Tropical Convergence (18 page)

Quest smiled at her again. "Let me ask you something first," he said, leaning on the counter with an elbow. "Are you up for a challenge? Can you put your name on a dotted line, and go head to head for some business...could turn out to be pretty big."

Kerry folded her hands. "What are you asking me?" she queried. "Can I negotiate a contract for ILS? Of course."

"Even if someone else in your company already said no?"

"Well." Kerry sat back. "Maybe. Why don't you tell me what your pitch is, and then we'll talk about it."

Quest nodded, with a satisfied look. "That's all I'm asking for." He leaned forward. "Here's the deal."

DAR CAME OUT of the bathroom, toweling her hair somewhat dry, dressed only in a second towel that was barely decent on her tall frame. She stopped to lean against the door, eyeing the sprawled form on the bed. "Ker?"

"Ungh." Kerry had her arm thrown over her eyes. "Shh. Kerry isn't here. It's just a prune, masquerading as Kerry."

"Uh huh." Dar sat down on the bed next to her, very nearly pulling her towel loose. "That was some downpour. I'm glad we made it back here." She reached over and used the other towel to dry off Kerry's head. "What a pain in the ass long day."

Kerry rolled over and draped her arm over Dar's thigh. "We have to do that again tomorrow, Dar. Augh!" She drummed her feet against the sheets and squiggled into Dar's lap. "Pig farts!"

Not at all displeased by the development, Dar tossed the towel somewhere in the vicinity of the bathroom and concentrated on her armful of cute blond instead. She was relieved herself that the day was over, and she was very much looking forward to the coming hours alone with her partner.

Accordingly, she slid her hand under Kerry's neck to support it as she leaned over and gave her a leisurely kiss, enjoying the simple passion of it. She could taste the last remnants of the lemon soda Kerry had grabbed on their way out of the trade show, and as their tongues gently played against each other, she let out a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Kerry asked.

"I had fun in the afternoon session," Dar admitted. "I think I got everything back under control."

Kerry tweaked the towel, tugging it free of its tuck and exposing Dar's torso. "Mmhm." She traced a circle around her partner's navel. "I think you did too. Thanks." She felt the muscles under Dar's skin twitch. "I have a feeling you're going to make the news, though...I saw reporters there. With cameras."

"Eurgh." Dar made a face.

Kerry chuckled. "Not that they needed a scandal to take pictures of you...they do that anyway. You could have been explaining subnet masking and you'd still have gotten a crowd." She let her hand fall to the bed and closed her eyes. "Umph."

"Something wrong?" Dar asked.

"Headache."

"Again?" Dar curled her fingers around the back of Kerry's neck and kneaded it gently. "I see my friend Quest found you.. that what gave you this?"

Kerry remained silent, enjoying the massage. Then she exhaled. "He wasn't that bad," she admitted. "He had some interesting things to say."

Dar kept up the motion of her hands. "Ah," she murmured, surprised. "What did he say? Must have been different than what he told me."

Her cheek was resting against Dar's leg, and Kerry let her fingers stroke the skin there before she answered. "I think it was the same offer."

Dar considered that for a little while. "What did you tell him?" she finally asked. "Did you agree to do it?"

Kerry rolled her head to one side and opened her eyes, looking up at Dar with a faintly rueful expression. "Sweetheart, do you honestly think I would go do something you'd already told me you'd turned down on the company's behalf?" She reached up to tickle Dar's navel again. "I was really, really curious as to why you turned him down flat, though."

"What I don't get is why he asked you," Dar said. "What's his game?"

"Well...if mom says no." Kerry kidded her. "Just go ask...um...you know what I mean." She closed her eyes again as Dar's fingers found a knot at the back of her skull. "He asked me if I had the guts to go over your head."

"And?"

Kerry opened one eye and regarded her. "What do you think?"

A smile twitched at the corners of Dar's mouth. "I think right now I trust your judgment better than mine. To be honest, I can't tell you why the hell I blew him off, Ker. I had no reason for it...no business reason, anyway."

Kerry's eyebrows lifted.

"Then when I reconsidered...it was because Telegenics was also bidding, and I wanted to kick their ass. Not because I'd made a good business choice." Dar exhaled, but looked peaceful. "I think it's time I vacate that office, my friend. I'm just not into it anymore."

"Dar..."

Dar put her fingers across Kerry's lips. "It's the truth, we both know it," she said. "I'm not going to walk out, Kerry, but I'm not doing my job."

Uncertainly, Kerry subsided, confused and disturbed by her partner's admission. Dar didn't seem upset by it, but she was, and it was no use pretending she wasn't. "I'm really not happy to hear that," she sighed. "Especially because I think you're brilliant at what you do, and this last year's proved that over and over again."

Dar traced the furrow in Kerry's brow. "Anyway...we can talk about it when we get home," she said. "So...what did you tell little Peter?"

Kerry rolled onto her back and settled her hands on her stomach. She recognized the change of subject for what it was, and pondered whether to let Dar get away with it. Then the ache in her head made itself felt again, and she decided if Dar didn't want to talk about it right now, that was okay with her.

Maybe she would think about it some more. It had been a ratty day. "What did I tell little Peter?" she repeated. "Well, I told him it was an interesting proposal, it was something we're very experienced at doing, something we could probably easily handle, and something we'd be interested in getting involved in."

Dar slipped her hands under Kerry's head and resumed her massage.

"However," Kerry continued, "I also told him I had nothing but the highest respect for your judgment, so if he was looking for a champion to butt heads with you, he picked the wrong blond."

"Mm."

"He seemed to think that was funny."

"Hmm?"

"I think that's when my headache started again." Kerry closed her eyes against the light in the room. "I told him I'd be in touch and booted him out of the booth."

Dar let the silence lengthen after that, as she kept working on Kerry's tense muscles. She watched the skin over her partner's brow smooth out, and her breathing slowed as she relaxed. "You want to do it?" she finally asked in a low voice.

The tiniest hint of a smile appeared on Kerry's lips, and she cracked open one eyelid. "I want us to do it," she replied, huskily.

Hm. "Us as in...you and me, you mean?"

Kerry nodded. "I think it would be good for the company, sure...but to prove I have my head in my workstation just as much as you do, I really just wanted to go there, just the two of us, and whip everyone else's butts."

"Ahhh...ulterior motives." Dar chuckled softly.

"Something like that." Kerry reached behind her and captured Dar's foot. She ran her fingers over the corded tendons and threatened a tickle, feeling the muscles bunch instinctively. "Besides, I'd like to see New Zealand."

Dar let one hand rest on Kerry's stomach. "Ahhhhh." She tapped the edge of her thumb against Kerry's abs. "That brings this whoooollllee thing full circle." With her other hand she lifted something from the nightstand and dropped it onto the bed next to her partner. "To this."

Kerry turned her head and regarded the box. "Ahh." She mimicked Dar. "You know, sweetheart, if you really wanted to know you could have just opened it."

"That's not my name on the label." Dar wriggled into a more comfortable spot and leaned on one elbow, looking expectantly at the package and then at Kerry. "Feeling better?"

How could she not feel better? Kerry wondered, as she rolled over onto her side and reached for the box. She was lying in bed, with her head in Dar's naked lap, looking forward to what was in the box.

Her headache had faded under Dar's touch, and the feeling of pent up tension was being leeched out of her by a combination of being where she was and being able to feel the affection almost pouring out of her companion as the gentle, feather light stroking traveled over her body.

It would be very easy to simply let the world fade away.

But there was her box to open, and dinner to be had, and fireworks to watch from their balcony. So Kerry obediently plucked at the box's wrapping, ripping it apart and freeing the box from its bindings. "There. You have two hands free. Open it."

Dar needed no second invitation. She took hold of the box and pried the top off, peering inside. Then she turned it over and let the contents drop into her hand.

It was a jar, with a white top, and a seemingly hand written label. Dar blinked it. "Double fudge body paint?" She read it aloud. "From New Zealand?"

Kerry affected an innocent look. "They didn't have it at Sawgrass Mills."

Dar bit her lip, then burst out laughing, flipping the jar over in her hand in delight. "Oooohh...housekeeping's gonna be mad at us." She chortled. "Kerry, what made you order this?" Her eyes went to her partner's face. "Getting bored?"

For the first time in a long time, Kerry turned brick red, the color change very evident against her white cotton T-shirt. "No!" She got out, grabbing the jar. "I was just shopping! On the internet!"

"Shopping for..." Dar teased. "Jars? Fudge? Sex toys?"

Kerry cleared her throat loudly. "Did you know they have milk flavored candy there?" She changed the subject. "And hey, look...I've got a canvas all ready to test this stuff on." She tweaked Dar's bare belly. "To be honest, I was looking for some stuff we could take on the boat and the pointing and clicking just got a little...ah..."

"Off course?" Dar grinned. "You and a mouse. Dangerous."

"Trackball. I hate mice." Kerry corrected her. "Dirty balls--not my style." She leaned over and nibbled a bit of Dar's skin. "So what do you say, Dixiecup? Wanna see if I have even one artistic bone in my body tonight?"

Dar set the jar down and picked Kerry up instead, curling her body around her partner's and delivering a passionately serious kiss that coaxed a soft groan from Kerry's guts and set the blond woman's hands wandering over Dar's skin. "Yeah," she breathed into Kerry's ear. "Paint anything you like on me. I won't even check the spelling."

"Spelling?" Kerry snickered, easing her body flat against Dar's. "Baby, I'm not gonna be writing
anything
. You're going to see how us repressed WASPS do finger-painting."

They tumbled together across the bed, laughing as they got tangled in the sheets and ended up almost falling off. Dar clasped her arms around Kerry and held her tight, releasing a deeply satisfied sigh. "To hell with all of them," she said. "Let's go have fun."

"Grrowl."

"I'M IN HEAVEN." Kerry put her bare feet up on the railing next to Dar's as they sat and watched the fireworks. Absently, she reached over and took Dar's hand in hers, as she let her other one rest on a very satisfactorily stuffed belly. "Thank god we don't do this all the time. I can only imagine the amount of gym sweat I'd have to put in to keep up with it."

Dar flexed her toes and leaned closer, pressing her shoulder against Kerry's as a new set of colorful lights exploded in the distance. "Mm." She agreed with both sentiments, though it was hard to focus on the question through the beer they'd shared over dinner and the lassitude the warm air was pressing on her. "That was pretty."

"Uh huh." Kerry rested her head against Dar's upper arm. "Paladar Katherine?"

"Mmm..." Dar peered at her. "What have I done?"

"Nothing. I just like your name." Kerry exhaled contentedly. "So...what's our strategy for tomorrow? There are two big panels in the afternoon...one's on the direction of wireless, the others on outsourcing. I think we should be on both of them, don't you?"

"Oh," Dar mused. "Like I didn't make enough trouble today, you want me to try again tomorrow? Alastair's probably already shredded his desk blotter." She lifted the mug of coffee resting by her left elbow and took a sip from it. "I'm surprised he hasn't called."

"Maybe he hasn't heard," Kerry suggested. "It wasn't that big a deal, Dar. Once you started talking them through it, everyone really relaxed."

"Umph." Dar watched several rockets go up, bursting into red and blue patterns overhead. "Yeah, all right. Sign me up. It's more interesting than wandering around in the hall bullshitting." She squeezed Kerry's fingers. "Besides, I get the feeling one of the pitches Telegenics made is that they're a lot more cutting edge than stodgy old ILS."

"Really?"

A perceptible twinkle appeared in Dar's eyes. "I got an email today from an old acquaintance at one of the accounts that switched. She was passing the time of day," she said. "And, I got a little insider info."

"Ahhh." Kerry rumbled softly. "Do I sense some early reservations?"

"Hedging her bets." A grin appeared. "Shirley Applebaum...she's got a lot of sense, and even though we bumped heads when they first signed with us, she's all right."

"Bumped heads...like you and I did?"

Dar laughed. "Kerrison, no one in my life ever bumped heads with me like you did," she assured her partner. "No, I'd only recently become a regional manager when they came onboard...they were my first account."

"Oh."

"Talk about a learning experience." Dar briefly covered her eyes with one hand. "For a while, I thought they were going to be my last account. But it worked out."

"And she said...?"

Dar rubbed her cheek and rested her chin on her hand. "Just that she'd been talking to her new boss, who's the one who made the contract change, and he's all puffed up about how he's gone with the cutting edge new players on the block instead of the old timers."

"Old timers." Kerry glanced at herself, then at her partner. "I could take offense to that."