Winds of Fortune (37 page)

“I know,” Nita murmured. “Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.” Deo kissed Nita’s forehead and felt her relax.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Nita whispered.

“You won’t.” Deo listened to Nita’s breathing deepen and realized she was asleep. She stroked her shoulder protectively, savoring her closeness and her trust.

Pia poked her head around the screen. “Deo—”

Deo held a finger to her lips and gestured to Nita.

“We have to talk,” Pia mouthed, giving her a glare that was part fondness, part ire.

Figuring it was about Gabe, Deo nodded with a sigh. Pia disappeared, and Deo drew Nita closer. For now all she wanted was the peace that holding Nita brought to her. As she drifted off, she let herself hope that what was growing between them would not disappear when the winds blew the storm out to sea.

*

Nita turned the corner behind her new house just in time to see Deo ratchet down an enormous extension ladder that had been braced against the rear roofline.

“You’re not supposed to be doing that kind of work,” Nita called out, striding forward rapidly.

Deo glanced in Nita’s direction, the steel ladder braced between both outstretched arms. Her sweat-soaked hair was tied back with a red bandanna, and she wore baggy khaki shorts and a faded, sleeveless blue T-shirt cut off somewhere in the vicinity of her navel. The row of black sutures that KT had placed just one short week before stood out starkly against her smooth, bronze stomach. Faint red blotches were the only remnants of the burns on her jaw and neck.

“Hi there,” Deo said, her grin gleaming against the tan that had deepened under the relentless sunshine that had followed in the wake of the storm.

Nita tried to project a stern expression, but it was difficult when faced with such stunning beauty. She wondered if the initial shock at seeing Deo would ever lessen and doubted somehow that it would. Some small part of her, she suspected, would probably never believe that Deo might actually be hers.

“Believe it or not,” Nita said, stopping by Deo’s side, “those stitches in your abdomen are there for a reason. That incision goes all the way through, and I prefer keeping everything that’s inside exactly where it belongs.”

Deo slung one arm over a rung of the ladder and leaned it against her hip. Then she kissed Nita. “It’s only five o’clock. You’re early.”

“You’re ignoring me.”

“Impossible.” Deo checked the yard. It was empty. Then she wrapped an arm around Nita’s waist and pulled her close. This kiss lasted longer, a lot longer. “Missed you.”

Nita rested her cheek on Deo’s shoulder. She smelled good—like hard work and promises. She felt strong. Her heart beat rhythmically against Nita’s breast, steady and sure.

“I missed you too. Things were quiet so I decided to sneak out. The service has me on beeper call.”

“Does that mean you’re mine for the night?”

Deo’s voice was low and husky, and the weight of it settled in the pit of Nita’s stomach and spread like warm whiskey. They hadn’t spent the night together since the hurricane.

Once KT had cleared her to do light labor, Deo and her crews had worked from well before sun-up until far after sundown clearing debris from the streets, making temporary repairs on roofs that needed to be replaced, boarding up broken windows, and pumping out flooded basements. Fortunately, Nita’s house had sustained little more than cosmetic damage, and Nita had insisted that Deo leave it until others with more urgent needs were taken care of.

When Deo had called to say she was at the house and invited Nita to meet her for dinner, Nita couldn’t wait to see her. She replayed Deo’s question.
“Does that mean you’re mine for the night?”

Nita turned the concept around in her mind.
Mine.
It could mean so many things. She had been Sylvia’s—heart, body, and soul for almost a decade—and in all that time, she realized now, she’d been little more than the object of Sylvia’s lust. Deo had offered her more, given her more, in the time they’d been together than she’d ever thought to dream of. With Deo, she felt cherished and desired and…loved.

“Do we need to carry this somewhere?” Nita asked, reaching for the ladder.

“Just help me lean it against the fence. Joey or one of the other guys will get it later.”

When they’d stowed it away, Deo took Nita’s hand. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

Still thinking about how different—how right—she felt with Deo, Nita followed her through the house to the second floor and finally up the narrow winding staircase to the widow’s walk.

“Oh,” Nita exclaimed. “The new railing looks great. When did you do this?”

“This afternoon.”

Nita frowned. “You weren’t supposed to work.”

“I only supervised.” Deo smiled. “You like it?”

“I love it.” Nita crossed the narrow walkway, braced her hands on the railing, and lifted her face to the breeze. The air smelled crisp and clean, and she breathed deeply. When Deo came to stand beside her, Nita slid her arm around her waist and leaned against her. Watching a fishing boat round the bend at Long Point and churn into the harbor, Nita thought about the generations of women who had stood in this place before her.

“I read somewhere that the wife of the original sea captain who built this house used to light a lantern up here when she saw his ship come home, and all the women in town would know that their husbands were returning.”

“Must have been lonely, watching and waiting and wondering if they’d come back,” Deo remarked.

“Yes.” Nita shifted and wrapped both arms around Deo’s waist, drawing her closer. She kissed her and tasted salt on her lips. “Is your family still planning the barbecue that got rained out?”

“Yes. Are you still going to be my date?”

“I’d like that.” Nita hesitated, then asked gently, “Are you ever going to tell them what really happened with Gabe that night?”

“Pia’s been after me to.” Deo looked out to sea. “But I don’t think so.”

Nita wasn’t sure she could keep the secret in the face of Deo’s pain, but she would try if she had to. But first, she would try something else. “I think he might want you to. If the situations were reversed, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” Deo said softly, still turned away.

“Why did you tell me?”

Deo faced her. “I knew from the beginning the one thing we had to have was trust. I would never lie to you.”

“Thank you.” Nita threaded her fingers through Deo’s. “Whatever you decide is all right with me. I just hate to see you hurting.”

“You changed all that,” Deo confessed. “You make me happy.”

“A few minutes ago, out in the yard, you asked me if I’d be yours for the night.”

Deo’s eyes grew questioning. “Do you have other plans?”

“No,” Nita said softly. “But I realized there’s something I needed to tell you.”

“Look, if you think we’re moving too fast, I…”

Nita shook her head. “Wait.”

“I don’t want you to feel pressured,” Deo went on hurriedly, “just because I…I said I love you.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Yes,” Deo said immediately. She caressed Nita’s cheek. “But I know you might not believe me, because of things you might have heard about me or—”

“Deo,” Nita said firmly, “the only thing I’m listening to is you. And my heart.”

“And what does your heart tell you?”

Deo’s need was so plain that Nita ached. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” Nita kissed her. “I don’t want to be yours tonight.”

Deo stiffened.

“Not
just
tonight. I think…no, I
know
, that I want to be yours for a lot longer than that.” Nita looked into Deo’s eyes. “I love you.”

Radclyffe is a retired surgeon and full time author-publisher with over twenty-five lesbian novels and anthologies in print, including the Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Award winners
Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments
ed. with Stacia Seaman;
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder; Justice Served; and
Promising Hearts. She has selections in multiple anthologies including
Wild Nights, Fantasy, Best Lesbian Erotica 2006 and 2007, After Midnight, Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists, First-Timers, Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear, A is for Amour,
and
H is for Hardcore.
She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ award for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBT publishing companies.

Her forthcoming works include
In Deep Waters: 1
written with Karin Kallmaker (October 2007) and the romance
The Lonely Hearts Club
(February 2008).

Fresh Tracks
by Georgia Beers. Seven women, seven days.  A lot can happen when old friends, lovers, and a new girl in town get together in the mountains. (1-933110-63-5)

Empress and the Acolyte
by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi fight to protect the very fabric of their world…time. Lyremouth Chronicles Book Three (1-933110-60-0)

First Instinct
by JLee Meyer. When high-stakes security fraud leads to murder, one woman flees for her life while another risks her heart to protect her.  (1-933110-59-7)

Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions
. Thirty of today‘s hottest erotica writers set the pages aflame with love, lust, and steamy liaisons. (1-933110-58-9)

Storms of Change
by Radclyffe. In the continuing saga of the Provincetown Tales, duty and love are at odds as Reese and Tory face their greatest challenge. (1-933110-57-0)

Unexpected Ties
by Gina L. Dartt. With death before dessert, Kate Shannon and Nikki Harris are swept up in another tale of danger and romance. (1-933110-56-2)

Sleep of Reason
by Rose Beecham. Nothing is at it seems when Detective Jude Devine finds herself caught up in a small-town soap opera. And her rocky relationship with forensic pathologist Dr. Mercy Westmoreland just got a lot harder. (1-933110-53-8)

Passion‘s Bright Fury
by Radclyffe.  When a trauma surgeon and a filmmaker become reluctant allies on the battleground between life and death, passion strikes without warning. (1-933110-54-6)

Broken Wings
by L-J Baker. When Rye Woods, a fairy, meets the beautiful dryad Flora Withe, her libido, as squashed and hidden as her wings, reawakens along with her heart. (1-933110-55-4)

Combust the Sun
by Andrews & Austin. A Richfield and Rivers mystery set in L.A. Murder among the stars. (1-933110-52-X)

Of Drag Kings and the Wheel of Fate
by Susan Smith. A blind date in a drag club leads to an unlikely romance. (1-933110-51-1)