by Kay Bigelow
Before Leah could give voice to her thoughts, Dani returned Leah’s hand to her mouth.
“Is that me I smell on your fingers? You didn’t want to wash your hands?” Dani asked, clearly surprised at what she was smelling.
“Oh, yes, it’s you. I wanted to be able to smell you so I knew the closet hadn’t been a dream,” Leah said. She could feel herself blushing.
“That’s sweet. Trust me, you’ll never have to think making love to me is a dream again.”
“I hope so.”
They resumed walking hand in hand along a path carved through the middle of the woods. The trees formed a canopy over the path, keeping it shaded and cool. Leah noticed flowering bushes and a profusion of wildflowers along the edge of the path. She could smell the flowers as their aroma wafted on a slight breeze. The flowers of Xing were one of her favorite things about the planet. On New America, the only flowers that bloomed were to be found in private hothouses and only the very wealthy could afford to buy the bulbs and seeds needed to grow flowers. She had once wanted to give her wife a single rose for their first anniversary and was shocked at its cost—nearly a month’s salary, and that was cheap compared to the price of orchids and gardenias. Here on Wild, these same flowers grew wild.
As they rounded a corner, the path began curving downward. They rounded another corner and Leah stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her was the bluest water she’d ever seen. It was a lake, but a large one. She could barely see the trees on the edge of the far side of it. The entire lake, with the exception of where she and Dani were standing, had trees lining the shore. It was breathtaking, the beach was all white sand and pristine. There was no one around. The silence was deep and intense. It made Leah feel as if they were the only two people on the planet since a beach such as this should be crowded with women.
“Dani, this is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
“It is my favorite spot on the planet. I removed it from the map a few years ago so it would remain untouched and mine alone. Consider this our beach.”
They stood watching the small waves come in and gently kiss the sand before retreating. Leah thought that in so many ways that was very much like the dance she and Dani were doing.
When Leah’s stomach growled, Dani laughed. “We’d better get to the dining room and feed ourselves. We’ll come back here often.”
“I hope so.”
Dani led them back to where the path to the lake intersected with the path to their bungalow. They took the left path that would, presumably, lead them to the center of the resort.
When Leah and Dani arrived at the main building, it was a bustling hive of activity. Groups of three or four women were talking, people were in line to check in or out, people were waiting to get into the dining room, and couples were poring over the large map in the entryway as if deciding what to do with the rest of their day. There was a low-keyed hum of voices—not loud enough to be intrusive or irritating, though. Dani and Leah moved to the dining room only to be told there would be an hour’s wait to be seated. They decided they didn’t want to wait that long for food, so Dani suggested they go to one of the smaller cafés. As they turned to leave, Camryn came up to them.
“What are you two doing up so early? I didn’t expect to see you before midafternoon.”
“I’m starved. But, alas, the dining room is full and there’s a long wait list,” Dani said.
“Nonsense. There’s always a table reserved for our VIP guests.”
Camryn led them back into the dining room. She motioned the maître d’ to her and spoke with her, nodding toward Dani. The maître d’ apologized profusely for her ignorance of who they were and led them to a table next to a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking an impossibly green water lagoon.
Leah noticed people had stopped eating to stare at them as they moved through the dining room. Several people seemed to know who Dani was, and she heard her own name whispered once or twice.
“It seems we have two celebrities with us this week,” Camryn said, smiling as she approached their table.
“Will you join us?” Dani asked.
“Good heavens, I ate hours ago, but I could stand to have a cup of coffee,” she said, pulling a chair out from the table.
“How long have you two been together?” Camryn asked.
“Not very long,” Dani said.
“You look like you belong together.”
“What do you mean?” Leah asked.
Camryn apparently didn’t believe Dani when she’d said they hadn’t been together very long. “You look comfortable together the way couples do when they’ve been together for a while.”
“You’re very astute,” Leah told her, knowing that’s what Camryn wanted to hear, and adroitly changing the subject.
“I know what Jardain does for a living, but what’s your line of work?” Camryn asked, being dogged in her quest for details.
Before Leah formed an answer, the matire d’ came to their table and said, “Excuse me,” and handed Camryn a folded note.
Camryn read the note, then stood. “We have a crisis in the kitchen. Someone has pissed off the chef—again. I need to go smooth some ruffled feathers.”
“I’m sorry about her questions,” Dani said. “She likes to get to know her guests.”
“Like every successful resort owner.”
A server appeared with a carafe of coffee and menus. She returned five minutes later and took their orders.
Leah took the opportunity to look around her. The dining room, large by almost any standard, was full. There were no empty tables. She scanned the women, mostly couples, pausing now and again to study an individual woman. There was one who made Leah pause longer, a well-dressed older lady with gray hair who had restless eyes constantly on the move—she almost never looked at her companion. Her companion was almost the opposite of the well-groomed woman, and bordered on slovenly. Her mousy brown hair hadn’t seen a hairdresser in months, her clothes were rumpled, and her fingers were tapping out a rhythm seemingly known only to her. She looked very much out of place in the sea of wealthy women in the dining room. As Leah watched the woman, their eyes met. The woman stared at Leah, who refused to be the first to look away. Finally, the woman turned her attention to the woman seated at her table when she pushed an envelope across the table to her. I wonder what’s in that envelope? Money?
“Dani? Do you know the nice-looking woman at the table near the entrance to the kitchen?”
“She looks familiar, but I don’t know her or her name. I do know the other woman. Her name is Anabel Cooper, and she’s a regular visitor to Wild. Why?”
“Just wondering. She looks like she’s uncomfortable with the woman she’s having breakfast with.”
Leah’s attention was drawn away from the gray-haired woman when their server appeared with their breakfast. Leah had ordered what Rusty had called “Eggs Benedict with all the trimmings” when she’d prepared it for Leah a few months earlier, while Dani had ordered almond waffles with raspberry cream and a bowl of fresh fruit. They almost inhaled the food, barely tasting it at all.
As they sat sipping their coffee after their plates had been taken away, Dani asked, “What would you like to do next?”
“I don’t know what our options are, so I’ll leave it to you to decide what we do for a day or two.”
“Would you mind terribly if we return to the bungalow? It usually takes me at least a day to recover from the travel before I’m myself again.”
“That sounds perfect, actually. I thought it was just me. Or is it just me and you’re being kind by claiming you suffer from interstellar sickness as well?”
Dani chuckled. “This time I’m not being kind. The long intergalactic trips really affect me negatively. I feel like I could sleep for a couple of days, but I know if I do it will only prolong the sickness and I’d lose two days of being with you. So, I want to try to get on the planet’s time and schedules as quickly as I can.”
Th
ey finished their coffees and left the dining room. Leah veered to their left and went to the desk. She wanted a brochure that told her about the amenities of Wild.
The concierge asked, “Are you Dr. Samuels?”
“I am,” she said, knowing it was Dani who’d given the hotel her title. Only a handful of people knew she had a doctorate degree.
“There is an interstellar message for you,” the woman told her as she handed Leah a folded piece of paper.
Leah glanced at the note, saw it was from Cots, refolded it, and put it into the pocket of her slacks.
“What’d you get?”
“A brochure on Wild’s amenities,” Leah said, holding up the brochure for Dani to see.
“And the note? Is it important? Please don’t tell me you have to go back to Xing.”
Leah didn’t say anything. She led them to the path that would take them to their temporary home. Once they were out of sight of the main building, she stopped and pulled the note out of her pocket. She handed it to Dani, who unfolded it and read it.
“Just wondering if you have a case yet. – Cots.” Dani barked out a laugh. “Is he always this mother-henish?”
Leah smiled at Dani’s reaction. “This is mild. He’s been known to be worse.”
“Why?”
“He feels guilty for not telling me the truth about his sister earlier than he did. And I was in really bad shape when we got to Xing. He took care of me and made sure I survived.”
“Who is his sister?”
“She was my wife, Quinn.”
“She was an alien?” Dani asked, surprise in her voice.
“Yes. I almost arrested her for murder. That’s how we met.”
They resumed their walk home.
After a minute, Dani asked, “Did you love her?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did she love you?” Dani asked.
“What made you ask that particular question?” Leah asked, knowing she sounded defensive.
“I’ve learned that in most marriages one of the two people loves more than the other. I was just wondering if that was true for you and your wife.”
Leah knew some of Dani’s history with relationships, but this took things to a whole different level. What happened to Dani that she’s so very cynical about love? Or is it marriage she has such a poor opinion of? Before Leah could formulate a question about that opinion, she decided now wasn’t the time to ask it.
“I thought she loved me. In fact, I would have staked my life on it. I was mistaken, though. And your assessment of marriage is cynical. Is that why you shy away from relationships?” Leah asked in spite of deciding now wasn’t the time.
“Is she still in your life?” Dani asked without answering Leah’s question.
“No. She was murdered on the street by a paid assassin. There were dozens of people nearby, but no one saw or heard anything.”
“What? Who was responsible?”
Leah heard the surprise in Dani’s voice.
“The killer has never been apprehended.”
“Were you a suspect?”
“No. I had a rock-solid alibi. And very few people knew we were married, so there was no reason to suspect me.”
“Why was that?”
“Being married to an alien wasn’t exactly something one wanted to announce to the world. There was a lot of animosity toward the aliens on New America. My career would have been over if we’d announced the relationship.”
“It sounds hard to have to keep your marriage secret because of who you loved.”
“I’d think you’d like that.”
“You misjudge me if you really think that,” Dani said. “If I were married to someone I deeply loved, I’d be shouting it from the rooftops.”
Leah wondered if that was true. Dani’s entire family was steeped in secrecy as much to protect the family name as to protect the individual members of the family who had been homosexual when it had been a crime on Xing. Dani grew up knowing how to keep secrets. I bet she got very good at it. I wonder how many secrets she has and whether she’ll tell me what they are. Quinn had had many secrets, too, including the fact that she’d had a lover for the entire length of their marriage. One of her best kept secrets was that her lover, a woman named Stephanie Grandini, was the head of one of the largest crime families on the planet.
Chapter Four
Dani took them a different route than they had taken to get to the big house and breakfast. As they rounded a curve, they were suddenly home. They entered the bungalow, and immediately the hairs on the back of Leah’s neck stood up.
“Stay here,” Leah ordered Dani, her cop instincts on high alert.
“Leah—”
“Dani, please.”
Leah went from room to room looking for an intruder. An intruder who didn’t exist, apparently. When she returned to the living room, Dani was sitting on the couch with her feet on the coffee table. “All done?” Dani asked.
“Yes. There wasn’t anyone.”
“What made you go on alert?”
“The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.”
“Really? Literally?” Dani asked.
“Yes.”
“For the record, you weren’t wrong. Someone has been in the house.”
“How do you know?”
“She left a note,” Dani said, pointing to a piece of paper on the coffee table. Leah was a little irked when she caught Dani trying to keep a grin from spreading across her face.
“So much for being a detective,” Leah murmured.
Leah took the paper and read the note. “Doctor Bensington, my name is Sybil. I’ll be your housekeeper for the duration of your stay. Should you need anything, simply call the front desk. It will be taken care of.”
“I’m feeling a bit foolish,” Leah said.
“Don’t be. I loved seeing you in action. So intense. You were hot.”
“Thanks. I think.”
“How did you develop that sixth sense?”
“After a few months as a beat cop, it began being second nature. Saved my life a couple of times, too.”
“I bet you hate those vid shows where the woman cop goes down into the dark basement alone in a house she knows, or at least suspects, belongs to a serial killer.”
Leah laughed. “As a matter of fact, I do hate them. So much so I haven’t seen one in years and years. I hate it when otherwise intelligent women do something incredibly stupid and have to be rescued by their male counterparts.”
“Do you think it’s safe for me to go change clothes?”
“I think I can probably take the housekeeper if she’s still lurking and attacks you. But I’m not sure you’ll be safe from me if I see you naked again.”
“You obviously haven’t seen Sybil. I think you should go with me—just in case.”
“Are you trying to lure me into the bedroom?”
“Ah, so you really are a detective.”
Leah laughed again.
“Come on. Let’s make sure we’re alone.”
The bedroom was once again as neat and tidy as it had been when they’d first arrived, and they each entered their respective closets. Leah noted the clothing she’d put on the Laundry shelf was missing. As she undressed, she was still feeling a little stupid. Of course there’d be a housekeeper. And of course she would come in while we were out of the bungalow. There’s probably an electronic notification in the main building when a VIP guest exits her bungalow. My deduction skills are a bit rusty, apparently.
After removing the slacks and blouse she’d worn to breakfast and hanging them up, Leah stood in front of the pile of folded shorts she’d brought with her.
“I think the blue shorts will show off your legs the best,” Dani said. “Wait, I changed my mind. Wear the black ones. I don’t want every woman on the planet lusting after you. You might find one of them enticing.”
“I always go home with the one what ‘brung’ me to the dance,” Leah told her with a smile. Her grandmo
ther had said that a lot when Leah had been a child and spent her summers with her grandparents.
“Okay. Then the blue ones,” Dani murmured as she nuzzled the back of Leah’s neck.
“I’ll give you twenty years to stop doing that,” Leah whispered without thinking. She was appalled by the implications of what she’d just said, and could feel a blush rising to her cheeks.
Dani moved away from Leah and ran her hands down her back, stopping at her bra. She unsnapped the bra and pushed it off Leah’s shoulders. Dani closed the space between them again. Leah felt Dani’s hands move to her front and pause at her stomach. Dani nuzzled Leah’s neck as her hands began gliding slowly downward. By the time they reached the waistline of her silk boy shorts, Leah was wanting more. Dani put a finger inside the shorts, and stopped. No, don’t stop.
“Don’t move,” Dani whispered.
Once again, Dani broke contact with Leah, but returned quickly. Dani ran both hands up Leah’s back and then moved slowly back down to where her boy shorts sat. Leah wished she’d had the foresight to remove the damned shorts. Leah could feel Dani’s hardened nipples against her back as Dani made contact with her again. Dani had removed her shirt and bra.
Dani snaked her hands around to Leah’s front and slid them downward. She paused ever so briefly to move one hand beneath Leah’s shorts. When her fingers reached Leah’s mons, she again paused. Dani slowly inserted her finger between Leah’s labia and began stroking Leah’s clit. Leah moaned and pressed herself against Dani.
“You want me,” she murmured into Leah’s neck.
“You have no idea how much,” Leah said, trying hard not to pant as Dani’s fingers played with her clit. Leah moaned again when Dani took a step backward.
“Come with me to bed. I want to taste you. I want to make you come. And, I want to hear you say my name as you come.”
“Oh, my,” Leah whispered.
Dani backed out of the closet, tugging Leah along with her.
