Beyond the Breakwater Page 4

  A gruff voice from behind interrupted her reverie. “What are you doing working already?”

  Reese turned, rested her hips against the rail, and nodded to her boss. “You’re up awfully early, Chief.”

  “Don’t call me Chief,” he groused, handing her a steaming cup of coffee. “I saw the cruiser out front. It’s another hour before the day shift starts.”

  “I took Tory to the airport for her 5:30 flight to Boston.” Reese sipped the coffee and regarded him silently. He didn’t look as if he’d been sleeping very well. The bags under his eyes were heavier, and his complexion had lost some of its healthy ruddy tone. “I figured I might as well do a run through town on my way in.”

  “Have you heard from my kid?”

  “She called me two days ago. Gave me an update on the first few days of her training.”

  “Is it going okay?”

  “So far. You know she never says much. I’m sure she’ll do fine.”

  “You know, she didn’t tell them she was my daughter when she applied.” He snorted. “I called the head training instructor up there, and he had no idea.”

  “You surprised?”

  “Nah. You know how independent she’s always been.”

  “Can’t imagine where she gets it from.”

  He grumbled something unintelligible. Bri hadn’t called him, but then, thinking back, he figured that was pretty much his fault.

  He pulled the cruiser into his driveway and stared at the big black Harley parked in front of his garage. What the hell?

  She was in the kitchen, perched on a stool with a glass of orange juice and half a hoagie splayed on a paper wrapper in front of her. Same jeans, same boots, same slicked-back black hair. Same hoodlum jacket, too. Christ, he was glad to see her.

  “Bri?”

  “Hey, Dad.”

  He tossed an arm around her shoulder and squeezed, brushing his cheek quickly across the top of her head. She seemed thinner, harder, and there was a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen in a long, long time. A lost look. His heart turned over, and his stomach started burning.

  “It’s Wednesday. What are you doing here?”

  She shrugged.

  He shed his parka to the back of a chair and walked to the refrigerator. He rummaged around, found a beer, and popped the top. Then he leaned on the counter and stared at his only child.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” It came out a bit strangled, and she cleared her throat. “Yeah. Fine.”

  “Caroline with you?”

  Bri shook her head.

  Sipping the beer he couldn’t even taste, his mind raced.

  If she needs money, she probably would have called. Of course, she never asks for money. Hardly ever asks for anything. Couldn’t be trouble with Caroline’s old man. That asshole is long out of the picture—the guy hasn’t had anything to do with the kids since he slapped Caroline around for being involved with Bri and then tossed her out of the house. Trouble with the law? Nah—not my kid. So, if it isn’t money or—

  The burning in his gut climbed into his chest. “Are you sick?”

  “What?” Bri stared at him. “No.”

  “Then what the hell are you doing here in the middle of the week in the middle of school?” He might have asked a little loudly, but she’d scared the crap out of him.

  “I quit.”

  Nelson’s mouth dropped open. “Are you nuts?”

  She shrugged again.

  “Does Caroline know?” Caroline was the only one who’d ever been able to handle his headstrong daughter. She’d never let Bri do anything crazy. “Where is she?”

  “In Manhattan.”

  “Did she quit, too?”

  “No.” Bri’s voice was tight again. “I moved out.”

  Okay, relax. Try to get the facts. Don’t yell at her. He crushed the beer can without even realizing it. “Jesus H. Christ, Brianna! What in hell are you thinking?”

  She got up fast and headed toward the back door.

  “Bri, wait! Jesus…just…wait, okay?”

  Her hand was on the doorknob, but Bri didn’t open the door. With her back to him, she said, “I’m starting at the Sheriff’s Department Training Academy on Monday.”

  “Just like that?” he asked as quietly as he could, which wasn’t very. “You just walk away from school? Did you walk away from Car—”

  But he was talking to himself by then, and all he could hear by the time he made it to the door was the thudding of his heart and the roar of her motorcycle fading into the night.

  Nelson cleared his throat. “She, uh…say where she was staying?”

  “Chief,” Reese said quietly, “I’m kind of in a bind here. Like I said, she didn’t say much.”

  “And if she did, you wouldn’t tell me?” he snapped.

  Unconsciously, Reese squared her shoulders. “No, sir. Probably not.”

  His eyes blazed for an instant, and he stiffened. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, Conlon. Lose the ‘sir’ bullshit.”

  Reese said nothing, but his display of temper surprised her. The only time she could ever remember him being out of control was the night that Bri had been assaulted. And then, realizing that, everything made sense. He’s scared for her.

  Taking a deep breath, Reese relaxed her shoulders. “She told me she was sharing a place with a couple of other cadets in Barnstable. It sounds like she’s okay.”

  “Okay,” he muttered, looking beyond Reese to the harbor. “How in hell can she be okay?”

  “She’s got a plan, Nelson. She got herself into the academy. It’s not like she’s doing anything wrong.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. To leave school? Jesus, to leave Caroline?” He met Reese’s eyes, and his were filled with uncertainty. “You haven’t seen her. She’s got that look in her eyes like she had before Caroline settled her down. Like there was something broken inside of her.”

  “You need to call her, then. Talk to her.”

  “Yeah, I did great with that last time.” He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. “Jesus, why is it so hard to talk to your own kid?”

  “Probably because she means so much to you.”

  After all this time, his second in command still surprised him. She was usually so quiet, revealing almost nothing about herself, that he often got to thinking of her as just another one of his men. She was bigger than most of the guys, absolutely a lot more fit, and probably the bravest. She’d give her life for any one of them without a second’s hesitation. Every man on the force was proud to work with her.

  But she wasn’t one of the men, despite displaying so many of those traits that allowed him to be comfortable with her in a way that he might be with another man; she was a woman. And every now and then, when she’d say something that a man would never say to him, he realized it. “I think about her being hurt, you know? And it makes me want to…break things.” And cry at the same time. He looked away, embarrassed by the admission.

  Reese thought about Tory being harmed. The pain was so intense, it actually made her feel ill. “Yeah, I know.”

  “You’ll probably know a lot better when you have a kid of your own,” Nelson said gruffly.

  “Probably.” Reese grinned.

  Sighing, Nelson joined her at the rail, close beside her but still not quite touching. Together they faced the sea, and at length he asked, “How is that…situation…going?”

  “No word yet.” Reese wasn’t totally comfortable talking about the baby thing—not because of embarrassment but due to a lingering superstition. She just didn’t want anything to go wrong. She and Tory hadn’t talked about it explicitly, but she knew that Tory wasn’t exactly the ideal age to be getting pregnant. But Tory said it was safe. Promised it was safe. “Sometimes, Tory says, you have to try more than once.”

  “Huh. Doesn’t sound a whole lot different,” Nelson acknowledged, purposely not looking at Reese. “Everybody thinks it’s easy the…you know, the…regular way. But it isn’t…not
all the time.”

  She waited.

  “Brianna…it was a long time before her. We’d kind of given up.” His voice had gotten rougher, and he cleared his throat. “She was like a present, when she came along.”

  “I can imagine that she was,” Reese said softly. “It’s kind of terrifying, isn’t it?”

  “Damn right, it is.” Nelson laughed. “And you haven’t even gotten started yet.”

  “Look,” Reese offered, imagining his worry. “I’ll give Bri a call.”

  “Okay. Yeah. Thanks. You don’t need to say I was asking.”

  “Nope, I won’t. I figure the two of you will get tired of out-stubborning each other sooner or later, and then you can talk to her yourself.”

  He grumbled, but a small smile almost broke through before he stifled it.

  “Well, I’ve got to get to work, Chief.” She clapped him on the shoulder and then tapped the brim of her cap. “I’m gonna take a ride through town before I hit the office.”

  “Sure.” He watched her walk away and silently counted himself lucky that she was part of his daughter’s life.

  *

  The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and at just after seven p.m., Reese stood outside the tiny airport watching the sky. The wind had picked up, and the day that had begun with a teasing breath of spring had turned cold again. Just a reminder that nothing was predictable on the Cape. In the distance, she could make out the faint drone of an airplane. Smiling, she searched the black canvas overhead that was the night sky until she could distinguish the lights of the approaching craft from the stars.

  Five minutes later, the twin-engine twelve-seater taxied to a stop a hundred feet away. Six people disembarked, one of them Victoria King. Reese walked out to meet her.

  “How you doing?” Reese took Tory’s hand and leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “I’m fine,” Tory said with a smile. “How was your day?”

  “Not bad. Let me take your briefcase.”

  Tory laughed. “I’ve got it. How about taking me out to dinner, though?”

  “Sure.” Reese held open the door to the one-room terminal. “Anyplace special?”

  “You pick.” Tory threaded her arm through Reese’s as they crossed the nearly empty waiting area.

  “Lorraine’s is open. Feel like Mexican?” Once outside in the tiny parking lot, Reese opened the passenger door of her Blazer and waited while Tory climbed in.

  “Perfect.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they were settled in a booth in one of the few restaurants that was open year-round, perusing menus that they knew practically by heart. After they had ordered, Reese reached across the table and took Tory’s hand.

  “You had a long day. Was it busy?”

  “The usual,” Tory replied. “Mostly walk-ins interspersed with the occasional acute medical condition—chest pain, asthma attacks, uncontrolled diabetes. There was a gunshot wound in the middle of the afternoon that kept us jumping for a while.”

  “How much longer do you plan to work three days a week over there?” Reese leaned back to allow the waitress to set the appetizers in front of them.

  “I had planned on another few months.” Having heard the concern in the deep voice, Tory studied Reese across the candlelit table. “Why?”

  Reese shrugged. “It’s a pretty hectic schedule.”

  “Well, actually, I’m going to tell them I want to cut back to half-shifts in the ER starting in March.”

  “Really?” Although the news was welcome, Reese was surprised. Nothing in her memory had ever prompted Tory to cut back on her work schedule, even when Reese urged her to do it. “How come?”

  Reaching for a nacho, Tory said, “There’s a lot of work to be done at my clinic before the season starts. I need to inventory the supplies, set up schedules for the employees, and I still have to arrange interviews with a couple of physicians for the interim position.”

  “Makes sense,” Reese said with a wave of relief. She tried hard not to interfere with Tory’s work, but she couldn’t help but worry about Tory’s demanding schedule.

  “Besides,” Tory added casually, “I’m pregnant.”

  Reese dropped her fork. “Holy God!”

  “Wendy confirmed it this afternoon.” Tory grinned. “We did it, honey.”

  In the next instant, Reese was on her feet and moving around the side of the table. She took Tory’s face in both hands and kissed her thoroughly. Then, unmindful of the few patrons who watched and the waitress standing a few feet away with loaded plates balanced on one arm, she knelt on the floor by Tory’s side and took both Tory’s hands in hers.

  “You know my heart is yours,” she said softly, running her finger over the scrolled gold band on Tory’s left hand. She wore one to match. “But I want everyone else to know how very much I love you. Will you marry me?”

  “A wedding?”

  “Yes.”

  “In town—at the meeting house?” Tory, too, forgot they had an audience.

  “Yes, there or anywhere you want.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, I would be so happy to.” Tory’s eyes welled with tears as she stared into the deep blue ones gazing at her with open devotion. As she leaned over to kiss her kneeling partner, she heard the muted sound of clapping, and thought, not for the first time, how blessed she had been the day Reese walked into her life.

  *

  Reese couldn’t remember a thing about the rest of the meal or the drive home. It was just after ten when they started a fire in the bedroom fireplace and settled under the covers. She turned on her side, her head on the pillow a few inches from Tory’s, and whispered, “It’s going to take me a while to believe it.”

  “Are you okay with it?” Tory hoped her trepidation didn’t show in her voice. Despite the weeks they had spent talking and planning, she knew that oftentimes the reality threw couples into turmoil.

  “Oh, yeah.” Reese caressed Tory’s cheek with her fingertips, her throat so tight she could hardly swallow. “I’m so high, I feel like I’m flying.”

  Tory ran her fingers through Reese’s hair and moved closer, until their bodies touched all along their lengths. “You never let me down, you know?”

  “I’ll try not to, ever,” Reese murmured. She stroked her palm over Tory’s shoulder and down her arm to her hand, squeezing her fingers briefly. Then, she rested her hand on the arch of her lover’s hip, making slow, gentle circles with her fingertips. “I love you, Tor.”

  “Mmm.” Tory leaned nearer still and brushed her lips over Reese’s. “Me, too.” She enjoyed the gentleness of her lover’s mouth as her fingers played over the hard muscles of Reese’s chest and shoulders. Reese was such a wonderful contradiction of strength and secret softness, and touching her never failed to stir Tory’s desire. Tonight, she wanted, needed, to be as close to her as possible. When she felt Reese’s tongue slide smoothly across her own, she moaned. She edged her thigh between Reese’s legs, her stomach clenching briefly as the smooth, warm skin pressed to her own heated center. She knew she was wet, and she rocked her hips gently to increase the contact against her exquisitely sensitive nerve endings. “Can you feel me?”

  “Oh, yes,” Reese gasped, her voice a register lower than normal.

  “God, I could come doing this.”

  “Go ahead.” Reese slid a hand between their bodies and cupped Tory’s breast, finding the nipple and squeezing gently to the cadence of her lover’s surging hips. “I love it when you do that.”

  “Maybe later,” Tory managed, struggling not to lose control. “I want you to make me come the first time.”

  Reese groaned and pressed her forehead to Tory’s. The throaty sound of Tory’s need sent a pulse of excitement streaking through her depths. Her clitoris twitched madly in response. “Jesus.”

  Tory’s only response was a faint whimper as she caught the fingers sweetly torturing her breast and drew Reese’s hand down along her stomach toward the space between her legs. Wh
en Reese gently brushed the damp curls at the base of her belly, she arched her back and pressed against Reese’s palm. And when fingers gently fondled the stiff bundle of nerves, she moaned, “Oh, honey…that’s so nice.”

  “You’re so beautiful.” Reese moved her lips along the edge of Tory’s jaw. Tory’s neck was arched, exposing her throat, and a pulse beat wildly at the base. Reese pressed her lips to that point, marveling at the thrill of life and passion beneath the skin. Her own heart beat furiously, her stomach tight with wonder, as she slowly massaged Tory’s clitoris.

  When Tory couldn’t stand the pleasure any longer, she grasped Reese’s wrist and pressed her lover’s hand further between her legs. “I’m…going to come. I want you…inside.”

  “Tory, love,” Reese gasped. “Is it…okay?”

  Whimpering, beginning to crest, Tory didn’t answer but guided her lover where she needed her. Before Reese was fully inside of her, Tory’s muscles clenched forcefully, and she climaxed. She clutched Reese’s shoulders, growing rigid with the first forceful contraction, and then shuddered with each wave of aftershock.

  Reese closed her eyes, forgetting to breathe as Tory trembled in her arms. They must have drifted together in the twilight of passion, because the fire had nearly burned down when Reese opened her eyes again. Tory’s cheek was pressed to her breast, and her fingers were still between Tory’s thighs. Carefully, she withdrew.

  “That was wonderful,” Tory mumbled.

  “Yeah, it was.” Reese kissed the top of Tory’s head. “Are you warm enough?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “I should set the alarm.”

  Tory tilted her head and kissed the tip of Reese’s chin. “In a minute. How’re you doing?”

  “Great.”

  “Just great?” Tory ran a finger down the center of Reese’s belly and didn’t stop until she found the answer to her question.

  “Jesus, Tor.” Reese stiffened as if she had been electrified and jerked as Tory flicked her finger teasingly against the base of her clitoris. “Do that a few more times and I’ll…oh…”