by Radclyffe
“What about the turtles?”
“It depends on when they hatch. Once they get to the sea, they’ll head for deep water, and if a larger predator doesn’t get them, they’ll spend years alone, just growing to maturity before they mate. It’s late in the season, but a few species do hatch this time of year. If we get hit hard before they hatch, Emily’s going to be sitting out here with an umbrella, if I know her.”
“You’re kidding about that, right?” Austin frowned. “We’re talking about a big storm, Gem. Possible hurricane intensity, and projections have it headed right for you. All of you ought to vacate here.”
Gem frowned and gave her an odd look. “Don’t you mean all of us? You’re not planning on staying in town if things get bad, are you?”
Austin hedged. “I’m not sitting on a little spit of land with the ocean a couple hundred yards away.”
“I don’t think any of us will be leaving. We’ve ridden out plenty of storms here before.”
Austin took in the shoreline in both directions. The inland sanctuary areas Gem had shown her were only a few hundred yards away. An oil spill, if it reached this far, would endanger everything in the sanctuary. They couldn’t let that happen. She’d seen it now. She’d fulfilled Eloise’s orders. She had no reason to stay, and she’d already said too much to Gem. “I should let you get back to work.”
Gem studied her, as if trying to decipher the sudden distance. “You probably have work to do too.”
“I do.” Austin smiled, thinking about the work she truly enjoyed. “Ciri is about to wage an epic battle, and the future of the universe hinges on her vanquishing Charos.”
Gem laughed. “Oh really? And if she fails?”
“Then the door to the underworld will blow open, and Charos’s forces will pour forth to wreak havoc and terror on the unsuspecting populace.”
“And I don’t suppose we’ll find out the outcome of the battle in the next volume, will we?”
“Well…” Austin shrugged, grinning. The wind picked up more and she zipped her jacket against the chill. “That wouldn’t be the best marketing plan.”
“Do you storyboard it, or do you do one panel at a time?”
“You do know your graphic novels, don’t you?”
“I told you I was a fan.”
“Some brief sketches, but mostly I go panel by panel.”
“You still haven’t invited me up to see your…sketches yet.”
“Will you come?” Austin had no right to open these doors, but she couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop.
“Absolutely.”
“Then as soon as I can, I will.” She didn’t know when that might be or how she would manage it, but she would. She wanted to share that with Gem. She wanted Gem to see what mattered to her. “So I guess I should go.”
“How about something warm for the road? My cabin’s not too far.”
She didn’t have much time. The window of clear weather was closing and decisions had to be made. She had a bird to catch back out to the rig. She checked her watch. “If I told you I only had an hour—”
“Then I’d say we should hurry.”
Chapter Sixteen
Austin took Gem’s hand and followed her along the winding path from the shore back into the sanctuary. Stiff, damp cattails, four feet high, growing up to the edges of the narrow trail, brushed her pants and soaked the material below her knees. Occasional tufts of wispy material from the dark brown seed cones drifted off and stuck to her skin.
“These reeds,” Gem said as they walked, “are prime habitat for the birds and lots of other wildlife. They also keep the shore erosion down.” She laughed, her face radiant with pleasure. “They’re hell on clothes, though.”
“I’m having a hard time seeing you in a lab,” Austin said. “You must feel pretty cooped up.”
Gem’s mouth twisted and she nodded. “Sometimes I do, but the other part of my work is valuable and feeds other needs, so I just look forward to the times I can escape.”
Escape. Austin never considered that a possibility. She’d carved out two separate lives for herself—the one her family and, if she was honest, she considered worthy of the family image, and the other a private one, the one that fed her secret self. Choices she’d made. “I’m glad. I’d hate thinking of you trapped inside when you didn’t want to be.”
Gem squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”
The way Gem said it made Austin think she’d done something special, and she warmed inside even as the skin on the back of her neck and hands grew clammy with the tendrils of fog that skirted through the rushes and closed in around them. The clouds had coalesced into a thick gray blanket, blotting out what little sunshine there’d been just moments before. She ought to get back to the airport and let Tatum know she was ready for a lift back to the rig, but she’d always been a gambler, and the stakes were high this time. She might not see Gem again for days, and when she did, it wouldn’t be like this. They wouldn’t be holding hands and walking along in silent communion.
She didn’t need to study the odds or the weather-satellite images to know the storm was on its way, and the company couldn’t wait any longer. If, when she returned, Tatum and Reddy didn’t have a far more positive report than they’d had that morning, she’d have to push Eloise to go public. The turning point was upon them, from both PR and ethical positions. When she saw Gem again, they’d likely be on opposite sides of the problem—at least that had always been her experience when dealing with the environmentalists. She could overcome that initial animosity almost every time, with patience and logic and good-faith cooperation on the part of the company. But the personal had never entered into it, and everything about her interaction with Gem so far had been personal. Very, very personal.
If she continued down this path, they’d get even more complicated.
Gem slowed and Austin drew up beside her. A weathered cabin squatted in a small clearing surrounded by trees and more marsh grass. Austin saw nothing else in either direction except more wild, dense terrain.
“This is it,” Gem said, “home.”
“I see you’re not much for neighbors.”
Gem smiled wryly. “You know, I was thinking something like that this morning. Back in the city, I’ve got neighbors everywhere, although they’re really strangers who just happen to live nearby. Out here, there’s just me.”
“And you’re good with that.”
“Most of the time.” Gem tugged her hand. “Although not right this moment. Come inside.”
Austin could say no—she had one last chance to keep things less complicated. The heat of Gem’s hand penetrated the fog reaching out like ghostly fingers, and she followed Gem onto the small porch, through the narrow door, and into the cabin. Gem lit a couple of lamps and the space brightened with a warm glow, chasing the chill away.
In a quick glance, Austin took in the one room. Someone had done a good job of designing the space—everything necessary was there: microwave, small fridge, equally small range, a table / work area, a small sitting area with a love seat and matching chair to relax in, and just visible in an alcove jutting off the rear, a bed. The bathroom must be back there too.
“Looks pretty cozy,” Austin said.
“It is.” Gem glanced around. “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a cave, but that doesn’t bother me.”
“My place isn’t a whole lot bigger.” Austin laughed. “I’ve probably got a room more than I need. When I’m working, I don’t care if I never move, so all I really need is a desk and a chair. Well, that and maybe cinnamon buns.”
Gem grinned. “Is that your weakness?”
“I might have more than one of those.” Austin leaned against the closed front door, waiting for Gem to set the ground rules. She couldn’t get any farther away from Gem physically, and if she got any closer, she was going to put her hands on her. Her heart pounded so hard it must be audible.
Gem’s blue eyes flashed, then smoldered to an even deeper indigo. Sh
e took a step forward and stopped an arm’s length away. “Is that right. Not just cinnamon buns, huh?”
Austin shook her head, swallowing around the lust that clamped her throat in a vise.
“Should I guess?” Gem took another step.
“I think you might have a pretty good idea.”
Gem gripped the edges of Austin’s jacket, pushed it off her shoulders, and kissed her neck. “I seem to recall a few. My memory’s a little hazy, though.”
The touch of Gem’s lips spread over Austin’s skin like burning honey. Austin tossed aside the jacket, let her head fall back against the door, and closed her eyes. She shuddered. “This might not be the best of ideas.”
“Why?” Gem kissed her throat again, moved up, nipped the undersurface of the angle of her jaw, and leaned into her, body pressing everywhere. “Are you married?”
“No,” Austin rasped. She slid both hands down Gem’s back and cradled her hips, opening her thighs to pull Gem between her legs.
“Good.” Gem unbuttoned the top button of Austin’s shirt, peeled back the fabric, and kissed her chest. “Engaged?”
Austin shook her head, her lids slipping closed, the flames reaching deeper, igniting her darkest reaches. “No. No one.”
“So hard to believe,” Gem murmured, opening another button, baring the inner curves of Austin’s breasts. She kissed first one then the other and rubbed her cheek over the swell of warm, firm flesh. Another button and her hand was inside Austin’s shirt, cupping her breast through the thin silk tank she’d worn underneath it. “Why aren’t you taken? God, you’re beautiful.”
“Gem,” Austin moaned.
“Hmm? Why not?” Gem teased a nipple beneath sheer black promise.
“I never fell.”
Gem squeezed and the tender nipple peaked. “In love, you mean?”
“Yes. God, yes.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it. It really is some kind of insanity. This is ever so much nicer.”
Austin gripped Gem’s wrist before the last of her reason dissolved. She couldn’t tell her everything, but she had to be sure. “Wait.”
Gem stilled. “What, what is it? Oh—you mean me?”
“No—but—”
“I’m not married, I’m not engaged.” Gem took a breath, tried to find the truth. “There’s a woman, we’ve been seeing each other almost two years now. We’re not committed.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t love her.” The words were a shock and Gem jerked. “I mean, I do, but not—not in the way I need to if I’m going to make promises.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in love?”
“I don’t, or maybe I should just say I don’t trust it.” Gem caressed Austin’s jaw, kissed her slowly until the heat flared again. “This has nothing to do with anyone, anything, but us.”
Austin cradled Gem’s face, brushed her thumbs over the graceful arches of her cheeks. “You don’t know me.”
“You don’t know me either.”
Austin smiled. “It feels like I do, in so many ways.”
Gem caught Austin’s thumb in her teeth and bit lightly. “Then believe me if I say the same.”
“I do.”
“Then good. That’s enough.”
Gem’s voice was far away and Austin’s grip on caution drifted off with it. She wanted, a hard hot ache drawing tighter in her depths. More than pleasure, more than sex. Need, touch, knowing. Gem. “Don’t stop.”
“Oh no, not hardly.” Gem opened another button on Austin’s shirt, pulled the tails free from her pants, and finished exposing her down the middle. She pushed up the thin tank, trailed her fingers up and down the center of Austin’s abdomen. “I love your body. I can’t get enough.”
Austin shuddered. “Take…all you want.”
All you want. Gem laughed, feeling wild and wanton and not caring that she didn’t have any idea what she was doing. All she knew was she wanted more. Had she ever wanted so much? So simple, so astounding. The taste and touch of her, the sound of her pleasure was flame to oil. She popped the top button of Austin’s pants, knelt, and kissed Austin’s stomach. Austin’s fingers came into her hair, a possessive gesture that thrilled her, turning her liquid and hot inside. She grasped the waistband of Austin’s pants. “Say no now or—”
“Yes,” Austin said, her voice a harsh whisper.
Gem unzipped her, grasped the layers of clothing, and pulled them down. “Your damn boots.”
“Laces.”
“I know, I know,” Gem muttered, finding the leather and pulling them loose. Austin kicked them off and Gem pressed her shoulders between Austin’s thighs.
“God,” Austin groaned.
“No, not hardly,” Gem whispered, caressing Austin’s thighs, running her hands down her legs and up the outer thighs. She couldn’t wait any longer. Gripping her hips, she covered her with her mouth. Austin arched and met her with a slow languid thrust. Gem hummed in the back of her throat and tasted her, stroking and exploring with her tongue and her lips. Austin’s thighs trembled, and she took more.
“Go slow if you don’t—” Austin cradled Gem’s head in her hands and rocked into her mouth, the rhythm as easy and natural as waves on the shore. Gem’s mouth was a sea of pleasure, and Austin rode the crest higher and higher. Sunlight, burning away the mist, flared behind her eyelids, a blaze of passion and promise. “I’m going to come.”
Gem’s grip tightened and she coaxed Austin to the brink.
Austin jerked, a cry wrenched from her chest, and she lost the rhythm, lost control, lost the tenuous fragments of awareness that held her anchored to the earth. She soared until her mind blanked and she tumbled from the clouds.
Gem broke her fall, steady and strong. “Right here, baby.”
“Sorry.” Austin looped her arms around Gem’s waist and leaned hard. “I—don’t have my legs under me just yet.”
Gem laughed and stroked the back of her neck. “Kick off the rest of your clothes. The bed isn’t far. One good thing about a small cabin.”
“The bed is pretty small too.”
“We’ll manage,” Gem murmured.
A minute later, Gem was naked and Austin stretched out facing her on top of the bed. The little alcove was shadowy, a secret hollow untouched by the world. Austin brushed her fingers through Gem’s hair and kissed her. “You’re incredible.”
“Oh, that was all you.”
“I don’t know who that was,” Austin said. “You just kind of turned me upside down.”
“Did I?” Gem kissed her, sliding one leg over Austin’s hip, pressing her center to Austin’s thigh. The pressure against her sensitive, swollen sex was wonderful and insanity-provoking. “How is that?”
“I’m usually not so…easy.”
“Really? Easy, huh.” Gem laughed. “I like that.”
“So do I.” More than she’d ever imagined. Austin kissed her, brushing her fingers over Gem’s neck, down her chest, and over her breast. She clasped her gently, teased a nipple with her thumb.
Gem arched, pulled Austin on top of her, and wrapped a leg around Austin’s thigh. “How about you show me what you’re usually like.”
“I would, but…” Austin braced herself on an elbow and rocked against Gem’s center until Gem moaned. Slipping a hand between them, she cupped her and slid inside. “There’s nothing usual about being with you.”
Austin dipped her head and caught Gem’s earlobe between her teeth, tugged it just enough to make Gem jerk. Gem tightened around her inside, and Austin pressed her thumb over her clitoris as she stroked. “Nothing usual about this.”
Gem’s eyes flew open, and she searched Austin’s face, her gaze hazy and undone. “You’re about to make me come.”
“Go ahead. I’m not done.”
“I can’t—”
Gem’s fingers dug into Austin’s shoulders as she bore down, riding Austin through a fast hard orgasm and slipping into a rocking rhythm that signaled there was more. Austin ke
pt pace, stroking and pressing, harder and higher, until Gem cried out, a shocked, exultant cry, and came again.
Austin stilled until the pulsations stopped and Gem let out a long sigh. Gently, Austin eased down beside her, wrapped her arm around Gem’s shoulders, and cradled her head against her chest. “No, nothing usual at all. Like the first time ever.”
“I know. How can that be?” Gem nuzzled Austin’s throat. “I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Maybe we don’t have to know any more than this,” Austin murmured, hoping desperately that would be true.
Chapter Seventeen
Gem’s brain finally went back online and reality cut through the lazy haze of satisfaction. Reality was so much more vivid than it had been just a short time before, like a black-and-white image suddenly suffused with color. Austin’s heart beating beneath her cheek was real. The scent of spice and sea was real. The lassitude and lingering pleasure in her loins was real. And so, too, was the certainty of the end drawing closer.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she knew it was running out. Usually she could tell the time without a watch to within a minute or so, but apparently great sex derailed her inner compass. Austin had declared she’d only had an hour, without explaining why. Gem hadn’t asked. It hadn’t been important then. Maybe Austin was one of those people who worked on a specific schedule and never deviated. Gem didn’t know, but then she didn’t know a lot of things about her. That hadn’t seemed important then and still didn’t.
She did know her touch, more intimately than that of the man she’d been married to or the woman she’d been making love with for the last two years. She knew her body and what caused her to tighten with anticipation and explode with satisfaction. She knew the heat of her gaze and the intensity of her attention. She knew things on some primal, fundamental level that had nothing to do with all the daily tasks of living that usually consumed her time. In another minute or five, Austin would disappear again, possibly never to return, and she’d known that too. Gem pressed a kiss to the inner curve of Austin’s breast where her heart beat so close to the surface. “You have to go, don’t you?”
