by Julie Cannon
Twenty minutes after the case worker left her office, another knock on her door made Victoria look up from the financial report she was reading. Her heart stopped and her mouth suddenly became very dry. Tate stood in her doorway.
She was wearing a red sweater over worn blue jeans and scuffed boots. Her hair was a little shorter and she looked wonderful. Tate’s occupation of her brain had lessened a little, the new job needing more and more of the space. But at night, when her head crushed the pillow, everything flooded back.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
Victoria was almost too stunned to speak. Tate was the last person she expected to see in her office but when she saw her casually supporting the doorjamb, Victoria finally admitted she was the only one she wanted to see.
“No, not at all,” Victoria managed to say, her throat tight with emotion.
“Your assistant wasn’t at her desk.”
Victoria couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t have one. I share her with three other people.” This was another major difference from her position at Drake. Tate stayed where she was but glanced around the tiny office. Victoria watched as she took in the plain décor. The expensive rug, the paintings on the walls, the mahogany furniture were gone. In their place were a few straight-backed chairs and two battered file cabinets. Four old paperbacks propped up the right rear corner of her desk, its leg missing. The thing that stunned Victoria was the expression on Tate’s face as she took in her surroundings.
“This looks more like you,” Tate said.
“Really?” Victoria wanted her to continue but didn’t know how to ask.
Tate solved the problem by walking over to the bookcase and taking a small clay figurine off the shelf. It was a gift from one of the residents who had painstakingly made it in one of his rehab sessions, and it meant more to Victoria than any award she ever received.
“Yes, more relaxed, down-to-earth, comfortable.”
“You wouldn’t know that by the young woman who left here earlier. She was so nervous she made me nervous,” Victoria replied. Kind of like you’re making me now. Tate hadn’t looked at her since entering her office, and Victoria couldn’t stop staring at her. She remembered the feel of Tate’s legs wrapped around her, the way the muscles in her back tightened when she ran her fingernails across them, the way Tate trembled in her arms. Tate chose that moment to turn around and their eyes met. The fire of something crossed her eyes before she blinked it away. What was it?
“May I sit down?” Tate motioned to a chair.
“Yes, of course, I’m sorry.” Victoria sat in the chair adjacent to Tate. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, thanks, I’m fine.” Tate fidgeted. “How have you been?”
The sound of Tate’s voice drifted across the small space and into her ears. It was as refreshing as cool water on a hot day. She missed it and wanted to hear it again. “I’m fine. How about you?”
“I’m doing all right.”
“I’ve been reading good things about you.” Actually Victoria had gobbled up everything she could get her hands on about Tate. In the Atlanta Business Journal she saw the picture of her standing next to Clayton that accompanied the piece about the change of control at Sumner Enterprises. Every article she read detailed her rise to power and indicated that Tate was living her dream. She had finally broken the habit of Googling her name at least once a week.
“Not lately.” Tate scoffed.
“What do you mean?” Victoria had been particularly busy these past few months getting ready for a fundraiser, which their major benefactors would attend.
Tate looked her straight in the eyes. “I’ve left Sumner,” she said quietly but clearly.
Victoria wasn’t sure she heard her correctly. Why would she leave after getting what she had worked so hard for? She asked as much.
“Because you weren’t there to share it with me.”
This time Victoria was too shocked to speak.
“I’ve missed you, Victoria. I know I messed everything up when I asked you to join me at Sumner. I was stupid. At the time I didn’t know my butt from an oil well. All I knew was that I had to get to the top. It’s all I had ever dreamed of and worked for. I didn’t know any different.”
Victoria found her voice. “What’s changed?”
“Me. I’m a different person, Victoria. You made me a different person.” This time Tate laughed. “I quit Sumner four months ago. It wasn’t what I thought it would be and wasn’t what I wanted. Now I own a house, push the lawnmower around my backyard, and have a dog named Merger. But you know what? I’m happy, really happy for the first time in my life. I’m happy with myself and who I am, not what I’m trying to be. Victoria, being with you made me this way.”
“Tate—”
“Wait. Hear me out, please,” she added, as if afraid Victoria would send her away. “I learned everything I now know from you. You’ve shown me things I never would have seen before, never had the opportunity to see. I was stupid, arrogant, calculating, and downright mean. If I could apologize to everyone I was ugly to I’d do it, but I can’t. What I can do is thank you for coming into my life. Without you I’d still be that money-grabbing, cruel bitch that gobbled up companies and spat them out like a bad taste in my mouth. As I keep trying to say, I’m a different person, Victoria.”
Tate hesitated before continuing. She took Victoria’s hands. “But what’s not different is how I feel about you. This time I know what to do about it. I love you, Victoria. I love everything about you. Your wit, your charm, the way you smile at someone when they’re talking to you. The way your eyes light up when you’re excited. Your determination, your guts, your perseverance. Your integrity. The way you kick my ass. I love you. I miss you. I miss being with you. I miss having you in the same room or knowing you’re in the next room, or down the hall. For God’s sake, Victoria, I have a white picket fence around my front yard!”
Victoria was stunned. What had Tate said? She quit Sumner, grew up, and fell in love with her? Did she hear all that correctly? She thought she had lost her somewhere around the part about her being a money-grabbing bitch until the I love you part came in. She heard every word of that. She hoped she knew what it meant. She prayed she didn’t read more into the house with the white picket fence and the dog than was meant to be.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“What do you want to say?”
Victoria studied Tate. She had come here, more than a year after the event that tore them apart, and was sitting across from her a changed woman, declaring her love. The Tate she knew would never have admitted to any weakness, let alone bare it all at the risk of ridicule. She had changed and Victoria liked the new her. Even more than she did the old Tate. If Tate could expose herself this way, so could she. She smiled and tightened her grip on Tate’s hand.
“You’re very brave to come here, Tate. I could have kicked your sorry ass to the curb, called the cops, or any number of other things. But you came anyway. I admire you for that. I will admit I’m still a bit shocked that you’re here.”
In the past year Victoria had often dreamed of what she would say to Tate if she ever saw her again. Her feelings hadn’t changed, but she had been able to put them in the proper perspective. They had been thrown together in a difficult situation for both of them, and they reacted as only they knew how. What had surprised Victoria was that at the most critical juncture of her life she had fallen in love with her polar opposite, the exciting woman sitting in front of her now.
She had done a lot of soul-searching since that fateful day when she was fired. She had taken the time to find herself—who she was, not who everybody wanted and expected her to be. For the first time in a long time she was comfortable with who she was, what she was doing, and what she wanted out of life. She refused to let it slip through her fingers. She hesitated, then plunged on.
“Because I’ve dreamed of it so often, I’m not sure you’re really here. I’ve missed you too, m
ore than I knew until the moment I saw you propped against my door with your cocky attitude and your fabulous body. I never imagined someone like you would be interested in me. Now wait.” She put her free hand up to silence Tate’s rebuttal. “You said yours, now it’s my turn. You’re at least ten years younger than me, more than that in many ways. You live life in the fast lane. I can’t remember the last time I was even near the fast lane, let alone in it. You’re very different from anyone I’ve ever known, and you scare me. But you excite me as well. You make me come alive. I see more, hear more, experience more when I’m with you. And I feel more. I didn’t realize I’d been living under a cloud until you walked in. I love you, Tate Monroe. God help me, but I do.”
Victoria realized her words must have come from the heart because she had no idea what would cross her lips until they were out. And she didn’t regret a one of them.
“Wow,” Tate said, shaking her head. “If I’d have known this would be your reaction, I’d have come months ago.”
“We wouldn’t have been ready for each other,” Victoria said honestly. “At least I wouldn’t have. I would have thrown you under the first bus that came along.” She laughed. It felt good to laugh again.
“So what do we do now?” Tate asked.
“Do you really have a white picket fence around your house?”
“Absolutely. The minute I saw it I thought of you and had to have it. I heard what you said, Victoria, about not wanting to be a power couple. Maybe not at the time, but it’s coming through loud and clear now. I don’t want that either.”
“What do you want, Tate?” Victoria needed the words to come out of her mouth. There could be no misconceptions over this.
“I want you in my life. In my house, in our house. Maybe even have a few kids together. I want to fight over the toothpaste, make up over a glass of wine, and hold you in my arms every night. I want to grow old with you, Victoria.”
Victoria’s heart swelled and she was afraid it might burst. Just a few minutes ago she thought she was happy, but that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. She could very easily echo every word back to Tate with the same emotion and sincerity that Tate emitted. Because it was true. She wanted to be with her for the rest of her life, however exciting and scary it might be. She stood and pulled Tate into her arms.
“Okay. Let’s give it a try.” And she kissed her.
About the Author
Julie Cannon is a native of Phoenix, Arizona, where she lives with her partner Laura and their two children. Julie’s day job is in Corporate America and her nights are spent bringing to life the stories that bounce around in her head throughout the day. When not writing, Julie and Laura spend their time camping and lounging around the pool with their kids.
Julie is the author of five romances published by Bold Strokes Books: Come and Get Me, Heart 2 Heart, Heartland, Uncharted Passage, Just Business, and the upcoming Descent. She has short story selections in Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions, Erotic Interludes 5: Road Games, Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery, Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets.
Visit Julie at www.juliecannon.com.
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
Power Play by Julie Cannon. Businesswomen Tate Monroe and Victoria Sosa are at odds in the boardroom, but not in the bedroom. (978-1-60282-125-5)
The Remarkable Journey of Miss Tranby Quirke by Elizabeth Ridley. When love enters Tranby’s life in the form of a beautiful nineteen-year-old student, Lysette McDonald, she embarks on the most remarkable journey of all. (978-1-60282-126-2)
Returning Tides by Radclyffe. Insurance investigator Ashley Walker faces more than a dangerous opponent when she returns to the town, and the woman, she left behind. (978-1-60282-123-1)
Veritas by Anne Laughlin. When the hallowed halls of academia become the stage for murder, newly appointed Dean Beth Ellis’s search for the truth leads her to unexpected discoveries about her own heart. (978-1-60282-124-8)
The Pleasure Planner by Larkin Rose. Pleasure purveyor Bree Hendricks treats love like a commodity until Logan Delaney makes Bree the client in her own game. (978-1-60282-121-7)
everafter by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. Valentine Darrow is bitten by a vampire on her way to propose to her lover Alexa Newland, and their lives and love are placed in mortal jeopardy. (978-1-60282-119-4)
Summer Winds by Andrews & Austin. When Maggie Turner hires a ranch hand to help work her thousand acres, she never expects to be attracted to the very young, very female Cash Tate. (978-1-60282- 120-0)
Beggar of Love by Lee Lynch. Jefferson is the lover every woman wants to be—or to have. A revealing saga of lesbian sexuality. (978-1- 60282-122-4)
The Seduction of Moxie by Colette Moody. When 1930s Broadway actress Violet London meets speakeasy singer Moxie Valette, she is instantly attracted and her Hollywood trip takes an unexpected turn.(978-1-60282-114-9)
Goldenseal by Gill McKnight. When Amy Fortune returns to her childhood home, she discovers something sinister in the air—but is former lover Leone Garoul stalking her or protecting her? (978-1-60282-115-6)
Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets edited by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. An anthology of sensual lesbian love stories: passion, surprises, and secret desires. (978-1-60282-116-3)
Femme Noir by Clara Nipper. Nora Delaney meets her match in Max Abbott, a sex-crazed dame who may or may not have the information Nora needs to solve a murder—but can she contain her lust for Max long enough to find out? (978-1-60282-117-0)
The Reluctant Daughter by Lesléa Newman. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant—the story every daughter recognizes of the lifelong struggle for our mothers to really see us. (978-1-60282-118-7)
Erosistible by Gill McKnight. When Win Martin arrives at a luxurious Greek hotel for a much-anticipated week of sun and sex with her new girlfriend, she is stunned to find her ex-girlfriend, Benny, is the proprietor. Aeros Ebook. (978-1-60282-134-7)
Looking Glass Lives by Felice Picano. Cousins Roger and Alistair become lifelong friends and discover their sexuality amidst the backdrop of twentieth-century gay culture. (978-1-60282-089-0)
Breaking the Ice by Kim Baldwin. Nothing is easy about life above the Arctic Circle—except, perhaps, falling in love. At least that’s what pilot Bryson Faulkner hopes when she meets Karla Edwards. (978-1-60282-087-6)
It Should Be a Crime by Carsen Taite. Two women fulfill their mutual desire with a night of passion, neither expecting more until law professor Morgan Bradley and student Parker Casey meet again…in the classroom. (978-1-60282-086-9)
Rough Trade edited by Todd Gregory. Top male erotica writers pen their own hot, sexy versions of the term “rough trade,” producing some of the hottest, nastiest, and most dangerous fiction ever published. (978-1-60282-092-0)
The High Priest and the Idol by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi’s relationship is put to the test when the Guardian sends Jemeryl on a mission that puts her not only in harm’s way, but back into the sights of a previous lover. (978-1-60282-085-2)
Point of Ignition by Erin Dutton. Amid a blaze that threatens to consume them both, firefighter Kate Chambers and property owner Alexi Clark redefine love and trust. (978-1-60282-084-5)
Secrets in the Stone by Radclyffe. Reclusive sculptor Rooke Tyler suddenly finds herself the object of two very different women’s affections, and choosing between them will change her life forever. (978-1-60282-083-8)
