, won’t you?”
“I will.”
“Then go, Sheriff. I’ll see you when you come home.”
Reese kissed her one last time. “I’ll be home just as soon as I can.”
Tory watched her go, content in knowing that Reese would always do whatever it took to come home to her.
• 260 •
Winds of Fortune
❖
Deo awoke with a start and immediately tried to sit up. Something was holding her down, and for a second, she thought she was underwater again. Gasping, she struggled to get to the surface.
“Deo, baby,” Nita said urgently. “Deo, it’s all right. Lie still.”
“Gabe!” Deo gripped Nita’s arm so tightly Nita cried out. “Where’s Gabe?”
Nita leaned over so Deo could see her face and stroked Deo’s forehead. “There’s been an accident, sweetheart. You’ve been hurt, but you’re going to be all right.”
“Nita?” Deo whispered, growing still.
“Yes, baby. I’m here.”
“Gabe’s dead, isn’t he?”
Nita thought her heart might break at the forlorn sound of Deo’s voice and the terrible naked pain in her eyes. “Yes, baby, he is. It was a long time ago. It was an accident.”
Deo closed her eyes and Nita kissed her forehead.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Nita murmured. “Do you hear me? It wasn’t your fault.”
“What happened?” Deo asked, fi nally opening her eyes.
“What do you remember?”
Deo frowned. “Storm. Back then, when Gabe died.” She shivered.
“And tonight. Another storm.”
“Yes. There’s a hurricane.”
“Joey!” Deo jerked almost upright, then fell back with a grimace, clutching her abdomen. “Oh. Jesus. That hurts.”
“You have to lie still,” Nita snapped. Even though the abdominal pericentesis fl uid had come back clear and KT had pulled the tube out, pronouncing Deo stable, Nita was frantic that something serious could be going on and they’d missed it. “You’ve been hurt. Joey is fi ne.”
“He’s not dead?”
“No. No, baby, he isn’t. He might have been hurt, but you made sure he wasn’t.” Nita wasn’t certain how well Deo was able to distinguish the past from the present, and she didn’t want her to suffer through the pain of losing Gabe again. “Joey is here somewhere. In a minute, I’ll fi nd him so you can talk to him. How do you feel?”
“My head hurts. So does my belly.” Deo smiled fl eetingly. “It’s
• 261 •
RADCLY fFE
good to see you though.”
“It is so good to see you, too.” Nita kissed her on the mouth.
“You’ve got some burns, nothing serious, and a good bump on your head. KT had to make a small incision in your stomach to check for bleeding, but you’re okay.”
“I remember now. Sort of. A big fi re.” Deo frowned. “We needed to work on the pier. Joey. Joey was behind me and the building was burning. Burning. God, Nita, the fl ames were right on top of him!”
“Easy, sweetheart,” Nita soothed. “Joey might have been hurt, but you took care of him. Do you understand me? You took care of him.
He’s all right.”
“Why are you crying?” Deo asked.
“What?” Nita touched her cheeks and was stunned to fi nd they were wet. “I…I guess I’m happy. You make me happy.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Nita said softly. “Now, close your eyes and try to rest.”
“Okay,” Deo said wearily, struggling to keep her eyes open. “Will you stay with me?”
“I might have to leave for a few minutes, if I have patients, but I’ll be back. If you need me, I’ll be here. I promise.”
“That’s good. I love you,” Deo whispered, and closed her eyes.
Nita caught her lip, feeling the tears she couldn’t seem to stop on her cheeks again. She’d never understood what it meant to cry from happiness. Sylvia told her countless times that she loved her, but her love had been a weapon. Deo’s was a gift.
“You need something?” Allie asked quietly. “Coffee or soda or something?”
“No,” Nita said, brushing at her face as she looked up at the young offi cer beside her. Like every other member of the emergency response teams, Allie’s face was streaked with sweat and grime, and shadows marred her fl awless skin. She was, nevertheless, strikingly beautiful.
“I’m holding up. How are you?”
“Fine.” Allie glanced down at Deo. “Is she going to be all right?”
“I think so. We just need to watch her carefully for another twelve hours or so.” Nita wondered how much Deo’s sometime-girlfriend had heard. The look on her face as her eyes skimmed over Deo said there might be more than a casual fl ing fueling her concern. “I should check
• 262 •
Winds of Fortune
with Tory and make sure everyone’s taken care of. Would you mind sitting with her for just a few minutes in case she wakes up again?”
“Sure,” Allie said, her voice registering both surprise and gratitude. “I’ve got about fi ve minutes. What should I tell her if she asks for you?”
“Tell her I left her in good hands and that I’ll be right back.”
Allie grinned. “Smooth.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m Allie, by the way, a…friend of Deo’s.” Allie held out her hand.
“Nita Burgoyne. I’m Deo’s lover.”
“There goes my summer,” Allie proclaimed.
Laughing, Nita nodded. “Looks like it.” She squeezed Allie’s shoulder. “I won’t be long.”
“I’ll tell her.”
Nita hurried in search of Tory. She didn’t want to leave Deo for long, not until she was certain she was completely out of danger. She wondered fl eetingly why she wasn’t jealous, and then she realized that Deo could have had Allie or likely any number of other women. But Deo wanted her. Her.
It felt good to be wanted for who she was. And it felt even better to tell the world that Deo Camara, the sexiest, bravest, and most compassionate woman she’d ever known, was her lover.
• 263 •
• 264 •
Winds of Fortune
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sit your ass down and stop being a pain in mine,” KT growled.
“But—”
“But nothing, Deo. You’ve got a hole in your belly that needs to heal and a lump on your hard head that’s going to have a neighbor if you make me tell you again to stay in bed.”
“Is she giving you a hard time?” Nita asked, skirting around the makeshift screen that shielded the cot where Deo lay from the rest of the room.
“No,” Deo said quickly.
“Yes.” KT motioned Deo down. “Pull up your shirt.”
Deo lay back and complied.
Nita held Deo’s hand as KT removed the neat square bandage covering the incision below Deo’s navel. She peered over KT’s shoulder to get a look at the incision.
“It looks good, don’t you think?” Nita asked.
“It’s fi ne.” KT straightened and skewered Deo with a frown. “But you’re still not ready to go back out there.”
“When—”
“The storm’s wearing itself out,” Nita said. “The real cleanup will start in a day or two. Don’t worry, there will still be plenty left for you to do.”
“Listen to the lady,” KT said. “Then I won’t have to hurt you.”
Deo grinned as KT disappeared. Carefully, she shifted on the narrow cot and patted the space next to her, indicating Nita should sit.
“Are you on a break?”
Nita settled beside her with a sigh. “For a few minutes. I just fi nished suturing a Labrador Retriever’s front paw.”
“Stretch out beside me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” Deo rubbed her back. “I’ve missed you.”
• 265 •
RADCLY fFE
“I’ve missed you.” Kicking off her shoes, Nita curled against Deo’s side. “You scared me.”
Deo cradled Nita’s head against her chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know,” Nita murmured. “Don’t do it again.”
“I won’t.” Deo kissed Nita’s forehead and felt her relax.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Nita whispered.
“You won’t.” Deo listened to Nita’s breathing deepen and realized she was asleep. She stroked her shoulder protectively, savoring her closeness and her trust.
Pia poked her head around the screen. “Deo—”
Deo held a fi nger to her lips and gestured to Nita.
“We have to talk,” Pia mouthed, giving her a glare that was part fondness, part ire.
Figuring it was about Gabe, Deo nodded with a sigh. Pia disappeared, and Deo drew Nita closer. For now all she wanted was the peace that holding Nita brought to her. As she drifted off, she let herself hope that what was growing between them would not disappear when the winds blew the storm out to sea.
❖
Nita turned the corner behind her new house just in time to see Deo ratchet down an enormous extension ladder that had been braced against the rear roofl ine.
“You’re not supposed to be doing that kind of work,” Nita called out, striding forward rapidly.
Deo glanced in Nita’s direction, the steel ladder braced between both outstretched arms. Her sweat-soaked hair was tied back with a red bandanna, and she wore baggy khaki shorts and a faded, sleeveless blue T-shirt cut off somewhere in the vicinity of her navel. The row of black sutures that KT had placed just one short week before stood out starkly against her smooth, bronze stomach. Faint red blotches were the only remnants of the burns on her jaw and neck.
“Hi there,” Deo said, her grin gleaming against the tan that had deepened under the relentless sunshine that had followed in the wake of the storm.
• 266 •
Winds of Fortune
Nita tried to project a stern expression, but it was diffi cult when faced with such stunning beauty. She wondered if the initial shock at seeing Deo would ever lessen and doubted somehow that it would.
Some small part of her, she suspected, would probably never believe that Deo might actually be hers.
“Believe it or not,” Nita said, stopping by Deo’s side, “those stitches in your abdomen are there for a reason. That incision goes all the way through, and I prefer keeping everything that’s inside exactly where it belongs.”
Deo slung one arm over a rung of the ladder and leaned it against her hip. Then she kissed Nita. “It’s only fi ve o’clock. You’re early.”
“You’re ignoring me.”
“Impossible.” Deo checked the yard. It was empty. Then she wrapped an arm around Nita’s waist and pulled her close. This kiss lasted longer, a lot longer. “Missed you.”
Nita rested her cheek on Deo’s shoulder. She smelled good—like hard work and promises. She felt strong. Her heart beat rhythmically against Nita’s breast, steady and sure.
“I missed you too. Things were quiet so I decided to sneak out.
The service has me on beeper call.”
“Does that mean you’re mine for the night?”
Deo’s voice was low and husky, and the weight of it settled in the pit of Nita’s stomach and spread like warm whiskey. They hadn’t spent the night together since the hurricane.
Once KT had cleared her to do light labor, Deo and her crews had worked from well before sun-up until far after sundown clearing debris from the streets, making temporary repairs on roofs that needed to be replaced, boarding up broken windows, and pumping out fl ooded basements. Fortunately, Nita’s house had sustained little more than cosmetic damage, and Nita had insisted that Deo leave it until others with more urgent needs were taken care of.
When Deo had called to say she was at the house and invited Nita to meet her for dinner, Nita couldn’t wait to see her. She replayed Deo’s question. “Does that mean you’re mine for the night?”
Nita turned the concept around in her mind. Mine. It could mean so many things. She had been Sylvia’s—heart, body, and soul for almost a decade—and in all that time, she realized now, she’d been little more
• 267 •
RADCLY fFE
than the object of Sylvia’s lust. Deo had offered her more, given her more, in the time they’d been together than she’d ever thought to dream of. With Deo, she felt cherished and desired and…loved.
“Do we need to carry this somewhere?” Nita asked, reaching for the ladder.
“Just help me lean it against the fence. Joey or one of the other guys will get it later.”
When they’d stowed it away, Deo took Nita’s hand. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
Still thinking about how different—how right—she felt with Deo, Nita followed her through the house to the second fl oor and fi nally up the narrow winding staircase to the widow’s walk.
“Oh,” Nita exclaimed. “The new railing looks great. When did you do this?”
“This afternoon.”
Nita frowned. “You weren’t supposed to work.”
“I only supervised.” Deo smiled. “You like it?”
“I love it.” Nita crossed the narrow walkway, braced her hands on the railing, and lifted her face to the breeze. The air smelled crisp and clean, and she breathed deeply. When Deo came to stand beside her, Nita slid her arm around her waist and leaned against her. Watching a fi shing boat round the bend at Long Point and churn into the harbor, Nita thought about the generations of women who had stood in this place before her.
“I read somewhere that the wife of the original sea captain who built this house used to light a lantern up here when she saw his ship come home, and all the women in town would know that their husbands were returning.”
“Must have been lonely, watching and waiting and wondering if they’d come back,” Deo remarked.
“Yes.” Nita shifted and wrapped both arms around Deo’s waist, drawing her closer. She kissed her and tasted salt on her lips. “Is your family still planning the barbecue that got rained out?”
“Yes. Are you still going to be my date?”
“I’d like that.” Nita hesitated, then asked gently, “Are you ever going to tell them what really happened with Gabe that night?”
“Pia’s been after me to.” Deo looked out to sea. “But I don’t think so.”
• 268 •
Winds of Fortune
Nita wasn’t sure she could keep the secret in the face of Deo’s pain, but she would try if she had to. But fi rst, she would try something else. “I think he might want you to. If the situations were reversed, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” Deo said softly, still turned away.
“Why did you tell me?”
Deo faced her. “I knew from the beginning the one thing we had to have was trust. I would never lie to you.”
“Thank you.” Nita threaded her fi ngers through Deo’s. “Whatever you decide is all right with me. I just hate to see you hurting.”
“You changed all that,” Deo confessed. “You make me happy.”
“A few minutes ago, out in the yard, you asked me if I’d be yours for the night.”
Deo’s eyes grew questioning. “Do you have other plans?”
“No,” Nita said softly. “But I realized there’s something I needed to tell you.”
“Look, if you think we’re moving too fast, I…”
Nita shook her head. “Wait.”
“I don’t want you to feel pressured,” Deo went on hurriedly, “just because I…I said I love you.”
“Did you mean it?”
“Yes,” Deo said immediately. She caressed Nita’s cheek. “But I know you might not believe me, because of things you might have heard about me or—”
“Deo,” Nita said fi rmly, “the only thing I’m listening to is you.
And my heart.”
“And what does your heart tell you?”
Deo’s need was so plain that Nita ached. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” Nita kissed her. “I don’t want to be yours tonight.”
Deo stiffened.
“Not just tonight. I think…no, I know, that I want to be yours for a lot longer than that.” Nita looked into Deo’s eyes. “I love you.”
Deo sighed, a heavy rush of air that sounded as if she’d been holding her breath for a very long time. “That sounds so good to hear.”
“It feels so good to say,” Nita said in wonderment. “In fact, it feels great.”
Nita pulled off Deo’s red bandanna and combed her fi ngers through Deo’s hair. The wind promptly ruffl ed it into maddeningly sexy
• 269 •
RADCLY fFE
disarray again. “God, I love the way you look.”
Deo grinned and bumped her pelvis into Nita’s. “Just the way I look?”
“Stop that,” Nita chastised. “Now that I know what it’s like to make love with you, I want you all the time. And it’s been a week since you’ve touched me, and I’m about going out of my mind. Don’t tease.”
“I’m not teasing.” Deo kissed a path down the center of Nita’s throat and Nita moaned. “Let’s go to my place. I want to make love to you.”
Nita caressed Deo stomach, skimming her fi ngertips next to the row of sutures. “We should probably wait a few more days.”
“I can’t wait,” Deo muttered, brushing her mouth over Nita’s breast and making her nipple harden beneath the silk of her bra and blouse. “I’ve waited all my life. I need you in my mouth.”
“Oh God, Deo. Don’t do that. Don’t say that.” Nita gripped Deo’s hair and pulled her head away from her breast. “I can’t stand it.”
“I need to be inside you again, Nita.” Deo’s hand shook as she touched Nita’s cheek. “I can’t tell you how right it feels to be that close to you.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Nita whispered. “I can feel it.”
“Then let me make love to you. Now. Please.”
“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you,” Nita protested. “I want you too much.”
“You can never want me too much.” Deo cupped Nita’s face. “You can never love me too much.”
“Well,” Nita whispered, “I’m going to spend a very, very long time trying.”
“Then let’s get started.”
The wind picked up and Deo’s hair whipped around her face. Her eyes shone with unrestrained joy. As Deo tugged Nita down the stairs from the widow’s walk, Nita whispered thanks to whatever fates or fortune had brought this love to her.
• 270 •
About the Author
Radcly ffe is a retired surgeon and full time author-publisher with over twenty-fi ve lesbian novels and anthologies in print, including the Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Award winners Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments ed. with Stacia Seaman; Distant Shores, Silent Thunder; Justice Served; and Promising Hearts. She has selections in multiple anthologies including Wild Nights, Fantasy, Best Lesbian Erotica 2006
and 2007, After Midnight, Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists, First-Timers, Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear, A is for Amour, and H is for Hardcore. She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ award for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBT publishing companies.
Her forthcoming works include In Deep Waters: 1 written with Karin Kallmaker (October 2007) and the romance The Lonely Hearts Club (February 2008).
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
House of Clouds by KI Thompson. A sweeping saga of an impassioned romance between a Northern spy and a Southern sympathizer, set amidst the upheaval of a nation under siege. (978-1-933110-94-3) Winds of Fortune by Radclyffe. Provincetown local Deo Camara agrees to rehab Dr. Nita Burgoyne’s historic home, but she never said anything about mending her heart. (978-1-933110-93-6) Focus of Desire by Kim Baldwin. Isabel Sterling is surprised when she wins a photography contest, but no more than photographer Natasha Kashnikova. Their promo tour becomes a ticket to romance.
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Mistress of the Runes by Andrews & Austin. Passion ignites between two women with ties to ancient secrets, contemporary mysteries, and a shared quest for the meaning of life. (978-1-933110-89-9) Sheridan’s Fate by Gun Brooke. A dynamic, erotic romance between physical therapist Lark Mitchell and businesswoman Sheridan Ward set in the scorching hot days and humid, steamy nights of San Antonio.
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Vulture’s Kiss by Justine Saracen. Archeologist Valerie Foret, heir to a terrifying task, returns in a powerful desert adventure set in Egypt and Jerusalem. (978-1-933110-87-5)
Rising Storm by JLee Meyer. The sequel to First Instinct takes our heroines on a dangerous journey instead of the honeymoon they’d planned. (978-1-933110-86-8)
Not Single Enough by Grace Lennox. A funny, sexy modern romance about two lonely women who bond over the unexpected and fall in love along the way. (978-1-933110-85-1)
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Second Season by Ali Vali. A romance set in New Orleans amidst betrayal, Hurricane Katrina, and the new beginnings hardship and heartbreak sometimes make possible. (978-1-933110-83-7) Hearts Afl ame by Ronica Black. A poignant, erotic romance between a hard-driving businesswoman and a solitary vet. Packed with adventure and set in the harsh beauty of the Arizona countryside.
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Red Light by JD Glass. Tori forges her path as an EMT in the New York City 911 system while discovering what matters most to herself and the woman she loves. (978-1-933110-81-3)
Honor Under Siege by Radclyffe. Secret Service agent Cameron Roberts struggles to protect her lover while searching for a traitor who just may be another woman with a claim on her heart.
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Dark Valentine by Jennifer Fulton. Danger and desire fuel a high stakes cat-and-mouse game when an attorney and an endangered witness team up to thwart a killer. (978-1-933110-79-0)
Sequestered Hearts by Erin Dutton. A popular artist suddenly goes into seclusion; a reluctant reporter wants to know why; and a heart locked away yearns to be set free. (978-1-933110-78-3) Erotic Interludes 5: Road Games eds. Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman.
Adventure, “sport,” and sex on the road—hot stories of travel adventures and games of seduction. (978-1-933110-77-6)
The Spanish Pearl by Catherine Friend. On a trip to Spain, Kate Vincent is accidentally transported back in time…an epic saga spiced with humor, lust, and danger. (978-1-933110-76-9)
Lady Knight by L-J Baker. Loyalty and honour clash with love and ambition in a medieval world of magic when female knight Riannon meets Lady Eleanor. (978-1-933110-75-2)
Dark Dreamer by Jennifer Fulton. Best-selling horror author, Rowe Devlin falls under the spell of psychic Phoebe Temple. A Dark Vista romance. (978-1-933110-74-5)
Come and Get Me by Julie Cannon. Elliott Foster isn’t used to pursuing women, but alluring attorney Lauren Collier makes her change her mind. (978-1-933110-73-8)
Blind Curves by Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall. Private eye Yoshi Yakamota comes to the aid of her ex-lover Velvet Erickson in the fi rst Blind Eye mystery. (978-1-933110-72-1)
Dynasty of Rogues by Jane Fletcher. It’s hate at fi rst sight for Ranger Riki Sadiq and her new patrol corporal, Tanya Coppelli—except for their undeniable attraction. (978-1-933110-71-4)
Running With the Wind by Nell Stark. Sailing instructor Corrie Marsten has signed off on love until she meets Quinn Davies—one woman she can’t ignore. (978-1-933110-70-7)
More than Paradise by Jennifer Fulton. Two women battle danger, risk all, and fi nd in one another an unexpected ally and an unforgettable love. (978-1-933110-69-1)
Flight Risk by Kim Baldwin. For Blayne Keller, being in the wrong place at the wrong time just might turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to her. (978-1-933110-68-4)
Rebel’s Quest, Supreme Constellations Book Two by Gun Brooke.
On a world torn by war, two women discover a love that defi es all boundaries. (978-1-933110-67-7)
Punk and Zen by JD Glass. Angst, sex, love, rock. Trace, Candace, Francesca…Samantha. Losing control—and fi nding the truth within.
BSB Victory Editions. (1-933110-66-X)
Stellium in Scorpio by Andrews & Austin. The passionate reuniting of two powerful women on the glitzy Las Vegas Strip where everything is an illusion and love is a gamble. (1-933110-65-1)
When Dreams Tremble by Radclyffe. Two women whose lives turned out far differently than they’d once imagined discover that sometimes the shape of the future can only be found in the past. (1-933110-64-3) The Devil Unleashed by Ali Vali. As the heat of violence rises, so does the passion. A Casey Family crime saga. (1-933110-61-9) Burning Dreams by Susan Smith. The chronicle of the challenges faced by a young drag king and an older woman who share a love
“outside the bounds.” (1-933110-62-7)
Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers. Seven women, seven days. A lot can happen when old friends, lovers, and a new girl in town get together in the mountains. (1-933110-63-5)
The Empress and the Acolyte by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi fi ght to protect the very fabric of their world: time. Lyremouth Chronicles Book Three. (1-933110-60-0)
First Instinct by JLee Meyer. When high-stakes security fraud leads to murder, one woman fl ees for her life while another risks her heart to protect her. (1-933110-59-7)
Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions ed. by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. Thirty of today’s hottest erotica writers set the pages afl ame with love, lust, and steamy liaisons. (1-933110-58-9) Storms of Change by Radclyffe. In the continuing saga of the Provincetown Tales, duty and love are at odds as Reese and Tory face their greatest challenge. (1-933110-57-0)
Unexpected Ties by Gina L. Dartt. With death before dessert, Kate Shannon and Nikki Harris are swept up in another tale of danger and romance. (1-933110-56-2)
Sleep of Reason by Rose Beecham. While Detective Jude Devine searches for a lost boy, her rocky relationship with Dr. Mercy Westmoreland gets a lot harder. (1-933110-53-8)
Passion’s Bright Fury by Radclyffe. Passion strikes without warning when a trauma surgeon and a fi lmmaker become reluctant allies.
(1-933110-54-6)
Broken Wings by L-J Baker. When Rye Woods meets beautiful dryad Flora Withe, her libido, as hidden as her wings, reawakens along with her heart. (1-933110-55-4)
Combust the Sun by Andrews & Austin. A Richfi eld and Rivers mystery set in L.A. Murder among the stars. (1-933110-52-X) Of Drag Kings and the Wheel of Fate by Susan Smith. A blind date in a drag club leads to an unlikely romance. (1-933110-51-1) Tristaine Rises by Cate Culpepper. Brenna, Jesstin, and the Amazons of Tristaine face their greatest challenge for survival.
(1-933110-50-3)
Too Close to Touch by Georgia Beers. Kylie O’Brien believes in true love and is willing to wait for it, even though Gretchen, her new boss, is off-limits. (1-933110-47-3)
100th Generation by Justine Saracen. Ancient curses, modern-day villains, and an intriguing woman lead archeologist Valerie Foret on the adventure of her life. (1-933110-48-1)
Battle for Tristaine by Cate Culpepper. While Brenna struggles to fi nd her place in the clan, Tristaine is threatened with destruction. Second in the Tristaine series. (1-933110-49-X)
The Traitor and the Chalice by Jane Fletcher. Tevi and Jemeryl risk all in the race to uncover a traitor. The Lyremouth Chronicles Book Two.
(1-933110-43-0)
Promising Hearts by Radclyffe. Dr. Vance Phelps arrives in New Hope, Montana, with no hope of happiness—until she meets Mae.
(1-933110-44-9)
Carly’s Sound by Ali Vali. Poppy Valente and Julia Johnson form a bond of friendship that becomes something far more. A poignant romance about love and renewal. (1-933110-45-7)
Unexpected Sparks by Gina L. Dartt. Kate Shannon’s attraction to much younger Nikki Harris is complication enough without a fatal fi re that Kate can’t ignore. (1-933110-46-5)
Whitewater Rendezvous by Kim Baldwin. Two women on a wilderness kayak adventure discover that true love may be nothing at all like they imagined. (1-933110-38-4)
Erotic Interludes 3: Lessons in Love ed. by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. Sign on for a class in love…the best lesbian erotica writers take us to “school.” (1-9331100-39-2)
Punk Like Me by JD Glass. Twenty-one-year-old Nina has a way with the girls, and she doesn’t always play by the rules. (1-933110-40-6) Coffee Sonata by Gun Brooke. Four women whose lives unexpectedly intersect in a small town by the sea share one thing in common—they all have secrets. (1-933110-41-4)
The Clinic: Tristaine Book One by Cate Culpepper. Brenna, a prison medic, fi nds herself drawn to Jesstin, a warrior reputed to be descended from ancient Amazons. (1-933110-42-2)
Forever Found by JLee Meyer. Can time, tragedy, and shattered trust destroy a love that seemed destined? Chance reunites childhood friends separated by tragedy. (1-933110-37-6)
Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon. Princess Shasta’s bold new bodyguard has a secret that could change both of their lives. He is actually a she. (1-933110-36-8)
Wild Abandon by Ronica Black. Dr. Chandler Brogan and Offi cer Sarah Monroe are drawn together by their common obsessions—sex, speed, and danger. (1-933110-35-X)
Turn Back Time by Radclyffe. Pearce Rifkin and Wynter Thompson have nothing in common but a shared passion for surgery—and unexpected attraction. (1-933110-34-1)
Chance by Grace Lennox. A sexy, funny, touching story of two women who, in fi nding themselves, also fi nd one another. (1-933110-31-7) The Exile and the Sorcerer by Jane Fletcher. First in the Lyremouth Chronicles. Tevi and a shy young sorcerer face monsters, magic, and the challenge of loving. (1-933110-32-5)
A Matter of Trust by Radclyffe. When what should be just business turns into much more, two women struggle to trust the unexpected.
(1-933110-33-3)
Sweet Creek by Lee Lynch. A celebration of the enduring nature of love, friendship, and community in the heart-warming lesbian community of Waterfall Falls. (1-933110-29-5)
The Devil Inside by Ali Vali. The head of a New Orleans crime organization falls for a woman who turns her world upside down.
(1-933110-30-9)
Grave Silence by Rose Beecham. Detective Jude Devine’s investigation of ritual murders is complicated by her torrid affair with pathologist Dr. Mercy Westmoreland. (1-933110-25-2)
Honor Reclaimed by Radclyffe. Secret Service Agent Cameron Roberts and Blair Powell close ranks to fi nd the would-be assassins who nearly claimed Blair’s life. (1-933110-18-X)
Honor Bound by Radclyffe. Secret Service Agent Cameron Roberts and Blair Powell face political intrigue, a clandestine threat to Blair’s safety, and the seemingly irreconcilable differences that force them ever farther apart. (1-933110-20-1)
Innocent Hearts by Radclyffe. In a wild and unforgiving land, two women learn about love, passion, and the wonders of the heart.
(1-933110-21-X)
The Temple at Landfall by Jane Fletcher. An imprinter, one of Celaeno’s most revered servants of the Goddess, is also a prisoner to the faith—until a Ranger frees her by claiming her heart. The Celaeno series. (1-933110-27-9)
Protector of the Realm, Supreme Constellations Book One by Gun Brooke. A space adventure fi lled with suspense and a daring intergalactic romance. (1-933110-26-0)
Force of Nature by Kim Baldwin. From tornados to forest fi res, the forces of nature conspire to bring Gable McCoy and Erin Richards close to danger, and closer to each other. (1-933110-23-6) In Too Deep by Ronica Black. Undercover homicide cop Erin McKenzie tracks a femme fatale who just might be a real killer…with love and danger hot on her heels. (1-933110-17-1)
Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments ed. by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. Love on the run, in the offi ce, in the shadows…Fast, furious, and almost too hot to handle. (1-933110-16-3)
Course of Action by Gun Brooke. Actress Carolyn Black desperately wants the starring role in an upcoming fi lm produced by Annelie Peterson. Just how far will she go for the dream part of a lifetime?
(1-933110-22-8)
Rangers at Roadsend by Jane Fletcher. Sergeant Chip Coppelli has learned to spot trouble coming, and that is exactly what she sees in her new recruit, Katryn Nagata. The Celaeno series. (1-933110-28-7) Justice Served by Radclyffe. Lieutenant Rebecca Frye and her lover, Dr. Catherine Rawlings, embark on a deadly game of hide-and-seek with an underworld kingpin who traffi cs in human souls.
(1-933110-15-5)
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder by Radclyffe. Dr. Tory King—along with the women who love her—is forced to examine the boundaries of love, friendship, and the ties that transcend time. (1-933110-08-2) Hunter’s Pursuit by Kim Baldwin. A raging blizzard, a mountain hideaway, and a killer-for-hire set a scene for disaster—or desire—when Katarzyna Demetrious rescues a beautiful stranger. (1-933110-09-0) The Walls of Westernfort by Jane Fletcher. All Temple Guard Natasha Ionadis wants is to serve the Goddess—until she falls in love with one of the rebels she is sworn to destroy. The Celaeno series.
(1-933110-24-4)
Erotic Interludes: Change Of Pace by Radclyffe. Twenty-fi ve hot-wired encounters guaranteed to spark more than just your imagination.
Erotica as you’ve always dreamed of it. (1-933110-07-4) Honor Guards by Radclyffe. In a wild flight for their lives, the president’s daughter and those who are sworn to protect her wage a desperate struggle for survival. (1-933110-01-5)
Fated Love by Radclyffe. Amidst the chaos and drama of a busy emergency room, two women must contend not only with the fragile nature of life, but also with the irresistible forces of fate.
(1-933110-05-8)
Justice in the Shadows by Radclyffe. In a shadow world of secrets and lies, Detective Sergeant Rebecca Frye and her lover, Dr.
Catherine Rawlings, join forces in the elusive search for justice.
(1-933110-03-1)
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