by Geonn Cannon
"Hi. Perfect timing. I just finished getting ready." She looked at Ari. "Wa-hey, you certainly clean up nice, don't you?"
"Same to you. Of course anyone looks better than we did this morning."
"Right, right." She touched Dale's shoulder in greeting. "And you look lovely as well, Miss Dale."
Dale grinned. "Thanks. We're going to Jak's... you're not a vegan wolf or anything, right?" She caught Milo's response in the rearview mirror and smiled. "Just making sure. You can never tell with Brits."
Milo chuckled and fastened her seatbelt as Dale got back onto the road. Ari gestured at the house as it receded behind them.
"I knew you'd have a nice place, but that was quite a domicile."
"Yeah. To be honest, I was more interested in the fact it butts up against a big wooded area than anything else. Lots of room to run around without worrying I'll be seen or rounded up by animal control. But I guess I'm just a city girl at heart."
Ari said, "From London?"
"Little town in Yorkshire, actually. But I've always gravitated toward the city."
They settled into a comfortable silence, broken only by Dale asking how Milo liked the city while Ari gave suggestions on which parks were canidae-friendly. By the time they passed the University, they were acting as if they'd known each other for years. Milo had moved up to lean forward between their seats to tell a story about two wolf friends she had left back in England.
"I got to the house first, so naturally I got my choice of clothes off the laundry line. Grabbed the trousers and vest, so Paige got the skirt and blouse. And poor Benji..." She swept her hand across her mouth to stifle her chuckle. "Well, let's just say it's a good thing he has the legs for a sundress."
Ari laughed. "Oh, man. You're evil."
"Hey, I'm not going to walk into my friend's pub wearing a bleedin' frock. Got a reputation to uphold."
Dale said, "And the genius of the stash proves itself again."
"I don't know. Even with the stashes, I've had to walk around town wearing some pretty unique outfits."
Milo snapped her fingers. "Worst one. Go."
"Oh, God, I couldn't even..." Ari looked out the window. "A sort-of lime green waitress uniform. It was like I was auditioning for some lame seventies porno."
"My worst was a tarp. Just a big blue tarp I had wrapped around me like a toga."
Dale faked irritation. "Now I feel all left out. I've never wandered around town in a bizarre outfit."
"What about that blue-and-orange dress you got last year?" Ari said.
Dale slapped her arm, and Ari rubbed her thigh to show she was only kidding. Dale smiled and turned onto a side street, craning her neck to look into the restaurant's parking lot.
"Looks like we got lucky. Slow night." She glanced at Milo in the rearview. "We once waited an hour for a table here."
"Wow. Hope it was at least worth the wait."
"Oh, yeah. Normally I'm impatient as hell, but I can wait when the result is something extraordinary." She involuntarily glanced at Dale, remembering how long they'd been 'just friends' before taking the next step, and they shared a smile.
They proved to be luckier as a trio, getting seated and placing their drink orders in less than twenty minutes. Dale and Ari sat across from Milo, and Dale placed her hands on the table and leaned forward.
"Uh-oh. Interrogation pose," Ari said. "Brace yourself, Milo."
Milo tensed dramatically.
Dale said, "I'll go easy on her. Ari said you got an inheritance, but why did you choose Seattle? I mean, besides the fact it's the best city in the world?"
Milo laughed and hunched her shoulders as she looked around the restaurant. "I just always wanted to see America. When I got the means, I thought I should see my own part of the world first. So I bounced around London, spent some time in Scotland and Ireland, then decided to jump over here. I thought maybe Seattle, you know... green and cold... I thought it would be a nice way to acclimate myself before I tried New York or something really jarring."
Ari laughed. "There's also a larger canidae population here than anywhere else in the country."
"Yeah, that was definitely a plus. I didn't know for sure, but there was bound to be, right? All these woods and mountains around, gotta be a wolf or two. And sure enough, I'm here less than a month and..." She gestured at Ari.
Dale smiled at Ari. "Yeah. She has a way of just popping into people's lives when they least expect it."
"Usually for the better, I hope," Ari said as their drinks arrived. Ari and Dale ordered for themselves and, with Milo's blessing, chose something for her that was sure to win her over.
Milo waited for the waitress to leave before she spoke again. "How about you two? How on Earth do you decide to be a private investigator?"
"It just sort of happened. I was in the right place at the right time and met a woman who ran an agency. I started out as her assistant and when I had enough hours of apprenticeship to get my own license, I did. Then Dale came along and turned my flailing into an actual business." She shrugged. "The rest is history."
"Wow. I never thought about it being something people did, like, in real life. The gentleman detective? It's so Sherlock Holmes."
Ari shrugged. "If you're going for literary references I prefer Dupin."
Milo whistled. "Oh, a literature junkie. I love it. So... Dale told me how you two met when I stopped by this morning." Ari glanced at Dale, who shrugged. "When did it go from work partners to more?"
"About a year ago. There was a big case we were working on. I was a person of interest in a murder, so I had to go on the run for a while." Milo threw her head back and laughed, and Ari couldn't help but smile. "Yes, yes, we lead exciting lives. Anyway, Dale stuck by me through it all. And I realized that even if I lost everything else, I was okay as long as I had her by my side. Once I admitted that much, it seemed silly not to be with her."
Milo grinned. "Aw. That's sweet. I myself am terminally single. Had a girl for a while there for a while, but that... didn't... really work out." She worked the edge of her glass around the water ring it had formed on the table.
Dale could tell it was a sore subject, so she latched onto the part that seemed safest. "Girlfriend, huh? Are all canidae gay?"
Ari laughed, but it was Milo who answered. "Nah, just the coolest ones." She lifted her glass and Ari clinked hers against it.
They exchanged personal histories over the meal. Milo told them about driving a cab in Wales, Ari and Dale told about some of their more interesting cases.
"Must be convenient to use your wolf to watch without being seen."
"Sometimes," Ari admitted. "Sometimes it can be a hindrance."
Dale brightened. "Are you going to tell her about the time you were rounded up--"
"Nope."
Milo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, now you have to tell me."
Ari lifted her chin and rubbed her neck. She glared at Dale. "I'll make you pay for this." She smoothed her hands over her thighs and straightened in her seat. "I was supposed to be watching this guy for a workman's comp claim. He said he hurt his knees and could barely walk, so I wanted to get evidence he was lying. So I had the wolf watching his house for a while so I could learn his routine without him seeing me. It just so happened that the night I chose to begin my investigation, Animal Control got a tip about stray dogs running around in the neighborhood. I gave them a good chase, but they eventually got me."
Dale smiled. "She had to spend nearly thirty-six hours in a kennel until I finally tracked her down."
Milo shuddered. "Sounds awful."
"It's not as dire as it sounds, really. It was one of the good kennels."
"Sorry, I still don't see how that's a funny story. That's one of my worst nightmares."
Dale snickered. "She didn't tell it right."
Ari glared across the table at her. Dale raised an eyebrow, challenging her. Finally Ari sighed.
"There was a poodle in the next cage. You spend an entire day n
ext door to someone, you get acquainted. So we bonded a little."
Dale said, "And when the poodle got picked up by her owner, she broke out again and came to find Ari."
Milo's grin widened. "Ah. You got yourself a girlfriend."
"Two weeks she followed me around. Outside the office, outside the apartment, every time I turned around, that damn poodle was there."
Dale rested her chin on her fist, fingers curled against her lips. "I thought it was cute. Puppy love."
Ari narrowed her eyes and Dale twitched her eyebrows up and down.
"How'd you finally get rid of her?"
"You want to tell her?" Ari asked Dale, who was obviously barely containing her glee.
Dale laughed. "Doggie dating service. She went to a dog park up by Green Lake. The poodle followed her, of course, and Ari waited until she got distracted by a new target and headed home as fast as her feet could carry her. So far she hasn't come back."
"That story is really not as good as you think it is," Ari assured her.
"Oh, sure it is," Milo said. "Your children would have been fierce and fluffy."
Dale snorted through a mouthful of water, covering her hand as she half-coughed and half-laughed. Ari reached over and patted her back until the fit ended.
"Sorry."
"No, it's fine." She took another sip of her water and swallowed it carefully, then glanced around to make sure no one had noticed her choking.
Milo said, "Well, turnabout is fair play. Went home with a girl from a bar. Human girl for a change, because she was just far too hot for me to give a shit about her species. So we were getting the typical one-nighter under way, right, things progressing nicely, when suddenly she starts sneezing uncontrollably. Red face, hives, can't breathe. She looks around and says, well... wheezes is more like it, asks me if I have a dog. Deathly allergic."
Ari winced. "Ouch. Talk about a mood killer."
"Yeah. I couldn't even take her to a hospital because I'd just make her sicker. Kind of shitty to just give her cab fare and hope for the best."
Dale said, "So what did you end up doing?"
"Put her on a bus."
Ari laughed. "Poor lady."
Milo shrugged. "Sex with me may be great, but it's not worth dying for."
Dale snickered and checked her watch. "Well, ladies, it's been fun, but I think we've lingered long enough. There are people waiting for the table."
"Too right." Milo picked up the check and took out her credit card. When the waitress whisked it away, Milo folded her hands on the table in front of her. "I truly enjoyed this evening. Thank you, ladies."
"It was our pleasure," Dale said. "And thank you both for hanging around with a boring, normal human like me."
Milo clucked her tongue against her teeth. "Nonsense. Pretty as you are, who needs a wolf?" She reached out and pinched a strand of Dale's hair between two fingers. "Or I suppose with the red hair you'd probably be a fox."
Ari smiled as Dale blushed. The waitress returned Milo's card with the receipt and they abandoned the table.
They drove south again, stopped by the raising of the Montlake Bridge. As they waited for the boat to pass and the bridge to lower again, Milo spoke up from the backseat.
"So, Dale. Not to be pushy, but when would be a good time for you to show me some of these stash locations? I'd like to get a few of them set up as soon as possible just so they'll be ready if I need them."
Ari said, "I don't think I'll need you too much tomorrow. If you wanted to take the day off to take her around town..."
Dale shrugged. "Sure. We can go in the afternoon, after the lunch rush settles down."
"Excellent. I want you both to know I really appreciate all you're doing for me. You're really going above and beyond the call. I feel a bit guilty, to be honest."
Ari jutted out her chin and spoke with a raspy accent. "One day, and it may never come, I will ask you to do a favor for me."
Dale wrinkled her nose. "Worst Brando ever."
Ari grinned.
"What do you have to do tomorrow, Ari? Unless you can't discuss the case."
"I probably shouldn't. But I won't need Dale for it. You'll be doing her a favor. I think she goes stir crazy in that office sometimes."
"Mm-mm," Dale said, shaking her head. "It's nice and quiet. I can meditate."
Ari smiled.
The bridge eventually lowered and they continued on. Dale pulled up in front of Milo's house and twisted to look into the backseat. "So tomorrow around one? Should I pick you up, or do you want to come straight to the office?"
"I'll come to you. It's only fair that I pay for the petrol if we're going to be driving all over the city. So I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for giving me my first great night out in America, ladies."
Dale made sure she safely reached the front door and was inside before she drove off. She reached blindly in the dark and found Ari's hand.
"Want me to drop you at your place?"
"I want to stay at your place tonight."
Dale brought Ari's hand to her lips and kissed the knuckles. "That's a right answer."
Ari smiled and leaned back against the headrest. Her sleep schedule had been screwed up for a week. Naps stolen on the couch in her office, sleeping for three or four hours at home while everyone else was going to work... she was grateful the dogfight case was closed down. The kidnapping case would, she prayed, only fill up the normal working hours of the day. She wanted a real bed, and she wanted to share it with the woman next to her. Everything else could sort itself out for a few hours.
Chapter Six
The act of pulling into her usual spot in the apartment building's garage signaled to Dale's brain that the day was finally at an end. It had started much, much too early with Ari's call from the warehouse and seemed to drag on endlessly. Now her brain seemed to receive the message it was okay to shut down and a yawn escaped before she could restrain it. She stretched when she got out of the car, sagging against Ari's side as they walked to the elevator. Ari put an arm around her waist as Dale rested her head against her shoulder.
"Long day," Dale sighed.
"Yeah." Ari kissed the top of Dale's head and pressed the button for her floor. Dale closed her eyes during the ride and let Ari half-carry her the rest of the way inside. She fished the keys from her pocket, let them in, and turned to Ari in the darkness. Ari kicked the door closed behind her and cupped Dale's face as they stepped toward each other for a kiss. Dale stepped out of her shoes as she lifted her arms to drape them across Ari's shoulders, her wrists crossing behind Ari's head as she stepped backward toward the wall.
Their lips separated with a gasp from both of them, and Dale swept the hair back out of Ari's face. "I've missed you." The words rode out on a gasp, barely spoken before Ari's lips were on hers again. Ari moaned her response, sliding her hands down Dale's sides and then tugging her shirt out of her slacks when they moved back up. She slipped her hands underneath and brushed her fingers over the bare skin underneath, smiling into the kiss as Dale's body hitched and jerked at the touch.
"Missed you, too." Ari pulled back and spun Dale around so she was facing the wall. Dale chuckled and closed her eyes as Ari kissed her cheek, the line of her jaw, and cupped her breasts from behind. She arched her back and bit her bottom lip, knees bent so she could push her hips backward against Ari's.
Ari brushed the hair away from Dale's ear. "Remember before we were together?" she whispered. "Those times when we would kiss or touch and decide it wasn't worth the risk to the partnership to try making it something more?" She nipped Dale's earlobe.
"Uh-huh..."
"Yeah," Ari sighed. "That was stupid."
Dale laughed and reached back to stroke Ari's hip through her pants as Ari began unbuttoning her blouse. She tugged it down and lowered her head to kiss Dale's now-exposed shoulder. Dale's bra was black, and Ari had been teased to glimpses of it through her cream-colored blouse all night. She took the strap between her teeth and pulled it
down, then ran her tongue over the lightly freckled pink skin to suck on the base of Dale's neck.
"Ariadne..."
She shivered and brushed her fingers over Dale's stomach, teasing her navel before moving down to her belt. She unfastened it with ease and pushed the material down over Dale's hips without bothering to unbutton. She straightened and pressed against Dale, who craned her neck back to catch Ari's lips as Ari hooked both thumbs in her black underwear and dragged them down her legs.
The bra fell next, and Dale rested her cheek against the wall as Ari ran the flat of both palms over her. She cupped her breasts, pinched her nipples between her fingers, and then rested her hands on Dale's hips.
"Bedroom?"
"Um-hum," Dale murmured.
Ari retreated in order to free her, took her hand, and led her down the short hall to the bedroom. Dale stepped away from Ari just long enough to turn on the bedside lamp. It was dim enough that it only seemed to give shape to the shadows rather than banish them entirely, but it was perfectly romantic. Dale turned, her curves cast into sharp relief. She brought her hands up, stopping just short of covering her breasts and hooking her fingers on her neck instead. Her lips were slightly parted, her breath held as she watched Ari looking at her.
Ari swallowed hard and took a step, but Dale shook her head. "Uh-uh. Stay there."
"What?"
"Undress." It was barely whispered, and Dale turned her head to the side and smiled as she said it. Her eyes sparkled, wide and mischievous, and Ari couldn't help smiling in response. She unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off, tossing it onto the foot of the bed as she toed off her shoes and kicked them out of the way. Dale brushed her hands down, cupping her own breasts as Ari dropped her pants and kicked them out of her way.
"Wanna help me with this?" Ari asked as she hooked a thumb under her bra strap.
"Yeah..." Dale stepped forward and kissed Ari, reaching behind her to undo the clasp. The bra fell away, and Dale walked her fingers back under Ari's arms. Ari's breasts fit perfectly in Dale's hands and she massaged them as her tongue slid over Ari's teeth, pressing the hard buds of the nipples as Ari guided her back toward the bed.
