by Melissa Good
“Shit,” she heard Chuckie groan behind her, and it made her laugh; and the hoots of the other men suddenly rolled around her as they spotted her clearing the end of the pits and heading toward the finish.
She tucked her head down and bolted, feeling a crazy surge of energy as the wind brushed her hair back and the rain stung her face.
The trees that marked the end flashed by, and she slowed, bouncing to a halt and into the welcoming arms of the four waiting sailors, who caught her and slapped her back, laughing and razzing Chuckie, who finally made it past with a curse.
Dar could feel her heart pounding from the exertion, and it certainly hadn’t been nearly as good a performance as the last time she’d done it, but... She chuckled as she watched Chuckie lean over, holding his belly, his face a visible crimson even in the low light. “Gotta Red Sky At Morning 125
lay off the damn beer, Chuck.” She put her hands on her hips, glad beyond measure she’d kept up the sessions in the gym, and the running, and the martial arts, if for no other reason than to be able to stand here on this mud-covered patch of ground with a bunch of her old friends and look better than they did.
Erf. Dar winced. That was damned egotistical, wasn’t it?
“Hot damn, Dar.” Mike clapped a long arm over her shoulders.
“You are still one hot mother, y’know that? How about marrying me?”
Dar laughed. “I thought you had a girlfriend?” She poked him. “Or at least that’s what you were bragging about in that bar.”
“Well, I didn’t hear you say you was married,” he joked back. “So I figured I got a chance.”
It was a strange feeling. Dar took a breath and released it. She’d been straightforward and out regarding her sexuality for so long, she’d forgotten what it felt like to be around people who had no idea, and to whom it would matter.
To whom it would matter to her if they knew. Dar felt her euphoric mood evaporate, and she took a mental step back and tried to figure out what to do. Her nature disliked unneeded lies, but a part of her was enjoying this unexpected reacceptance into an old world and resisted the estrangement she knew would be caused by acknowledging her lifestyle.
“Asshole. You ain’t got no chance,” Duds snorted. “Dar’s got way better taste than you.”
Dar managed a smile, then she walked over to where Chuckie was still recovering. “Hey.” She bumped him lightly. “You all right?”
Her old boyfriend straightened, then blew out a breath. “Other than having my goddamned ego dragged over a bed of nails and my bank account emptied? I’m great.” His lips twisted. “Will you take a check?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Dar shook her head slightly. “It was worth the kick just to see if I could still do it.”
“Wench.” Chuckie’s face relaxed a little as he realized Dar was serious. “Just for that, you’re gonna take us out to the steakhouse.” He pointed toward the parking lot. “Now that I proved ship captains do spend too much time sitting on their butts, let’s go.”
The four others strolled ahead, leaving Chuckie and Dar to walk together toward the parked cars. “Wench.” The Naval officer gave her a look. “I’m gonna have to explain to half the base tomorrow why I got Band-Aids all over my hands from that damn course.” He held up his hands, visibly scuffed and scraped in the streetlamp light.
“Me, too,” Dar admitted, holding up her own hands in evidence. “I don’t get much in the way of calluses pounding a keyboard.”
“Ah.” Chuckie sighed. “We’re getting too old for this.”
Dar chuckled. “Yeah.” She flexed her hands, wincing a little.
They were both quiet for a few strides. “Ass kicking or not, it’s 126 Melissa Good good to see you, Dar,” Chuckie finally said softly. “Got some good memories of us.”
“So do I,” Dar replied. “Your letters to me in college used to crack me up.” She reflected on those long past times. “I’m sorry we lost touch.”
Chuckie shrugged one shoulder. “We knew we would. That was two real different worlds we were going off into.” He glanced at Dar. “I knew I didn’t end up doing too bad; always wondered where you ended up. Might have figured you to be some top brass somewhere.”
“I used to wonder if I’d made the right choice.” Dar inhaled, and looked around. “Now I know I did, but...” She shook her head.
“Definitely had second thoughts.” She raised her voice. “Hey, head over to the third row. I’ll drive.”
“Don’t trust Mike?” Chuckie laughed. “He’s not half as bad a driver as your daddy ever was.”
“No. I figure I’m the only one who’s likely to have room for all of us,” she said dryly. “Unless you ended up getting a Suburban. Did you?”
“Hell no,” Chuckie snorted.
“That’s what I thought.” Dar angled her steps toward the Lexus.
“C’mon, I figure it’s going to take my shock absorbers to handle you herd of steers anyway.”
“Ooh...” Her old friend laughed. “I think you hang out with us just so you can feel petite, in that case.” He bumped Dar’s shoulder with his own. “Hey,” his voice dropped a little, “you going with someone right now, Dar?”
The approach came around a blind corner and surprised her.
“Yeah,” she managed to answer, on an uneven breath. “Yeah, I am.
Why?”
He shrugged. “Just asking,” Chuckie said. “I’m between ships, if you catch my drift, and I thought if you were too, maybe we could hook up, for old time’s sake.”
Dar realized she had about ten seconds before they caught up with the four others waiting. She lifted a hand and unlocked her doors. “Not a chance.” She softened the words with a smile. “I’m very taken...and very happy about it.”
“Ah well.” Chuckie returned the smile. “Just the way my luck’s been running. What’ve we got here?” He turned his attention to the car.
“Good Lord, do you mean to tell me you drive a damn Lexus?”
“Yep.” Dar opened the driver’s side door and watched them pile in.
“Hey, one of you guys has to get in the far back. You can’t all fit in there.”
“Heh,” Mike chuckled. “Wanna bet? You forget what service we’re in, Dardar.” The back seat was filled to the brim with squished sailors.
“More room in here than in a Polaris. Get driving.”
Dar rolled her eyes, but slid behind the wheel and started the Red Sky At Morning 127
engine. “Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna regret this?” She felt the car rock as the men in back started singing and moving back and forth.
“C’mon, Dar, sing with us. I know you can,” Duds chortled. “What do you do with some drunken sailors...”
Dar sighed as she pulled out of the parking slot, but joined in anyway, filled with a very mixed set of emotions. It had been a day far too full of conflict, and she found herself sure of only one single thing.
Five sailors and fifteen beers equaled the tonal quality of six dozen sets of dogs’ toenails on a chalkboard.
Jesus. Dar hoped she survived the short drive to the steakhouse.
KERRY YAWNED AS she collected her steaming mug of hot chocolate and wandered back into the living room. Chino butted the back of her knees and almost made her trip, the animal very glad to see at least one half of her family after the long day. “Hey, cut that out,”
Kerry chided the dog. “You aren’t the one who’s going to have to clean this tile if I spill chocolate all over it.”
“Gruff.” Chino pounced on her hippo and brought it over, crouching down and shaking it, begging for some play time.
“Okay, let me put this down,” Kerry laughed, setting aside her cup and grabbing the toy. “Go get it...g’wan.” She tossed the stuffed animal to the other side of the apartment and watched Chino scramble after it, her toenails sliding on the hard surface.
“Bring it here.” Kerry sat down on the couch and tugged the toy free of Chino’s very wh
ite teeth, throwing it over past the dining room table as the retriever acted true to her breed and fetched it. “Good girl.”
She played with the dog for a while, taking a moment in between tosses to turn on the television and stretch her body out along the couch with a sense of relief.
It had been a very long day, with a surprisingly nice ending. Kerry smiled, remembering the hour spent patiently coaxing Andrew into sharing her sushi in the little sushi dive on the beach she and Dar loved to go to.
Mental note, Kerry, she reminded herself. Don’t take SEALs to sushi bars unless you want to know things about the fish you’re eating that would make the plots for excellent sci-fi movies. He’d finally settled on the cooked variety of sashimi and some stir-fry chicken, leaving Kerry to her more adventurous raw tidbits. They’d shared some sake, though, and she’d enjoyed the evening very much, listening to stories of Dar’s harum-scarum youth and hearing the note of unconscious pride in Andrew’s voice even when recounting the goriest details.
Kerry leaned back against the leather surface, tensing and relaxing her muscles as she idly watched Steve Irwin cavort across the screen, hugging a crocodile to him and enthusing over its toothy good looks.
128 Melissa Good
“What a whack job,” she commented. “Did you know he has his own toy set now, Chino? Should I get you one? You want to chew Steve’s head off?”
“Gruff.” Chino tossed the slightly soggy hippo up to land on Kerry’s side.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Kerry tossed the toy again, then slid down and put her head on the couch arm, allowing her eyes to close briefly as she considered the tasks she had left to do that evening. A wash was due, and she had those reports to go over, and there was that project Dar had left her.
Kerry let one eye open and regard the room, then she closed it again. Or she could just take a nap here on the couch, which was nice and warm and comfortable. Maybe she could compromise, she reasoned, snoozing until Dar called, which would definitely wake her up.
Yeah. That was a good idea. She reached over and picked up her cell phone, which was on the coffee table, and brought it closer, resting her hand on it as she allowed the sleepy feeling to take over and relax her, easing away the last of the lingering headache that had aggravated her all day long.
IT WAS VERY quiet as Dar pulled into her parking spot, sliding in next to a shiny new smaller version of the car she was driving. She got out and closed the door gently, then ran a hand over the dark blue paint of Kerry’s new car. “Nice,” she approved, peering inside before making her way up the small flight of stairs to the door.
It had been a nice dinner, if loud, and they’d made it back to the base just after midnight. She’d let her friends out, then sat there for over ten minutes, wondering why she didn’t just get out herself and go to the bunk they’d assigned her.
Finally, she’d gotten out of the Lexus, and instead of going toward the building, she’d walked back over to the guardhouse and asked them if the roads had opened.
They had.
Dar had walked back to the car, gotten inside, and left, choosing the drive back to Miami in the early hours over staying on the base, hardly knowing why she’d take the long trek when the Navy bed could not be that uncomfortable.
The feeling of relief as she keyed in the lock convinced her it had been a good decision, though; not that she’d really doubted it. She opened the door and slid inside, stopping in surprise as she spotted the lights still on and heard the television’s low mutter.
Chino jumped off the couch and ran over, shaking her head sleepily, clearly startled to see Dar, but glad. Dar rubbed the dog’s ears, but kept her eyes on the dozing form curled up in the corner of the couch.
Red Sky At Morning 129
Quietly, Dar walked over and knelt beside where Kerry was sleeping, allowing herself a long moment to just study her lover. Okay.
She smiled silently. So this is why you came home. Asleep, Kerry’s face held a relaxed innocence that always touched Dar’s heart, and she found herself looking forward to the surprised delight she knew would be there when she woke Kerry up.
“Ker.” Dar stroked Kerry’s cheek gently, and after a second, the pale lashes stirred and lifted, revealing slightly dazed green eyes that fastened on her face, then brightened in welcome as a smile appeared at the same time. “Sorry I didn’t call.”
“No problem,” Kerry replied, her voice slightly husky from sleep.
“I like this mode of contact much better anyway.” Her smile widened. “I guess the road opened, huh?”
Dar nodded. “Yeah. I had dinner with the guys, and when I got back, they said it had; so I decided to come on home instead of staying down there.”
“Good.” Kerry caught Dar’s hand and pressed it against her cheek, then kissed it. “Crudpuppies. I had so much I wanted to do tonight. I fell asleep figuring your call would wake me up.” Her fingers felt something odd, and she turned Dar’s hand over. “Holy crap. What did you do to your hands?”
Dar cleared her throat gently. “Ah...well...” She laughed with a touch of embarrassment. “You’re not going to believe this, but I um...”
Kerry hitched herself up on an elbow and examined Dar’s palm.
The surface was scuffed and bruised, and several long cuts were visible.
“Is that a splinter? What happened?”
“Probably.” Dar sighed. “It involved a bet, some obstacles, and a lot of ego.”
“With your ego coming out on top, right?” Kerry guessed, giving her a tolerant grin, seeing the half-hidden look of smirking triumph cross Dar’s face. “I thought so. Let me go get the tweezers.” She planted a kiss on the base of Dar’s thumb, then stretched out, pulling her T-shirt tight against her body and squeaking a little as Dar took that opportunity to lean over and nibble her in a very sensitive spot.
“Ooh...hold that thought.”
She squirmed up off of the couch and stood, facing Dar as she straightened. “Dar, you do realize you’re covered in mud, right?” Kerry inquired, plucking at her lover’s shirt. “Did you spend the whole night like this?”
Dar looked down. “Uh.” She blinked at the gray stains, which covered her liberally. “Well, we all did. It was raining...and I was wet...I don’t think I—”
“Noticed.” Kerry nodded. “No, I guess you wouldn’t, if the fabric was wet. C’mon.” She inserted her fingers into Dar’s waistband and tugged. “Into the shower with you, my little mudpuppy.”
“You just want me to get naked and wet with you,” Dar observed as 130 Melissa Good she obediently allowed herself to be hauled along. Now that Kerry mentioned it, though, the jeans she was wearing were getting kind of itchy.
“And you have an issue with this?” Kerry stopped and faced her, lifting a brow.
“No.” Dar stepped closer. “It sounds better and better every second.”
Kerry smiled and resumed her tugging.
They left their clothes in one corner of the bathroom and went under the warm water, with Kerry making little tsking noises as she took their scrub sponge and attempted to clean the mud off Dar’s skin.
“Do I dare ask what you were doing?”
Dar had been standing with her eyes closed, thoroughly enjoying the attention. The slightly rough texture of the sponge was leaving a nice tingle behind it, and now she lifted one eyelid to see Kerry looking up at her through wisps of steam and water. “Huh? Oh. We had a bet on between me and Chuck: which one of us could make it through the torture pit first.”
“Ah.” Kerry scrubbed a stubborn spot, keeping her head down and swallowing a jolt of irrational jealousy. “You won, I take it?” she asked.
“It’s going to be interesting meeting him on Friday...unless you’ve changed your mind and would rather I didn’t go.” She forced herself to look up. “I know these are old friends of yours, Dar, and they probably don’t know you’re gay, do they?”
Dar’s eyes widened a little in visible surprise. “No, t
hey don’t,” she answered honestly. “In fact, Chuckie asked if I was available tonight.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “I told him I was very taken.” She thought a moment, feeling the water beat down on her back. “It’s a hard question, Kerry. I’m not going to say I haven’t been thinking about it.”
Kerry kept still, watching Dar’s face, seeing only intent thought behind her expression. “I know. It’s hard,” she agreed softly. “Telling my family was hard. I’ve never felt embarrassed by it, but I knew they’d be.”
“Mm.”
“I think it will make them uncomfortable.”
Dar nodded. “I think you’re right.”
Kerry inhaled, surprised at how difficult it was to get the words out. “So, I think it’s better if you go without me, this time.”
“It’d make them more comfortable if that’s what I did,” Dar agreed softly. “They’re a very traditional family.”
A breath. “So that’s what you’ll do, right?”
“No.” Dar’s voice was quite calm, and almost amused. “If I was in the business of making people comfortable, I’d be an airline flight attendant. I’m not. I’m an individualistic nonconformist with a lot more attitude than sense, so if they can’t accept the fact that I’m gay and I’m married to you, they can just kiss my ass.” She leaned over and brushed Red Sky At Morning 131
Kerry’s lips with her own, feeling the small gust of surprise as her lover reacted and exhaled. “But thanks for offering. And by the way, I think you missed a spot.”
Hmm. Kerry resumed scrubbing, a dumb grin on her face. “Did I?”
She worked her way up Dar’s belly to her breasts, making very sure there were no lurking patches of mud. “I’ll just have to go over everything twice.” Her hands slid over Dar’s collarbone and across her shoulders as she licked the warm droplets of water off the skin in front of her nose. “Mm.”
A light touch behind her neck moved her hair back, then Dar’s teeth were taking tiny nibbles out of her throat as their bodies slid together and she felt Dar’s thigh between her own. She forgot the sponge, letting it drop.
