Eye Of The Storm - DK3 (13 page)

She could hear the sigh. “He’s threatening to pull the French deal.”

Dar felt nauseous. “Did you tell him what we found?”

“He doesn’t much care,” Alastair told her, bluntly. “This kid’s a protégé of his, and it’s a lot of not nice smelling stuff on his face if he gets tossed on his rear.”

A silence lengthened. “Are you suggesting we rehire him?” Dar asked carefully.

“I’m suggesting you give me a reason not to,” her boss replied.

“Something that would make him ineligible to be employed by ILS.”

“How about filing criminal charges?” Dar snorted. “Jesus, Alastair, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. Tell you what. Give me this guy’s phone number.”

“Who?”

“The uncle. I’ll call him.” Dar pulled a pad and her pencil over. “I don’t give a damn if he’s got egg on his face. He should have taught the little bastard better or at least made sure he had the sense to cover his ass.”

“Um no, Dar, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alastair told her, delicately. “He’s got a hot temper.”

“And I don’t?”

“That was my point,” her boss remarked dryly. “Listen. Just get me something on him, so I can go back to the uncle with something other than lame excuses, huh?”

Dar glowered at the phone. “You know what I’d tell him?”

“Yes, in fact, I do and we need that contract, Dar. So be a sport, hmm?”

“Grumph,” the executive grunted. “All right. I’ll see what I can do.

But I’ll tell you, Alastair. Even if we don’t get something concrete, I’m not integrating that bastard.” She hung up the line and scowled at the desktop before dialing another number. “Mark?”

“Hmm?” The MIS chief cleared his throat. “Yes, Boss? What’s up?

Welcome home.”

“I need you to pull everything you can on that jerk from Allison,”

Dar told him. “He’s got some pull somewhere, and I need to nail him down hard.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can get,” Mark promised. “Hey. Has Kerry seen her office yet?”

Oh shit.
“She hasn’t come barreling in here, so I guess not.” Dar found her annoyance fading. “I’ll let you know.”

Mark laughed. “She’s gonna have a fit. Wish I could tape it. Later, 66
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Boss.”

Dar leaned back in her chair and crossed an ankle over her knee, her hand smoothing down the soft cotton of her casual slacks. She took a sip of her juice and waited, hearing familiar footsteps coming down the back hallway.

KERRY DUCKED INTO the kitchen before she made it to her office, going to the cabinet and retrieving one of the extra mugs she’d stashed there. As she started a cup of espresso brewing, a familiar voice came in behind her.

“Hey, Kerry. Welcome back.” Mary Ann, Duk’s assistant bounced in, and grabbed her own cup. “We’ve missed you at the gym. How’d the trip go?”

“Eh.” Kerry leaned back and crossed her arms. “Great, until the last few days. I think the mess is sitting over in your office.” She smiled at the tall, heavyset blonde woman. “I’ve missed you guys, too. Finding a place to work out on the road is pretty tough.”

Mary Ann poured a cup of regular coffee and added cream to it, then she glanced around and lowered her voice. “So. How’d the meet go Saturday?”

Kerry grinned fully, her nose wrinkling up. “It was great. She came in first place, after all that grumping.”

“Really?” Mary Ann clapped a hand over her mouth. “Ohmigod.

That’s so funny. She really won it?”

“Uh huh. Got a trophy almost as tall as me.” Kerry laughed. “It was really something else. I wish you guys had been there.”

“You told us not to come.”

“I know, I know.” Kerry made a shushing motion. “Shh. She was really nervous about it, but I think the next one will be okay. But hey, can we get the class together before Wednesday? It’d be fun to do something to her before class starts.”

“Ooo.” Mary Ann’s eyes lit. “Yeah. We could get a cake. Would she kill us?”

“Not if it was chocolate,” Kerry replied, wryly. “Chocolate cake, chocolate filling, chocolate frosting. Trust me.”

“Gotcha.” Mary Ann grinned. “This is going to be fun. It’s been such a blast watching her unbend the past few months. No one would believe it if I told them.”

Kerry took her cup and poured the strong coffee into it, then added the steamed milk she’d been frothing during their conversation. “She’ll make faces, but she’ll like that,” she said over her shoulder. “Yikes. I better get going. I’ve got a conference call in ten minutes.” She ducked past the taller woman, headed across the hall, pushed her door handle down, and shoved the door open with one shoulder. She got inside, letting the door shut, and got halfway across the room before two things hit her.

What was on her desk, which wasn’t her large screen monitor, and…

Eye of the Storm
67

The smell of a new computer.

“Ooo.” Kerry stopped and put her cup down, circling her desk and staring avidly. “Ooo. Ooo…ooo…ooo.” Her eyes widened as she absorbed the sleek, twenty-six inch slim liquid crystal display that now smugly sat on the surface. “Wooowww.” The screen saver swirled a bril-liant morphing of shapes that disappeared as she touched the brand new ergonomic trackball. “New CRT…new mouse…”

Kerry dropped to her knees, shoved her chair aside, and squirmed under her desk to see the new, dark gray box underneath. “Ooo…I’m in geek heaven.” She got up and pulled her chair back over, then cracked her knuckles and opened the machine’s system information, her eyes scanning it rapidly. “Ohh…my…god. That’s more RAM than the Space Shuttle could hold in its cargo bay.” She sat up and did a little dance in her chair, then she got up and patted the display. “Honey, you wait right here, okay? I need to go thank my fairy godmother for you.”

DAR PINNED A serious look on her face as she watched the inner door open and Kerry appeared. It lasted all of a second before she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh, since the blonde woman was doing a little dance in the middle of her carpet.

“You know what this is, Dar?” Kerry asked her, doing her best Snoopy imitation. “This is a happy nerd dance.”

Dar fell out of her chair, and hit the floor, laughing helplessly.

Kerry paused, delighted at the reaction. “Wow. That was almost as good as seeing that new ’puter.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled, then walked over and extended a hand down to her boss. “Here.”

Dar gripped the hand and allowed herself to be hauled upright, then dusted herself off. “Whew. Didn’t expect that reaction.” She chuckled wryly. “Glad you liked the new box. I told Mark to hold off on changing mine out till you saw yours.”

“It’s awesome,” Kerry enthused. “That screen is so much clearer. My eyes thank you.”

“Mmm.” Dar nodded. “Yeah. That was one of its selling points for me, too.” She walked over to her system and rolled the trackball, then selected a screen. “Couple weeks of reading these convinced me.”

Kerry squinted at the complicated CAD drawing, recognizing the network symbols. “Yow. I see what you mean.” She looked up at Dar.

“Were you getting those headaches again?”

The taller woman nodded mutely.

“Definitely worth it, in that case,” Kerry decided, giving Dar’s nearby leg a pat. “Thanks, Boss.”

Dar grinned, and dialed. “Hey Mark.”

“Uh? Oh. Hi, Boss. What’s up?”

“You missed a dancing nerd up here a minute ago.”

“A wh— Oh, man. I thought you meant the candy for minute. I was gonna say.” Mark laughed. “Hey, Kerry. Like the new box?”

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“Oooooo,” Kerry responded. “Very much. Thanks, Mark.”

“Bring mine up.” Dar chuckled. “When you get a chance.”

“I love working for the head geek.” Mark sighed. “Okay. Brent’ll be up in a minute.”

Dar hung up the line and perched on the edge of her desk, folding her arms over her chest with a satisfied expression. “So. You like it, huh?”

She was pleased with her surprise, having hand picked the systems in question.

“Very much.” The blonde woman smiled. “Now, let me get back to my new toy and try to get some work done. Hope those reports are in.”

Dar lost her good humor. “Ah. Me too. Apparently our slimy friend has relations in sticky places. Alastair’s getting pressured to rehire him.”

Kerry’s jaw dropped. “I know, I know. I’ve got Mark checking. But you keep your eye out for solid stuff, too.”

“That sucks,” Kerry replied forthrightly. “He’s big time trouble, Dar.

I’ll tell you what, I’m going to contact that woman from the account they just got. She was really upset about whatever they had over her. Maybe I can get her to talk now.”

“Good.” The executive looked up as the door swung open, and an audio visual cart entered, pushed by a short, stocky man in his early twenties, with a pugnacious buzz cut. “Thanks, Brent.”

“No problem, ma’am,” the tech stated briskly, visibly holding back from a salute. “I’ll get this hooked right up.”

Kerry peeked at him from around Dar’s desk. “Hi, Brent.”

The man visibly blushed. “Morning, ma’am.”

“Did you set up my new system, too?” the blonde woman inquired, a tiny, playful smile crossing her lips. “If you did, thanks.”

Furtively, he looked at her. “Yeah, that was me. No problem.” He messed around with some cables, then peeked up again. “If you want the cords tied back a different way, or anything let me know, okay?”

“I sure will.” Kerry caught his eye and smiled, making him almost drop the keyboard he’d picked up. Brent had a well known crush on her, and she wasn’t above tweaking him just a little because of it. Besides, he was cute and almost painfully shy, and Kerry liked him for his accuracy and good attitude.

“Can’t plug a mouse in there, Brent.” Dar’s voice rumbled dryly from across the desk. “Try the round hole.”

Kerry decided to leave before she caused the poor man any more trouble. “I’ll get those reports to you.” She waved her fingers at Dar and slipped through the back hallway door, closing it behind her.

Dar took pity on the tech. She strolled away from her desk and ended up at the window, gazing out over the water with an air of serene patience she’d rented from somewhere and kept in her drawer for special occasions. She thought of her dancing nerd, and the glass reflected back a cheerful grin as she waited for Brent to finish.

“UGH.” KERRY CLOSED her eyes and allowed Dar to steer her inside the condo, where a cold blast of refreshing air conditioning immediately dried the sweat on her forehead. “I feel like an airboat rolled over me.” They’d just gotten back from the island gym, and she was fiercely regretting the two weeks of slacking off while she was traveling. It had been a really long day at work as well, and with the two combined, Kerry felt like crawling into bed right that very instant and curling up into a ball of exhausted and sore muscles, both physical and mental.

Chino wriggled in Dar’s arms, and now the taller woman leaned closer, and allowed the Labrador puppy to lick Kerry’s face. “C’mon.

How about we share a shower, then relax? I’ve got my stuff all packed, so…”

Ah.
Kerry forced her eyes open.
That’s right. Tomorrow was Friday, and
Dar’s flight up to Connecticut.
She hadn’t had the chance the past few days to broach the subject of joining her, so now... She sighed. Now she’d have to find a moment and just accept whatever answer Dar gave her.

It was bothering her lover badly, she knew. Dar had been very quiet the past few days, almost withdrawn, and had taken to retreating into silent reserve, obviously deep in thought. Kerry had been caught between her anxiety and the understanding that this was one area Dar kept her barriers up about. Well, maybe after they relaxed a little, she could test the waters. And speaking of waters... “Shower. Mmm.”

Dar set Chino down then put their bags on the couch before she led Kerry into the bathroom. She turned the water on before she stripped the smaller woman’s workout gear off.

Kerry blinked wearily, sucking in a breath before she gathered some energy and did the same for her partner. “What a day.”

“Mmhmm,” Dar agreed, tugging Kerry’s sports bra off, then tickling her under her arm. “Got some bad news right before we left. Our friend David Ankow’s supposed to be here on Monday.”

“Ugh. Great. Just great.” Kerry stifled a yawn, then tugged Dar along with her as they entered the large octagonal stall shower, where warm water hit them. “Boy, that feels good.”

Dar picked up a sponge and poured some body wash on it, then scrubbed Kerry, beginning with her shoulders, then moving down her 70
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strong back as the blonde woman simply fell against her. “Yeah, it sure does,” she teased.

“Mmm.” Kerry nuzzled her, taking a playful nip as her hands circled Dar and ran lightly over her lover’s powerful body. “Are you still mad at me for that cake?” She felt the movement as Dar laughed. “You were so cute yesterday. My god, Dar, I’ve never seen you blush like that before.”

Dar made a gurgling noise. “I can’t believe you let them do that.”

“Let them?”

Her lover sighed. “It…no, it was nice. Thank you. I appreciated it, Kerry. I was just…um…”

“Surprised?”

“Yeah.”

“That was the point.” Kerry captured the sponge and made little soapy sculptures across Dar’s belly. There were lots of little valleys and ridges there for her to explore now, and she made sure all of them were clean, hitting several ticklish spots and getting soap flying all over when Dar laughed and her abs contracted. “You’ve got a nice laugh. Have I ever told you that?”

Dar lathered up Kerry’s hair, scratching her behind the ears where she had a sensitive spot and making her utter a little moan of pleasure.

“No, you hadn’t mentioned that before,” she rumbled. “Have I ever told you you’ve got really tasty ears?” She explored one with tiny nibbles.

A mewling sound escaped the smaller woman, as the weariness of the day fell away from her, banished by a rush of energy. Her skin tingled and her touch changed from playful to seductive, getting an immediate response from Dar, as she nuzzled sensitive areas and stepped forward, pressing her body against her lover’s and reveling in the skin on skin contact.