"Look, maybe I cantalk to her."
"No." Caroline rested her fingertips on Reese's knee. "Thank you. Really. But I need to talk to her."
"She should be back soon. She's got a shift coming up later this afternoon."
"Maybe she's busy," Caroline said softly, wondering as she had been throughout all the sleepless hours, where Bri had spent the night. Oh, what am I going to do? Maybe I've already lost her.
Chapter Twenty-seven
It took Bri close to an hour to walk from Allie's bungalow back to the Breakers and pick up her bike. It was just after ten in the morning when she reached Reese and Tory's. As she sat straddling her bike, staring up at the house, Carre appeared at the top of the stairs leading down from the rear deck. Looking pale and wan, she wrapped her arms around her chest and stared at Bri.
After pocketing her keys, Bri quickly pulled off her helmet and dismounted. She was shaking, and she didn't think it had anything to do with the lingering vibrations from the powerful engine and the ride down. Taking a deep breath, she walked up the path and climbed the stairs. She stopped one step below Carre, putting them at eye level, and whispered, “Hey, babe.
"Hi, baby."
They stared at one another, a foot of space between them, a million unsaid words and a thousand unhealed hurts keeping them apart.
"You look like hell," Caroline murmured.
"I feel like that, too." Bri stuffed her hands in her pockets because she wanted to touch her so much.
Caroline looked away, swallowing hard. "Let's go someplace so we can talk."
Ten minutes later, Bri slowed and brought the bike to a halt at the far end of the parking lot at Race Point. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but the two of them didn't walk toward the marked trail toward the beach, but headed instead down a narrow path that lead toward the lighthouse. Ordinarily, they would have held hands, but this time they walked side by side in silence. When they reached the lighthouse, they climbed around to the far side and settled with their back against the wall, close together but not touching. The dunes spread out along the wild coast below and the ocean filled their view.
“ I dont understand whats happening with us, Bri, Caroline finally said. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to leave school? Why didn't you talk to me about it first?"
Bri stared straight ahead, unblinking, until the tears that trembled on her lashes were carried away on the wind. Her voice was low as she answered. "I was afraid youd talk me out of it."
“ I might have tried, Caroline said with a shaky laugh. "You could have waited until the fall, when Ileft for France. We could have had all this time together."
"I had to do it now."
"Why?" Caroline asked vehemently. "I don't understand why ."
"Because I was afraid once you left I wouldn't be able to do it." Bri's voice was harsh, wild.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm afraid when you leave I'm going to" suddenly, Bri put her head down on her knees and laced the fingers of both hands behind her neck. Her words were nearly lost in the rush of air that blew off the ocean. "I don't think I'll be able to do anything without you."
"Oh, baby," Caroline murmured, putting her arm around Bri's shoulders. "You can. You can do anything."
"Not without you."
"But I'm not leaving you."
Bri's head jerked up and her eyes met Caroline's. "You don't know that!"
Shocked, Caroline stared at her. Her first instinct was to protest, because it was unthinkable. But then she realized that Bri didn't know that, didnt believe that. "I love you. I have never loved anyone but you. I don't care how long I'm gone, or how far away from me you go. I am not going to stop loving you."
" I'm not going anywhere," Bri exclaimed.
"No? Where were you last night?"
Bri blinked and her blue eyes darkened. "Jesus, Carre."
"Did you sleep with her?" Caroline asked, her voice a strangled whisper.
"I" She wanted to make the truth disappear. She wanted the night to do over again. She wanted not to have felt what she felt. "Almost.
"Oh Bri," Caroline moaned. "Oh, god."
"Carre"
Caroline got unsteadily to her feet. She moved a short distance away and stopped, her back to the wall of the stark white tower, holding herself with her arms around her body, trembling in the chill sea breeze. "I can't...I can't even think about it right now. Take me back to Tory's."
Bri finally found her voice and jumped to her feet. "Carre. I didn't. "
"I saw you, Bri," Caroline said softly. "I know you wanted to."
"I don't know how that happened. I didn't go there meaning for it to happen. I was...lonely."
"I've been lonely, too. And I wasn't the one who left."
Heart sinking, Bri watched Caroline turn and start up the path that led back to the parking lot. For a moment, she considered not going after her. Maybe if they never left this spot, they could turn back time to that magical moment four years before, when a simple kiss had turned on a light in the darkness of her despair.
Eventually, she followed, because there was no going back, no undoing what had been done.
*****
"Caroline?" Tory asked quietly as she sat down on the sofa next to the young woman. "Honey? You okay?"
Caroline sat leaning forward, her arms folded on her knees, rocking softly. "Not really."
"I heard Bris motorcycle earlier. Is she here?"
"Gone." Caroline bit the inside of her lip. Gone. Gone, and I don't know if she's ever coming back.
"Can I help?"
"I don't think so. Everything is so...crazy." Caroline shifted and looked into Tory's eyes. "Brioh god, I can'tBri was with this other girl"
"What?" Tory exclaimed before she could stop herself. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry."
"What would you do?" Caroline asked desperately. "Ifif it was Reese?"
"It would hurt so terribly, I'm not sure what I would do. She reached out and took Caroline's hand. "It would depend, I think, on why it happened."
"What difference would it make?"
“ Sometimes, when we're confused or a little bit lost, we make bad choices. Sometimes we don't even chose , we just let things happen. People make mistakes."
"I've got to go back to Manhattan anyhow. I keep thinking when I do that she'll..." Carre took a deep breath. "That she'll start seeing this other girl. I can't stand to think about her with someone else."
The hurt in her eyes was so raw that all Tory wanted to do was hold her close and make all her pain go away. But she knew she couldn't. "Do you love her?"
"Yes."
"Then I think the two of you can get through this."
*****
Reese found Tory curled up on the sofa in an old fatigue shirt of hers and a pair of shorts, reading.
"Hi, love," she said as she carried two bags of groceries through to the kitchen. "Are Bri and Caroline still here?"
"No," Tory said with a sigh as she tossed the magazine she had been pretending to read onto the end table. "They're having problems."
"I gathered that from what Caroline said this morning." Reese rubbed her cheek absently across the top of Tory's head, then kissed the fine wisps of hair at her temple. "She's really upset about Bri leaving school, I guess."
"Apparently she's a lot more upset about Bri fooling around with some other girl."
Reese stiffened. "What?"
"I got the sense that this whole thing with Caroline going to Europe has really thrown Bri for a loop."
"That's no reason to fool around," Reese growled. "If she were a recruit and she pulled a bonehead stunt like this, Id have her mopping out every latrine in the barracks. She wouldn't see a liberty until she was ready for retirement."
"She's not a Marine, honey, Tory pointed out gently. “And shes scared."
Reese fell silent. Unconsciously, she stroked Tory's back and arm, needing her quiet strength. "Of what?"
"That Caroline will leave her b
ehind, I think."
"So she turns around and leaves instead? If I were worried about losing you," Reese murmured, her lips close to Tory's ear, "the last thing I would do is leave you."
“ There arent many people in the world as solid as you, Reese Conlon, Tory said tenderly. “God, I got so lucky.
“ No. Reese shook her head, pulling her closer. “Youre my life, Tor.
“ And youre mine, Tory whispered, raising her head and finding Reeses mouth. "I love you."
Reese groaned softly, arching her hips as Tory stroked a particularly sensitive spot just below her navel. "Don't we both have to work this afternoon?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then I think, Doctor King, that you should remove your hand."
"We have to shower, don't we?"
Reese just grinned.
*****
Tory leaned back into Reese's arms, sighing as Reese reached around her and smoothed warm lather over her breasts and abdomen with both hands. "I never want to leave here."
Reese chuckled, holding a full breast in one hand as she ran the other down the prominent slope of Tory's belly. "The baby is growing."
"It's really starting to show," Tory murmured, her eyes still closed. "Do you mind?"
"You have to ask?" Reese's voice was husky as she brushed her fingers softly through the downy hair at the base of Tory's abdomen. "It's wonderful. And incredibly sexy."
Tory laughed softly, covering the exploring hand with her own. "I wouldn't have believed it, but I actually feel sexyin a different way than before, but good."
"How?" Reese asked.
"I feel like I'm bursting with something so powerfullife, loveI guess. I look at you and I want you to touch it, touch me , some place deep inside."
"I love you," Reese groaned. Tory's soft skin against her breasts and abdomen was like flame to tinder. She was burning, pulsing with excitement. "Take my handtake me to those places."
"Hold me."
"Always."
Tory drew Reese's fingers between her legs, parting the delicate folds that enclosed her most sensitive places. She led her to the warm pools of her desire, drawing Reese's fingertips gently inside and then upward, until they rested against the undersurface of her clitoris. Her legs were trembling, her breath shallow and fast. "Feel how heavy? How full?"
"Yes," Reese gasped, her head pounding with the effort it took to let Tory guide her. "Beautiful."
Tory pushed against Reese's hand, moaning softly. Then, slowly, she drew her lover inside, resting her weight in the bend of Reese's body as she was filled. "Ah, so good. You feel so good there."
Reese closed her eyes tightly, holding very still as she pressed her mouth to Tory's neck, letting the warm water that cascaded from Torys skin run between her lips. Nothing ever made her feel quite so humble or so privileged as when she was inside Tory's body. Hoarsely, she whispered, "I want to stay here forever."
"You can." Fine ripples cascaded through the muscles enclosing Reese's fingers. Tory tightened involuntarily and the pressure immediately pulsed into her clitoris. She jerked, and Reese's palm brushed over the swollen shaft. She gave a small cry and arched in Reese's arms.
"What is it?"
"I want to come."
Reese gently bit the tender skin below Tory's jaw. "Can you stand?"
"Yes."
When Tory reached behind and braced both palms against Reese's thighs, Reese let the hand that had been encircling Tory's middle drift lower until she could stroke her. Tory was already too close to tease, and Reese started the circular motion that she knew would make her come.
"I love you, Tor," Reese breathed when Tory trembled in her arms.
"Can you feel it?" Tory asked urgently as she began to come.
"Yes," Reese gasped, trying so carefully to go slow, trying to draw out the pleasure as Tory climaxed in her hands.
"Ah," Tory sighed as she slowly relaxed into Reese's embrace. "God, you spoil me."
Reese laughed a bit shakily. She tended to stop breathing every time Tory orgasmed, and her legs had gotten so weak, shed been worried for a moment that she was going to take them both down. "Believe me, it's my pleasure."
Chapter Twenty-eight
That afternoon, Bri and Reese were silent as Reese drove the cruiser west on Bradford. She slowed as they approached the site of the fire two days before. A deep red Durango SUV was parked on the shoulder across the street from the police barricades that had been erected around the property.
“ Theres someone walking around back there, Bri observed.
“ Yep, I see them. Reese pulled up behind Durango.
The two of them crossed the street shoulder to shoulder and circled around to the rear of the burned out shell.
“ Sheriffs department, Reese announced as she and Bri walked around one of the yellow and blue saw-horses and approached the stranger who was standing in the doorway of the burned out building. “This is a restricted area.
“ Im an insurance investigator, officers, a mellifluous tenor voice responded.
Reese raised an eyebrow, surveying the emerald green eyes, flawless lightly-tanned complexion, and the hint of red hair obscured by a baseball cap. “You have ID?
“ Sure. Moving closer, the stranger reached into a back pocket with one hand and swept off the hat with the other. Thick luxurious, crimson hair cascaded to shoulder level, and the strikingly beautiful woman smiled. Extending a hand with a leather bi-fold ID case in it, she said, “Ashley Walker.
Reese studied the photo ID on the private investigators license. Satisfied, she handed it back. Neutrally, she observed, “Ordinarily, Ms. Walker, its wise for a private investigator to check in with the local authorities.
Ashley swept her eyes from Reese to Bri and back again. The two law-enforcement agents were disarmingly similar with their dark good looks and nearly-matching brilliant blue eyes. The older one was slightly taller and a little more muscular, but in the dark, there wouldnt be much difference between the two. She smiled slowly. “My apologies. I meant to let you know I was in town, but when I drove by and saw the state of this building, I thought Id better get a few photographs before it fell down or your town engineers pulled it down.
“ Step outside the barricade, please, Reese recommended in a tone which implied it was more than a request.
“ Fine, Ashley replied. “I didnt get your name?
“ Deputy Sheriff Reese Conlon. This is Officer Parker.
“ Pleasure.
“ What's your investigation about, Ms. Walker? Bri questioned evenly. “Who are you working for?
“ Just a routine insurance claim. Unperturbed by the mildly suspicious expression on the young officers face, Ashley produced her wallet, opened it, and slid a business card from an inside pocket. Handing it to Bri, she said, “Thats my office address, cell phone number, and pager. Anytime you want to reach me, Officer Parker, for any reason, please feel free.
“ Finished up here, then? Reese asked as the three of them turned and began to walk back toward their vehicles.
“ I thought Id stay in town for a while until the fire marshals report was complete."
“ If you need access to the site, once its been cleared, let us know, Reese advised.
Ashley rested her hand on the handle of her SUV, hitched one hip against the door, and observed them both with a small grin. “Oh, Ill be sure to do that.
Then she stepped into her Durango, started the engine, and drove away with a small wave in their direction.
Bri watched the red truck turn right and disappear around the bend toward Herring Cove. Part of her was irritated at the cocky self-confidence of the private investigator, but she found that the womans flippant grin stayed with her. “Is that normal?
“ An insurance investigation? Pretty much all the time when theres loss of property. Reese opened the drivers-side door of the cruiser and slid in while Bri walked around the other side and got in as well. “It isnt usual to have a PI run the investigation though. Usuall
y its one of the insurance companys claim representatives.
“ So what do you think?
“ I think we ought to take a very careful look at the fire marshals report, and I think youre going to have some interviews to do.
*****
Reese met Bri several hours later, and they drove into the center of town together for dinner. As they walked toward a small sandwich shop on the pier at Commercial and Standish, Reese asked, “Get anything from the interviews?
“ Maybe, Bri replied cautiously. “The manager of the condominium next door says he thought he saw lights flickering in the restaurant a couple of times late at night in the past few weeks.
“ And he didnt bother to call us? Reese remarked in disgust.
Bri shrugged. “Said he thought it was probably just kids and didnt pay much attention.
“ I suppose were lucky he mentioned it to you at all. Reese was next in line at the order window and put in her request for fish and chips and soda. “I dont suppose he saw a vehicle?
“ Nope. But it fits with our theory that someones been using the place. If so, theyre going to be looking for new digs. I thought maybe we could start keeping an eye on some of the other abandoned places around town.
“ Good idea.
After they had both ordered, they moved away to await their dinner.
“ There was something else, Bri confided.
Reese raised an eyebrow. “Oh?
“ I talked to maybe a dozen people this evening, up and down the cul-de-sacs off Bradford and along Route 6 toward the Provincetown Inn. At least half told me that I was the second police officer to interview them since the fire.
“ Interesting. Hold on for a second, Reese added as their number was called. She and Bri collected their food and drinks and walked out of earshot of the tourists and other diners to a small picnic table on Macmillan Wharf. “I dont suppose you got a description of the new member of our force, did you?
“ Yep. Bri grinned. “Red hair, green eyes, late twenties. Female.
“ Thorough, isnt she?
“ Would you say thats SOP for an insurance claim? Bri asked.
Radclyffe - Safe Harbor 02 - Beyond The Breakwater Page 13