Above Temptation

by Karin Kallmaker

  * * *

  “We’re really done?” Kip couldn’t believe she and Tam were standing at the embassy gates, waiting to be released. She had followed and agreed with every argument that their lawyer had made with the embassy staff, but still… Was it really true? She lowered her voice. “We broke the law.”

  “No one at the FBI is going to push that through inter-departmental headaches to press charges for flying with a fake ID alone. The case will end up dismissed in someone’s crowded docket because there’s no other crime to pursue.” Druckerman looked half-wilted in his suit. “I expect the next you’ll hear about any of this is depositions for the case against the Langhorns.”

  “And if the rumors haven’t hit the financial press already,” Tam said. “That’s my last worry. If we beat that cycle, then this was all worth it.”

  “You should manage the press,” Druckerman advised. “Quickly. After all, that’s a key staff person back in there, waiting for transfer to jail in Miami. They won’t have immediate access to the press. You do.”

  Kip watched the light in Tam’s eyes dim as she nodded. “Yes, I think I need to get out there and talk about it, make sure our clients know that we did what was necessary to the criminals in our midst, and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, just as we insist on from them.” She tapped her temple. “I made some mental notes for a press release while we were waiting in there.”

  “Don’t forget that we made full recovery.” Kip grinned and was glad to see Tam smile as well. She knew it had to hurt. Ted—and certainly Nadia—had been more than colleagues to her. “I can’t believe they think they’re going to be reality TV stars, or pundits, cashing in on their crimes to be richer than ever. Like people who crash state dinners or weep their tales of remorse in front of millions.”

  Druckerman shrugged. “I turn on the TV every day and see financial advice being doled out by people who’ve been tried and fined or jailed as SEC rules violators, so maybe they’re right. No bad deed goes unrewarded in this world.”

  “What a depressing thought,” Kip said. She would much rather live in SFI’s world—Tam’s world.

  Once Druckerman showed their passes to the guard they were let out onto the elegant Nassau Place. From their vantage point at the top of the hill the port shimmered in the mid-afternoon sun. The Blue Sky of Sweden gleamed at her moorings and Kip wondered if maybe…just maybe…

  “We sail at six thirty,” Tam said to Druckerman. “Can I buy you the best conch fritters in the Bahamas, and a cold beer?”

  Kip’s heart did a pleasurable slow roll. They were going to go back aboard, to that tiny little cabin and the soothing, rocking bed.

  Druckerman blinked. “I had thought we’d all be flying back to the mainland. There’s a flight late this afternoon I had hoped to catch so I can make a connection to New York. I’ll fully brief Hank Jefferson as soon as I get to the airport.”

  Tam’s lips twitched, then creased into a full smile. “Ms. Barrett has earned a night of relaxation given what her client has put her through.”

  Kip saw the speculative look in Druckerman’s eyes before he assumed a more lawyerly mask of disinterest. It wasn’t right, the way it looked. Tam was no longer her suspect, true, and she was no longer actively working evidence. But Tam was still her boss’s boss’s boss. Nothing had changed. She should go back with Druckerman.

  The three of them began the walk down the sloping hill toward the ocean. Kip knew she should tell Tam to fly home. They should both fly home. If they went back aboard ship there was no way they’d make it through the night without compromising their signed statements of ethics. She didn’t know if she had a future with Tamara Sterling, either, so ultimately what would she get for breaking faith with herself and with her employer? Possibly nothing but heartache and unemployment checks.

  Really, she told herself, there’s only one thing to say that can make any of this right. It was going to hurt.

  “Tam,” she said, pulling her to a stop. Druckerman hesitated as well, though he continued to scan the traffic for the taxi he needed. “Mr. Druckerman, I think as my attorney, I want you to hear this.”

  “What is it?” Tam took both her hands. “You look so serious.”

  “There’s only one right thing to do here. I have to say it. It’s wrong if I don’t.”

  Druckerman and Tam both wore the same expressions of confusion.

  She took a deep breath. She had not a clue what the future would bring. Her heart and her body had been right all along, though, and right now they told her that she was doing the right thing. She would probably regret it, at least a little. There was no getting around it, but sacrifice was a part of life. It was a big risk, but a potentially big payoff.

  “I quit.”

  * * *

  “I can’t let you do this,” Tam said again. They’d left Druckerman to find his cab and Kip was walking steadily down the hill toward the port.

  “There’s no letting me. You can’t stop me. I don’t have to work for you. I get to quit if I want.”

  “But Kip… I don’t care what the Langhorns say. The world isn’t theirs or anyone else’s to plunder. You love your job. You love what we do.”

  “And,” Kip said, “I love you. So which would you rather I quit? The job or you?”

  Tam stopped walking. She could think of nothing to say.

  Kip only continued a few paces before she stopped and slowly turned back. Behind her the ocean was sparkling under the afternoon wind and someone close by was roasting pineapple. Tam opened all her senses. She wanted to remember everything.

  Kip’s expression changed. “Okay, maybe you’d rather I loved the job.”

  “No,” Tam finally managed. “You took my breath away, that’s all. Not the first time, either.”

  With an amused and slightly annoyed look, Kip prompted, “And so your answer would be?”

  “I want you to love me more than any job. Any job ever.”

  “Was that so hard?”

  “I don’t have a lot of practice at this.”

  “You’re going to have to get some. With me. You only get to practice with me.”

  Tam pulled Kip to her, gazing down into her lovely face. “What would you like to practice first?”

  Kip shivered and Tam felt a matching echo in her body. But she answered, “I would like to practice you keeping promises. I was promised mango sorbet.”

  “Upstaged by your stomach. I’m wounded.”

  “You love it.”

  Her spirit unbelievably light, she said it with a smile because it was so easy. “I love you more.”

  Kip snuggled her head against Tam’s chest. She fit so perfectly there. “I need you to say that again.”

  “I love you.” Even easier. She wanted to float.

  “Again—later. And tomorrow. And next week.”

  “Every day, Kip.”

  “Good.” She raised her head to find Tam’s gaze. “Where’s my ice cream?”

  Laughing, she took Kip’s hand and they strolled the streets like any other lovers, peering in windows and finally in possession of two cones of mango sorbet. A bench on the water was the perfect place to enjoy them. The cafe behind them was playing steel drum music that danced on the wind.

  “I suppose I should call Mercedes.” Tam focused on her own cone, not daring to watch Kip for the moment. “Give her a press release.”

  “This is delicious.” Kip wiggled closer, and draped Tam’s arm around her shoulders. “And yes, you probably should.”

  “I think when we get to Freetown tomorrow we’re going to have to head home.”

  “I know.”

  They enjoyed their sorbet in silence for a bit. Tam surreptitiously watched Kip lick her cone. It was adolescent to get all warm and anticipatory and moist. She really didn’t intend to stop feeling this way. She wanted to feel like this most of the time. Whenever Kip was near, in fact.

  “I think I feel sort of let down,” Kip said. “Nothing abou
t you or us or this case has led me in expected directions but in the end it all resolved so easily.”

  “You call that easy?”

  “You know what I mean. For all the risk it felt like we took, it seemed easy.”

  “It’s supposed to be like that.” She took Kip’s hand in hers. “Most of the time, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be. I’d like to think it was easy because we were together and everything we did together was right.”

  Kip flashed her a brilliant smile. “You’re not so out of practice after all.”

  “C’mon. There’s a hotel here.”

  “Why go to a hotel when we have a cabin?”

  Tam laughed. “Pay phone.”

  “That makes more sense.” Kip blushed and let Tam pull her up to her feet.

  It might have been that her relaxed tone showed, or that the steel drum music was audible, but Mercedes was not the least bit pleased to hear from her.

  “I nearly didn’t accept the charges. I thought that can’t possibly be my boss, she wouldn’t wait until an hour after her lawyer called me to say everything was resolved. That must be someone else having some fun, but I took a chance.”

  “I’m sorry, Mercedes. I hope I didn’t give you too big a scare.”

  “Me scared? Never happened.” Her ire seemed to be abating and Tam more clearly heard the concern.

  “Your timing was impeccable. How did you know to send a lawyer?”

  “It was because of that model, that Wren Cantu. By the way, I worked all weekend. Was thinking someone might get in touch some super stealthy way, or just, maybe, call, so you’ve got a hundred file closures waiting for you when you get back here from your ordeal, which I notice, has dance music.”

  Tam laughed into the handset. “What about the model?”

  “Wren Cantu called last night just as I was about to leave. It rang over from your private line and I thought it might be you. She was really upset. She didn’t mind the reporters, but the FBI was simply too much. She didn’t know what kind of game you were playing, but… What was it she said? I think it was screw you. I asked her how she got your number and she said Nadia Langhorn gave it to her, saying you two were perfect for each other. I found that very interesting. I couldn’t reach Diane, but Hank was home—really, you should send his wife a gift. I think I woke her up.”

  “And Hank told you that the Langhorns were heading here to clear my name.”

  “Nobody ever tells me anything until it’s nearly too late.”

  “I’ll tell you something.” Tam grinned at Kip, who had been patiently listening to her half of the conversation. “We have an Internal Audit Specialist vacancy. It seems Ms. Barrett has quit.”

  Kip grinned at her.

  “Has she now? To do what?”

  “I don’t know, but hopefully whatever it is, it’ll be near me.”

  Mercedes laughed, all her pique dissolved. “Congratulations on losing a fine employee.”

  “Why thank you. I do have a spot of business.”

  “Really? You’ve only been completely out of touch for three full days, so I can’t imagine what has come up?”

  “So far, there are rumors swirling but nothing in the press yet about this, is there?”

  “Not that I’ve found. I have a press release drafted. Diane approved the language, pending details from the lawyer, and I can send it on to our public affairs officer to do those blasts or whatever it is she calls them. She’s e-mailing me every three minutes. Just so you know.”

  “I am grateful to all of you,” Tam said seriously. “I trusted that you would all know what to do and I was right. Why don’t you read it to me?”

  She listened and smiled at Kip to let her know all was well. As much as Ted’s and Nadia’s betrayal hurt it allowed for the loyalty and good sense of other people to shine.

  The release was fine, worded as an early warning to clients that a criminal investigation of one of their own had been concluded with a successful recovery. With simple modifications, it would go out to press contacts as well.

  Disaster averted. She knew that she didn’t have to tell Hank to get back with Big Blue and see if they wouldn’t reconsider the cancellation. He knew what to do. There was a thought—she was essential to the company, but maybe not quite as essential as she liked to believe. There was perhaps time in her day, in her weekends and in her life.

  They chatted a little bit more, and Tam agreed they’d be returning home the following day. After she hung up, she filled Kip in on the details that hadn’t been obvious from Tam’s half of the conversation.

  “What a relief,” Kip said. Hand in hand, they went back out to the crowded street where the heat was getting intense. “What shall we do until embarkation?”

  Tam gave Kip a wide-eyed look. “There’s no rule that says we can’t go back aboard early.”

  “Really?” Kip turned on her heel and made a beeline for the straw market. “I’d have skipped the ice cream.”

  Tam hopped along behind her, dodging tourists and barkers. She was having a little trouble keeping up. She hoped, sincerely, that it wasn’t a portent of the ways things would always be.

  * * *

  By the time they reached the cabin door, Kip’s hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t get the card key in place. Tam needn’t have smirked, but once the door was open she didn’t care in the least.

  She’d given up her job and dragged Tam at a breakneck pace down the long pier and now she didn’t know what to do.

  Tam pulled her close and the door swung shut.

  So what if her brain still didn’t know what to do, she told herself. Her body knew.

  Tam’s kiss was tender and brief. “Your hair,” she murmured, pulling the tie off the ponytail. “I have been aching to touch it.” Tam’s face was buried just above her ear.

  “We have all afternoon, all night.”

  “We have longer than that.”

  Kip experienced that same dizzying sensation of melting, losing her edges against Tam’s heat. She untied her shirt, her heart beating hard and fast. It was intoxicating to be free of guilt, to be free of all her suspicions.

  She didn’t have to dig down to find a no.

  She could be all yes.

  The hastily stripped bed was firm, the sheets cool, Tam’s skin like silk. Clothes scattered, she explored Tam’s legs with her hands, smoothing up and down their length. She let Tam draw her up for a kiss and was shocked with a pleasure deeper than any she’d ever felt the first time her breasts touched Tam’s. The wonder of it spread throughout her body. It was nearly as intense to feel their stomachs touch and their legs tangle.

  The daylight that streamed from the porthole over the bed lit up Tam’s body, leaving no shadows. Once again Tam pulled her on top so that she was straddling her. Her unbound hair swept around them as they kissed. Only that morning Tam’s hands had stopped at the hem of her T-shirt, but nothing was in the way now and she moaned as Tam’s hands cupped her breasts. She was dissolving into Tam’s touch even as her blood roared in her head.

  Her fingertips had never seemed so sensitive to texture, but she could savor the difference in skin over Tam’s collarbone and her chest. She was so lost in the newness of Tam’s body that she didn’t feel the change in Tam’s touch until her hand had slipped between her spread thighs.

  She groaned and momentarily stilled. Gazing down into Tam’s face, she sought for her reflection in Tam’s shining gray eyes. Then she kissed her with yes, her needy yes. She begged with kisses and spread herself on Tam’s hands. All that electricity, the yearning, shadowed glances, the confusion of wanting, all swirled through her body in a rush like a waterfall. She spilled over and she breathed out a nearly inaudible, “More.”

  Tam’s eyes were fierce with passion. She pulled Kip down to her for more kisses, saying against her mouth, “More. All you want.”

  Finally, when Tam rolled on top of her, Kip felt a wave of surrender. Until then she had been taking what she needed, b
ut now she gave. Tam’s fingers were deep inside her, her mouth at her breasts was demanding and rough. She had never felt stripped bare like this before, so enjoyed and savored. She had never felt like she was giving so completely what was wanted.

  She moaned Tam’s name. Exhausted, only the edges of her desire sated, she leaned over Tam to watch her eyes as she finally explored the exquisite velvet and wet of her. There was only love there, bright with need and wonder. Her fingers caressed and she followed the light in Tam’s eyes. How far, how deep, how much, it was all there in eyes she had thought would never be open to her. There were no secrets, no shadows, and she was wanted.

  She abandoned Tam’s eyes to love her with her mouth, tasting passion, letting it paint her lips, roll over her tongue. She could feel Tam’s response and adored the mirror of their passion. She loved doing this and clearly Tam loved feeling it. She could have laughed with delight at the surging of Tam’s body, but saved it until the long arms pulled her up again and she was held close.

  Tam pulled a sheet over them, and Kip realized she was shivering with emotion, exhaustion and release all rolled into one. She kissed Tam with her wet lips, which drew a responsive shudder. If resting had been in Tam’s mind, she abandoned the thought and Kip found herself again loved, again wanted.

  * * *

  “We’re underway,” Tam murmured.

  Kip listened—she was right, the engines had changed. “Did we leave early or something?”

  “No, love. We’ve been in bed for hours.”

  Kip’s disbelieving eyes found the bedside clock, then she ducked her head sheepishly.

  Tam tipped her face up. “I’m not done with you.”

  She shuddered and felt so wanton, so undone. She could say nothing but “yes,” with her lips pressed to Tam’s.

  * * *

  “Do you suppose they’re still serving dinner?”

  Tam smiled sleepily against Kip’s hair. “Probably. If you can get up, I’ll join you.”

  Kip’s soft laugh flowed around Tam’s ears. “Okay, you got me. I can’t move.”

  “Warm enough?”

  “God, yes.”