"Ms. Torres?"
Pia shielded her eyes from the blazing sun with her hand and stared up at the tall, dark stranger. It was hard to make out her features clearly with the sun casting her form in shadow, but the face beneath the thick, dark hair was pale, an unnatural paleness that made the pink scar on her right cheek stand out dramatically. It took only another second for Pia to register the Orthoplast splint with the metacarpal blocks and flexor tendon pulleys on the left hand. Pia stood. "Dr. O'Bannon?"
"Yes. We have an appointment."
"We do," Pia confirmed cheerfully as she checked her watch. "You're just a bit early. Why don't you come inside and have a drink while I get cleaned up. I'll be with you in a few minutes."
"Please don't hurry," KT said quietly. "I'll be happy to wait out here."
Pia wondered if the other woman even realized that she was swaying where she stood. Perhaps it was the undertone of weariness in her voice or her bold facade even in the face of obvious physical pain that put the gentleness in Pia's tone.
"It's ninety degrees out here and getting hotter every second. I can offer you a bit of shade and cool refreshment. It will make it easier for us to talk if you're not suffering from heatstroke."
KT hesitated, uncomfortable impinging on the woman's personal space, especially since she had pressured her for an urgent appointment and then arrived early for it. Still, she was feeling the effects of the heat and experienced a sudden urge to sit down. It probably won't make a very good impression if I fall over in the woman's yard. "Thank you. Something to drink would be very nice."
Pia favored her with another blazing smile and started toward the small porch and the front door. "Good. Just follow me."
The door to Tory's office was partially open, and Reese-stepped inside. Tory stood at the window on the far side of the room, looking out
"Tor?" Reese said softly.
Startled, Tory jumped and turned quickly, her surprised expression instantly turning to one of pleasure, "Oh! Hello, darling.-I didn't expect you."
Reese smiled and started toward her, noting the same dark shadows swirling beneath the welcome in Toiy's eyes that she had seen in KT's. "I decided to go in to work early, and I wanted to let you know. I just left Reggie at Kate and Jean's."
"Good. I need to stay here for a while and take care of some paperwork." As she spoke, Tory stepped up to Reese and wrapped her arms around Reese's waist, resting her head on her shoulder. "I'm so g]ad to see you,"
"Mmm. Me too." Reese kissed the fine, soft hair at Tory's temple and rubbed her palm over her lover's back. Tory trembled and Reese pulled her closer. "I saw KT in the parking lot."
"Yes," Tory replied softly, not moving away from the solace of Reese's embrace. "She was the one inquiring about the position."
"I figured as much." Reese moved her hand to the back of Toiy's neck and began to massage her gently. "She looked pretty beat up."
Tory flinched at the memory, and her voice was thick with emotion as she answered. "Someone...hurt her." She closed her eyes tightly and turned her face to Reese's neck. "God, Reese. An injury like that...for her? I can't imagine what she's going through,"
But you can. And that's part of what's causing the pain in your eyes. Reese continued her gentle caresses. "She strikes me as being pretty tough. When she gets her fight back, she'll be okay."
"You saw quite a bit out there in the parking lot." Tory tilted her head back and studied Reese's face. Her blue eyes were calm and steady. Tory caressed her cheek tenderly. "You're very special, Sheriff."
"No." Reese cupped Tory's hand in hers and kissed her palm. "You and Regina are everything that matters to me, Tory. Everything."
"As simple as that?" Tory's voice held a note of wonder.
"Yes," Reese affirmed, kissing Tory lightly on the mouth. "Just exactly as simple as that."
"Oh, I'm so glad."
Reese looked down to Tory's eyes. The sight of the sadness there tore at her. "What did you tell KT about the job?"
"I didn't I told her I'd get back to her about it." Tory stepped away and ran both hands through her hair, pushing the errant strands away from her face. "I wanted to talk to you."
"About what?"
Tory leaned her hips against the front edge of her desk and curled her fingers around the dark wood on either side of her body. She kept her eyes on Reese's face, watching her reactions. "I wanted to know if it would bother you if she were around."
"It depends," Reese said quietly.
"On what?" Tory steeled herself for the answer.
"On whether it's going to hurt you like this every time you see her."
Tory's lips parted in surprise and she breathed out slowly. "Me? I'm not hur "
"Yes, you are." Reese stood without moving, holding Tory's gaze. "This timejust like all the other times."
"She stopped mattering to me the day I found her in bed with someone else." Fury rode just beneath the surface of Tory's insistent words.
Reese tucked her hands into her pockets, appreciating that anger was a much more acceptable emotion than disappointment and betrayal. "Can she do the job?"
Tory snorted. "She's one of the best doctors I've ever seen."
"If you weren't considering her, you would have told her no already," Reese pointed out reasonably.
"It's not like I have a lot of options. I have to come back to work. I want to come back to work. But I don't want to spend any more time away from you and the baby than I absolutely have to." Tory blew out an exasperated breath. "You're right. I do need the help. Dan is leaving tomorrow, and we're busier than we've ever been." She smiled, her eyes bright. "And in case you've forgotten, Sheriff, you and I are getting married in a few months."
Reese grinned. "Oh, I haven't forgotten."
"Jean and Kate have been wonderful about handling a lot of the arrangements, but there are still things I'm going to need to do myself. Plus, my parents will be coming in." Tory shook her head. "God, I can't think about all of that right now."
"You know I'll do whatever you need me to do."
"I know. But the fact remains, with me going back to work now, it's going to be a strain."
"And KT is available."
"Yes." Tory sighed. "She's ready to start tomorrow."
"If it doesn't work out, there's no reason you can't just tell her so."
"I know."
"But if she hurts you," Reese said quietly, "even just by being here, she goes."
"You're really all right about it?"
"I want you to have help. She's here and she's competent," Reese shrugged. "Seems like the thing to do." She didn't add that it might finally be the opportunity for Tory to truly put that part of her past behind her.
Tory moved away from the desk and back to Reese. She placed her palms flat against Reese's chest and leaned into her, her thighs pressed to Reese's as she kissed her. With her lips still close to Reese's mouth, she murmured, "And if anything about this hurts you, in any way, I'll send her away."
Reese slid her arms around Tory's waist and kissed her forehead, then her eyelids, and finally her lips. "While I have you, nothing can hurt me."
Pia looked up from the copy of the operative report that KT had provided, her gaze unblinking. While she'd read, her face had revealed none of the compassion or sympathy she'd felt at witnessing the impersonal record of a woman's destruction. The harm was done; it was her job to undo it. "You haven't started any physical therapy yet?"
"No," KT replied. She was sitting at the kitchen table in front of the open back door, sipping iced tea and regarding the hand therapist intently. "I've only been out of the cast a few days."
"How much pain are you having?"
KT shrugged. "It's tolerable."
"It's important that I know," Pia continued reasonably, "Otherwise, it's difficult for me to fashion the appropriate treatment plan."
"Seven out of ten," KT grudgingly informed her.
Pia nodded, although she was willing to bet that the
surgeon was underestimating her level of discomfort. She'd never met a surgeon without a healthy dose of machismo. Sometimes, in situations like this, that turned out to be unhealthy. The worst thing that could happen in the aftermath of this type of injury would be to rapture one of the tendon repairs or avulse one of the reconnected nerves, and that could happen if the patient or the therapist pushed too hard or too fast. Such an event at this point would almost certainly guarantee a permanent loss of function, and for a surgeon, any loss of function was going to prevent her from resuming her career.
"I anticipate that you're looking at three to six months, possibly longer, of intensive therapy."
"Understood." KT planned to make her stay in therapy as short as possible. She'd work the program the therapist designed for her, and she'd work it hard. She didn't intend to be disabled for very long.
"We'll need to meet daily for the first six weeks," Pia added.
Again, KT nodded. "Whatever you say."
"I can see you here, but the schedule might be slightly erratic depending upon my responsibilities in Hyannis. I don't work a regular shift there, although I go in nearly every day."
"As long as I have a few days' notice, I'll fit myself into your schedule." KT hoped she wasn't being overly optimistic making these arrangements. After all, Tory hadn't said that she would hire her. Still, she'd seen the look in Tory's eyes. It wasn't the sympathy that she cared about or even the anger that she'd seen every other time she'd looked into her former lover's eyes. It had been that brief moment of tenderness, that precious instant when the past had faded and they had been nothing more than two women who cared about one another. The connection, no matter how fleeting, had felt so strong that it had obliterated the long years of loneliness and confusion. At least for her.
Pia tilted her head and smiled. "Are you always so accommodating, Dr. O'Bannon?"
KT smiled, but her eyes remained flat and without humor. "No."
"Can you start tomorrow?"
"What's wrong with today?"
Pia laughed. "Let's say 9 a.m. Just leave me your number in case something comes up."
KT provided her with her cell number and then rose. "Thank you."
"Where are you staying?" Pia asked as she walked KT to the door.
"I've got a room at the Crown Point until I can find a condo to rent."
Pia was about to offer a few suggestions about finding a place, and then thought better of it. It was usually best to keep things on a purely professional level, especially when a woman was as dangerously attractive as this one.
"Good luck. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Dr. O'Bannon."
"Please, call me KT."
"And I'm Pia."
"Thank you." KT looked into the deep brown eyes and smiled. "Pia."
Pia steadfastly ignored the slight flutter of her heart as she watched her newest client walk up the flagstone walkway and disappear down the street. She wasn't particularly worried about her reaction. She had a heartbeat, and that's all it would take to find KT O'Bannon attractive. But she'd had quite a few years of practice being attracted without becoming involved, and she had no intention of changing that now.
Chapter Eight
K T walked east on Commercial Street back toward the center of town. It was midafternoon on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and she had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Despite her many years in Boston, she'd crossed Cape Cod Bay only rarely to visit the small village that had begun as a thriving Portuguese fishing community, evolved into a center for avant-garde artists in the early twentieth century, and finally emerged as a mecca for gays and lesbians. She hadn't visited at all since learning that Tory had settled there after their separation. She'd always expected that Tory would eventually return to Boston, believing that the quiet life of a small-town doctor could not possibly satisfy her for long. They had chosen different specialties, but they'd both been aggressive, determined physicians at the top of their respective fields when they'd shared a life.
Standing in front of Spiritus Pizza, surveying the narrow, crowded streets that teemed with tourists, gay and straight, she was struck by the energy humming in the air and wondered if she might have been wrong about what the tiny town had to offer. Wrong about that, as she had been about so many things. She shook off the questions that she had long since tired of asking, having no answers, and turned toward the sound of music on the opposite side of the street. The heavy beat of dance music emanated from the Pied, which she vaguely recalled had once been called the Pied Piper.
She smiled to herself, appreciating the irony, as she abruptly crossed to the wood deck pathway that led to the front door. When she saw the two young women in white T-shirts and jeans seated at a small table just inside, she grimaced and reached for her wallet. Another fumble-fest. Still, she managed to get the money out with reasonable aplomb and slid a twenty into her front pocket along with the change from her cover charge so that she wouldn't have to take her wallet out again. Her fingertips brushed the small pills, and she considered talcing another one. The heat and the walk with her arm hanging down had caused her fingers to swell and throb viciously. There were only two tablets left out of the six she had counted out that morning. She made her way through the surprisingly large afternoon crowd to the bar and ordered a drink instead.
"Thanks," KT said with a nod to the stocky butch in the baseball cap behind the bar. She took a long pull on the draft beer, welcoming the slightly bitter aftertaste as the cold brew washed away some of the heat and dust of her morning. Perhaps after another, it would wash away some of the pain as well.
The large rear deck was visible through the oversized open window that connected the far end of the bar to the outside space, allowing those enjoying the sea and the sun to refill their drinks without coming back inside. Briefly, KT considered joining the women for a look at the sailboats on the harbor and the kayakers traversing the inlet in their red and yellow shells. Thinking about the water and the paddlers made her think of Tory and all the meets they'd been to. And then she saw again, as clearly as the day it happened, the final heat that Tory ever racedsaw the other scull blindsiding Tory's and the splintering shell, heard the screams, and relived those few agonizing seconds when she'd feared Tory would never surface. Her stomach clutched, her entire left side erupted into pain, and without even thinking, she reached for one of the two last pills. She washed it down with the beer and decided to stay inside in the cool darkness of the bar, away from the water.
"That looks nasty," a redhead about KT's age observed as she leaned against the bar and indicated KT's arm with a tilt of her chin. "Cut the tendons?"
Surprised, KT studied the newcomer, whose shapely figure was nicely accentuated by a turquoise, scoop-necked, sleeveless top and white hip-hugger capri slacks. "Yep. A couple of them. How did you know?"
"I'm a carpenter." The woman held up her left wrist to reveal the jagged scar that extended nearly halfway around. "Table saw three tendons."
"Ouch."
The woman laughed. "Fucking ouch is right."
Now that KT looked more closely, she could see the muscles rippling beneath the smooth skin of her companion's arms. "It looks like you mended pretty well."
"Pretty much good as new. I've never quite gotten all the strength back, but I can handle my tools."
KT wondered fleetingly if she would ever again handle her tools, but she pushed the thought away and concentrated on the woman who was appraising her with obvious interest. She held out her hand. "I'm KT."
"Vicki."
KT blinked. Thankfully, the woman bore no resemblance to Tory, and she ruthlessly pushed the image of her former lover's face from her mind. "Can I buy you a drink?"
"Sure. Glenlivet on the rocks."
"Coming up." KT signaled the bartender over and ordered the drink along with another draft for herself. The room was filling up now that the afternoon tea dance was about to begin. Vicki moved closer as more people sidled up to the bar and as she did, turned her body
so that her legs loosely straddled KT's thigh. KT could smell her perfume, the dark inviting aroma of rain on the wind. "Are you from around here?"
"No," Vicki replied, leaning into KT to be heard above the racket of drink orders being shouted from those nearby. Her breast brushed KT's arm. "Worcester. I'm just here for the weekend."
Inexplicably, KT felt a surge of relief. She wasn't certain exactly why, but she didn't want to spend the night with someone she was going to have to see on a regular basis in the small town where she might be living for an indefinite period of time. And if she was right about the signals she was reading in Vicki's eyes and the fact that Vicki's nipple had hardened the instant her breast had brushed KT's arm, then she didn't have to spend the night alone if she didn't want to. And considering the way she was feeling right now, a woman was probably the only thing that would drive away thoughts of past mistakes and future fears, at least for one night. The alcohol and painkillers didn't seem to be doing it. "Down here with friends?"
Vicki's smile widened and she placed her hand on KT's stomach, edging her hips a little tighter against KT's thigh. "All by myself."
And is there a woman at home? But that was not her concern, KT reminded herself. The fingers circling slowly over her abdomen felt good, as did the heat of Vicki's center pressed to her leg as the redhead undulated sensuously to the music in the background. As the arousal built in her depths, the pain in her arm, and in her heart, mercifully receded.
Reese pulled into the parking lot in front of the sheriff's department just as Bri and Allie roared in behind her on Bri's big Harley. Reese climbed out of the cruiser and studied the two young women. Bri had on her uniform pants, which looked as if they'd been slept in, and the white T-shirt she usually wore under her uniform shirt. She'd filled out some since she'd been training heavily for her black belt test. The shirt stretched tightly over her small breasts, muscular chest, and ripped arms, accentuating her tapered torso and narrow hips. Allie, who straddled Bri's body with both arms around her waist and her cheek pressed to the back of Bri's neck, was in street clothesimpossibly tight, almost feloniously low-slung blue jeans and a minuscule, sheer white top that appeared to be suspended over her unrestrained breasts by a thread or two tied at the back of her neck. Considering their attire and the fact that Allie's car was parked exactly where it had been the day before, it didn't require much in the way of deductive reasoning to ascertain that Bri had spent the night at Allie's.
Radclyffe - Safe Harbor 03 - Distant Shores, Silent Thunder Page 7
