by Cass Sellars
“I’m letting you keep yours until you stop using it on me,” Parker whispered playfully to Syd.
“It doesn’t work on anyone but you anymore.” Syd sent her lover a sexy smile.
“Good answer.” Parker kissed the words hotly into her girlfriend’s ear. Apparently, Syd’s shivered response had been what Parker desired as she turned back to the show.
* * *
“So, what do you do besides kickboxing with unsuspecting bar patrons,” Taylor flirted. She had leaned an elbow onto the surface and stood close to Darcy rather than sitting on the vacant stool, for which Darcy looked unreasonably grateful. Taylor casually dangled her beer from long fingers as she spoke.
“I work in a lab. How about you?” She refocused her offhand response into a return question, using her sexiest voice. “When you’re not charming unsuspecting bar patrons, that is.” Taylor seemed to be enjoying having a woman so blatantly flirting with her.
“I work for CacheTech. It’s a computer company on the west side. I just took over as inventory manager.”
“You mean it’s your job to know how much stuff they have at all times?” She made sure to sound genuinely fascinated, and then she realized she really was. Darcy watched Taylor’s mouth glide over words. Her teeth were white but the bottom row was slightly crowded.
“Yeah, we have a system, so it’s usually not too hard.” Taylor looked pensive as she lifted the bottle to her lips.
“Usually, huh? That doesn’t sound good.” Darcy leaned a little closer to her target and suddenly forgot to think of her that way.
“Yeah, I’m just taking it over and we’re bleeding inventory like crazy,” Taylor said. “And I don’t know why I’m boring a very beautiful woman with work stories.”
Darcy watched Taylor pick at the corner of the label on her bottle before staring through the heat she felt forming between them.
“Do you want to dance with me, Taylor?” Darcy knew she had a job to do but she felt immensely attracted to the woman with all the answers. She decided she could extract them from her later. The feel of strong arms around her waist might make her forget that Sydney Hyatt and her new lover sat just a few feet away.
In her heels, Darcy looked almost straight into Taylor’s eyes. She happily allowed herself to be moved over the floor by the delectable target of her investigation. Darcy leaned her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes, steadied in Taylor’s grip and breathing in the scent of her.
After two dances, Taylor led a reluctant Darcy back to her seat, never releasing her grip on her narrow waist. “I think we might need more drinks.” Darcy was unwilling to let Taylor go and it had nothing to do with the case.
“Or we could go have a late dinner and talk some more.” Taylor held her hand and stroked her skin as she spoke.
“I would really like that.” Darcy stared into Taylor’s sharp features. “I’m ready if you are.” She guided a light hand over Taylor’s bare arm, dragging her fingernails behind.
“Give me a minute to make a pit stop and then we’re out, okay?” Taylor tapped a finger on Darcy’s chin. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“Right here when you’re ready.” Darcy watched her lanky frame disappear into the bathroom.
She was shortly joined by Mack, who ambled up to the bar, pretending to drink from her long-empty beer bottle. “Well?”
“It’s a start. I’ll get something by tonight. We’re headed to dinner. Call you later.”
“Be careful.”
“Yes, Dad.”
Mack chuckled and shook her head leaving the empty bottle on the bar.
* * *
Taylor Westin overtly appraised the curvy blonde in tight jeans as she slid into the booth across from her at Cadillac Jack’s.
“What can I get you?” Taylor asked Darcy, seemingly captivated as she never moved her eyes from Darcy’s.
“Beer is fine, light please.” Darcy actually had butterflies in her stomach when she looked over the table at Taylor.
“It seems we have some things in common…perhaps.” It should have sounded like a line to Darcy, but it didn’t. Taylor’s delivery didn’t make it seem like one either.
After dinner and a variety of conversation subjects, they strolled into the parking lot hand in hand. Darcy had collected the requisite information, enough to get them to a new place in the investigation anyway. She couldn’t ask anything more without sounding like she was conducting an interrogation. Besides, she couldn’t stop herself focusing on the way Taylor was making her feel. The way Sydney used to, all those years ago.
“I’m having a really nice time, Taylor. I hope I can see you again,” Darcy said as she sat in the passenger seat and slid her fingers across the center console tracing the pebbled pattern of the taupe vinyl. Taylor turned toward her and covered the hand with hers.
“I don’t want to let you go just yet.” Taylor stared at her and smiled briefly.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t.” Awkward silence was replaced by a tiny whimper when Taylor delivered a ravenous kiss that Darcy thought she would remember for a long time.
Chapter Thirteen
As she returned from a punishing workout, Syd’s phone rang from the slot in the console of her car.
“Sydney!” Zander Young’s loud nasal voice made Sydney flinch. “Miss having you riding my jump seat!” The awkward young pilot had landed the county job just out of flight school. Sydney imagined that someone in his well-connected family had pulled some strings on his behalf in order to secure him the coveted position.
“I’m sure you say that to everyone, Zan. Got anything good for me?” Sydney glanced her fingers through her hair, still damp from the shower.
“Well, as a matter of fact I do. Three hours of uncut video of the darks streets of Silver Lake. Don’t say I never gave you anything,” the young helicopter pilot joked. “So, what’s in it for me?”
“How about I don’t call Captain Bevins and tell him what a bad boy you’ve been with his admin in the back of his new Eurocopter?’ She was smiling, imagining the look on his pale face.
“Geez, Hyatt. That’s just mean!” He seemed to know she was kidding…almost. “How do I get it to you?”
“Where are you? I’ll pick it up now.”
“I’m at the mall. I can meet you in the parking lot if you want.”
“Perfect. I’ll be there in ten at the food court. And, Zander, we never had this conversation, okay?”
“What conversation?”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Syd raced back to her studio after collecting the disk and worked continuously until she heard Parker walk through the door at seven p.m. Sydney waved quickly barely breaking her focus on her computer. Parker headed up the stairs, thumbing into the studio. Syd spun in her chair, “I got it, I got it, I got it.” She smiled and smoothed her hands over her hair.
“Going to share what you got?” Parker grinned as she was dragged into Sydney’s lap.
“First, tell me about your day.” Syd took in Parker’s weary features and drew her hand down the sides of her structured raw silk blouse.
“Well, I talked to Mia today and she told me she definitely wants to rent the loft. She seemed really relieved, and I think she’ll be happy to be close to some friendly faces.” Parker leaned back against the arm of the chair. “It will seem weird to have someone else actually living there, but I’m glad it will be her.”
“It will always be your place, though.” Sydney tried to reassure her.
“True, but I much prefer our place, because it’s where you are. Oh, and I kind of volunteered you to help her move some boxes next week and help her with the bedroom furniture. Mack and Jen are going to pick mine up tomorrow, okay?”
“Of course. You’re doing a good thing, babe.” Syd held Parker’s hands to her lips, kissing her fingers.
“I think it will be good for her and good for us, not having to maintain two places. Are you still sure you’re okay with this, me
being here permanently, with no escape?” She smiled playfully.
“Let me think. The gorgeous woman I’m in love with will be here all the time where I can have my way with her at my whim. My libido won’t know what to do.”
“You have a one-track mind, my love.” Parker laughed and inclined her head toward the computer. “Now show me what you got today.”
“Okay. Watch.” Syd whirled the two of them back toward the monitor and clicked the mouse to start the video. A nasal voice squelched through. “Reference Signal 36 Team Alpha 22, no visual on suspect at this time.”
Parker crinkled her nose at Syd in question.
“Ignore that. They were looking for the home invasion suspect which is why they were up in the first place. It’s here you have to watch.” Syd pointed the end of her pen on a white square moving through some dark streets. Syd punched in some keys and a dashed outline framed the white shape and zoomed it to the center of the screen.
“Here’s the warehouse.” She pointed to a gray square. “Here is where the roll-up door would be. Now, watch the truck make a turn and back in, probably right before Sandy saw them. In fact”—she punched through another sequence and the picture zoomed out and refocused to show a different view—“there’s Sandy’s patrol car, and there’s the truck pulling in. They probably wouldn’t have noticed her, not at first, but she couldn’t have helped but seen them.” The image pivoted and marks on the side of the box truck were barely visible.
“Too bad you can’t see the name on it, huh?” Parker looked disappointed.
“I’m insulted that my girlfriend has so little faith in me.” Sydney pouted for as long as she could while she made the markings fly from the side of the truck into a new window and start to fill in.
“Well, now you’re just showing off,” Parker teased as she watched, obviously impressed. She tucked her toes under Sydney’s thigh and stared at the screen. Suddenly the image of a computer plugging into a globe began to darken and spin onto the left side of a page. Seconds later, a tall building materialized onto the other side with the same logo and the name CacheTech, Inc., printed beneath it.
“Oh my God, Syd! You did it!” Parker hugged her neck and peppered her cheeks with kisses. “You’re a genius. Did you call Mack?”
“I was just about to when you came home and I wanted to show you first. Besides, Mack won’t kiss me and call me a genius.” She smiled at Parker, but studied her face carefully. She saw dark shadows under her eyes.
“She better not. I’m going to change and meet you back here. I’m so happy to be home and to see you…and this!” She unclipped her cell phone from the waist of her skirt and handed it to Syd. “Call Mack before I do and blow the surprise.”
“I love you, baby.” She smiled as she watched Parker grin back at her from the top of the stairs. As Parker tapped down the metal steps, Syd called after her, “Let’s go away together when this is over. I think we could both use a break.”
“If there will be massages and lots of sex, I’m in,” Parker called back.
Syd dialed Mack while she compressed the rough copy of the video and emailed it to Mack’s covert account. She placed a thumb drive with the raw video next to the pallet ticket in a pocket folder marked Recipes and closed it into the safe drawer.
Mack answered the phone. “We’re headed over there in an hour. I’ll call Dean. Is that okay?” Mack spoke quickly at the prospect of some new investigative direction.
“Sure, see you then,” Sydney replied and dropped the phone onto the counter. She had hoped to see the aerial video circle back to the warehouse but the final twenty minutes of footage showed only frames of a small neighborhood and a line of uniform backyards. By the time the video panned back to the warehouse area, the crime scene had already been discovered and the video documented only a burst of flashing lights. She grabbed Parker’s phone and headed down to warn her of the impending visit.
* * *
Syd had just dropped onto the couch next to her when Parker balanced on her knees and straddled Syd’s lap. She pushed her dark lover back into the cushions.
“How am I supposed to seduce you if we always have company?” She bit at the tip of Syd’s sharp nose and then snuggled against her chest.
“I guess you’re going to have to quit your job and walk around here in negligees until this gets resolved.” Syd sounded playfully resigned as she folded her arms around Parker’s back.
“That doesn’t sound like much of a challenge for you, you know.” She wriggled around to feel more of Syd’s body against hers.
“How about if you promise to turn me down at least once a day?” Syd arched back to look into her eyes and winked.
“I’d like to say I could do that, but I’d be lying.” Parker rotated her hips into Sydney watching her eyes dilate at the unexpected sensation.
“Did I mention we have an hour?” Sydney breathed hard into Parker’s neck as she ran her tongue along her collarbone.
“Can you ravish me sufficiently in that amount of time?”
“Twice,” Syd teased.
At that, Parker jumped up and ran down the hall. Syd followed her heart into the bedroom.
“What do you want from me, Hyatt?” Parker purred as Syd carefully began sliding her mouth up Parker’s body beginning from her toes.
“All of you, always.”
Parker caught a ragged breath as Syd’s tongue drew teasing circles on her sensitive inner thighs and her long fingers pinched at her pebbling nipples.
Syd delighted when every part of Parker’s body responded to her touch.
“Yes. Please. There.”
Parker’s staccato demands whipped through Sydney and her tongue found and trapped her center in the exquisite prison of her burning mouth. Her fingers moved to stroke her drenched skin as Parker’s guttural moans spoke of uncaged desire and an imploring need for her.
“Syd, please. I can’t wait.”
Those were the last words that Sydney heard before she sent Parker crashing toward her edge. She ground against Sydney and shuddered into a blissful release.
As Parker always did, she found her lover’s neck and wrapped around her, savoring the bliss of being once again in her arms. “Don’t let go.” Parker heard and felt Sydney’s sympathetic surrender. Syd regularly insisted that satisfying Parker created a sensation that abrogated her physical need to be touched.
“Never.”
Within minutes, the jarring sound of the buzzer startled them out of their silent interlude. Parker groaned, rolling out from Sydney’s arms. She moved to dress while Sydney walked to open the door.
“Tell them they’re early,” Parker called after Sydney.
Parker had managed to sufficiently wrangle her hair and clothes into their pre-ravished state and joined Mack and Jen in the kitchen.
“And where is my baby?” Parker noticed Olivia’s absence immediately.
“Sorry. Baby fix will have to wait. We dropped Olivia with Richard and Allen in case the meeting ran late.” Mack rubbed her hands over her neck as she answered. Darcy suddenly glided through the door behind them.
“I guess the official assembly has yet to begin?” All eyes focused on her as she dropped her purse onto the counter. Parker walked barefoot to Sydney and accepted a knowing glance and a chaste kiss. She knew the glow was likely still evident on her face.
“So?” Mack asked impatiently of Darcy.
“So? Can I have a chair, a drink, anything? Sheesh!” Darcy laughed as Syd slid a beer across the kitchen island and dramatically glided out a stool, sweeping a hand over the seat.
“Much better.” Darcy took a healthy swig from her beer and placed it on the bar. “Okay, so she is over the inventory group—she was promoted to inventory manager last week when the other guy stopped showing up for work last month. She started digging and found out that the tally sheets that each one of the clerks turns in to the manager weren’t matching with what was recorded in the system. The system looked like it balanc
ed except for the odd one-offs for miskeys or breakage. So she started counting the warehouse herself, entering her numbers on a separate spreadsheet, and came up with a bunch of missing units. She didn’t tell me how many, but she seemed to think it was a lot. She took a bunch of the records home to try to figure out why her numbers looked so bad and the other guy didn’t seem to have any problems. When she asked about it, she was told to stick to reporting counts and not to worry about corporate numbers, since those were made up of more than her inventory counts.”
Syd stared at her. “What did you do to get her to tell you all of this?” Her tone was wry.
“Nothing really. We just really hit it off and we hung out for a long time. We stayed out and talked and I pieced a lot of the stuff together.” Darcy looked as if she got lost in the recall for a moment before resuming the account of her evening’s assignment.
“I also found out that they track everything by model number, date, lot number, and serial number. It’s on all the inventory sheets that the team uses to count every night and then on the automated ones that go up to management, which of course are supposed to match. She was able to estimate that over the last six months, about five to ten percent of the local inventory has gone missing even though accounting shows a relatively flat count. I’m not sure she really meant to tell me that part.” Darcy paused to make sure everyone was still with her, then continued, “Tay says that the missing stuff was mostly just laptops and other high-end PCs until two weeks ago when a bunch of commercial switch gear went missing valued at about ten K each.”
Mack wrote furiously in her notebook.
“And no, my skeptical little partners in crime solving, I didn’t trade data for sexual favors.” She managed to look slightly insulted. Parker thought she seemed mildly disappointed she hadn’t compelled Taylor to explore more of her. “Anyway, all that’s to say that if you ever need to get a warrant on this, ask for the CUPS for the dates that you want—the CacheTech unit production sheets. She uses them to introduce new inventory into the system when it’s manufactured.”