Radclyffe - Price of Honor

“It must be very special, living with him and working with him, the bond between the two of you.”

“We’re partners,” Dusty said. “No different than any other partners.”

“Tell me how you knew this was what you wanted to do.”

Dusty grasped the glass of beer and seemed to be studying it. Maybe the question had touched a nerve. Viv hadn’t intended for this meeting to be about work, and she really hadn’t meant to bring up anything uncomfortable. Dusty had been clear earlier in the day she was most comfortable talking about Atlas’s role, not hers. Viv reached across the table and rested her fingertips gently on the top of Dusty’s hand. “This is off the record, but if you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay too. I really just wanted to know about how you knew this…partnership…was for you.”

Dusty looked up, her green eyes hazy, as if seeing something, or someplace, far away. “Most of the guys would probably say they like the chance to work solo in the field pretty much all the time, just them and their dogs. You’re moving around, searching out potential threats, rather than waiting passively for something to happen.”

“But not you?”

“Oh, me too. We like to poke fun at the guys standing post hour after hour by a door or a car.” Dusty laughed softly, but her expression remained distant. “All those things make the job really great. But for me, it’s more about him. He makes everything—my job, my life—work.”

“Atlas.”

Dusty nodded. “He gets me. I’ve always been able to connect with animals. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but growing up on a farm, I was always the one that could get a nervous mare to settle down or an aggressive buck to mind his manners.”

Charmed, Viv murmured, “Like the Dog Whisperer.”

Dusty blushed. “I was just more comfortable with them than anyone else.”

“Any idea why?” Viv had no intention of putting any of this in her article. This was about Dusty, and she wanted to know her. “Just between us.”

“When I was young, I stuttered,” Dusty said.

“Really? You’d never know that now.”

“It went away by the time I was ten or so, but it made me pretty shy in school.”

Viv squeezed Dusty’s hand. “I’m sorry. It’s tough being different at any age, but worse for kids.”

“It’s okay. Long time ago.” Dusty shook herself, just as Atlas had, shedding snow from his coat earlier. “So how about you? I bet you were the most popular girl in your class.”

Startled, Viv shook her head self-consciously. “I wasn’t.”

“I bet you were. Wait—cheerleader?”

Viv felt heat rush to her face. “Yes, but—”

“Prom queen?”

Viv groaned. “Listen, it was—”

Dusty’s eyes narrowed. “Let’s see, I bet you went to…Vassar.”

“You’re scary. Stop.”

“President of student union? And—”

“Okay, that’s it.” Viv narrowed her eyes. “You Googled me.”

Dusty laughed again, and the clouds in her eyes disappeared. “I did not. Although that’s a good idea.”

“I can’t believe you were ever shy.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re so good at reading people…well, me at least.”

“You think so?” Dusty said quietly.

“You were embarrassingly correct just now.”

“I was guessing, because of what you do and how you carry yourself. You’re confident, intelligent, and…beautiful.”

“Now you’re really embarrassing me.” Viv realized they were still almost holding hands and the dining car was filling up. She didn’t care what anyone thought about her, but they were in a work situation. Reluctantly she broke the contact and drew her fingers away. “If those were guesses, what are you thinking about me now?”

“I’m wondering how I got so lucky to be having dinner with you.”

“I was thinking something similar. Because I can’t imagine how you’ve managed to stay single so long.”

“I don’t bump into beautiful, intelligent, confident women very often. At least, not ones who have ever had any interest in talking to me.”

“Then you must bump into a lot of foolish women.”

“What about you?” Dusty asked. “Is there someone?”

“If there were, I wouldn’t be having dinner with you right now,” Viv said. “Oh, I might be having dinner, but not quite like this.”

“Like this?”

“Like personal, not business. Like I could sit here for the rest of the night with you because I want to find out everything about you.”

“I don’t think it would take that long.”

“Oh, I think it would take a lot longer.”

“I wish…” Dusty looked away, then directly into Viv’s eyes. “I wish we weren’t on this train right now. Because I’d really like to be alone with you.”

Viv’s heart thudded. “Would you? Why?”

“So I could keep holding your hand while we talked.”

“Well,” Viv said, as breathless as she’d been the first time she’d been alone with a girl and realized they were about to become more than just friends. She suddenly very, very much wanted to hold Dusty Nash’s hand. “Why don’t we have the steward bring us some sandwiches, and we can get Atlas and have a picnic somewhere.”

“You want to get Atlas?” Dusty’s startled expression morphed into something dark and intense and so compelling Viv leaned closer until their thighs touched beneath the white linen cloth.

“I don’t want him to be alone and wondering where you are,” Viv said softly. Her leg trembled. She trembled everywhere. “Do you mind?”

“No. I don’t mind at all.” Dusty’s long golden lashes flickered as her lids dropped lazily and her gaze skated over Viv’s face. “My room should be free now. It’ll be a little crowded, but cozy.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Dusty pushed back her chair. “I’ll tell the steward to rush the sandwiches.”

Chapter Fifteen

On the Rails

Blair grabbed the safety handle above the berth with one hand and the back of Cam’s head with the other, steadying her shaking legs. She twisted the thick dark locks between her fingers, pulling her lower lip between her teeth while trying valiantly to hold back a moan. Another stroke of Cam’s tongue broke her will.

“God,” she groaned, “stop. I think I hear someone—”

“There’s no one,” Cam murmured, rubbing her cheek over the soft valley between Blair’s thigh and her lower abdomen. “And even if there was, the train noise is louder than you are.”

Blair tossed her head back as Cam’s mouth closed over her again. “I think…you’re wrong there.”

She thought she heard Cam chuckle, but her mind was melting. A blazing sunburst wiped out thought, replacing awareness with glorious sensation. She didn’t remember falling, and maybe she didn’t, but the next thing she knew she was lying on the bunk with Cam beside her, leaning on an elbow and watching her with a self-satisfied grin.

“Proud of yourself?” Blair gasped.

“Supremely,” Cam said, her voice low and husky.

Blair hooked a finger in the waistband of Cam’s pants and tugged. “Why are you still wearing these?”

“I was overcome.”

Blair laughed. “Well, overcome some more and get undressed. I want skin.”

Cam kissed her and hurried to sit up. “Anything you say.”

Blair blinked some of the haze from her brain to watch Cam undress. Seeing her get naked was a pleasure that never got old, and one that somehow managed to stir the fires where she would’ve sworn she was completely reduced to ash. When Cam stripped off her shirt, Blair’s brain crashed back online. “What the hell?”

Cam frowned. “What?”

Blair jumped up and flicked on the small light over the tiny dresser sandwiched between the two miniature closets. “Turn this way.”