Finn placed her head on Luisa’s chest and listened to her heart beat as they waited for help to arrive. She had listened to bagpipers in Scotland, the Vienna Boys Choir in Austria, and an impromptu concert given by a trio of goat herders in the Maldives, but she had never heard such a beautiful sound.
“What word did you pick up from this trip?” Luisa asked wearily.
Finn could barely hear her over the sound of the rotors overhead.
“What?”
Luisa stroked Finn’s hair. Her hands were cold and wrinkled from the time she had spent in the water, but Finn didn’t mind. In fact, she had never felt so comforted. So safe. So loved.
“When we met, I said you must have picked up a lot of souvenirs over the years, but you said the only thing you like to bring back from a trip is a word deeply ingrained in the culture you’ve just visited but has no counterpart in English. What word did you pick up from my culture that has no counterpart in yours?”
Finn thought for a moment. But only a moment because she didn’t need a great deal of time to come up with the answer.
“Acceptance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve always felt like people were judging me when it was often the other way around. I needed to learn to give people a chance to be accepting instead of assuming they wouldn’t and keeping part of my life—part of myself—secret from them. I learned how to do that this week.” The women of SOS Tours had accepted her without question. She had not only made several new friends. She had made a change. A change she hadn’t seen coming, though she welcomed its arrival. “I learned something else, too.”
“What’s that?”
Finn lifted her head so she could look Luisa in the eye. “I love you, super cop.”
Luisa kissed her. “I love you, too, mariposa.”
Finn grinned. The nickname could have held negative connotations for her because it was the same name as the hotel where she had just spent the worst night of her life, but her heart soared when she heard Luisa say it. Because now the name truly seemed to fit. She felt like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Thanks to the events of the past week, she would never be the same again. And she would never be alone.
Because no matter where she went, Luisa Moreno would always be by her side. And in her heart.
Vacation Stretcher
Luisa held Finn’s hand as they walked across the gangplank that led to the waiting cruise ship. Over a thousand other women—some in couples, some traveling in groups or on their own—had also gathered to make the journey.
To make up for the traumatic experience their guests had endured in Cancún, the management of SOS Tours had offered them free vacation vouchers for a trip for two to the destination of their choice. Understandably reluctant to take a chance on another resort trip, Finn had chosen to use her vouchers on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, with stops in Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, along the way. Now she and Luisa were cashing it in.
Luisa couldn’t wait to have some fun in the sun with Finn, along with all the umbrella drinks and overflowing buffets they could handle. They hadn’t had any real downtime since the incident at the Mariposa Resort. They had taken a few days off after the case was closed and before Finn returned to America, but neither had been able to completely put recent events out of her mind. Their time together had been spent recovering and reconnecting. Now it was time to start moving forward. To start building a future. What better way to do that than on vacation? When they could relax and be themselves without having to worry about deadline pressure or backlogged cases.
Luisa had been on a ship before, if a day trip on a casino boat to celebrate her cousin’s thirtieth birthday counted, but she had never been on a cruise before. And she had definitely never taken a trip with so many glamorous stops along the route. Her family’s idea of vacation was packing up the car and driving to a relative’s house for a few days or spending a long weekend at the beach. With Finn in her life, however, she knew some things were about to change.
Some things already had.
She still loved her job and was as dedicated to eradicating crime as she ever was, but she didn’t take the same risks she used to take when she first joined the force. She couldn’t afford to be as reckless as she once was now that she had someone to come home to. Technically. She and Finn didn’t live in the same city yet, but that was just a matter of time. She knew they would end up together. The only question was where. Mexico City? Dallas? Cancún? San Francisco? Perhaps they should throw a dart at a map and make a life wherever it landed. Because it didn’t matter where they ended up as long as they were together.
“What do you want to do first?” Finn asked after a steward showed them to their room, a small cabin just above the water line.
Luisa turned away from the view of the pier outside the porthole window and steered Finn toward the bed.
“I can think of one thing.”
“We have eight days and seven nights for that,” Finn said with a playful grin. “Why don’t we unpack our bags and take a look around the ship so we can get our bearings before the kick-off concert starts? We’ll need to decorate our door at some point, but that can wait until tomorrow. After we find out where everything is and see how many of our friends are on board, we can spend the rest of the afternoon in bed.”
The social anxiety Finn had struggled with for so long finally seemed to be a thing of the past. She made friends easily, primarily because she had learned to let people in instead of holding them at arm’s length. People gravitated to her. And rightfully so. She was smart, funny, and filled with dozens of stories culled from her travels around the world. Who could resist her?
Luisa loved seeing Finn like this: engaged and happy. At the moment, though, she wanted to see her in a much different way: naked and wanting.
“There’s no time like the present, I always say.”
She pulled the suitcase from Finn’s hand and let it fall to the carpeted floor. Then she pushed Finn onto the bed, lay on top of her, and claimed her lips in a kiss. She didn’t want to see the ship. Not when everything she wanted to explore was right here in this room. Finn evidently felt the same way. She moaned deep in her throat and rubbed the sole of her foot against the back of Luisa’s leg.
“I like the way you think, super cop.”
“And I like the way you feel.” Luisa pulled Finn’s Intellectual Badass T-shirt over her head and ran a hand over the exposed skin. “Though I sometimes question your taste in fashion accessories.”
A spent bullet hung from a chain around Finn’s neck. Luisa fingered the misshapen projectile that had almost taken her life.
“Why did you keep it?” she asked.
“I wanted something to remember you by.”
“No, really.”
Finn covered her hand with hers. “Maybe I wanted something to remind me how close I once came to losing you.”
“You almost lost me,” Luisa said, “but you also brought me back.” She still had the occasional nightmare about the night she had helped to bring Javier Villalobos and the rest of the Jaguars down, but the bad memories were more than offset by the good ones she was creating with Finn. “Now you’re stuck with me.”
Finn smiled. “That works both ways, you know.”
Luisa caressed Finn’s cheek as the ship’s horn sounded and the massive craft slowly pulled away from shore. “I can live with that if you can.”
Finn smiled up at her. “If I have to.”
Luisa kissed her again. She sighed when Finn unbuttoned her shirt and slid her hands across her skin. Whenever Finn touched her, it always felt like the first time. Yet each time was better than the last.
She unbuckled Finn’s bra and cupped her breasts in her hands. Finn arched her back, rising to meet her.
“Okay,” Finn said, pulling her closer, “maybe sightseeing can wait an hour.”
Luisa grazed her teeth along the side of Fin
n’s neck.
“Just one hour? Are you sure that’s going to be long enough?”
Finn hissed with pleasure when Luisa gently pinched her nipples.
“Okay, maybe two.”
Finn flipped Luisa onto her back and finished undressing her. Luisa loved the constant shift in power between them. Neither of them ever had the upper hand for long. Unless, of course, that hand was doing something that felt incredibly good at the time.
“Stop looking at the clock.” To help her cause, Luisa pulled off Finn’s glasses and set them on the utilitarian nightstand next to the bed. “You’re on vacation. For real this time, not for the sake of a column. Toss the itinerary out the window. There’s nothing we have to do for the next few hours except enjoy each other’s company. This week, we have all the time in the world.”
“And after that,” Finn said dreamily as Luisa rubbed her sides, “we’ll have the rest of our lives.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Luisa pulled Finn toward her. Before she could lose herself in the woman she had fallen for practically from the moment they met five months ago, she heard a familiar popping sound in the distance.
“Are those fireworks?” Finn asked warily.
“No.” Luisa reluctantly pushed Finn off her and reached for her clothes. “Gunshots.”
Finn’s expression bore a trace of unwanted déjà vu.
“Here we go again.”
About the Author
Yolanda Wallace is not a professional writer, but she plays one in her spare time. Her love of travel and adventure has helped her pen ten globe-spanning novels, including the Lambda Award–winning Month of Sundays. Her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies including Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets and Women of the Dark Streets. She and her partner live in beautiful coastal Georgia, where they are parents to three children of the four-legged variety.
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
24/7 by Yolanda Wallace. When the trip of a lifetime becomes a pitched battle between life and death, will anyone survive? (978-1-62639-619-7)
A Return to Arms by Sheree Greer. When a police shooting makes national headlines, activists Folami and Toya struggle to balance their relationship and political allegiances, a struggle intensified after a fiery young artist enters their lives. (978-1-62639-681-4)
After the Fire by Emily Smith. Paramedic Connor Haus is convinced her time for love has come and gone, but when firefighter Logan Curtis comes into town, she learns it may not be too late after all. (978-1-62639-652-4)
Fortunate Sum by M. Ullrich. Financial advisor Catherine Carter lives a calculated life, but after a collision with spunky Imogene Harris (her latest client) and unsolicited predictions, Catherine finds herself facing an unexpected variable: Love. (978-1-62639-530-5)
Dian’s Ghost by Justine Saracen. The road to genocide is paved with good intentions. (978-1-62639-594-7)
Soul to Keep by Rebekah Weatherspoon. What won’t a vampire do for love… (978-1-62639-616-6)
When I Knew You by KE Payne. Eight letters, three friends, two lovers, one secret. Can the past ever be forgiven? (978-1-62639-562-6)
Wild Shores by Radclyffe. Can two women on opposite sides of an oil spill find a way to save both a wildlife sanctuary and their hearts? (978-1-62639-645-6)
Love on Tap by Karis Walsh. Beer and romance are brewing for Tace Lomond when archaeologist Berit Katsaros comes into her life. (978-1-62639-564-0)
Whirlwind Romance by Kris Bryant. Will chasing the girl break Tristan’s heart or give her something she’s never had before? (978-1-62639-581-7)
Love on the Red Rocks by Lisa Moreau. An unexpected romance at a lesbian resort forces Malley to face her greatest fears when she must choose between playing it safe or taking a chance at true happiness. (978-1-62639-660-9)
Tracker and the Spy by D. Jackson Leigh. There are lessons for all when Captain Tanisha is assigned untried pyro Kyle and a lovesick dragon horse for a mission to track the leader of a dangerous cult. (978-1-62639-448-3)
Whiskey Sunrise by Missouri Vaun. Culture and religion collide when Lovey Porter, daughter of a local Baptist minister, falls for the handsome thrill-seeking moonshine runner, Royal Duval. (978-1-62639-519-0)
Dyre: By Moon’s Light by Rachel E. Bailey. A young werewolf, Des, guards the aging leader of all the Packs: the Dyre. Stable employment—nice work, if you can get it…at least until silver bullets start to fly. (978-1-62639-662-3)
Fragile Wings by Rebecca S. Buck. In Roaring Twenties London, can Evelyn Hopkins find love with Jos Singleton or will the scars of the Great War crush her dreams? (978-1-62639-546-6)
Live and Love Again by Jan Gayle. Jessica Whitney could be Sarah Jarret’s second chance at love, but their differences and Sarah’s grief continue to come between their budding relationship. (978-1-62639-517-6)
Starstruck by Lesley Davis. Actress Cassidy Hayes and writer Aiden Darrow find out the hard way not all life-threatening drama is confined to the TV screen or the pages of a manuscript. (978-1-62639-523-7)
Stealing Sunshine by Tina Michele. Under the Central Florida sun, two women struggle between fear and love as a dangerous plot of deception and revenge threatens to steal priceless art and lives. (978-1-62639-445-2)
The Fifth Gospel by Michelle Grubb. Hiding a Vatican secret is dangerous—sharing the secret suicidal—can Felicity survive a perilous book tour, and will her PR specialist, Anna, be there when it’s all over? (978-1-62639-447-6)
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