Winds of Fortune (21 page)

Tory turned on her side and smoothed her fingers through Reese’s hair. “Your mother told me your father was gone most of the time when you were this age. It must have been very hard for him.”

“Maybe. I’m sure part of him was happy doing what he was trained to do. Not being deployed to Iraq this time is driving him crazy.”

“I guess I don’t quite understand anyone wanting a war,” Tory said quietly.

“Wanting to test yourself, to do what you’re trained to do, isn’t quite the same thing as wanting a war,” Reese said, “although I know it probably sounds that way.”

“It’s a distinction that’s very hard to grasp.” Tory stroked Reese’s arm. “But you didn’t want war, and you’re as much a marine as he is.”

“Thanks.” Reese leaned close and kissed Tory briefly. “I’m a peacekeeper, and that’s different than wanting to engage the enemy. I never needed a war to do what I thought was important.”

“You’re a peacekeeper here,” Tory pointed out. “Not only do you keep your community safe, you help train the young to be strong and self-confident and self-reliant. You’re a role model for young women and men just like Bri. This community needs you.”

Reese cupped Tory’s cheek and kissed her. “One thing’s for certain. I don’t want Nelson’s job. A few weeks of dealing with the paperwork and bureaucracy is enough to convince me of that. I need to be on the streets.”

“Until Nelson is back on his feet, you can’t do both jobs.” Tory held up an index finger in warning. “I mean it. There’s nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. As long as you’re acting chief, you need to cut back on the street patrols. Please. Before you get hurt.”

Reese grimaced, but nodded. “All right. We’re starting to get things running smoothly again, especially now that Bri is back on duty.”

“How is she doing?”

“She’s a little distracted, a little tired, but Allie’s watching out for her. She’s okay.”

“Good.” Tory took the glass, finished the wine, and set the glass aside. “Nelson will be home in a few days and that will make it easier for her.”

Reese rested back against the pillows and drew Tory into her arms. She kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair. “Speaking of fathers, mine called today.”

Tory struggled not to pull away. She smoothed her fingertip along Reese’s collarbone, noting that the swelling at the site of the fracture was better. “Oh?”

“There’s a post open in his department at Strategic Planning in DC. He thought I should take it when my medical leave is over.”

“DC.” Tory willed herself to think—think, not react. “Not Iraq.”

“No, not Iraq. Tory—”

“DC isn’t so far. You’d get home sometimes, right? Or we could come—”

“Baby, I’m not going.”

“I know it’s a desk job and you hate that, but—”

“I told him I hadn’t changed my mind,” Reese said before kissing Tory into silence. She drew Tory on top of her and spread her fingers through Tory’s thick auburn hair. “I told him I wanted him to finalize the paperwork for my discharge.”

“Be careful of your collarbone. I’m too heavy to be on top of you just yet.”

Reese laughed and kissed the tip of Tory’s chin. “You’re not heavy, but you are very sexy. How tired are you?”

Tory tilted her hips into Reese’s crotch. “I’m waking up.”

“So am I.”

“Did he argue?”

“He said we’d talk again.” Seeing the look of concern flash across Tory’s face, Reese said quickly, “It’s okay. He’ll do whatever I want. He’s just going to take a little convincing.”

“I love you,” Tory said softly. “I will support you in anything you need to do.”

“I know.” Reese caressed Tory’s back and cradled her butt. “Right now, I need you.”

Tory leaned up and turned off the light. Then she settled once again on top of Reese. “Darling, you never need to ask.”

*

Nita walked past the Vixen without a glance. At midnight on Saturday night, Deo was undoubtedly there if she hadn’t already found company for the evening. Nita didn’t want to chance another encounter, because she could never be certain how she was going to respond to her. She couldn’t afford a repeat of the previous weekend’s performance. Her life hadn’t felt this off-kilter since the early days of her relationship with Sylvia. She could barely think, she couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep.

Ten minutes later she paid her cover and worked her way through the throngs of dancing, laughing women at the Pied. It was a little smaller but had the advantage of an outside deck right on the harbor and, after securing a drink at the bar, Nita walked outside and leaned on the deck rail. Sipping her drink, she let the sea breeze cool her heated skin. She was warm from the walk through town and her thoughts of Deo.

As disconcerting as it was to be plagued by the insistent thrum of unsatisfied arousal, she felt alive in a way she hadn’t for months. And despite her regret over giving in to her urges with Deo, she wouldn’t lie to herself and say that it hadn’t been wonderful. For one blazing instant, riding the crest of nearly unbearable pleasure, she had felt completely free.

“Excuse me, but I was wondering if you’d like to dance?” a woman asked from quite nearby.

Nita didn’t recognize the short-haired blonde with the pleasant smile, which was good. She had come out looking for a diversion, and she preferred to find it with someone she wasn’t going to be seeing around town on a regular basis. “Yes. Yes, I would.”

The tempo of the first dance was fast and the music too loud for conversation, but Nita managed to get a name and a few other snippets of vital information, the most critical of which was that Beth was in town for the week on vacation. One song segued into another until eventually the rhythm slowed enough that they could dance close. Twice in less than a week Nita found herself with her arms around a near stranger after having gone months without touching another woman. Beth was an inch or two shorter than Deo and thinner, lacking her hard muscles, but curving in all the right places. Nita enjoyed the swell of soft breasts moving against her own and the subtle press of Beth’s thigh between hers as they danced. She was pleasantly aroused but in no danger of losing control again. When Beth deftly maneuvered them into a corner of the room and kissed her, Nita found Beth’s soft lips and gently probing tongue enjoyable, but she felt none of the urgency she had with Deo. After a minute or two when Beth moaned softly and tightened her hold, Nita gently pulled away.

“I think I need to slow this down,” Nita murmured.

“Sorry,” Beth said breathlessly. “I don’t usually—”

“Don’t apologize. I’m not the least bit upset.” Nita smiled. “I enjoyed the dance and the rest of it.”

“Any chance we might get together sometime this week?”

“Give me your number. I’ll call if I can.”

“I don’t have anything to write with,” Beth said.

“Don’t worry, I have a very good memory.” After Beth recited the figures, Nita repeated them mentally, then kissed Beth lightly. “Thank you. And thank you for the dance.”

Pleased that her restlessness had dissipated, Nita decided she’d achieved her goal and made her way to the exit. She had just stepped out into the narrow passageway that led to the street when Deo caught up to her.

“I take it the blonde wasn’t to your liking?” Deo said.

Nita slowed, taking in Deo’s tight white tank top, form-fitting black jeans, and boots. The shirt left nothing to the imagination, and even in the murky light cast by the neon signs on the street, Deo looked sleek and sexy. In one beat of her heart to the next, Nita became completely aroused.

“On the contrary,” Nita said coolly, desperately trying to smother the flames licking at her insides. Several women left the bar together and she stepped off the wooden walkway to let them pass. Deo followed until they stood in the shadows of the building. “She was very pleasant.”

“Pleasant.” Deo said the word as if she were speaking of something that should be crushed under her boot. “You don’t want pleasant.”

“You don’t know what I want.”

“Sure I do.” Deo leaned into her until their bodies touched. “You want the burn. You want the fire.” She stroked Nita’s cheek with one finger. “So do I. Come home with me.”

“No.”

“Why not? You came out looking for more than a kiss, and I never got a chance to touch you last week.” Deo skimmed her hand lower, tracing Nita’s throat with a gentle caress.

Nita’s heart felt as if it might pound out of her chest, and she was glad Deo couldn’t see her face very clearly. She doubted she could hide how badly she wanted Deo to keep touching her. “I told you, it was a one time thing.”

“I don’t consider a quick grope anything more than an invitation. I want to make love to you all night,” Deo said. “
Then
maybe it
will be a one time thing.”

“I’m sorry.” Nita stepped around Deo. “Good night.”

“I need to go over some things with you at the job site,” Deo said, grasping her arm. “You can’t keep avoiding me.”

“Fine.” Nita pulled free. “I’ll be by sometime this week. If I get time.”

“There will be plenty of people around. You don’t have to worry.”

“You don’t worry me.” Nita turned and walked away, aware that Deo was watching her. No, Deo didn’t worry her. What worried her was how desperately she wanted Deo’s hands on her. Walking toward home, she knew that she faced another restless night and she had just said no to the only person who could have given her some relief. She’d said no because she had so very badly wanted to say yes. A mindless yes had nearly destroyed her once, and she could not let it happen again.

When her office phone rang, Nita gulped down the last of her soda and snatched up the receiver. “Burgoyne.”

“Nita,” Randy said, “it’s Deo Camara again.”

“Tell her—” Nita hesitated, feeling guilty about forcing Randy to make excuses for her. Deo had already called twice that week, and she’d ducked the previous calls with the message that she was with patients. Then she had conveniently not called back. “I’ll take it.”

A second later, Nita said, “Hello.”

“It’s Deo.”

“I know.” Nita couldn’t help herself. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. The sound of Deo’s voice filled her with pleasure, and since Deo couldn’t see her, she had no reason to hide her response.

“What time do you get off work?”

“Around seven, if no emergencies come up. Why?”

“I need you to do a walk-through with me,” Deo said.

“Can it wait until the weekend? I’m off on Sunday.”

“No. We should have done it two days ago but you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you are.”

Deo sounded both edgy and sexy, and an image of Deo in the tight white tank top that showed off her muscles and breasts came quickly to mind. Nita shivered with a full body memory of Deo gasping with excitement while they rocked against one another. Recalling how she had rushed to orgasm in Deo’s arms, Nita’s body quickened instantly, and she had the exhilarating, absolutely petrifying thought that if Deo kept talking she might come just sitting there.

“I can stop by your office if it’s inconvenient for you to co—”

“No!” Nita couldn’t see Deo at work. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate for the rest of the evening. Worse, she couldn’t trust herself. Her plan to diminish Deo’s unsettling impact on her by avoiding her had backfired. With each passing day, she thought of her more frequently. And the
nights
. Her nights were a nightmare of erotic dreams and feverish sleep.

“I’ll meet you.” Nita glanced at her watch. For a Thursday night the patient load was light, and there was no telling what Friday would bring. “I can be there in an hour and a half.”

“That’s fine. Thanks.”

Nita hung up and rested her face in her hands, drawing deep breaths while she willed her traitorous body to calm. After a minute, she slumped back in her chair and opened her eyes. Tory stood in the doorway watching her.

“Bad news?” Tory asked with concern.

Nita laughed shakily. “No. No, that was Deo—something about the house.”

“How’s it going?”

“Fine. Fine.”

“Deo is supposed to be very good.”

Nita feared that Tory could tell she was blushing from across the room. When Tory moved further into the room and closed the door, Nita was certain of it.

“The last couple of weeks I got the sense something was bothering you,” Tory said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“We’ve got patients,” Nita said.

“We’ve always got patients. Ten minutes won’t change anything.”

“It’s nothing. Just stress—the house, you know.”

“Uh-huh. The house.”

Nita chewed her bottom lip. She had never told anyone what was happening with Sylvia. Who could she possibly have told who wouldn’t tell her exactly what she’d been telling herself—getting involved with Sylvia was insane. It was a recipe for heartbreak. Worse, it was wrong. All the time her life had slowly been consumed by her affair with Sylvia, she had become more and more alone, until all she had left was thwarted desire.