Moving Target

by Melissa Good

"Cheaper, too." Kerry agreed.

  "Hey." Dar spread her arms out and indicated their surroundings. "This ain't the YMCA, Yankee. You insinuating I'm cheap?"

  "No." Kerry placed a gentle kiss on her partner's shoulder. "You're priceless." She gazed up at Dar with utter seriousness. "Not to mention definitely one of a kind."

  Dar blushed, and blinked a little, at the switch in attitude. "Um."

  "And you're all mine." Kerry whispered, giving the shoulder near her lips a small bite, just to break the mood again. "Love you."

  Wide, blue eyes gazed back at her.

  Kerry winked and smiled.

  After a second, Dar grinned back and slid down a bit into the water, giving the impression of a tail wiggling puppy totally at odds with her stature. "You're awesome."

  "Am I?"

  "Yeah. You really are." Dar put her arm across Kerry's shoulders, and hugged her. Then she picked up her glass and touched it against Kerry's again.

  "Mm." Kerry stretched her legs out into the flow and leaned her head against Dar's shoulder. "You know, I thought those guys were going to be more pissed off than they were," she said. "Even Michelle was just sort of resigned about it."

  Dar took a swallow of her champagne and licked her lips thoughtfully. "Want to offer her a job?"

  "Gurk." Kerry almost ended up snorting her bubbly.

  "Hey, they were trying to offer us jobs the last month." Dar said, reasonably. "She's not bad, and I'd rather have her on our team than heading up another attempt at screwing us over."

  "That was Shari."

  "The brains behind that was Michelle, and she's in a place where she wants to win for a change." Dar disagreed.

  Kerry considered that while she drained her glass. She gently rolled the edge of the flute against her lower lip for a moment, and then shrugged. "Okay," she said. "At least then, if you and I decide to take off and go our own way, there'll be someone there who can make me feel like I'm not leaving the company totally tanked. "

  Dar regarded her in some surprise. "Wasn't thinking of that really...but you have a point."

  Kerry nodded, holding her glass out. "Fill her up, Dixie. I'm in the mood to get a little silly tonight."

  Dar obliged. "Feels good not to have to worry about this damn project, doesn't it?'

  "You bet." Kerry leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "Feels very, very good." She murmured. "Very, very nice not to feel stressed to the point my guts ache."

  Dar gazed off at the horizon, sipping the rest of her champagne as she watched the stars twinkle overhead. "It's going to be nice working from the cabin next week" She commented casually.

  "Oh yeah."

  "Maybe I can figure out a way to make that a more frequent arrangement."

  Kerry opened her eyes and lifted her glass, taking a sip from it. "Maybe you can." She agreed quietly. "You hear from the folks yet?"

  Dar nodded. "They're due into South Pointe in about an hour."

  Kerry waited, but nothing more seemed to be forthcoming. "And?"

  "Said they'd talk to me about it after they got back."

  "Ah." Kerry drained her glass again and set it down. "Hope your mother kicked her ass to kingdom come."

  "Huh?" Dar's cell phone rang, and she lifted it off the verge and opened it. "Ah." She held it to her ear. "Morning, Hans."

  "Are you not sleeping?" Hans answered. "I will call later, if that is not the case."

  Dar chuckled. "Kerry and I are in the hot tub. Don't bother calling later. What's up?"

  "Ahem." The German cleared his throat. "You will need to come here so that this wonderful deal of ours can be signed. Perhaps after next week."

  "Sure." Dar agreed. "Thanks for telling me you were part of the family over there, by the way."

  Hans chuckled now. "We do not show all our cards, even to our friends," he said. "We were very fortunate that I moved when I did, you must realize. He was committed to say yes to whatever persons figured out the deal and asked him first."

  "Really?" Dar glanced at Kerry, who had squirmed up to listen. "Risky, especially since he doesn't like Americans that much." She considered switching to English, then figured she'd just fill in the blonde woman afterward.

  "He is not a stupid man. He knows who put the machines inside those ships. I have to say, however, that he was not so disappointed to find who my partner in this was."

  "Ah."

  "He seems to think that I have stepped up in the world, in fact."

  Dar laughed. "Well, he hasn't met me yet." She remarked. "But I'm glad it worked out. Remind me to tell you what I went through tonight over this when we get together to sign it."

  "I will do so. But before that can occur, there must be something straightened between us." Hans' voice became more serious. "There is something that before I did not tell you."

  Dar's eyebrow quirked. "Yeah?"

  "It is a matter of a piece of technology," Hans said. "A piece of cellular technology that you perhaps found inside of your office, at one time."

  It was easily the last thing she expected to hear. "He's asking me about the gadget Mark found in the conference room." She murmured to Kerry. "I think he knows something about it."

  "Really?" Kerry inched closer. "How?"

  "What about it?" Dar responded in German. "How did you hear about that?"

  Hans cleared his throat. "I caused it to be put there."

  Dar's jaw dropped. "You did?" She managed to get out in something other than a squeak.

  "What?" Kerry nearly crawled up Dar's body.

  "I did." Hans confirmed. "It was not simple, you understand, to acquire the thing, and I am saying it was brilliant, even for myself, to arrange to be put there."

  Several things jumped to Dar's lips, and she stifled them. "Why?" She kept her voice even.

  "Ah heh." Hans seemed a little embarrassed. "To satisfy the little kicking that you gave to me, yes?" He admitted. "I could not let that go unanswered."

  Dar put her glass down and raised her hand to cover her eyes instead. "Son of a bitch."

  "What?" Kerry hissed. "What in the heck's going ofuf--mmph." She got the message, and subsided, her lips tingling from the kiss. Dar's free hand dropped under the water and she felt the pressure of it against her hip, her body responding to the touch immediately.

  "It was clever, yes?" Hans said. "An intriguing machine, to be sure."

  "Except I found it," Dar gathered her wits, "before it could do anything, so your little trick didn't quite work." Absently, she traced a line up Kerry's side and across her ribs.

  "Ah, no."

  "And the guys who own the thing are signing a development deal with us."

  "Is that not always the case with you?" Hans sounded wryly humorous. "I am convinced if you fell into a puddle of mud you would get some free facials from it," he said. "But at any difference, if it does matter to you I am sorry if that caused you any difficulties."

  Dar exhaled. "Hans, trust me when I tell you of all the crap I've had to deal with in the last month, that was the least of it. Glad you told me."

  "I feel much better now. I will go have a beer." Hans replied.

  "For breakfast?"

  "It is better for you than is coffee. I will be in touch in some days to make plans. Good night."

  Dar closed the phone and set it down. She looked at Kerry, who was crouched over her, chin resting on Dar's breastbone. "One more mystery solved." She informed her. "Seems like..."

  Kerry's hands slid down Dar's body. "Know what?" She lifted her head up a little and kissed her partner. "I've got another mystery I'd rather talk about right now."

  "Oh. Don't you want to hear--mph." Dar felt the bubbling water between them disappear, replaced by Kerry's body pressing against hers. "Guess not." Kerry's thigh slipped between hers and she felt Kerry's arm circle around her, pulling her even closer.

  "No." Kerry kissed her again. "Tomorrow." She felt Dar's arms close around her. The pressure made her hiccup a little, and she accepted a tou
ch of dizziness as the champagne worked into her bloodstream. "Or maybe the next day." She added, hearing Dar's soft chuckle in her ear. "What I want right now is you."

  "Got me." Dar whispered. "C'mere."

  Oh yeah. Kerry went willingly, losing all sense of her surroundings as Dar's touch became intimate, and the pressure of the water jets blasted against her suddenly very sensitive skin. Lovely way to end the day.

  Lovely.

  THE LIGHTS OF the city came into view on the horizon, twinkling gently and throwing a soft glow onto the overhead clouds. Ceci lifted her wine glass and sipped from it, enjoying the breeze the boat's speed was affording her at the moment.

  It would slack down soon, when Andy entered the shipping channel but the up side to that was that they'd pull into their home marina soon after and rid themselves of their unwelcome guest. They'd hardly spoken a word to each other since leaving the cruise ship behind, and Ceci had refused to offer her even so much as a glass of water on top of it.

  Dar had asked them to retrieve the wench, she hadn't said they needed to offer her hospitality, and Ceci was damned if she was going to attempt to be nice after all the crap the woman had pulled on her daughters.

  Whoa. Ceci's eyeballs widened, and she hastily took a gulp of wine. Let's not take this whole maternal thing too far, hm?

  "How much longer do we have to go?" Shari asked, in a subdued voice.

  Ceci craned her neck and viewed the horizon. "About an hour." She decided. "Depends on whether or not my husband is in the mood for playing chicken with those freighters over there."

  Shari looked up at the flying bridge, then returned her attention to the water. "Why did you bother doing that?" She asked suddenly. "Going all the way out there?'

  "Dar asked us to." Ceci replied simply.

  "Why?" Shari asked. "What the hell was she after this time?"

  Ceci had pondered that very question herself, but didn't see any need to expose that fact. "You'll have to ask her that." She replied. "Of course, there's always the possibility she did it because it was a decent thing for her to do."

  Shari snorted.

  "In which case, you've got her father to thank for that trait, cause it certainly didn't come from me." Ceci smiled humorlessly. "I'd have let you go right to the bottom, which I think was a hundred fathoms there."

  Shari looked at her in surprise.

  "I am not idiot tolerant." Ceci explained. "And someone who keeps banging their head against a concrete sidewalk is a total idiot in my book."

  Shari looked away. "I don't expect you to understand."

  Ceci laughed. "See? You are an idiot," she said. "I raised her." She added, in an amused tone. "Of course I understand. You're the one who doesn't."

  Shari looked toward the shore, as though wishing it would come closer faster.

  "Listen." Ceci leaned on one chair arm. "I'll give you some free advice, and maybe it'll be worth the time it'll take for me to say it. You can't win."

  Shari looked sharply at her. "Bull."

  Ceci shook her head seriously. "You can't, because the harder you push, the harder she pushes back, and if you keep pushing, trust me kid, you're the one who is going to end up being knocked over." She held up a finger as Shari started to speak. "She gets that from him." A thumb pointed up toward the bridge. "There just is no losing in either of them."

  Shari looked off into the distance and didn't answer.

  Ah well. Ceci got up and stretched, setting down her cup and going over to the ladder to climb up it. She joined Andrew at the helm and sat down next to him, leaving the sulky obnoxi-tude down below. "Almost there? I want to jet clean the back deck."

  "Heh." Andrew chuckled softly. "Ah do not get why Dar done that."

  Ceci shrugged lightly. "Just wanted to do the right thing, maybe? She does that sometimes, you know."

  Her husband looked at her, his pale blue eyes glinting softly in the reflection from the instruments. "Ain't that the truth," he said. "Howsomever, I could throw this here boat into a 360 and I figure we'd lose that trash off the back deck right quick."

  Ceci put her arm around him. "No twirling, sailor boy. Just put this thing in the garage. It's getting late," she said. "Let's discharge our cargo and see if any of the neighbors are up for a nightcap."

  "Sounds all right t'me." Andrew agreed. "Sooner's better, though." He grinned a little, and gunned the big engines. "I don't' figure to wait for them slow boats."

  "Uh oh." Ceci took a firmer hold. "Glad I battened down the hatches inside."

  "You want to give a warn to that there woman?" Andy asked.

  "Nope."

  "Heh."

  Chapter Sixteen

  KERRY PUSHED LAZILY against the post the hammock was anchored to, her eyes closed as she listened to the conference call going on in her ear bud. It was the weekly general administration meeting, which she usually chaired since operations tended to be in the center of whatever was going on.

  Today though, she was merely listening as Jose rambled on about sales projections and Eleanor kept throwing in her two cents worth.

  "Hey, Kerry?" Duks broke into the buzz. "Are you still there?"

  "I'm here." Kerry replied, rocking herself in a gentle rhythm.

  "Your entire department is empty, you do know that right?" Jose said. "If something stops working I don't know what in the hell we're going to do."

  "I know," Kerry said. "We gave everyone the week off who worked the project."

  "Including yourselves." Eleanor sniped mildly.

  "Yup."

  "I have heard through the grapevine," Duks regained the conversational ball, "that there is a large contract to come out of that calamity."

  Silence. Kerry smiled into the warm salt air. "Of course," she said. "What'd you think Dar was doing it for, exercise?"

  Everyone chuckled after a moment's awkward silence. "So we got one over on Telegenics, huh?" Jose said. "That is a pleasant change."

  "Oh, I think Dar locked that one up for you too." Kerry reached over and retrieved her mug, sucking a mouthful of fragrant iced tea through a straw. "I don't think they'll be bothering us much anymore."

  Silence again. "Did you guys go amok with a Gatling gun or something?" Eleanor asked.

  "Long story." Kerry replied. "But you might want to prepare your people out there, Jose. Dar's going to move back into new business acquisitions."

  "Eh?"

  Kerry could well imagine the looks of consternation going around the table. She sucked another mouthful of tea contentedly, and was glad she wasn't there. "I'm going to be working on restructuring the back end of things. We need some changes."

  "Uh."

  The porch floorboards creaked, and Kerry felt warm fingers take hold of her bare toes, tweaking them.

  "All right, ah, that's a little sudden, isn't it?" Eleanor hazarded. "But, then again, it's your department."

  "Yup." Kerry agreed. "It is. Anything else, guys? I have another meeting to go to." She opened one eye and studied the mischievous expression on Dar's face. "And I think I'm late for it."

  The sound of shifting furniture came through the line. "No, I think that's it." Jose said. "So, you are really going to just call in for this whole week? Must be very nice."

  Kerry reached out and hooked a finger into the ragged pocket on Dar's shorts. "Don't like it? Find another set of ops management." She told Jose bluntly.

  Dar leaned over and pressed her head against Kerry's so she could hear the bud also.

  "Hey! I wasn't saying anything!" Jose protested. "Take it easy already. Jesu."

  "I'm sure we'll adjust." Mariana broke in. "After all, we do all of our international calls remotely. This isn't anything different."

  Kerry tweaked Dar's earlobe. "Exactly," she said. "You'll just have to cope with it because we have a life to live and that's just how it's going to be." She pressed her hand against Dar's stomach, suspended over her when she thought she heard purring and felt the vibration that confirmed it.

&n
bsp; "Um, okay," Eleanor said. "More info than we needed, but whatever floats your boat, mmhm? Long as you keep producing, that is." She added. "But that's the same rule for all of us, isn't it?"

  "Eh." Jose grunted. "C'mon, let's go do lunch," he said. "We're done here."

  "Bye, Kerry." Eleanor added. "Thanks for the good news about the project."

  "Bye." Kerry clicked the phone off and turned her attention fully to her partner. "Hi."

  "They sound miffed." Dar carefully tumbled her way into the double size hammock, ending up next to Kerry. "Were they?"'

  "I don't care." Kerry exhaled. "I think I realized something, Dar, over the past few weeks," she said. "Remember the argument we had at Disney?"

  "We had an argument?"

  "In the bus."

  Dar went over her memories of the recent past. "That wasn't an argument."

  Kerry offered her a sip of ice tea. "It was, because I was putting work ahead of us, and you damn well should have called me on it."

  "Ker."

  "We've only got one life." Kerry turned her head and regarded her partner. "We have to live every minute of it."

  "Ah." Dar curled her fingers around Kerry's and squeezed them. "Might not be the best thing for our careers."

  "Don't give a damn."

  Dar leaned over and kissed her. "Then it probably won't matter." She answered. "But I don't care if it does either because I've learned something over the past few weeks too."

  "Have you?" Kerry murmured.

  "Yes." Dar touched her nose to Kerry's. "There is no other shoe." She tilted her head and kissed Kerry again. "And I want to live every second of this life all the way with you."

  It was a truly sweet moment for both of them, and they paused to enjoy it, indulging in a long kiss as the tide rolled in against the rocks and sand nearby.

  In the distance, a ship's bell rang.

  "Ah, sounds like the fish boat's in." Kerry smiled and held up her cell phone, offering Dar an ear bud. "Want to sit in on my projections meeting?"

  "Sure." Dar snuggled closer, fitting the bud into place. "Come with me to England next week?"

  "Oh, you bet your buns I will." Kerry chuckled, as she dialed the phone.