by Radclyffe
"Thank you, Commander."
"Let's get this over with, Stark," Blair said testily. "You'll find that the daily briefings are not one of my favorite exercises."
Stark took a breath and launched into her prepared speech. "The first team, at least temporarily, will consist of myself and two to three other agents, depending upon the circumstances. Right now, I don't have the duty assignments because I've just been given the names of your new team members."
Blair's eyes narrowed. "I'm not happy about working with strangers, especially if we're at Priority One."
"That's why I'll be on the first team. Outside the perimeter of the White House, I'll be your primary agent."
"It'll be tough, doing double duty as both the crew chief and my primary."
Stark's expression didn't change. "In my opinion, that's the appropriate action."
"All right. Thank you, that will make it easier for me."
"As to the commander—"
"There's nothing about Cam's presence in my life that's open for discussion." The faint warmth that had seeped its way into Blair's voice since they had begun talking quickly disappeared. "You and I are friends, Paula." In fact, for a few brief hours in what now felt like the distant past, they'd been more than that. "I hope you're not going to suddenly pretend that you don't know what she means to me."
"I was going to suggest that the commander attend daily briefings, since I'm sure you would both prefer that."
Blair tilted her head and studied Stark appraisingly. "And you don't mind that? My lover and your former boss observing your new command?"
Stark released a long, pent-up breath and leaned forward, her hands clasped loosely between her knees, her eyes holding Blair's unflinchingly. "It doesn't matter whether I mind or not. What matters is that your security team functions effectively, and I believe it will run more smoothly if the commander is aware of the daily plan." She separated her hands and curled her fingers over her knees, her voice softening for an instant. "But just so you know, I won't forget anything."
"They should have assigned more agents like you in the past, Paula," Blair said quietly.. "I might not have found it necessary to disappear quite so often."
"I'd like it if you could promise not to do that in the future, Ms. Powell," Stark said, all business again. "Because the danger is far more than theoretical now."
"I can't." There was no aggression in Blair's voice, only an undercurrent of regret. "But I'll do the best I can."
Stark nodded. "Then we have a plan." She leaned back and unbuttoned her jacket, the first break in her formal posture. "We need to talk about the next few days."
"I'm flying with my father to Manhattan tomorrow to view.. .the scene."
"I'll discuss the itinerary with Agent Turner," Stark said, referring to the president's security chief. "And you'll be staying here tonight?"
"You're blushing."
"I've been working on that," Stark acknowledged conversationally. She grinned for a fleeting second. "No luck so far."
"I don't know where I'll be tonight."
"Ms. Powell—"
Blair interrupted. "It depends on Cam's plans. If she doesn't stay here, then I'll stay with her in her apartment."
Stark winced. "Security would be far easier to accomplish here."
"That's not my concern." Blair rose abruptly. "I have your number. I'll call you about my plans."
"Yes, ma'am." Stark stood. "Thank you."
Stark had nearly reached the door when Blair stopped her with a question.
"Have you heard from Renee?"
"Yes. She's.. .uninjured." Somehow all right didn't feel quite like the truth. Stark looked over her shoulder. "It sounds.. .bad.. .up there."
"I can't even imagine," Blair murmured. Her expression softened. "Get some sleep, Paula. I won't be going anywhere for a while. And I promise, I'll call."
"Will do," Stark lied, knowing that before she could sleep, she needed to review the dossiers on the seven new agents she'd been assigned and try to choose three whom Blair would be able to tolerate having in close proximity during her waking hours for the foreseeable future. "I appreciate the time, Ms. Powell."
"Lose the stick, Paula," Blair said with a laugh. Stark smiled. "Working on that too."
Cam, sitting on the edge of the bed, hung up the phone as Blair walked into the bedroom. She'd removed her jacket and weapon harness and had rolled up both sleeves to mid-forearm. "How did it go?"
"She's still standing."
"That good, huh?" Cam grinned.
"I'm glad you got them to appoint her as security chief," Blair said as she settled next to Cam. She threaded an arm around Cam's waist and leaned her cheek against Cam's upper arm. "It's so much easier with a woman, and one who knows about you and me. Because I can't go back to the way things were. I can't pretend that I'm not who I am and that we're not lovers."
"I wouldn't want you to." Cam kissed her temple. "In fact, I don't think I could take it either." She eased back onto the pillows and drew Blair back with her until they reclined, Blair curled against her side. "I can't pretend that I don't need you with me all the time."
Blair shifted until she lay full-length atop Cam. "Why the sudden change?"
Cam ran her fingers through Blair's hair, holding the thick blond strands away from Blair's neck so that she could raise her head and kiss her there in the sweet triangle just below her ear. "I'm sorry if you ever thought it was easy for me not to be with you. It's always been hell, but these last two days..." She caught Blair's earlobe between her lips and sucked it softly. When Blair stiffened, she released the small, fleshy morsel. "I don't want to let you out of my sight."
"Same here." Then Blair felt it coming, the powerful surge of tenderness and want and need that coalesced in her heart and body to become love and something far greater than she could define with words or contain with mere flesh. But still she tried to articulate with insufficient phrases and her woefully inadequate touch the places mat Cam filled in her life. "I love you."
As Blair began to unbutton Cam's shirt, Cam tugged Blair's blouse from her jeans.
"No," Blair murmured. "Lie still."
"Blair," Cam protested.
"Shh."
Blair knelt astride Cam's hips, slowly loosing each button until the shirt lay open with a column of flesh exposed down the center of Cam's body. She edged her fingertips beneath the crisp fabric, crested the rise of Cam's breasts until she reached the tight peaks, and brushed lightly over the puckered nipples. She smiled when Cam's hips twisted against her thighs, and she carefully squeezed and molded Cam's breasts beneath her palms, drawing the swollen cores of the nipples between her fingers until she elicited a soft moan from her lover's throat.
"Oh God." Cam's pupils dilated until black eclipsed the gray and desire swam in the dark eddies left behind.
"I never get the chance to go slow with you," Blair said in a quiet conversational tone as she rocked back on her heels and ever so slowly slid the length of Cam's leather belt through the silver buckle at her waist. Ignoring the flutter of muscles beneath the smooth skin of Cam's abdomen, she deftly popped the clasp at Cam's waistband with one hand and drew the zipper down with the other in a single fluid motion. Then, as she turned her hand and slid her fingers into the soft curls she'd just laid bare, she leaned forward and caught a nipple between her teeth. As she closed her eyes and sucked, she circled her fingers over the base of Cam's belly, not touching the focus of her need, but knowing that the motion would tease the blood into the sensitive flesh only inches away. "Mmm. I love how hot you feel in my mouth."
Cam gripped the back of Blair's head and pushed herself hard against Blair's mouth, causing teeth to scrape across her hypersensitive flesh. Pleasure shot straight to her core and struck between her thighs, bringing her hips off the bed. In a voice so hoarse her words were barely recognizable, she rasped, "Bite it."
"Oh no," Blair whispered, pulling back to lick ever so lightly at the swollen nipple. "I
don't trust you not to come."
Cam could only groan.
"And," Blair said, her breath rushing in and out as if she'd been running for hours, "there's no hurry." Then she pushed herself lower until her breasts were nestled between Cam's thighs and her cheek was against Cam's abdomen. As she sucked and nibbled on the pliant crescent of skin edging Cam's navel, she smoothed one hand up the inside of Cam's leg, briefly cupped the vee between her parted thighs, and then slipped inside her fly again. This time, she pushed lower until her fingertips found the hard rise of Cam's clitoris. She wanted it between her fingertips, wanted to tug and stroke and twist until she felt the rapid lengthening and swift swelling that always signaled Cam's rush toward orgasm. She loved that power, that unbelievable intimacy, that singular knowledge that she and she alone could do this to the woman she so craved. Shivering, she forced herself to grow still.
"Touch me."
"Soon, darling, soon."Blair pressed down once, hard, against Cam's clitoris, making her whole body twitch, and then quickly withdrew her hand. Getting swiftly to her knees, she grasped the waistband of Cam's trousers. "Lift your hips."
In seconds, Blair had her naked. Groaning at the magnificent sight of Cam, neck arched and hands lying open, palms up at her sides, Blair tore off her blouse and threw it aside. She ran both hands up her own abdomen and over her breasts, tugging her nipples in passing and moaning at the pleasure. Then, her control slipping, she threw herself down between her lover's legs. She stretched one arm up to close a hand over Cam's breast as she simultaneously took her into her mouth.
Cam arched off the bed, both hands tangling in Blair's hair. "Going to come."
"Wait," Blair mouthed against the swollen, pulsating flesh, too needy to stop her assault. She licked and sucked and drank of her lover's passion, tugging Cam's nipple to the cadence of her lips working the stiff shaft in her mouth.
"I gotta come." Quiet, desperate.
"Nooo," Blair breathed, lifting up just enough to slide her fingers into Cam's silky depths. She pushed.
"Gotta come." Wondrous, pleading.
Blair bit down gently.
Cam twisted and jerked. "That's it. Oh.. .that's it."
Blair never let up, never stopped the thrust and pull that kept Cam clenching around her fingers, even when she felt herself explode inside her tight jeans. Whimpering, she rode Cam's climax until they both lay limp and panting in a tangle of sheets and sweat-slicked limbs.
"You want to tell me," Cam gasped, "where that came from?"
Still stroking Cam lightly, Blair slid up beside her and kissed her. "Wanna tell me what's in New York?"
Chapter Seven
C am hiked herself up onto an elbow and studied Blair through narrowed eyes. "Did you by any chance just screw my brains out so you could extract information from me while I'm in a weakened condition?"
"But of course," Blair said, sliding her lips over Cam's nipple. "It's a tried-and-true interrogation technique. Of course, we reserve it for the hard-core cases."
"Very effective." Cam caught Blair's chin in her palm and eased that talented mouth away from her breast before the pleasure eclipsed what remained of her control. She kissed Blair swiftly on the lips and then guided her lover's head down to her shoulder, curving an arm around Blair's waist to keep her close. "There are things I need to do up there that I should have done yesterday."
"Yesterday morning we didn't know if there was anyplace in the world we were really safe," Blair reminded her.
"I know. And the only thing that mattered was getting you back here. But once Marine One picked you up, I probably should've gone back to Manhattan right away."
Blair struggled to contain her protests. This was about what Cam needed, not her. "Did you stay here because I needed you to?"
"No." Cam hugged her. "I stayed because I needed to. Since the day I walked into that loft and saw you in that blue silk robe, I've been doing what I've needed to do instead of what I should have done."
"Sorry?" Blair made aimless patterns on Cam's stomach with her nails, listening hard for what lay beneath the surface of her lover's quiet musings. With Cameron, she had learned that the truth of what really lay in her heart was in all the things she did not say.
"Never," Cam said immediately. "But now you're safe, and there are things I need to do."
"You said that." Blair raked her nails harder across Cam's lower abdomen, eliciting a quiet groan. "Now explain."
"That distraction procedure is working too," Cam gasped.
"I know. I'm waiting."
Cam grabbed Blair's wrist and pressed her hand firmly against her stomach to stop the torture. "Your apartment building is a crime scene. I need to get a look at it first hand before there's nothing left of the evidence."
"God, Cam," Blair said in surprise. "The FBI must have been all over that place already. There's not going to be anything left that they haven't already analyzed."
"I don't let other agents do my investigating for me. Besides, they're FBI."
Blair laughed. "Don't let Renee Savard hear you say that."
"She's the exception."
"What else are you planning?"
"To talk to whichever of our people are still around." Cam's voice held an edge. "I'd like to hear their reports before the special inquiry begins."
"You think they'll be under a gag order not to discuss anything about what happened?"
"Ordinarily, not from me, but now that my status is in question, I don't want to put them at risk for disciplinary action if anyone finds out they briefed me."
"I doubt they would pass that information along to the Justice people."
"A week ago I would have been certain of that."
"You still trust them, don't you?"
"I trusted Foster too." The bitter acid of self-recrimination burned her throat as she said his name.
Blair heard the frustration and regret in Cam's voice. "Hey. You're not the bad guy here." She circled her fingers soothingly in the hollow between Cam's breasts. "Remember, you saved my life."
That was my job, my duty, and I almost blew it. God. Cam brushed her lips over Blair's hair, "I know. You're right."
"Once those interviews are done, you'll be finished up there?"
"I also want to talk to Diane."
Blair sat up quickly, the sheet falling away and leaving her breasts bare. "Diane? Why?"
Cam ran her fingers up and down Blair's arm, aware of the steel bands of tension beneath the velvet skin, "Because she's your best friend. Because there isn't a better source of information about you on the planet. Because someone might have approached her without her even realizing it, and if they did, I want to know."
"She would never hurt me."
"I know that. But sometimes we say things innocently, without realizing the implications."
Blair shook her head vehemently. "No, not Diane. She's known me my whole life, and she's always understood the security issues. Christ, she used to fine-tune my alibi in boarding school when I escaped from my security details to meet my girlfriends. She would never let anything slip."
"I'm sure you're right, but I have to check."
"Of course you do. And of course you have to do it all yourself." Blair tried to keep her voice light, because she didn't want Cam to know how very much she didn't want to be apart from her right then. She knew she was safe in the White House and probably anywhere else she might go with the heightened security she was sure to have, although she never really felt as safe with any of the other agents as she did with Cam. But that wasn't why she didn't want Cam to be gone long. The attack on the Aerie—no, the attack on her —was more frightening than she wanted to admit. Mere blocks away, thousands of unsuspecting, innocent people had died for a reason no rational person could fathom. She had always known the danger was there, lurking in the background like an ominous shadow, but this had brought her true vulnerability home with undeniable clarity. Life felt so very tenuous, and being with Cam was the only thing tha
t made it right. "How long are you going to be gone?"
"I had thought a couple of days. But if you're coming up with your father tomorrow, I want to be there. I may come back with you, it depends."
"Cam, I'll have a full security detail. Why don't you just—"
"No." A public appearance this soon after the attack was ill advised, but Cam didn't want to say that, knowing that Blair was not about to change her mind. Frightening her would accomplish nothing.
"It will be a new detail with a new chief. I want to be by your side. I'll get the schedule when you're en route and meet your vehicle when you arrive downtown."
"Stark can handle it."
"I have no doubt. But she's going to have a new team. And I won't know them."
"If being with me tomorrow means you going back to the city again in a few days, then I'd rather you just do what you need to do and get it done. I'll be fine."
"It's not going to get done quickly, baby," Cam said gently. "That assault team was too well organized and too professional not to have known the risks of discovery if they failed. We're going to have to dig, and dig hard, to find out who they were. And even that may not tell us who sent them."
"How long, do you think?" Blair shivered, but the cold was deep inside. Despite her best efforts, not knowing who had wanted her dead gnawed at the edges of her awareness, threatening her comfort and peace of mind. But if the question was to go unanswered for weeks and months, leaving the threat of another attack hanging over her, her life would never be her own again. Nor might her lover. Blair feared that Cam might become so immersed in the hunt that she would lose her to it. "How long?"
"Weeks, probably months. You're shivering." Cam tucked the sheet around Blair's shoulders. "Or we could get a break and have an answer in days." When Blair shivered again, Cam pulled her back down beside her. "Hopefully, closer to the latter than the former. You okay?"
Wordlessly, Blair nodded. The course of their days, it appeared, had already been charted. As had so often been the case throughout her life, she had no choice but to commit to the journey. And this time, with her lover by her side, she hoped that she would not lose herself along the way. "When are you leaving?"
