Неизвестный - 2. Beyond The Breakwater

Tory sat on the edge of the bed and patted the place next to her. “Sit down for a minute.”

Immediately, Reese moved to her side and took her hand. “What is it?”

“We haven’t talked about this very much,” Tory began carefully, holding Reese’s left hand in hers. Absently, she turned the wedding band on her lover’s ring finger. “You know I wouldn’t change anything about you, don’t you?”

“Tor,” Reese breathed. She turned her head and kissed the tip of Tory’s shoulder, which at the moment was exposed where the night shirt she still wore had fallen down her arm. “What is it, love?”

“I’m not sure what it is exactly. I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy making me a little sensitive or the fact that…” She swallowed and waited a beat to make sure her voice was steady. “Or the fact that you almost died less than three months ago.”

“Ah, love, it’s over now.” Reese turned fully and drew Tory into her arms, cradling her as she rested her chin against the top of her head. “I don’t want you to worry.”

“That’s just it. I do worry. I’ve always worried a little about you getting hurt—I don’t think anyone whose lover does what you do for a living doesn’t. If you’ll recall, sweetheart, it was a gunshot wound that finally brought us together.”

“Tor—”

“My point is, Reese, that you do have a dangerous job. It would scare me under any circumstances, but now…” again, she drew a shaky breath. “I keep thinking how important you are. You’re everything to me. I wouldn’t want to live without you. But now, it’s even more important that you’re safe, because there’s going to be another life depending upon you.”

Reese’s chest tightened, and she drew Tory near. “I’ll be careful. I promise. You don’t have to worry about that, Tor. My family means more to me than anything in the world. I won’t do anything to risk it.”

Swiftly, Tory wrapped both arms around Reese’s waist and pressed against her, needing to feel her. Needing to know the solid reassurance of her unwavering presence. “I love you so much.”

“And you can count on it,” Reese whispered.

“Good, because I do.”

“Don’t we have a doctor’s visit coming up this week?” Reese asked gently.

“You don’t need to come with me every time.”

“What about your blood pressure?” Reese tried not to ask her about it very often, but it was on her mind every day.

Tory sighed. “There’s still a persistent elevation, but nothing approaching critical.”

“I’m going with you.” Reese tried hard to sound unconcerned, but her insides turned to ice.

“Reese—”

“I’m going with you. Friday, right?”

Tory threaded her arms around Reese’s neck and kissed her. Amazingly, as her breasts and stomach brushed against Reese’s hard body, she felt a swell of arousal. She kissed her longer than she had meant to, because Reese’s lips were soft and full and her mouth was so warm. The strong hands moving the length of her back and gently rubbing the muscles below the swell of her hips urged her blood to run faster and her muscles to tense. When she reached the point that she knew she needed to stop or go forward until she had satisfied her rapidly escalating desire, Tory pulled her mouth away. Gasping shallowly, she murmured, “Can you be late?”

Breathing rapidly herself, Reese shook her head regretfully. “I shouldn’t. Bri will be expecting me.”

Tory tightened her hold and rested her face against Reese’s shoulder. “I suppose this is good practice.”

Aware that her thighs were trembling faintly, Reese laughed hollowly. “Practice for what?”

“Coitus interruptus.” Tory leaned back, her eyes dancing. “I have a feeling that we’re going to be experiencing that a little more often once we have a third person in the house.”

Reese quirked a brow. “You know, maybe there are a few things about this baby thing we should have discussed in a little more detail.”

“Regrets, Sheriff?” Tory kissed Reese’s chin.

Smiling softly, Reese ran one finger along the edge of Tory’s jaw, ending with a light caress along her lower lip. “Not a one, Dr. King.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

When Bri walked into the station house thirty minutes before her split shift was due to begin, her father and Gladys were the only two people present.

“Hi, sweet cakes,” Gladys called. She’d called Bri that all Bri’s life and apparently wasn’t about to stop now.

Bri grinned and sketched a small wave in the air. “Yo, Gladys.”

“What say we take a ride,” Nelson suggested mildly before Bri had a chance to sit down.

“Yes, sir,” she responded, trying to hide her surprise as she followed him out to the cruiser.

“Caroline called me this morning,” Nelson announced without preamble. He spun the wheel and turned into the lane that led to the ranger’s kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot at Herring Cove.

“Is she okay? Has something happened?” Bri exclaimed, unable to keep the alarm from her voice.

“She’s okay, as near as I can tell.” He fixed his attention straight ahead, his hands curled around the steering wheel. “She sounded pretty upset.”

“Dad—”

“I didn’t get you out here to lecture, Bri,” Nelson said gruffly. “God knows, I’m no expert at this kind of thing. She asked me if she could live with me this summer.”

“What?” Bri shot up straight in the seat, staring at him in amazement. “She has a job in Manhattan this summer! She’s not coming home. That’s how this whole thing got started.”

“What whole thing?”

Bri blushed. “This whole…mess…between Carre and me. I thought she was coming home for the summer before she went to Europe, and then she told me that she was going to stay in Manhattan. When I heard that, I…I got a little crazy.”

“A little crazy?”

“I…we had a fight. It was my fault. It was stupid.”

“Well,” Nelson said, finally turning to watch her, “she wants to come home now. She said she got a job with one of the artists in town…something about a special deal she arranged with the chairman down there.”

“She’s coming home,” Bri whispered, her heart sinking as she tried to understand what that meant. And she didn’t call me.

“You know, Bri, I think a lot of her. Hell, I love her.” He cleared his throat again and searched his shirt pocket for his Tums. When he found one, he pulled it out, tore off the wrapper, and chewed it vigorously. “I know she doesn’t have anywhere else to stay here, not with the way her old man always treated her. But…you’re my daughter. If it’s going to be a problem—“

“No!” Bri shook her head. “No, it’s no problem. It’s fine.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, Bri. But if you…if you love her, you should try to make it right.”

Bri was momentarily speechless. It was the most he’d ever said about her and Caroline’s relationship. He’d given them a home and given them his protection when they’d needed it, but he’d never really said very much about their being together. Him saying it now brought unexpected tears to her eyes, and she had to look out the window and blink.

“I love her,” she whispered, watching a gull bank steeply toward the ocean’s surface and disappear under the crest of a wave.

“That’s good then,” he said as he started the engine and backed out of the parking place. “Good she’s coming home.”

When Bri and Nelson returned to the office, Reese was there at her desk leafing through a stack of papers. She motioned to Bri to join her and said, “We’re getting some feedback from the feelers you sent out.”