Tough Customer

'What about you?'

'What about me?'

'Dodge left. Caroline let him go. Do you forgive them for those choices?'

'Yes. They were both right, and both wrong.'

'Hmm.'

She propped herself up on her elbow so that she was looking down into his face. 'That was a very eloquent hmm. What?'

'You and Dodge are a lot alike.'

'We're both flat-chested.'

He grinned but didn't let her distract him from his point. 'That wasn't what I was thinking.'

'Were you thinking that he and I are manipulative? That I followed his method of trying to get ahead professionally unethically and at all costs?'

'What I was going to say,' he said with exaggerated patience, 'is that you two are willing to forgive everyone but yourselves.'

She stared deeply into his eyes, her brow furrowed. 'Possibly. Because I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for what Oren did to those people.'

'You're not to blame for his meltdown. When someone goes postal, once his background and behavior are analyzed, the only thing that's surprising is that he didn't flip out sooner. What happened wasn't your fault.'

'I appreciate your saying so.'

'It's not just pillow talk, Berry. I mean it. The issue at Delray, your self- incrimination exceeds the crime. What's the company policy on retaining an employee's work when that employee leaves before a project is finished?'

'That employee's input stays with Delray,' she answered quietly.

'When Sally left, did she take her work?'

'I see your point,' she said with some asperity, 'but still, what I did didn't feel right. My motives certainly weren't.'

'Okay, maybe your ambition went into overdrive. You cheated a bit. Took some unethical shortcuts. Just as Dodge said, drop it. Let it go. If you don't it'll eat you alive.'

'I don't know how to forgive myself.'

'It's an acquired skill.'

Her focus sharpened. 'Is it?'

'Yes. You have to practice it every day.'

She touched his cheek. 'Is this the voice of experience speaking?'

Looking directly into her eyes, he said, 'I convinced the guys in my unit that we could trust our interpreter.'

Understanding the implications, she laid her head on his chest and hugged him close. He went one further and pulled her on top of him until they were belly to belly. She lay perfectly still while he strummed his fingers along her spine. He stroked her ass and as far as he could reach down the backs of her thighs. Because she lay so still, he thought she might have fallen asleep. And that was okay. He would have lain with her like that for hours, days, but eventually she stirred and moaned with pleasure, and the tenor of his caresses changed.

'That night at the lake house,' he whispered as he worked his hand between their bodies and cupped her sex. 'I caught a flash of this.'

'I thought you might have.'

'I did. And I wanted it. I've wanted it every breathing moment since.' He stroked her, felt her quick, hot breaths inside his mouth. 'And now...'

'Ski ...,' she gasped.

'I want you.'

CHAPTER 28

BERRY AND SKI ENTERED THE LAKE HOUSE THROUGH THE BACK door, feeling chagrined but without regret. The kitchen was empty. The house was silent. 'Knock, knock,' Berry called.

'In here.' Caroline's voice wafted from the dining area.

Ski leaned close to Berry as they crossed the kitchen. 'Thank God. It occurred to me we might've caught them doing the same thing that kept us from brunch.'

'Shh.'

Both were snickering as they entered the other room and found Caroline sitting at the dining table all alone. Her forlorn expression instantly alarmed Berry.

'What's wrong?'

'Dodge left.'

'What do you mean by left?' Berry asked.

'What part didn't you understand?' Her snappish tone surprised them all, especially Caroline herself. Her shoulders slumped forward, and she raised a hand to her forehead. 'I'm sorry.'

Berry took the nearest chair and looked at Ski inquisitively as he sat down across the table from her. He shrugged, letting her know that he didn't know what to make of this startling turn of events, either.

Berry asked, 'When did he leave?'

'He never returned from the supermarket.' Caroline lowered her hand, clasped it with her other, twisted her fingers, released them. 'After half an hour and he still wasn't back, I called his cell phone. When he didn't answer, I got a feeling...' She hiccuped a sob. 'I went up to the guest room. His things weren't there.' Miserably she said, 'He left.'

Tears began to overflow her eyes. Angrily she brushed them off her cheeks. 'For thirty years I did without that man. I did fine. Better than fine. Then, I saw him and ... In only four days' time he became essential. And now...' She buried her face in her hands, rubbing the heels of them into her eye sockets. 'I hate myself for crying over him again.'

Nobody said anything until she lowered her hands from her face.

Berry spoke first. 'Your reunion wasn't one-sided, Mother. You spent last night together.'

Caroline smiled through her tears and gave a small nod.

'And it was ... good?'

She burbled a soft laugh. 'Like we'd never been apart.'

'Then he wouldn't have just up and left without saying something.'

'He did.'

Ski asked, 'He gave you no indication that he was going to split?'

'Something was troubling him. I asked him about it last night, and again this morning, but he put me off, told me it was nothing, made jokes. But I think...'

'What?' Ski prompted.

'I think he'd done what he came here to do. The bad guy had been caught.' She shrugged with helplessness. 'He dreaded a prolonged good-bye.'

Ski pushed his chair back, stood, and moved to the window. He slid his hands, palms out, into the back pockets of his jeans, a habit Berry was coming to recognize and find endearing. After a moment, he turned back to them. 'With all due respect, Caroline, I don't think that's it. Not entirely anyway. He was