Winds Of Fortune Part 16

"That's everything." Reese pulled the covers over them and held her tightly. "I'll see you in the morning, baby."

Holding to that promise, Tory fell asleep to the sound of Reese's heartbeat.

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* 122 *

Winds of Fortune

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

Oh man," Bri moaned, curling onto her side as she reached down to caress Carre's face with trembling fi ngers. Her head still buzzed from waking up in the middle of an o.r.g.a.s.m. "Babe, what are you doing?"

"Making you feel good."

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"Because I woke up and I thought about us being at the hospital all week and that we'll probably be there most of the weekend, and I wanted to take care of you." Caroline rubbed her cheek against Bri's belly. "You wouldn't let me last night, remember?"

Bri combed her fi ngers through Carre's hair. "I didn't think I could come. I've been so twisted up all week, I wasn't even h.o.r.n.y."

"You didn't think you were." Caroline scooted up on the bed and pulled Bri's head against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "But baby, you're always h.o.r.n.y.

Besides, it's good for you. It always relaxes you."

"Is that what you call it?" Bri closed her eyes briefl y and pretended that it was just the two of them together with nowhere to go and nothing to fear. But she could only hold on to the dream for a few seconds.

"What time is it?"

"Four thirty, about. It's still dark outside." Caroline rubbed Bri's shoulders. "We should leave in about an hour. You go ahead and sleep some more. I'll wake you up."

"Don't know if I can."

"You okay?"

Wordlessly, Bri nodded, tightening her grip on Carre. She'd been in scary situations a few times at work-the fi re, the shootout in the dunes, the drug bust that went bad. She'd been scared, sure, but even that night when she'd been dragged into the brush and beaten, she hadn't felt this powerless. She'd always fought back. "I think something bad might happen, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

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RADCLY fFE "Remember what your dad said last night. That he wasn't going to worry about you because he knew you were strong."

"Yeah," Bri mumbled.

"Being strong doesn't mean you can't be scared." Caroline tilted Bri's face up and kissed her eyes, then her cheeks, then her mouth.

"And you don't have to be strong all the time, baby."

"Oh f.u.c.k," Bri blurted as the tears came and she couldn't stop them. Carre rocked her and made soft little sounds of comfort, and Bri clung to her like she couldn't ever remember holding on to anyone before. Maybe she had, when she was little-before her mother died, before the house grew silent and her father so sad-but she couldn't remember. Then she was a teenager and she was fi ghting everyone because she was different, and everywhere she turned someone said she couldn't be who she was, and she had to be strong because Carre risked so much in loving her. And now-now she was grown, and she wanted to be strong like Reese was strong-strong and brave no matter what happened. But she didn't feel strong.

"I don't know..." Bri gulped and willed herself to stop crying. "I don't know how I'd make it if I didn't have you."

"Oh baby," Caroline murmured, stroking Bri's hot, damp face.

"Don't you know by now I need you to need me? Just like I need you."

She kissed her forehead. "You are such a blockhead sometimes."

"I'm trying so hard, but I'm never going to be like Reese." When Carre drew back, there was enough morning light fi ltering through the skylight in their second fl oor apartment that Bri could make out the frown on her face. "What?"

"Do you think Reese is strong all the time?" Caroline shook her head. "Don't you get that part of the reason Reese seems so strong is because she has Tory? Jeez, all you have to do is watch them."

Bri remembered waking up in the ICU waiting room and seeing Tory holding Reese. Comforting her, pretty much like Carre was doing now. Thinking that Reese wouldn't want anyone to see her so vulnerable, she had looked away. She hadn't wanted to embarra.s.s Reese, but maybe she had been wrong in thinking that she would. She wasn't ashamed to have Carre hold her. She just felt lucky.

"How come you know these things and I don't?" Bri complained, rubbing her face against the inside of her arm to wipe away the last of her tears.

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Winds of Fortune Caroline laughed. "Because we're made differently and different things are important to us."

Bri frowned. "I don't get it."

"I know, baby," Caroline said gently. "It doesn't matter as long as you know that I don't always need you to be strong and I need to feel strong for you too sometimes."

"If anything happens to my dad I don't want anybody around except you." Bri took Carre's hand. The tears were close again. "Okay?"

"Reese and Tory love you, baby." Caroline kissed Bri until Bri relaxed into her arms. "I'll be right there, I promise. But you can't shut them out."

"Thank you for...you know. Being with me."

"You're gonna make me mad if you say that again." Caroline pulled Bri on top of her and held her tightly. "There's only one thing I want you to say to me. You know what it is."

Bri rested her forehead against Carre's and whispered, "I love you so so much."

y "You made it," Nita exclaimed as Tory hurried into the offi ce at just after three in the afternoon. "You'd better sit down. You look exhausted."

"I only slept a few hours last night, but I actually felt rested when I woke up this morning." Tory dropped onto the sofa with a grateful sigh.

"It's just been a tense day."

Nita frowned. "Problems with Nelson's surgery?"

"He came through the procedure with no major problems, but the surgeon said he saw a little more bleeding post-op than he'd like.

They're just watching him for now."

"Maybe you should head back, then."

Tory shook her head. "There are some things I have to do here.

Reese will be there in an hour or so. We've got it covered." She pointed a fi nger at Nita. "Besides, you have a closing to go to. So-go."

"You're sure."

"Positive. Call me later."

Nita shrugged off her lab coat, hung it on a coat tree inside the door, and grabbed the soft brown leather shoulder bag that doubled as * 125 *

RADCLY fFE her briefcase. Murmuring her thanks, she hurried out.

The few moments it took to drive into town were the fi rst free minutes she'd had all day. Unfortunately, the fi rst thing she thought of was Deo. There was no reason to think that Deo would be at the closing, for which she was glad. A day or two without seeing her would put everything into perspective. She was only temporarily off-balance because she hadn't expected to meet anyone who stirred her up the way Deo had. Nothing to worry about.

So, she'd met an attractive charming s.e.xy woman who had turned her on. So what? So what if she'd tossed and turned for an hour the night before, too keyed up to sleep, unable to purge the memory of Deo's warm breath against her stomach from her mind. So what if she'd awakened for the fi rst time in months with a hum of arousal singing through her blood. All perfectly normal, perfectly natural. No crime in acknowledging involuntary responses she had no plans to do anything about.

Case closed.

y "How does it feel to be a homeowner?" Elana Torres asked, handing Nita the keys with a warm smile.

"Wonderful," Nita replied automatically, and on one level, she was thrilled. The house had charmed her from the beginning with its history and faded grandeur, and she looked forward to restoring it. The project would occupy her free time, what little of it there was, and in the end, she would have something exceptional of her own to show for it. But undercutting the excitement was a thread of sadness that she was doing this alone. Her fi rst home, a signifi cant dream realized, and she had no one special with whom to share the pleasure.

Elana handed Nita a thick manila envelope. "Deo asked me to give this to you. She said to tell you the renovation estimates just cover the major structural elements. The fi nishing details take more planning, depending on what you have in mind."

"I, uh..." Nita stared at the envelope but didn't take it. She had the irrational thought that if she touched it she might feel the rough brush of Deo's callused palm over her body and give herself away with some small movement or sound.

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Winds of Fortune "Deo's family, as you know, but I can also recommend her without reservation," Elana added. "Still, I put contact information for one of the other local contractors and a company from Barnstable in with your settlement papers in case you want to get compet.i.tive bids."

"Yes. I suppose that would be a good idea."

"Call soon. At this time of the year, everyone is booked solid. I'll do what I can to help set up the appraisals, if you like."

Of course, Nita thought, summertime is the height of the building season. But Deo had taken the time to write up the estimate. She wondered when. "Deo put this together awfully quickly."

"She was in here crunching numbers when I arrived at six this morning." Elana smiled. "She's never been one to let gra.s.s grow under her feet."

Nita stifl ed a comment about fast workers and accepted the envelope. It could take weeks to even schedule an appraisal with someone else, and longer still to get the renovations started. And somehow, she didn't think that Deo's comment about being one of the best in the business was an idle boast. Her own sublet was proof of that. Annoyed that she was allowing a transient situation with Deo to compromise what should be a professional undertaking, she asked, "Do you have local references I can check? She's already seen the house, and-"

"Deo always includes references at the end of her estimates. If you need any other information, just call me. Most of the businesses in town use her, and there's never been a single complaint."

Blushing, Nita said hastily, "Really, I'm sure she's excellent. I didn't mean to imply otherwise."

"Don't think anything of it," Elana said. "It's an important decision, and I'm sure you want to have the right person do the work."

"Yes. I do. Well," Nita bounced the keys in her palm. "I think I'll pay my new house a visit."

"Welcome to town." Elana extended her hand. "Call me if you need anything. Remember, you're one of us now."

y One of us. Nita leaned against the bal.u.s.trade on the widow's walk and surveyed the harbor from atop her new home. With still two hours * 127 *

RADCLY fFE until sunset, the evening had taken on a golden blush, and the white sailboats and yachts fl oated like pristine clouds atop the deep blue surface of the water. So high above the street, the breeze was cool and brisk, raising goose b.u.mps on her sun-heated skin. One of us.

She could still hear her brother's angry words. "How could you, Nita? He's one of us. You don't f.u.c.k with one of us."

She hadn't needed her brother's fury or her father's cold disdain or her sister's shocked criticism to understand that the thin blue line was una.s.sailable. She'd known it all her life. Every member of her family took pride in it, and she had broken the line. Ignored the code, disrespected the fraternity, sullied the family honor. She was no longer one of them, cast out for her transgressions.

"All for what," she murmured for the thousandth time, but she knew the answer. Sylvia. Beautiful pa.s.sionate, possessive Sylvia.

Sylvia, with her hot demanding hands and her sweet seductive mouth.

Sylvia. G.o.d, she could still taste her.

"Hey!" Deo yelled up from the street. "Don't lean on that!"

Shaking her head, feeling as if she were awakening from a dream, Nita stared down the three and a half stories to the sidewalk. Deo stood with her legs apart and pelvis tilted forward, hands on hips, glaring up at her. Despite the height, Nita could make out streaks of dust on her neck and the sweat that sheened on her bare arms. In an instant, memories of Sylvia disappeared and Nita was grateful.

Recognizing the grat.i.tude for what it was, the mindless subst.i.tution of one desire for another, she defi antly grasped the iron railing and shook it. Despite the protesting creak she heard as she rocked it, she shouted back, "It's perfectly fi ne."

"Cut it out! Jesus, Nita." Deo shoved open the scrolled iron gate that separated Nita's small front yard from the narrow brick sidewalk and stalked toward the house.

Nita lost sight of her, but she didn't have any trouble hearing her.

"Let me in," Deo barked.

For one second, Nita considered ignoring her. Then, embarra.s.sed by her reluctance to confront a woman just because she was attracted to her, she abandoned her perch above the town and unhurriedly made her way downstairs. When she opened the door, she felt completely calm.

"Yes?" Nita said.

"Jesus Christ, Nita," Deo repeated heatedly. "Do you want to kill * 128 *

Winds of Fortune yourself? You've got to be careful around this place until we've gone through it completely."

"There is no we," Nita responded levelly. "And I was careful."

"Leaning over that railing is not careful! If you had fallen..." Deo tried to rein in her temper, but she was still running on nerves after glancing up to see Nita precariously positioned on the widow's walk, a look on her face that said she was a million miles away and not paying any attention to what she was doing. Deo envisioned the bolts pulling loose from the water-softened wood, the railing crumbling, and Nita falling. Falling and lying crumpled on the gra.s.s, her eyes open and empty. She shivered. "f.u.c.k."

"I appreciate your concern." Recognizing Deo's anxiety- surprised and oddly touched-Nita asked more gently, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm working a job not far from here, and I fi gured you might stop by here after the closing." Deo shrugged. "I thought we could get a look at the place while it was still light and talk about the work schedule."

Nita tried to suppress a smile and almost succeeded. "I don't remember accepting your proposal."