“I’m a girl,” Dar answered, with a faintly sarcastic emphasis. “Hell.” She sighed. “I know they have a point. I know they can’t put mixed groups out in the field, at least not yet, but…” She shrugged. “Water under the bridge. At any rate, to answer your question, yes, I thought about it. I took the ASVAB
when I was a junior in high school, and I got a lot of offers.” She peered at the saltshaker on the table, lost in thought. “I just didn’t think I had the self discipline to commit to that and do what everyone told me I had to do, rather than what I thought I should do.” Her brows quirked. “And I was probably right.”
“Mmm.” Kerry expertly stirred the thinly sliced beef into the wok. “Were your parents upset?”
The blue eyes took on a far-off look. “My father was disappointed,” she stated quietly. “I think my mother was relieved.” She shook her head. “She was an artist. She never wanted me to go into the service.”
“An artist?” Kerry tossed in the sauce and stirred it. “Ah, now I know where you get that doodling style from.” She laughed. “I loved that one picture you made of that dog.”
“I don’t….” Dar stopped and thought about it. “Well, yeah, I guess I do,”
Tropical Storm 261
she admitted, a little sheepishly. “I never thought about that.”
Kerry set down the bowl of fragrant fried rice and put another of the stir-fried beef next to it, then handed Dar two plates. “Here.” She turned and retrieved the plum wine and a couple of glasses and brought them back to the table with her. “Well, the only talent in my family seems to be politics.” She handed Dar a serving spoon. “And law. Neither of which really sparked my imagination when I was growing up.”
The taller woman piled two plates with steaming rice and beef and handed Kerry one. “What did spark your imagination?”
Kerry ate a few mouthfuls before she answered. “Books, mostly.” She exhaled. “I did the usual things growing up. My mother enrolled me in piano lessons, and in gymnastics—the one to give me culture, the other to give me what she called ‘grace.’ ” Kerry’s lips twisted wryly. “I don’t think either did much. I never took to the piano, and I was, at best, a mediocre gymnast.” She chewed thoughtfully. “I can play ‘Chopsticks.’ ”
Dar chuckled. “So can I if I use both hands and both feet, and you don’t listen too closely.” She smiled “This is great, by the way.” She held up a forkful, then she paused to pour them both a glass of wine. “What kind of books do you like?”
Kerry took a sip of the wine. “You’ll laugh, but mostly science fiction…and some historical novels.”
Dar gave her a puzzled look. “Why would I laugh? That’s what most geeks like to read, myself included,” she said in a mild voice. “Not that I have time anymore,” she added with a sigh. “So what led you into computers?”
“I didn’t want to end up as an English teacher,” Kerry replied wryly.
“And I…well, I always had a liking for machinery. I used to take apart things—you know, like phones and stuff.” She laughed a bit. “When I got to college, I realized there was a computer science track that was pretty close to the general English track I was already on, so I double-majored.” She paused and took another sip of wine. “What about you?” It was, she suddenly realized, the first time they’d just sat down and talked about really personal stuff, and she was surprised at how comfortable she felt.
Dar bit a piece of beef in half and chewed it. “What about me? Well, I was always interested in programming—that’s what I studied in school. But somewhere along the way, I decided all those lines of code just couldn’t hold my interest.” She reflected a moment. “Wasn’t enough of a challenge, so I went into system analysis and design and from there, into engineering and operations.”
“Luckily for us.” Kerry smiled.
“Opinions on that vary,” Dar replied dryly. She drained her glass and poured a second. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it.” She toyed with the glass. “I spend a lot of time ignoring the cuts and digs, but it gets old.”
Kerry got up and took their empty plates, setting them in the sink, then returning to put her hands on Dar’s shoulders. “I kind of got that feeling….”
She tried, but couldn’t keep herself from leaning forward, and only barely kept herself from gently kissing Dar’s sleek head. “So, if you start getting complaints that your assistant is whacking people for saying nasty things about you, don’t be surprised.”
262 Melissa Good Dar was touched, and she eased back, pressing her body against Kerry’s and gazing up at her with a slight smile. “That’s sweet of you, Kerry, but I don’t think it’ll do much good.” She lifted a hand and covered the one on her right shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Not that I don’t appreciate the thought, though.”
Kerry drank in her closeness. “It’ll make me feel better,” she objected softly. “Really.” She looked down into the pale blue eyes and saw a softening there, making her give in to her craving and bend her head, finding Dar’s waiting lips with unerring accuracy. A touch traveled up her arm, softly stroking, and Kerry felt her body respond to it, as she closed her eyes and let the gentle probing and tasting continue. It feels so good… She could feel Dar’s fingers slipping up past her elbow and brushing against her side, making her breathing catch. She felt short of breath and her heart started to pound as she eased her own hands lower, touching bare skin.
Everything shifted then as Dar unexpectedly slid an arm around her waist and tugged her down. Kerry found herself in the dark-haired woman’s lap, with those strong arms wrapping around her and every inch of her body tingling in pure reaction. Her own arms slid up around Dar’s neck, then one started traveling down, moving across the slope of her neck muscles, and down her shoulder.
Dar knew she should slow down and take it easy, but her body wouldn’t relinquish its gentle contact. Her hands moved of their own accord, stroking and exploring the warm curves of the body tucked into her arms with insatiable curiosity. She could feel Kerry’s breathing deepen and go ragged and her own wasn’t doing much better. Easy…easy. Not yet. She lightened up on the intensity and felt Kerry do the same, until they broke off, and Kerry buried her face against Dar’s shoulder. “Whoa.” She wrapped her arms around Kerry’s body and held her, rubbing her back gently. “Easy there.”
“Whew,” Kerry muttered, feeling her heartbeat start to slow. “That was intense.” She decided being embarrassed at this point would be kind of ridiculous, so she lifted her head and just looked at Dar. “This is not going according to plan.”
Both dark eyebrows lifted teasingly. “It’s not?” Dar protested mildly. “I thought it was working out pretty well.” She still had her arms around Kerry, but now she loosened her grasp and backed off a little.
“No…um…that’s not what I…uh.” She gave up. “We were supposed to go to the movie first,” she explained wryly, reaching up and pushing back a bit of Dar’s dark hair.
“Oh. Oh, right.” Dar nodded in understanding. “But other than that?”
“Mmm.” Kerry exhaled slowly. “You know, I did a lot of reading. They didn’t mention the fireworks going off in any of it.” Her fingers trailed down Dar’s cheek. “It’s kind of scary.” Her breath caught as Dar captured her hand and nibbled her palm. “But nice.”
“Okay.” Dar considered. “Is this making you uncomfortable?”
A shy smile. “No.” Kerry shook her head. “But I bet it’s making you uncomfortable. I must be squishing you.”
Dar squeezed her, then patted her hip. “Hadn’t noticed,” she confessed.