Radclyffe - Safe Harbor 02 - Beyond The Breakwater Read online

  "For sure. Did you hear about Paris yet?"

  "Just that they got all my application materials," she replied, her smile fading slightly as she thought of spending her junior year abroad. She wanted to go, because the chance to study and paint in France was like a dream come true. But when she actually pictured herself there, so far away from everything she knew, everyone she loved

  "What about Bri? She going, too?"

  Caroline hesitated. "I...we haven't really talked about it."

  "Where is she tonight, anyhow? Shes missing all the fun."

  "At the dojo." Caroline glanced at the clock uneasily. It was after 11:00 p.m., and Bris class ended at 9:30. Bri knew that Caroline was having friends over from school, and Caroline tried to ignore the stab of hurt at her lover's absence. Now that she thought about it, Bri had been even quieter than usual the last few weeks. She seemed to be training even more, if that were humanly possible, and coming home later and later. For the first time in the four years they'd been together, Caroline felt uncertain of what was happening between them.

  "What?" Caroline asked when she realized that her friend James was still speaking.

  "The black belt thing...that's happening soon for her, right?"

  "Oh. Yes. Sometime this year."

  "Man, that's amazing." James leaned against the counter and fished a handful of potato chips from an open bag beside him. The two of them moved closer together as another woman squeezed in beside them, muttering that she was looking for ice. "She, like, practices every day, doesnt she?"

  "Almost." Sometimes Caroline thought that Bris training was the most important thing in her life. She knew for a fact that the martial arts were much more important to her lover than college. Not for the first time, she thought that Bri had only come to Manhattan to be with her. That if they had stayed in Provincetown, Bri would have been just as happy. Maybe more. It wasn't that Brianna wasn't intelligent, because she was. She just chafed at schedules and deadlines and inactivity.

  When theyd talked about going away to college, Bri had simply said that she would go anywhere that Caroline wanted to go. When Caroline received the scholarship to the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, it had seemed like an ideal solution. It wasn't that far from Cape Cod, so they could still get home easily. There were plenty of schools where Bri could enroll, and Reese Conlon knew of a dojo where Bri could train. Bri had settled on the city university, because it was affordable and offered a solid curriculum in criminology. She wanted to go into law enforcement, like her father and Reese.

  When they found the tiny apartment in alphabet city, the student/artist enclave in Greenwich Village, life had seemed perfect. For Caroline, it still was.

  "I'd better get back out there," Caroline said, grabbing a bottle of beer for herself.

  "Later," he called as he reached for more chips.

  The front door was just closing behind Bri as Caroline walked into the crowded living room, which also happened to be their bedroom when the sofa bed was pulled out. Caroline stepped over extended legs and threaded her way around the bowls and bottles on the floor until she reached her lover. Standing on tiptoe, she slipped one arm around Bri's shoulder and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. "Hi.

  Bri, taller than Caroline by a head, was in her usual outfittight, threadbare blue jeans, multi-zippered leather jacket, and heavy black motorcycle boots. She put both arms around her girlfriend and pulled her close, squeezing gently. Caroline always smelled like the shampoo she used, some combination of fruit and spices. Just the scent of her could make Bri wet. "Hey, babe. How's it going?"

  "Okay. Missed you."

  "Sorry." Bri let her go and shrugged out of her jacket. The black T-shirt was stretched tight across her muscled chest and shoulders, her breasts smooth shadows beneath the thin cotton. Narrow-hipped and broad-shouldered, hard-bodied from years of jujitsu, she exuded danger and a seething sexuality.

  “ Come on, Caroline said, taking her hand. “You want something? A beer?

  “ Sure, Bri replied, allowing her girlfriend to pull her though the crowd. She was happy that Carre hadnt asked her why she was late, but shed seen the hurt in her lovers deep green eyes just the same. Fuck. I have to tell her soon.

  Chapter Four

  By 2:00 a.m., everyone had gone. Discarded bottles and half-empty bowls of snacks lay scattered around the room, but the apartment had survived the crush of partiers in fairly good shape. Caroline and Bri were nestled on the couch where they had collapsed after bidding goodnight to the last of their friends. The room lights were off, and a few candles provided the only illumination. Bri, cradling Caroline in her arms, leaned against the corner of the sofa with the smaller woman lying between her out-stretched legs.

  "I guess we should open the bed," Bri murmured, nuzzling her lips in Carolines fragrant hair. She rubbed her palm slowly up and down Carolines stomach, brushing the navel ring back and forth. Every now and then, she tugged it between her fingers. “Carre? Babe? You awake?

  “ Mmm hmm. Caroline turned on her side and pressed her hips between Bris thighs. "It's awfully nice right here."

  "Oh yeah?"

  "Yeah."

  Bri tilted Caroline's chin up and found her lips, exploring with the tip of her tongue along the sensitive inner surfaces. Theyd kissed thousands of times, but every time she was struck anew by how incredibly soft those lips were. Within seconds, Bri felt herself swell and grow hard.

  "I love to kiss you," Bri murmured.

  "Mmm. Me, too." Caroline rested her hand on Bri's chest, rhythmically brushing her thumb across the peak of her lover's tight nipple. She knew that would make Bri crazy.

  After a minute, Bri said urgently, "Come on. Let's open the bed and get our clothes off."

  "Not yet," Caroline said with gentle firmness. "Im too comfortable. Just kiss me again."

  Bri knew what Carre was doing, and as much as it frustrated her, it excited her tremendously, too. Surrendering to the sweet torture, Bri groaned and kissed Caroline hard, her tongue inside the warm mouth now. Minuteshourspassed, she couldn't tell how long. Her head was light, her legs heavy, and her breath hissed from her chest in uneven spurts. Somewhere in the midst of their kisses, Caroline had turned on her stomach and lay face down between Bris open thighs, thrusting her hips in time with their questing tongues.

  Bri clasped Caroline's butt in her hands, pulling her lover hard against her crotch, trying unsuccessfully to satisfy the pressure building precariously inside.

  "You feel so good," Bri whispered.

  Caroline's only response was a soft whimper.

  The sound of her lover's pleasure snapped the tenuous threads of Bris control, and she wrapped one firm arm around Caroline's waist and twisted until the smaller woman was beneath her. She grasped the lower edge of the diminutive crop top and pushed it up, lowering her mouth to the soft, full breast.

  Caroline arched and cried out as Bri sucked the nipple into her mouth. She fisted her hands in Bris hair, pulling frantically as the pleasure streaked from her breast through her belly. "Briooh, you make me so hot."

  Never moving her lips from Caroline's breast, Bri eased away enough to get her hand between them. Deftly, she opened Caroline's jeans and began to push them down over her hips.

  “ Oh, yes." Caroline lifted her hips, grasped her jeans with one hand, and helped her lover bare her body. With her lips pressed to Bri ear, she begged, "I'm so excited. Make me come, Bri."

  Bri groaned. Nothing had ever made her feel at once so powerful and so hopelessly inadequate. That Caroline would want her, would trust her so completely, nearly broke her heart. She pressed her forehead to Carolines breast, murmuring fervently, "I love you so damn much."

  “ I knowI knowoh, love me now. Eyes closed, head twisting helplessly against the arm of the sofa, Caroline pushed Bri down.

  Moving fast, Bri knelt on the floor, her hands beneath Caroline's hips, pulling her forward to the edge of the couch and lifting her easily on her powerful forearms
. "Oh, baby, I love you."

  Then Bri lowered her head and stroked the slick folds with her tongue, holding tight as Caroline jerked at the first light touch. When she took the distended clitoris between her lips, Caroline's cries echoed the thundering of her own fierce passion. With her mouth, with her hands, with her lips, she paid homage to the love that had saved her sanity and shaped her life.

  When Caroline climaxed, trembling and whimpering, Bri squeezed her eyes closed and groaned with the answering surge between her own thighs. She rocked her pelvis against the sofa, the seam of her jeans riding over her clitoris. The faint pressure was more than enough to trigger her oversensitive nerve endings, and she came instantly, shuddering with the force of it. Her hoarse cries mingled with her lovers last soft moans.

  “ Bri? Honey? Caroline questioned weakly, trailing her fingers over her lovers face. Bris cheek was pressed to her stomach, and Carolines hand came away wet. “Are you crying?

  “ No, Bri lied.

  Caroline sat up and leaned forward, her arms resting on her lovers broad shoulders. “You are.

  Kneeling, encircled in Carolines embrace, Bri looked away. “Its nothing. Dont worry.

  “ I dont think youve done that since the first time. Remember?

  Carolines voice was gentle, and Bri thought of the warm summer nights in the dunesinnocently making love beneath the stars with the sounds of the surf in the background. “Yes, she said quietly. “I remember.

  "Whats wrong?"

  "Nothing," Bri insisted.

  "You have to tell me." Caroline gave Bri a small shake. "Something hasn't been right for a long time. Ever since Christmas."

  "I don't how to explain."

  Caroline's heart lurched. Suddenly, for the first time in her memory, she was frightened of something that Bri might say. "Is there...someone else?"

  "No! Jesus." Bri put her palms on either side of her lover's face and kissed her swiftly. "Never."

  "Then what?"

  "I want to quit school."

  Caroline jerked back. "Why?"

  "Because I don't want to be here next year while you're in France." She hadn't wanted to say that. But it was the truth.

  "Oh." The sound was small, surprised.

  Neither of them said anything for long moments, until finally Bri got to her feet and moved as far away as the small room would allow. She leaned against the doorway that joined the kitchen and the living room and pushed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

  "I won't go then," Caroline said quietly as she hastily rearranged her clothing. Brushing a hand through her disheveled hair, she smiled tremulously. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

  "Because I want you to go," Bri said forcefully. " You want to go. Fuck...you should go."

  Bri turned and walked into the kitchen, jerking open the small refrigerator door and pulling out a bottle of beer. Viciously, she twisted off the top and threw it into the trash. She turned to find Caroline framed in the doorway, staring at her with wounded eyes. "I can't go with you, Carre. You know that."

  "What would you do?"

  Bri looked away.

  "Bri?"

  "I applied to the Sheriff's department in Barnstable."

  "Youre going to move back to the Cape?"

  “ Yeah.

  Caroline felt like she had plummeted into another world. “When did you apply?

  "January."

  "You didn't tell me." It was a statement, not an accusation.

  "I didn't want you to change your mind about Paris."

  "Oh, Bri." Caroline hadn't meant to cry, but the tears came before she could stop them. She felt so sad, and so helpless to change events that already seemed to be moving too fast.

  Stunned, Bri put the bottle on the counter and rapidly strode across the small space. She pulled Caroline into her arms and buried her face in her hair. "I'm sorry. Please don't cry."

  "Can we talk about this tomorrow?" Caroline pressed hard against Bris body, needing the solid reassurance of her presence.

  "Sure. Anything you want." Bri kissed Caroline's forehead. "It will be okay, babe."

  But somehow, they both knew that wasn't true.

  Chapter Five

  Three weeks later Bri and Caroline stood together in the chill March wind on the sidewalk in front of their apartment building. Bri strapped her loaded saddlebags onto the back of her Harley with methodical care. She wasnt taking much--extra jeans, a few books, her gis. And she was leaving everything behind. "You should go inside. It's freezing out here."

  "I'm okay." Shivering, Caroline crossed her arms over her chest, but it wasn't the frigid air that chilled her. "I don't care about Paris."

  "Look, I'll see you for Memorial Day, right? That's only two months." Bri yanked on her heavy riding gloves. The tears in Carres eyes were killing her.

  "But if I stay here next year," Caroline continued hurriedly as if Bri hadn't spoken, "I'll be able to see you every other weekend or so. At least once a month."

  "Well have this summer together. By the time you have to leave in the fall, we'll be used to the idea." Bri straddled the bike and tried to think of something that would take the hurt out of Caroline's eyes. It's not just Paris. It's not just next year . Don't you know that? Youre really good, babe. Everyone knows it. This is your chance. You have to do whatever it takes, and it sure isn't going to be spending your life in Provincetown. If I stay here, I'm only going to hold you back.

  Caroline crossed the sidewalk in a rush and threw her arms around Bris leather-jacketed shoulders. She buried her face in Bris neck, her words muffled against her lovers cold skin. "I love you. I don't want us to be apart."

  "Oh, babe." Bri wrapped the smaller woman in a bone crushing embrace, pressing her face to the top of Caroline's head. Much more of this and she was going to crack. It felt like her chest was going to explode it hurt so much. "We just have to do this. Promise me if you get the scholarship, you'll go."

  "Bri," Caroline pleaded, her fists clutching the stiff leather.

  "Promise."

  Caroline nodded wordlessly.

  For one terrifying moment, Bri didn't think she could let her go. She had a horrible feeling that she would never hold her again. Oh Jesus, what am I going to do without you. "I don't want you to watch me drive away."

  Shivering, Caroline stepped away, her jade green eyes locked on Bris midnight blue ones. She was crying, but she didn't feel the tears freezing on her cheeks. "I'm not going to let you leave me."

  "I'm not," Bri whispered, but she feared she might be lying to them both.

  *****

  March, Provincetown, MA

  Reese leaned on the railing on the postage stamp-sized deck behind the Galleria, a relatively new two-story enclave of boutiques in the middle of town. Shed left her jacket in her patrol car and stood in shirtsleeves under a clear sky, watching the fishing boats leave Provincetown Harbor for their morning run.

  A gruff voice behind her 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. She sipped the coffee and regarded him silently. He didn't look like he'd been sleeping very well.

  “ Have you heard from my kid?

  "She called me two days ago . Gave me an update on her training ."

  He grumbled something unintelligible. Bri hadn't called him , but then that was pretty much his fault.

  He pulled the cruiser into his driveway and stared at the big 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 in front of her. Same jeans, same boots, same slicked-back black hair. Same hoodlum jacket, too. Christ, he was glad to see her.<
br />
  “ 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 hadnt seen in a long, long time. A lost look. His heart turned over, and his stomach started burning. “Its 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 couldnt even taste, his mind raced. If shed needed money, she probably would have called. Of course, she never asked him for money. Hardly ever asked for anything. Couldnt be trouble with Carolines old man. That asshole was long out of the picturethe guy hadnt had anything to do with the kids since hed slapped Caroline around for being involved with Bri and then tossed her out of the house. Trouble with the law? Nahnot his kid. So, if it wasnt money orthe burning in his gut climbed into his chest.

  “ Are you sick?

  Bri stared at him. “What? 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 shed scared the crap out of him.

  “ I quit.

  Nelsons mouth dropped open. “Are you nuts? Wheres Caroline?

  “ In Manhattan.

  “ Did she quit, too?

  “ No. Bris voice was tight again. “I moved out.

  Okay, relax. Try to get the facts. Dont 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! Jesusjustwait, okay?

  She had her hand on the doorknob, but she didnt open the door. With her back to him, she said, “Im starting at the Sheriffs department training academy on Monday.