Emma watched Daina closely for any sign of abhorrence. Daina only seemed curious. She raised her arm and extended it slightly off to her right. She sighted down the barrel, keeping, Emma noted with approval, her finger barely on the trigger. She’d removed the loaded magazine and held it now in her own hand, but she’d explained to Daina that one of the features of the Glock was that its safety was in the trigger mechanism. Daina had obviously been paying attention. Even though there was no chance of firing a round, she was careful, and her caution was good to see.
“So, why now?” Daina asked, lowering her arm and turning her head to look at Emma.
“I should have done it sooner,” Emma replied, “but now seemed as good a time as any.” She paused, then added, “In case you need to use it. In case something happens to me.”
Daina said nothing to this; her expression and the look in her eyes remained unchanged. Emma approved of this, as well. The full reality of their shared predicament was staring them both in the face. Now was not the time to dispute the potential danger of it. Had Daina tried to do so, Emma’s estimation of her would have dropped a notch or two.
She held out the magazine and Daina took it from her. She studied it with as much interest as she had the gun. Emma smiled.
“There are fifteen rounds in a magazine,” she explained. She removed one of the bullets. “Obviously, we can’t have you shooting up the neighborhood, so you’re going to have to settle for just looking at the bullets and not firing them.”
Daina gave a little snort of laughter, but took the bullet and turned it over and around in her fingers. Handing it back, she watched as Emma replaced it in the magazine. Emma then showed her how to insert and eject the clip, and how to rack the slide to chamber a round, which Daina seemed to take great pleasure in. Finally, placing the magazine on the patio table, she instructed her in the proper marksman pose and explained how it was important to squeeze the trigger, not pull on it.
Standing slightly off to the side, she viewed Daina critically. Under her breath Daina was uttering, “BANG!” in a steady, unending barrage.
Emma grinned and came up behind her. “Hit anything yet?” she asked dryly.
“Give me back that magazine and maybe I would.”
“We can visit a firing range when we’re out of here, if you’d like.” Emma moved closer to stand at Daina’s back.
“I’d like that. I might be good at it, you know.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. You look good.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Emma reached out and placed her hands lightly on Daina’s shoulders. “Just…drop your arms a bit, spread your legs a little more, and relax.”
Daina made a small huh sound of amusement. “That sounds more than a little provocative, Constable,” she chided lightly.
Her mouth at her ear, Emma said, in a lowered voice, “I know.” And she slid her hands off Daina’s shoulders, down her sides, to her hips. She kissed Daina’s neck, circled with her tongue, while she slipped her hands beneath the fabric of her T-shirt. She pulled her back against her, one hand on Daina’s belly, the other traveling up to her breast which she briefly cupped, then began to massage.
Daina’s breath caught audibly in her throat; Emma felt the abdominal muscles contract beneath her hand. Daina exhaled, a bit raggedly. “Do all of your students get this treatment?” she breathed.
“No,” Emma replied in that same low voice. She gently caught Daina’s nipple between her thumb and forefinger, rolling it, teasing it to hardness. “Just the ones that turn me on.”
Extracting the gun from Daina’s hand, she placed it on the table. She ran her tongue along Daina’s neck, bit her gently, eliciting a moan. At the same time, she slid her left hand down past the waistband of her nylon track pants, and lower, to the elastic of her soft cotton briefs. She slipped past, traveling unerringly down, aching to touch her, hungry to feel her.
And in her pocket, her cell phone rang.
“Damn,” Emma whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Emma released her, retrieved her phone from her pocket, and glanced at the caller ID. It read Restricted Number. She was surprised to discover it was Sergeant Michaels. Keeping her voice level, she inquired, “Hey, Sarge, why are you calling my cell?”
“Because I tried the house phone and there was no answer,” he replied.
“Oh. Well, we’re outside. I guess we didn’t hear it.”
“Well, then I’m glad you had your cell on you, because I have some good news. I’ll keep it brief, since this is hardly a secure line, but we’ve made an arrest. Early this morning we nabbed a guy, got a full confession from him—”
“Sarge?” Emma interrupted him calmly. “Hang on a second.” Handing Daina the phone, she said, “It’s for you.”
Emma stepped past her to retrieve the gun and magazine and headed for the house, leaving Daina to deal with the call that should have been hers anyway. If Michaels refused to speak to Daina, Emma would force him to. Perhaps it wasn’t her place, but she found it ridiculous and annoying that he continually chose to speak to her over Daina. She knew why he did, but that wasn’t the point. And if they had made an arrest, Daina was the one who should be hearing about it first.
She put away the breakfast dishes, washed out the coffeepot and wiped down the counters. She could still see Daina outside, still on the phone. She left the kitchen for her room. She placed the gun on the dresser and sat on the bed. Now that she and Daina would be able to leave the house and rejoin the real world, would they continue seeing each other, or would Daina depart, go back to Nashville, carry on with her musical career? Was this just a sexual interlude for her, for them both, or did it actually mean something to Daina? She didn’t know and knew she hadn’t the courage to ask. She barely had the courage to admit to herself that it meant something to her. She despised herself for her weakness.
It occurred to her, and not for the first time, that she was in way over her head. She had neither the skills nor the experience to deal with something that was undoubtedly the best thing that had ever happened to her. How pathetic, she thought, shaking her head.
She was jerked out of her reverie by the sound of Daina’s voice calling her from the kitchen. “In here,” she called back and sat up a little straighter.
A couple of seconds later, Daina stood in her doorway, cell phone in hand, looking more than a little put out.
“Would you mind telling me what that was all about?” she demanded.
“What?”
“That,” Daina said impatiently, jerking her thumb back in the direction she’d just come. “You drop the ball in my lap and then just walk away? What the hell was that?”
Emma frowned in return, puzzled by the need for an explanation. “I thought he should be talking to you, so I handed him over.”
Daina gave her a hard look. “Well, you could’ve given me a heads-up, don’t you think? I had no idea what was going on and he was more than a little pissed off to be suddenly talking to me instead of you.”
With a vague shrug, Emma said, “I guess I thought he’d figure it out soon enough.”
Daina frowned and squinted at her. “I’m not talking about him, Emma, I’m talking about me.”
Emma just looked at her, certain she was missing the point.
“Did it ever occur to you,” Daina went on, visibly exasperated, “that I might not know what you’re thinking, what you’re doing? Did it ever occur to you that I might not be on the same page as you?”
And still Emma just looked at her, at a loss as to how to respond.
“Well, obviously not,” Daina said, spreading her hands in frustration.
“No, I—” Emma began, then realized she had no defense. Daina’s expression was openly curious and impatient, but Emma blinked and closed her mouth on her own protests.
“Okay, look,” Daina finally said, seeming to realize that nothing else was forthcoming from Emma’s camp. She exhaled forcibly and adopted a patient expression. Taking another step in
to the room, she said, “You need to start…communicating with me, Emma, because I don’t know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling, and I—” She gestured helplessly. “—I can’t do this, Emma, I can’t. I’m not a bloody mindreader.”
And still, Emma could think of nothing to say. She didn’t know how to rectify the situation and felt paralyzed by her own inadequacies.
“Jesus, Emma, would you say something, at least?”
Emma blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “What did Michaels have to say?”
Daina blinked rapidly a few times, obviously thrown, but she rallied and responded, “Well, among other things, they’ve arrested someone and we can leave here. Today. We can go.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t expected such an abrupt conclusion.
“That’s it? Oh? That’s all you can come up with?” Daina sounded vexed. Rather expansively, she asked, “Did you…maybe want to…do something? Maybe make plans to go for that drink? We haven’t done that, yet.”
Emma briefly considered. “No, we haven’t, have we?” She recalled her surprise at that unexpected request. It seemed as if it had happened eons ago. “We can, certainly, if you’d like.”
Daina inclined her head slightly, in a thoughtful manner. And then, with care, she asked, “You don’t…think we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves, do you?”
So much for not being a mind reader. She felt a little off-balance now that the subject was suddenly out in the open. She inhaled deeply, filled with some unnamed emotion. Exhaling, she finally found the words she needed. “No, I—I don’t think we have.”
Daina eyed her briefly. “Okay, well, good.” She added, “Because I would like to go out with you.”
Emma’s response was automatic. “I’d like that, too,” she said, though she felt as if a shift had occurred between them, the significance of which she’d missed. “That would be nice.”
Daina’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as she cocked her head once more. “No, Emma,” she said carefully. “I mean, I’d like to go out with you.”
Emma blinked. And then blinked again.
“I’d like to date you,” Daina clarified gently, though she seemed a trifle amused.
Emma went completely still, even as her mouth opened to form a soundless Oh. Struggling to overcome her paralysis, it was still a few moments before she was able to get the word out. “Oh,” she said.
Daina raised her eyebrows, and a sound escaped her that could have been a laugh. And then, dropping her brows into a frown, she asked warily, “Is that a good ‘Oh’ or a bad ‘Oh’?”
Emma’s eyes widened. “It—no, it’s good,” she said quickly, and groaned inwardly. Christ, I am so inept.
Daina, still eyeing her closely, asked carefully, “So…you’d like to continue seeing me?”
Emma knew it was she who was making this far more difficult than it ought to have been. She was aware that she felt shaken, that inwardly she was quaking, not because she didn’t want this, but because she wanted it so badly. As much as she was afraid of what she was about to reach for, she was even more afraid to not reach at all. She strove to find steadier ground. Feeling light-headed and a little bit unsure of herself, she said, just as carefully, “Yes, I would like to continue seeing you, Daina.”
Daina’s watchful expression softened and a smile touched her eyes and the corners of her mouth. “All right then,” she said, almost under her breath. Suddenly seeming to realize she was still in possession of Emma’s cell phone, she held it out. “Here.”
Emma reached to take it, murmured, “Thank you.” She leaned to place it on the dresser.
“Emma?”
“Yes?” Emma fervently hoped that if Daina were about to ask another question it would be one she could answer without struggle.
And in that same lowered voice, Daina asked, “May I…make love to you?”
Emma’s belly did that slow, complicated tumble. She swallowed. “Yes,” she answered simply, quietly.
Daina nodded. “Good,” she whispered. “Because I really want to.” She leaned forward, placed her hands on Emma’s shoulders, and gently forced her back onto the bed.
And when she had undressed them both, Daina loved her, as only Daina could.
It was only then that Emma, surrendering herself to the exquisite pleasure of her attentions, realized what that unnamed emotion that had filled her earlier was.
It was hope.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“So what did Michaels have to say about the arrest?” Emma asked, reaching to take Daina’s guitar case from her to load into the Explorer along with the rest of their belongings.
“Oh, shit!” Daina exclaimed with a grimace. “I forgot to tell you. He wanted you to call him back.”
“Did he say it was urgent?”
“No.” Daina shook her head and shrugged. “He just…asked that you call him back.”
“Oh. Okay, well—”
“I’m sorry, I…got distracted.” Daina leaned against the side of the Explorer, crossed her arms and flashed Emma a guilty little half-smirk.
The two of them had decided to take a quick shower, where they had ended up making love yet again. Emma was astounded at her appetite, shocked that she felt a continual hunger for Daina, even now. Seeing Daina leaning against the side of the vehicle, wearing that smirk, made Emma want to grab hold of her and just…take her. Right there, against the side of the truck. A throb of sexual hunger coursed through her and she was shocked anew. God, I’m depraved.
“You’re not…angry, are you?”
“No, not at all. He’s just going to have to wait, though, until I get you home. Your parents must be positively antsy by now.”
“Yeah, I think my mom’s in a bit of a state,” Daina stated ruefully.
“Well, I would be too, if you were my daughter.” Closing the door of the Explorer, Emma turned to face her. “As it is, seeing you standing there like that,” and she gave Daina a deliberate up-and-down look, “is putting me in a bit of a state.”
Daina’s crooked little grin made an appearance. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, really,” Emma returned mildly. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to Daina’s in a soft kiss that quickly deepened. Her hunger, always so close to the surface, was raging once more. Daina moaned through her open mouth as Emma kissed her with an almost feverish intensity. Then, abruptly, she broke the kiss; she wrapped her arms around Daina, pulled her tightly against her. “God, I could take you right here,” she uttered in a choked voice.
“I’d let you,” was Daina’s own hoarse response. Her hands gripped firmly at Emma’s waist.
Emma’s belly flip-flopped, and she exhaled raggedly. “It’s not very romantic,” she pointed out.
“I don’t care.”
Emma laughed, breathlessly. “You’re as depraved as I am,” she said, running her hands all over Daina’s back.
“You mean that in a good way, right?”
And with that, they both laughed. Emma pulled back reluctantly.
“It’s also not very timely,” she said. “We really should get you home.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Daina admitted. She looked into Emma’s eyes. “You drive me crazy, you know that?”
Emma quirked her mouth up in a little grin. “You mean that in a good way, right?”
Daina laughed and collapsed against her.
Reaching with one hand, Emma tilted her chin up. “Ditto,” she said softly, and kissed her. “Now let’s go. Before we become permanent fixtures around here.”
***
During the drive, Daina filled Emma in on the particulars of her conversation with Sergeant Michaels. “So, that guy they arrested, it happened right in front of my parents’ house, at about two this morning.”
“Oh! Jesus.”
“Yeah, I was a little bothered by that, too. They’d placed an unmarked car in the area, just up the street, to keep the house under surveillance. They didn’t tell my parents because
they didn’t want anything to be given away. We Buchanans are notorious for not being able to keep secrets, you know.”
Emma glanced over, amused.
“Anyway, I’m not going to bitch about that,” Daina went on with a dismissive wave of her hand. “So, this guy drives past my parents’ house at about one this morning, just kind of cruises past in this van, and the cops are watching, but he doesn’t stop. Just goes on by. An hour later, the same van does another drive-by. This time, the cops stop him. Apparently, this guy put up a fight. So they restrained him and searched him and his vehicle.”
Continuing to stare out the windshield, Daina said, “They found a bunch of stuff. A copy of my album, a dozen photos of me from that night, a couple of promo posters, even a copy of that letter, though why he’d carry that around is beyond me. Oh! And let’s not forget the gun he was carrying.”
Emma snapped her head around. Daina stared straight ahead.
“This may sound like a stupid question,” Emma said, “but what was he doing there?”
“Actually, it’s not a stupid question,” Daina replied calmly. “He said he was going to force me to come to him since obviously I had gone into hiding, and he’d missed his chance once already. He wasn’t about to let that happen again. So he came to my parents’ house. Now there’s a scary thought, huh?”
Emma had to agree, it was a very scary thought.
Daina turned, fixing her gaze on Emma. She looked and sounded weary all of a sudden. “He just…gave up. I mean, they caught him with all that stuff, what was he going to do, deny it? Well, I guess he could have, but he didn’t. He confessed. To everything.”
“Do you need to corroborate his story? Did Michaels say anything about that?”
“He did. And I did. Not that there was any reason, really, to doubt the guy.”
“Why is that?”
Daina didn’t answer immediately. Emma glanced over at her and saw that her gaze had become unfocused. She didn’t seem to have heard the question, just stared out somewhere past the steering wheel. Emma allowed a handful of moments to pass; she looked over a couple of times before finally prompting gently, “Daina?”
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