Returning Tides

by Radclyffe

  The text message was from Bri, and it was a whopper. She hurriedly sent a response and eased to the edge of the bed. Before she could try standing up, an arm snaked around her waist. Then she felt a soft kiss in the center of her back.

  “Going somewhere?” Ash skated her hand higher, cradling Allie’s breast in her palm.

  Allie leaned back against Ash, closing her eyes and enjoying the play of Ash’s fingers over her nipple. “You know just how to get me going, don’t you?”

  “Don’t know what you mean.” Ash sat up and put a leg on either side of Allie’s body, pulling Allie back against her chest. She kissed the side of her neck and nuzzled her ear. “Who were you texting? Girlfriend?”

  Allie leaned her head away and gave Ash a look. “You were sweet for twelve whole hours. Are you going to be a dick again now?”

  “Probably.” Ash nipped at Allie’s earlobe.

  “That was Bri. They got the guy that knifed the FBI agents. He broke in and assaulted Rica at her house.”

  Ash stiffened. “Is Rica all right?”

  “Yes, but I want to go to the station and find out what’s going on.”

  “Are you sure? How’s your arm?”

  “My arm is fine. I want to talk about you being a dick, so don’t change the subject.” Allie tried to sound stern, but the tingling in her nipple was spreading to her clit. Her mind was getting a little fuzzy. She pushed her hips back into Ash’s crotch, pleased when Ash groaned softly. “I like you being all possessive and stuff.”

  “Good,” Ash rumbled, her mouth against Allie’s neck.

  “But I don’t like you being stupid jealous.”

  Ash brought her other arm around Allie’s body so she could hold both breasts. “Is there a difference?”

  “Yes.” Allie sighed, resting her head back against Ash’s shoulder. “That feels so good.”

  “Mmm, to me too.” Ash went back to kissing Allie’s neck, the edge of her jaw, the corner of her mouth. “Don’t move, let me do everything.”

  “No argument.” Allie shifted restlessly. She needed more. She needed Ash to stroke her clit. And she really needed to finish her thought before she couldn’t think any more at all. “When you’re possessive, it just means you want me real bad.”

  “I want you something fierce.” Ash caressed Allie’s stomach with one hand, sweeping her fingertips over the delta between her thighs but not entering. Allie whimpered and Ash struggled not to push lower, deeper, right away. She wanted to claim Allie as hers. She wanted to be the only one who ever touched her again.

  “But when you’re jealous,” Allie gasped, clutching Ash’s wrist and moving her fingers lower, onto her stiff, aching clit. “Then you don’t trust me. I need you to trust…oh, God baby…you’re going to make me come soon.”

  “Mmm, I am.”

  “Trust me?” Allie moaned and pressed Ash’s fingers harder over the spot that pulsed and beat frantically, moving Ash’s fingertips in quick, firm circles. “Please. Please I need you.”

  “I trust you, I do,” Ash whispered. “I love you. I love you, Allie.”

  Allie pushed back hard in Ash’s arms, her hips lifting as she came. She dug her nails into the top of Ash’s hand, keeping Ash right on the spot as her orgasm pounded beneath Ash’s fingertips. After her muscles unlocked, she sank back with a long sigh. “Oh my God. I love when you do that.”

  Ash laughed. “I love to do it.”

  Allie shifted sideways and rested her cheek against Ash’s shoulder. “What are we going to do?”

  Ash kissed her forehead. “What do you want to do?”

  “I asked you first.”

  Allie’s tone was playful but Ash heard the challenge in her voice. She’d been the one to walk away before. Now Allie wanted her to be the one to take the risk. She would. She’d do anything to make Allie feel secure. To have Allie trust her again. “You’re the only woman in my heart, so here’s what I want. I want to be the only woman in your life from now on. For forever.” Ash studied Allie’s face, but got no clue as to how Allie felt about what she was saying. She had no choice but to put it all on the line. “I want to live here with you.”

  “What about your job?” Allie asked.

  “I already travel for work. I’ll just travel a little farther.”

  “And what about when you’re on the road and you get horny?”

  Ash was naked and when Allie brushed her fingers over her chest, tracing the curve of her breast with a fingertip, the muscles in her thighs twitched. “I’ll call you and we’ll have phone sex.”

  Smiling faintly, Allie raked her nails down the center of Ash’s stomach. “What about when I get horny?”

  “You can make yourself come while you think about me touching you.”

  Allie lifted her eyes to Ash’s, her expression serious. “That’s it? You and me? No one else?”

  “No one else,” Ash whispered.

  Allie settled her head back on Ash’s shoulder and slid her hand lower, between Ash’s legs. “That sounds good to me.”

  “To me too.” Ash closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the top of Allie’s head. The unbearable pleasure that was coming soon, taking her fast and hard, would be exquisite, and only a fraction of the joy that filled her heart.

  *

  “You okay?” Bri asked when Allie settled into the chair next to her in Reese’s office. Carter sat on the other side of Bri in plain clothes. She didn’t look like she’d gotten a whole lot of sleep.

  “Yeah,” Allie whispered. “It really hurts a lot, though.”

  “I bet. Take it easy, all right?”

  Allie leaned around Bri to Carter. “Is Rica all right?”

  “She’s shaken up, but she’s solid,” Carter replied, not certain who was more shaken up—Rica or her. Rica had finally fallen asleep around dawn, but she hadn’t been able to. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Rica on the floor covered in blood. When she’d left for the station, Rica had seemed calm and steady, a lot steadier than Carter felt. Every now and then a picture of what might have happened if Reese hadn’t taken the shot when she did popped into her head and she got sick to her stomach.

  “Tell her I’ll call—”

  Reese cut in. “Tremont. You’re on sick leave. Go home.”

  “I will, Sheriff.” Allie settled back and folded her arms across her chest. “After the debriefing.”

  “You called her in, Parker?” Reese said to Bri.

  Bri straightened in her chair. “Yes ma’am. I knew she’d want to be here.”

  Reese worked at not smiling. The two were partners, and she could team them up with others as much as she wanted, but nothing was going to change that. “Okay, then. Let’s run it.”

  Allie noticed Carter’s hands ball into fists when Reese got to the part about Lorenzo Brassi breaking in and assaulting Rica. She didn’t even want to imagine how she’d feel if something like that happened to Ash, so she concentrated on the facts and remembered that Rica was safe because all of them, including Rica, had done what needed to be done.

  “So you think it was Brassi all along?” Allie asked when Reese finished. “Doing everything? Breaking into Rica’s car and your house and…” She glanced at Bri. “What about the intruder at Caroline and Bri’s the other night?”

  “I questioned Everly again this morning before he was transferred back to the federal lockup,” Reese said. “Pushed him hard. He still denies going after Caroline, and although his alibi is weak, I think it’s probably legit. He said he just wanted to lay low until everyone forgot about him, which is why he went to his buddy’s place and didn’t even let his mother know he was around.”

  Bri snorted. “As if we would forget he’d skipped out on parole.”

  “Well, he’s not too bright.”

  “What did the feds say about Brassi?” Carter asked, her dark eyes edgy and troubled.

  “They said they can’t comment on an ongoing operation.” Reese knew what was going on in Carter’s
head, could imagine the pictures that tortured her. Carter would be tormented by those pictures for a long time, but she’d be okay. She still had Rica, and that was all she needed. That and knowing the man who had harmed Rica had paid. “I don’t think we’ll ever get the entire story from the feds. According to Rica, Brassi said the feds helped him disappear. My guess is that someone in Alfonse Pareto’s organization leaked that Pareto intended to eliminate Brassi because he was unstable and a threat to Rica. The feds saw a chance to recruit him and gave him a choice—either he turns informer for them and in return they help fake his death, or Pareto has him killed. Not much of a choice.”

  “And then,” Carter said, “he slips away from them and goes after Rica.”

  Reese nodded. “Once he got here, Brassi hid out and stalked Rica. It’s not unusual for stalkers to work themselves up to attacking their primary target while terrorizing their target’s friends and loved ones. It gives them a sense of power, and they derive pleasure from their target’s fear and pain.”

  “But why didn’t someone tell us when Special Agent Lynch tracked him here?” Bri asked. “If we’d known, we might’ve picked Brassi up sooner. Agent Lynch might not be dead and no one else would have been terrorized.”

  “I don’t think Marilyn Allen wanted to advertise that her team had lost track of an informant, particularly one who was dangerously crazy. I’m not even certain she informed her superiors. She was probably hoping they’d find him and get him back under wraps with no one the wiser.”

  “She was willing to put Rica’s life at risk in order to nail Rica’s father,” Carter said bitterly.

  “What about Agent Allen?” Allie asked. “What’s the word on her condition?”

  “She’s out of surgery, but in a coma. The doctors don’t give her much chance,” Reese said.

  The room was silent. Reese closed the folder on top of her desk and pushed it aside.

  “I think we have all the answers we’re ever going to get,” Reese said. “Tremont, I don’t want you back here without a medical release form in your hand. Carter, Bri—go home and get some rest. I’ve assigned officers to cover your shifts tonight.”

  Reese waited until the team filed out, then she called Tory. “I’m taking a personal day.”

  “Really,” Tory said slowly. “And what are you going to do with all that free time?”

  “Can you get away?”

  “KT is still in town. She’ll cover for me.”

  “I thought I’d make reservations for us to have lunch in Boston. We can fly over and maybe you could pull some doctor strings and get us in to see Wendy later this afternoon. We can talk to her about making babies.”

  “You don’t waste any time, do you, Sheriff?”

  “When you know what you want, why wait?”

  “I know what I want,” Tory murmured. “Come home now.”

  “On my way, Dr. King.”

  About the Author

  Radclyffe is a retired surgeon and full-time award-winning author-publisher with over thirty lesbian and anthologies in print. Seven of her works have been Lambda Literary finalists, including the Lambda Literary winners Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman; In Deep Waters 2; Distant Shores, Silent Thunder. She is the editor of Best Lesbian Romance 2009 and 2010 (Cleis Press), Erotic Interludes 2 through 5 and Romantic Interludes 1 and 2 with Stacia Seaman (BSB), and has selections in multiple anthologies including Best Lesbian Erotica 2006-2010; After Midnight; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; First-Timers; Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear; Hide and Seek; A is for Amour; H is for Hardcore; L is for Leather; Rubber Sex, Tasting Him, and Cowboy Erotica. She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ awards for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.

  Her latest release is an all-Radclyffe erotica anthology, Radical Encounters (Feb 2009) and the romantic intrigue novel Justice for All (April 2009), and the romance Secrets in the Stone (July 2009). Her forthcoming works include The Midnight Hunt (writing as L.L. Raand, March 2010) and the first in the First Responder Series, Trauma Alert (July 2010).

  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)

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  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)

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  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)

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  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)

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  The High Priest and the Idol by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi’s relationship is put to the test when the G
uardian 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)