by Radclyffe
Blairs body tightened with the force of Cams voice as much as the press of her flesh, and, as if she had been stroked in some essential place, the words tore through her, obliterating a lifetime of loss. She arched beneath Cam's weight, a cry wrenched from her lips. Then, arms wrapped tightly around her lover, she came.
"God, you're beautiful," Cam gasped as Blair jerked beneath her.
When Blair quieted, Cam collapsed onto the bed beside her and pulled her into her arms. She pressed a kiss into her hair and whispered again, "I love you."
Blair pressed her face to the hollow between Cam's neck and shoulder and breathed in her scent, wanting nothing more than to be surrounded by her, immersed in her, lost to her. After what might have been a moment, or an hour, she murmured, "I wanted you from the minute you walked into my apartment that first day, all spit and polish and businesslike. At first I wanted you because I wanted to control you and not have it be the other way around. Then I wanted you because every time I saw you, you made me ache. Now I want you because the thought of being without you terrifies me."
"Didn't you forget the part about me being such a stud?" Cam said quietly, tightening her grip on the woman in her arms.
"Oh that." Blair laughed shakily, and kissed Cam's neck. "Yeah, that too."
"I know I don't have words to tell you what you mean to me," Cam continued, her voice choked with feeling. "I don't think anything will ever make you understand except the days turning into weeks and then into months and finally into years-and I'll still be here, loving you."
Blair stroked her hand across Cam's shoulder and down her chest, lingering on her breasts before drawing her fingertips down the center of her abdomen. Cam tensed under her touch, her breath catching.
"There something about touching you that makes me feel like I'm god," Blair said softly into the darkness.
"I know."
"The thought of anyone else-"
"Don't think it. It won't happen."
As if suddenly revitalized, Blair shifted on the bed and straddled Cam's hips. She leaned down with one hand on either side of Cam's shoulders, her breasts inches from Cam's face, her eyes bright with purpose. "I have this thing about what is mine. I don't like to share."
"Neither do I."
"Good," Blair murmured just before she claimed Cam's mouth, the kiss hard and possessive.
The kiss lasted a long time. It was more than a kiss, it was an assertion of belonging and owning and joining. Cam opened herself to the depth of Blair's desire, letting her have whatever she demanded, giving her willingly all that she needed, reveling in the surrender that felt like nothing but freedom.
When Blair pushed down on the bed and placed her hands between Cam's thighs, Cam arched her back and lifted her hips, offering all that she had. When Blair thrust inside her, fast and hard, a light burst behind her eyes, and her fists closed emptily on the air. The power of it struck deep in her bones, and her blood soared beyond her control. Thighs trembling, breath caught between heartbeats, she came soundlessly, unable even to cry out, suspended for an eternity between heaven and earth. Finally, she lay gasping, sweat-soaked and trembling with Blair sagged against her, weakly moaning her name.
Somewhere between love and desire, they slept.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Shortly after dawn, Blair was awakened by a faint stirring beside her. She opened her eyes to find Cam seated on the side of the bed, naked. Reaching out one hand, she stroked the length of her spine and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," Cam said quickly. Turning in the gray light, she smiled down at her, brushed a lock of hair from Blair's cheek, then leaned to kiss her softly.
"Couldn't sleep?" Blair asked once Cam straightened again. "I must be slipping."
Cam laughed faintly. "Oh no-believe me, you're not. I was just a little restless. I guess I'm used to being up and working by now."
"Lie down," Blair said, taking her lover's hand and drawing her down beside her. When Cam stretched out on her back, Blair raised on one elbow and searched her face. "You want to tell me who she is?"
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?" Surprisingly, her tone held neither anger nor accusation, only the question.
"I don't know precisely who she is. I never have."
"And if you did?"
"Even if I knew her name, I probably wouldn't tell you," Cam confessed.
"To protect her?"
"Partly," Cam replied carefully, watching Blair's face. "But mostly to protect you."
"I heard a rumor that you were paying for sex. Is that true?"
If Cam was surprised by the bluntness of the question, she didn't show it. Her dark eyes held Blair's steadily as she said, "Yes."
"With her?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Blair ran her hand down the center of Cam's abdomen, tracing the muscles etched below the skin, her eyes following the path of sinew and bones down the length of her thighs. The sight never failed to make her think of a form sculpted by an artist. "God only knows, you don't need to."
"It was simpler."
Blair raised an eyebrow. "Simpler?"
"It was easy to schedule; there were no complications; there were no repercussions."
"A simple business arrangement, huh?"
"Something like that."
Blair leaned forward and kissed her, a long slow sensuous kiss that held both reminders of passions past and promises of future pleasures. When she drew back, the corner of her full mouth lifted in a satisfied smile. "Cameron, cut the secret agent stuff. Why did you do it?"
For one of the few times Blair could ever remember, Cam averted her gaze. Silently, she waited for Cam to make a decision, one that she knew was more about them and their future than anything that had happened in the past. At length, Cam looked at her and answered.
"The day my lover Janet was killed, we'd made love in the morning. But we'd had angry words, too, and we parted angry. I hadn't known the details of a dangerous assignment she was involved in until, as it turned out, it was too late. We kept secrets from each other as a matter of routine. We were both used to living that way. It was comfortable, and I don't think either of us wanted to risk too much. After I watched her die, I couldn't bring myself to make to love anyone else."
"Because you still loved her?" Blair was pleased that her voice did not waver on the words.
"No." Cam blew out a breath. "Because I felt guilty for not having loved her more. I keep thinking maybe I could have changed the way it turned it out if I had."
"Im sorry", Blair whispered.
"Its over", Cam said quietly. She smoothed her palm over Blairs thigh. "But thanks."
"The woman last night-she'sin love with you, you know."
"No," Cam said quickly, her voice adamant. "It wasn't like that."
Blair ran her fingertips along Cam's jaw to the corner of her mouth. "Not for you maybe. Maybe."
"We never shared anything like this, Blair," Cam insisted.
"I'm glad," Blair said honestly. "It makes me wild to think of you making love with her. I can't even contemplate you sharing this with her."
Cam brushed her fingers through the hair at the base of Blair's neck, her thumb moving over the skin behind her ear, a caress at once tender and possessive. "I've never shared anything like this with anyone before."
"I love you, Cam."
"I like the way that sounds."
"Yeah, me, too."
Blair settled down on the bed and rested her head on Cam's shoulder, her hand lying on the arch of Cam's hip, her fingers slowly moving back and forth. As calmly as she could, she asked, "So why was she here last night."
"It's not something you should know about. For security reasons."
"Fuck security. Just tell me."
"Someone is investigating the organization she works for," Cam disclosed reluctantly. "My name has come up. She wanted to warn me."
"Jesus." Blair pushed away and sat up in bed, brushing her hair back from her face
with both hands, suddenly intense and focused. "Who?"
"I don't know. My guess is it's probably an FBI sting operation. I suppose it could be a RICO investigation out of Justice, but I've never heard that this organization has any mob connections. It's hard to know, but everything I was able to find out about them suggested they didn't."
"Can they hurt you with this?"
Cam was silent.
"Damnit, Cameron. Tell me."
"In all likelihood, I would lose my security clearance. If that happens, I'll never do this kind of work again."
"Under any other circumstances, the thought of that would make me happy," Blair said sharply. "But not like this. No one is going to do this to you. What else?"
"I don't know for sure. Apparently there've been questions about your father, too. I have to think that was just a fishing expedition, and even if it were fact, I'm not sure what they could do with the knowledge."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet. If I could find out who was behind it, especially if it were unsanctioned by any official division, I might be able to turn it around on them."
"I know someone I might be able to get information from," Blair said absently, thinking about AJ. AJ had given her Cam's home address after much coercion, but just the same, shehad gotten the information.
Cam shot straight up in bed "No. Youcannot come anywhere near this. I've jeopardized you just by telling you what I have. Don't you realize that under oath you'd have to reveal what I told youand that by knowing, youre complicit in the crime? You have to let this go, Blair. I never would have told you any of this if we weren't lovers."
"You can't expect me to stand by and watch someone try to ruin you."
"This may not even be about me. I may just be a sideline to whoever is behind this. Until they make their next move, we don't know what this means."
"Oh, come on," Blair said deprecatingly. "They're sendingme pictures of you in bars with women. Who else are they going to send the pictures to, my father's Security Director?"
"Just promise me youll stay out of it, and I promise I'll tell you whatever I discover. Please."
"I'm not going to promise anything right now, because I don't want to lie to you."
"Goddamn it, Blair-"
"You'd do the same in my position."
For a moment, they stared at one another in tense silence until finally Cam nodded once, still muttering under her breath.
"Is there anythingelse you haven't told me?" Blair asked, her expression resolute.
"One thing," Cam finally admitted.
Blair's heart skipped a beat. "What?"
Cam sighed. "There's going to be a formal inquiry into the operation in New York City."
"An inquiry?"
"My actions are being reviewed." She hesitated, then added reluctantly, "They may ask for my suspension until it's finished."
"When did you learn this?" Blair's voice was steel again.
"I met with Stewart Carlisle last night and he confirmed it."
"Confirmed it? So you knew there was a possibility of this before?"
"It was just a possibility," Cam said uneasily.
"It came up during the debriefings last week, didn't it?" Blair said, her anger escalating. "That's why you left here so suddenly in the middle of the night, and why you haven't been sleeping, and why you look like hell half the time. And you didn't tell me."
"There wasn't anything to tell," Cam insisted. "It hadn't been decided then."
"And while I was relaxing in San Francisco-reading, shopping, talking with your mother- you knew that this could happen. Butyou didn't think it was important enough to tell me. Goddamn it, how are we going to have a relationship if this is the way you behave with me."
Cam stared at her, speechless. "I thought we alreadyhad a relationship."
"That's not what I mean, and you know it. I love you. It's not just about sex and it's not just about attraction. It's about needing to be with you. It's about needing to be in your life. What's so hard to understand about that?" She threw back the sheets and started to get out of bed. Cam stopped her with a hand on her forearm.
"I'm sorry. I've never done this with anyone. It's a habit-it's what I'm used to. That can change."
"I'm sorry for asking," Blair said, her voice pitched low, her eyes averted.
"No," Cam said forcefully. "Don't apologize for asking me for what you need, especially when it's the right thing for both of us. That's part of this love deal, too, right?"
Blair glanced at her, but said nothing. Cam slid her arm around Blair's waist, pulling her back down on the bed. "From the beginning I've needed you to help me see what I needed. You never let upyou never gave up. I hope you never do."
Blair smiled at that and curled against the welcoming warmth and strength of her body, murmuring, "Youre going to drive me crazy."
"Yeah, but I love you like crazy."
"I suppose there is that."
"Before you fall asleep, you need to make a call," Cam said drowsily.
"To who?" Blair mumbled.
"The White House detail commander. When you're not there in the morning, they're going to start a manhunt."
Blair sighed and rolled over, reaching for her cell phone on the bedside table. "I'll call one of my friends on the inside. That should take care of it."
"Good," Cam replied. "Because I have plans for you in the morning."
Chapter Twenty-Five
Just after 8:00 a.m., they stepped into the shower together and kissed while the water cascaded over them. Then, they began taking turns soaping each other's body until Cam wordlessly placed the bar on the small shelf behind her, took Blair's shoulders in both hands, and pressed her against the tiled back wall of the shower. With her mouth covering Blair's, she slid her fingers, wet with water and Blair's arousal between Blair's thighs, moving slowly, pushing ever deeper, until she felt the walls of Blair's soul fall before her touch. She held her lover upright with the sheer strength of her arm pinioning her to the wall and the pressure of her hips against Blair's. As she moved within her, drawing her ever closer to a precipice from which there was no return, she felt Blair begin to orgasm against her body, around her hand, and she smiled.
"What was that all about?" Blair gasped a moment later, her eyes still dazed.
"Just this thing I have about what's mine," Cam murmured.
"You made your point quite effectively," Blair commented, slipping her palm to the back of Cam's neck and drawing her close.
"Problem with that?" Cam asked from a breath away.
"Not a one." And then she kissed her.
A few minutes later as Blair toweled her hair, admiring Cam's ass in the mirror, her cell phone rang on the counter nearby. She reached for it and listened for a few seconds. "All right."
Naked, Cam turned and raised an inquiring eyebrow when she saw the expression on Blair's face. "What?"
"You might want to find your jeans," Blair said in an oddly disembodied voice. "My father is on his way upstairs."
*****
The two of them scrambled for their clothes and had barely finished zipping and buttoning when a sharp rap sounded on the door. Cam crossed the living room, peered through the peephole, and pulled open the door.
"Good morning, Mr. President."
"You can wait outside, Tom," Andrew Powell said to the clean-shaven, slender African-American man who stood just behind his right shoulder.
"That would not be advisable, sir," the agent replied in a deep rumbling baritone.
Cam glanced right and then left, noting the positions of the other three agents stationed at intervals in the hallway outside her apartment door. She knew that there are would be at least one agent in each stairwell at the end of the hallway, one in the lobby by the elevator, and several outside in the vehicles. She also knew it was SOP for the president never to be alone with anyone other than immediate family. It was an immutable rule.
"I believe that Secret Service Ag
ent Roberts and my daughter can be trusted," the president said as Cam stepped back to admit him.
As the president passed her, she looked into the angry countenance of the primary agent assigned to protect the most powerful man on the planet, but there was nothing to say. She closed the door and turned around in time to see Blair briefly hug her father before moving away to face him with a question in her eyes.
"What's going on?" Blair asked.
"I'll just wait in the other room," Cam said quietly, turning to walk to the small second bedroom on the opposite side of the living room which served as her study and home office. It occurred to her that both she and Blair looked like they had just stepped from the shower, which of course, they had. Their hair was wet, Blair was without makeup, and both of them were wearing last night's discarded clothing. She glanced surreptitiously around the room, hoping that they hadnt left a trail of garments behind.
Jesus, what an impression we must be making.
"I think you should stay, Agent Roberts," Andrew Powell said in a smooth, well modulated tone that didn't sound like the order it was. His expression was mild as he regarded first her and then his daughter, but his deep-blue eyes were laser-sharp.
"Yes, sir.
He was wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt, and striped tie. He looked collegiate and fit, with a natural tan that was present year-round. She could see Blair in his blue eyes, his physical presence, and his intensity. Irrationally, she liked him just because of that.
"Can I get you anything, Mr. President?" Cam asked, not entirely certain what the hell to do with him in her apartment. "Coffee, maybe?"
"Fine". He looked from one to the other of them and smiled faintly. "I'd wager that you two are ready for some."
"It'll take a minute," Cam said, trying desperately not to blush.
"Come sit down," Blair said quietly and indicated the sofa and nearby matching chairs grouped in front of the windows. When they were seated, her on the sofa, him on the chair across from her, she asked once again, "What are you doing here?"
