Melissa Good - Hurricane Watch

”Ah ah, keep an open mind, Dar. You never know what can happen. You all could come back best of friends,” Alastair chuckled.

”And, by the way, I just processed your year-end bonus. I know I forgot to send you a birthday card, but see if that’s an acceptable substitute.”

”Alastair... ”

”Gotta go, the chairman of IBM is here. We’re going to swap lies and exaggerations over rubber chicken,” Alastair told her. ”Just do it, Dar. When you get back, if it was that awful, I’ll make it up to you.”

”How?” Dar inquired sourly.

A slight pause. ”We’ll talk about resolving the issues in a more direct way.”

Dar's dark eyebrows lifted. ”All right,” she agreed quietly.

Alastair chuckled. ”That’s my Dar. Try to have a good time, huh?”

He hung up.

Hurricane Watch

33

Mari shifted in her chair, and shook her head. ”You have such an interesting relationship with him,” she sighed. ”You’re one of the few people I can say for sure he really, really likes.”

”Well, I tried.” Dar gave her a wry look. ”This is going to be a nightmare, Mariana.”

”I know,” the personnel VP agreed. ”You and me, Duks, Kerry, José, Steven, Mark, his second, Eleanor, and El’s assistants, and my assistant Mary Lou.” She paused. ”You know what your biggest problem is going to be, don’t you?”

”Besides not killing Steven?” Dar played with a pencil. ”Yeah. I do.” She glanced up at Mariana. “Not giving him a real hook to hang me with.”

”You two have such a cute little chemistry when you’re around each other,” Mari told her wryly. ”That’s going to be tough to hide out there in the wilderness with nothing to do but talk to each other and roast marshmallows.” She stood up. ”Thanks for trying, my friend. It was a good fight, and you’d have had him if we hadn’t already coughed up the bucks.”

”Yeah.” Dar leaned back, exhaling. ”I should have just offered him my bonus back to cover it,” she told her friend wryly. ”It would be worth the money.”

Mari chuckled as she turned to leave. ”It’s just two days, Dar. We’ll be back in Miami on Sunday afternoon. I’m sure we’ll survive.”

Dar regarded her back as she left, then she threw her pencil down on the desk, leaning forward and studying the packet in consternation.

A light tap on the inside door, however, put a wry smile on her face.

”C’mon in.”

Kerry poked her head in, then entered. ”Hey.”

”Hey.” Dar leaned back in her chair and folded her hands across her stomach.

”Are we in trouble?” Kerry inquired curiously.

”We may be.” Dar pushed the packet over to her. ”Cancel your plans for the weekend.”

“You mean our plans?” Kerry approached the desk. “Did we have any? Other than hanging with Chino?”

“We do now.” Dar steepled her fingers and waited for Kerry to read the bad news.

Kerry took the packet and sat down in one of Dar’s visitor chairs, studying it with interest. ”Oh, I’ve heard of these.” She glanced up with a smile. ”This sounds interesting. It’s upstate from here, isn’t it?”

”Mm hmm,” Dar acknowledged.

A shrug. ”Sounds like it might even be fun, Dar. I mean, there are cabins, it’s not like you’re out foraging for hickory nuts or something.”

Dar chuckled. ”If it were just you and me, or just you, me, Duks and Mariana, and even throw Mark in there, I’d agree with you, but we’re going to have Steven, José, Eleanor, and a couple other people 34

Melissa Good

with us.”

”So?” Kerry peered at the agenda. ”Oh, that’s cool. They have obstacle courses, and you have to help each other through them.” She looked up. ”Who knows? Maybe it’ll help, Dar.”

The dark haired woman gazed at her. ”So, you don’t mind spending an entire weekend pretending not to know me?” she inquired mildly. ”Other than as your boss?”

Kerry blinked. ”Oh.” She bit her lip. “Jesus, I didn’t even think of that.”“Living in cabins with these people?” Dar added. “Making believe we don’t really like each other?”

”Right. Hmm. You couldn’t get us out of this?” Kerry winced. “I have enough trouble doing that for the eight hours we’re here for work.”

”I tried.” Dar lifted her hands and let them fall. ”Alastair had already paid for the damn thing. We’re kind of stuck.”

They looked at each other. ”Ew,” Kerry finally sighed. “How are we going to do this?” She stood up and put the packet back down on Dar’s desk, then circled around and perched on the edge of the wood next to where Dar was sitting. “We avoid the problem by avoiding each other during the day.”

”Unfortunately true.” The executive's lips twitched. “Even Mari says we click when we’re together.”

Kerry raked her fingers through her pale hair. “Maybe we can act it out,” she said. “What’s the most obvious stuff?”

Dar looked at her. “Well, for a start, I have to say you’re the first assistant I’ve ever had who’s made a habit of camping on my desk.” She tweaked the edge of Kerry’s skirt. ”Most of them wouldn’t get within ten feet of me.”

Kerry's eyebrows lifted. ”Their loss,” she replied in a sultry tone which brought a genuine smile to her boss’s face. Reflexively she reached out and touched Dar’s cheek, letting her thumb trace the smile, then she uttered a soft sigh. ”Two days, huh? This is going to be a bitch on wheels, Dar.”

The smile widened slightly and Dar curled a hand around Kerry’s knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. ”We’ll survive.” She glanced at her watch. ”Let’s go to the damn meeting. I want to see Stevie baby’s face when he sees what his email kicked off. What did he want from you, by the way?”

”Oh.” Kerry stood, and backed out of Dar’s way so she could stand up. ”He wanted me to sell you out for the possibility of getting your job.”Dar paused in the middle of standing, then she slowly straightened and ran a hand through her hair. ”Funny,” she commented briefly.

”That’s the deal Elana took.”

Kerry snorted. ”I knew she was an idiot when I saw her. Trade you Hurricane Watch

35

for this job? Give me a break.” She bumped Dar lightly. ”Not for any job on earth...or anything else on earth for that matter, or anything on Mars, Jupiter, the moon...”

Her words were abruptly cut off by a pair of warm lips and a fierce hug. ”Mm,” Kerry murmured, when they parted. ”I’m not sure, but I think that might clue them in to our relationship, Dar.” She leaned back in and ran her hands over the cool fabric of her lover’s shirt and kissed her again.

”Yes it would, but thank you.” Dar caressed her cheek, and pressed her lips against Kerry’s forehead before she released her. ”C’mon, we’re going to be late.”

THEY COULD HEAR the yelling halfway down the corridor. ”Oh, this sounds pleasant.” Dar muttered, glancing at her companion. Kerry pursed her lips in agreement and pulled the door to the conference room open, motioning Dar to precede her.

The loud voices ceased as her six-foot-plus frame cleared the door, and all eyes turned her way. Dar was aware of Kerry entering behind her, but she kept her attention on the group around the table and paused, putting her hands on her hips.

The silence went on for a long moment, then Dar lifted one elegant eyebrow. ”Is there a problem?” she snapped, putting aggravation into her voice. ”Or are you people just yelling at each other out of boredom?”

José stood up, or to be more accurate, stood further up, since he was already kneeling on one knee on his chair. He waved a familiar looking packet at her. ”Have you seen this shit?” He slapped it on the table. ”What is this crap?”