Lexington Connection Page 4

  “Oh, God, please.” Jessie sank to her knees and Diana caught her. Together, they sank to the thick carpet. Jessie was reaching for her. “Diana.”

  “Yes, Jessie.” Diana parted Jessie’s legs, settled back against her, held her.

  Jessie twisted and reached for Diana. “Oh, God,” she repeated, her voice fading into inarticulate sounds until she finally arched and stiffened.

  Diana rested her head against Jessie’s hip until Jessie’s breathing slowed. Then she moved up her and wrapped her arms around Jessie, pulled Jessie’s head to her shoulder. “Definitely worth repeating,” she murmured into the dark hair.

  Jessie lay there, her eyes closed, until her breathing steadied. She opened her eyes and pushed away to meet Diana’s gaze. “You like taking me apart, don’t you?”

  “I surely do,” Diana agreed with a smile as she raised up on her elbow.

  “You’re going to ruin my reputation.”

  Diana gave a self-satisfied laugh. “Oh, no, darling. Your reputation is part of you. I’ll protect that.” She reached out to touch, brush back Jessie’s hair. “I’ll always protect you.” With one finger, she traced down the side of Jessie’s face.

  Jessie rolled over on her back and Diana let her hand fall away. Jessie kicked off the jeans that were down around her ankles. “Why does everything you say sound like it has a double meaning?”

  “My mystique.”

  Jessie got up, picking up her shirt and bra. “When did these come off?”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention.” She took hold of Jessie’s hand and let Jessie pull her to her feet.

  “I don’t know about you,” Jessie said even as she slid her arm around Diana and pulled her tight against her. “I let you do things that I’ve let no one else do.”

  Oh, you too? “Oh, really? What’s that?”

  Jessie bent down slightly and bit lightly against Diana’s neck. Diana gasped in surprise. “Who are you? How do you manage to do this to me?”

  Diana laughed softly. “Because you let me; because you want me to.” She wrapped her arms around Jessie. “Can’t you feel it, this attraction between us?”

  “Yes.” She turned Diana’s face to her, her gaze intent and Diana stopped her laughter. “I do. I just don’t know if it’s good or not.” She held Diana still and kissed her hard, claiming, as if she were trying to take back what Diana had taken from her. Diana understood the feeling exactly.

  Later, as Diana drifted off to sleep, all she could think was, Definitely a keeper.

  ***

  The next day, Jessie took Diana across town for lunch, another pleasant excursion. “Not so crowded now,” Jessie explained. “The claiming races for the horses are over. And the Derby’s over so the horse crowd has left.”

  “Yeah,” Diana said with distaste. “All the traffic is switched to car racing. You wouldn’t believe the traffic up to Indianapolis.” She shook her head. “It’s so nice and quiet, peaceful here.” She sat back in the seat and watched Jessie drive. “What’s wrong?”

  Jessie looked at her and raised her eyebrows. “What makes you ask?”

  “You look sad.”

  “Mother’s Day weekend. My mother died three years ago. That’s why I can’t stay the weekend. I promised I’d be with the family.”

  “I’m sorry about your mother. Had she been sick?”

  Jessie shrugged as she pulled into the parking lot. “Cancer. It happens.” She changed the subject. “Now this might look like a little hole in the wall but they have the best food.”

  Diana shook her head. “You’re going to spoil me.”

  “Keep showing you a good time, you’ll keep coming back.” She gave Diana a mischievous look as she opened the door for her. She licked her lips and wiggled her eyebrows, which made Diana laugh. Jessie was so open, so enjoyable. And she had family loyalty.

  Yeah, Diana thought, I’ll probably be coming back.

  Chapter Three

  After getting her sister to bed, Jessie wandered out to sit on the back deck. The neighborhood was quiet; Nicki was ready for the next day. She could take a breather. She sat down on the top step, leaned against the support post and stretched out her long legs.

  “Strange to have you home on a Friday night.”

  She jumped; she hadn’t seen her dad in the lounge chair in the corner. “Oh, Dad. Didn’t see you there.”

  “That’s bad, could be dangerous.” He paused. “Got something on your mind?”

  “Yeah, guess so.” She pulled some chive out of the flower pot, Nicki’s school project. She didn’t say anything more.

  “Want to talk?”

  Jessie didn’t turn around to face him. She and her dad were close but some things, well, he was her dad. “You want to deal with it?”

  “Work problems? Someone hassling you?”

  Jessie shook her head. “No, no more than usual.”

  She had two advantages in the department, three maybe. She was family, police family. Her father and her grandfather were Lexington cops. Okay, she was a dyke, but for the old-timers who had watched her grow up, she was still Matt’s daughter. They gave her a rougher time over her age than being a dyke. For another segment of the department, okay, she was a dyke, but she was “our dyke” and while they might razz her, it wasn’t bad. The new ones coming in, well, there were a few bigots but for the most part her being a dyke was like her having dark hair. Immaterial. And she was a good cop. She worked hard. She went the extra mile. She did the extra duty as much as she could with her time available. She earned everything she got.

  “Mother’s Day bother you?”

  Jessie shook her head. “No, well, not like last year. They tell me it gets better. I just think I’ll always miss her. And certainly Nicki misses her mama.” They both fell silent then for a few minutes.

  “I guess that leaves your love life.”

  Jessie gave a chuckle. Love life. Such as it was. More like her sex life.

  “No denial there, must be it. Guess that means you don’t want to talk to your old man about it.” His voice was quiet, a reassuring presence in the darkness.

  “I met someone.” Images of Diana came up, not just Diana in bed, Diana on the dance floor, Diana sitting across the table from her, Diana listening to her, her head slightly bent like she did when she was intent. Diana touching her. “How’d you know Mom was the one?”

  There was a big sigh—regret? Sadness. Loss.

  “I just knew. She just touched me. In ways that no one else ever had. And I knew. And I never looked back.”

  Jessie sighed. She thought that. But she had thought that before.

  “She’s different.”

  “How so?”

  That was the problem, Jessie mused. She didn’t know.

  “How’s she feel about you being a cop?”

  “She doesn’t know.” Jessie threw the chewed leaf away. “I haven’t told her.”

  “Why not?”

  Jessie leaned her head back against the post, looked up at the night sky. Stars were coming out. “Oh, Dad, you know sometimes that uniform is a chick magnet. I wanted to be sure it was me, not the uniform.”

  Matt chuckled. “And I thought dykes were different.”

  Jessie shook her head and then realized her dad couldn’t see her. “Not so much. Some are attracted to authority, those power dynamics, want to be protected just as much as straight women. Or to challenge you.” Jessie thought she had seen all the types.

  “I would think,” Matt said slowly, “that you being a cop would be difficult to keep secret.”

  Jessie blew out a breath. “She’s not local. And we haven’t exactly been out in public.”

  “Ohhh.”

  There was a long silence and Jessie wondered how he would take that information. Her not coming home had always been ignored, well, not ignored. She had her cell phone, she’d text a message. Sometimes he even pretended she had been out early when she came in. Sometimes he assumed she had gotten
called out and she didn’t correct him.

  “What do you know about her?”

  That was the crux of the matter, Jessie thought. “Damn near nothing.” Her dad said nothing and Jessie didn’t have to hear him say anything to know the arguments. She had made herself vulnerable. She had gone with someone she didn’t know, she didn’t know Diana’s history, her connections, where she lived, what she did for a living. Nothing. His next question truly surprised her.

  “Is she good to you?”

  Good? What a question from your daddy. She thought about it. Well, aside from the sex, Diana was good. Diana talked to her like she had a brain. Even though Diana had traveled, she didn’t treat Jessie like some country hick. She could carry on an intelligent conversation and assumed Jessie had opinions and could defend them. She definitely had her own opinions and could also defend them, but that hadn’t stopped her from listening to Jessie’s opinion. “Yes,” she finally answered. Except for not telling me anything about herself.

  “How does she feel about cops?”

  “I don’t know. Hasn’t exactly come up.”

  “How’s she feel about authority?”

  “Doesn’t seem to have any more gripes than the general population.”

  “Check her out?”

  “As much as I could; couldn’t even find a traffic ticket.”

  “Drugs?”

  “Haven’t seen any evidence.”

  “Track marks can be hidden.”

  “Trust me, Pops. I’ve seen everything.”

  “Oh.” There was another silence. “What’s your gut say?”

  “No warning signals, nothing except nice.” She smiled in the darkness ruefully. Nice, indeed.

  She heard her dad start to say something, stop. Finally he came out with it. “What’s the problem?”

  How to explain? Jessie hesitated, not sure if she wanted to be this open with her dad. She had come this far, might as well. “We met at the bar, everything really clicked. I spent the weekend with her. This was three months ago.”

  “Uh-huh.” He was uncomfortable, Jessie could tell. She decided to leave the details out.

  “We had a good time. That seemed to be it. She left town, on her way.”

  “Was that wise? Going with someone you didn’t know.”

  Daddy-role just kicked in, Jessie thought. “Probably not,” she admitted. Wasn’t the first time, Pops. Probably won’t be the last. “I thought that was the end of it. She came back through town Mother’s Day weekend. She came back to see me.”

  “Why?”

  Jessie turned her head, surprised. Her initial reaction was why not? And then she realized her dad’s suspicion was a cop’s suspicion, something she had lost when she was with Diana. “She said she felt a connection.”

  “And you?”

  “There’s something.” She turned back to look down the row of houses. “That’s what bothers me.” She stood up, automatically brushing off the seat of her pants. This conversation wasn’t giving her any answers, just showing her how little was really there. “She says she does a lot of business travel, may or may not come this way. Promised nothing. Asked for nothing. If she comes through and I want to see her, great. If not, well, that’s life. I may never see her again and all this is just a bunch of worry about nothing.” She went to the sliding glass door and slid it open.

  “So what’s the problem, Jessica Ann?”

  Jessie paused, her foot already in the door. She looked around to where she could barely see him in the corner. “I want to, Dad. I feel such a strong connection that I want more. And I know so little about her that I’m afraid of what might be there.” She waited, hoping for pearls of wisdom, something that would tell her what to do, something that would shed some light on her puzzlement and show her which way to go.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Jessie. You know all the pitfalls. Being gay doesn’t make you immune from being used. Just be careful.”

  “Yeah.” And she went inside and started a load of laundry just to have something to do.

  ***

  “Is there something going on in Lexington I don’t know about? New client maybe?” Margaret carefully asked her employer. “Seems like Lexington is turning up on a lot of hotel receipts.”

  Diana uttered a noncommittal sound. They were working out in the exercise room, Diana walking on the treadmill, Margaret on the weights.

  “Your papa’s starting to ask questions. What am I supposed to tell him?”

  “What have you told him?”

  “Gave him some song and dance. You know that’s hard to do. And dangerous.”

  Diana shut off the treadmill and stepped off. “We agreed. This was my business, my concern. He isn’t to be involved.”

  Margaret put aside the weights and reached for the towel. “This may not be family business, but he’s still your papa.” She wiped her face off. Being caught between the strong-willed father-daughter duo was not an enviable position even if she had been doing it for years. The position was just getting more complicated lately. “The next thing he wanted to know was why I wasn’t along. That was a little harder to explain.”

  “Oh, that’s the easy part. I didn’t want you along.”

  “That’s not always your choice,” Margaret said carefully. “Or mine,” she muttered under her breath.

  But Diana heard her. “Yes, it is. My clients, my deliveries, my conditions. I’m a college kid on vacation. College kids don’t have bodyguards.” She gave Margaret a conspiratorial smile to take the sting away. “Or chaperones. Or secretaries. Or assistants. Or any of the other roles you might suggest.” She threw the towel over the handlebars. “Ready for the swim?”

  “Inside or outside?”

  “Guys around?”

  “Off grounds.”

  “Outside then.”

  Diana led the way to the outside pool. She casually stripped off her shorts, top, and turned to watch Margaret. The older woman glanced around, checking the perimeter. She stripped off her clothing, revealing narrow hips, small breasts, flat abs. She was muscular, strong, and capable. That’s what bodyguards were supposed to be.

  “So tell me what’s going on in Lexington.”

  Diana made another noncommittal sound.

  “You’ve been going back quite a bit, even when you don’t have a run in the area. This one’s lasting longer than usual.”

  “Lexington has lots of history, lots of attractions.” She gave a slow smile. “Need to explore it all.” She gave Margaret a wink. “Don’t want to miss anything.”

  Margaret cocked an eyebrow. “Must be very interesting.”

  Diana dived into the pool and Margaret followed her. Laps later, they were in the showers and then retired to the bedroom to dress for dinner.

  “He’s going to start insisting I go along.”

  “Margaret, I love you. You’ve been at my back one way or the other all my life, but I’m not taking you along. A bodyguard will cramp my style.”

  “I can be invisible.”

  Diana laughed. “Not where I go, darling. Where I go is just two of us. Three would really be a crowd.”

  “This is not good, sweet pea.”

  “Good is not the word for it, Margaret. It’s—it’s…” She closed her eyes and searched for the word.

  Margaret sighed and sat down on the bed. “Sounds like love.” She shook her head. “Just don’t lose your head, child. I’m real fond of mine and your sweet papa will have mine on a silver platter if anything happens to you.”

  Diana laid her hand on Margaret’s knee. “No one knows about me, Margaret. I’m papa’s secret child; I don’t exist.”

  Margaret caught Diana’s hand. “You feel real to me.”

  ***

  Diana had made detours to Lexington for months, even met Jessie’s father and sister. That had been unplanned or she would have begged off. Meeting the family was just too close, and as fond as she was growing of Jessie, she just couldn’t foresee dealing with Jess
ie’s family. I mean, what’s to say? I come to town just to sleep with your daughter? She shivered at the thought, but the event had come up so unexpectedly she was taken off guard, something she really didn’t like.

  They had gone out for an afternoon, sightseeing. Jessie was so good at knowing places of historical interest to show Diana when she came to town. They were on their way back and had driven past a park.

  “Ahh, there’s Dad,” Jessie had exclaimed and whipped into the park entrance. By the time Diana gasped and even halfway formulated an excuse, Jessie parked the Jeep and got out. She paused, one foot on the parking bumper, looking over her shoulder, and Diana could see there was nothing to do but go through with it.

  The man sitting on the park bench watching over the kids in the creative playground glanced around and smiled when he saw Jessie. When he saw Diana and, more importantly, saw Jessie take hold of her hand, he got to his feet.

  “Ahh, Jessie.” He glanced at Diana. “So this is the person who keeps you busy.”

  Diana was amused to see Jessie’s flush, but at least, she realized, she didn’t have to hide the fact there was some sort of attachment between the two of them.

  “Ahh, Diana, this is my dad, Matt Galbreath. Dad, this is Diana DeVilbiss.”

  Diana held her hand out to the somewhat stocky dark, haired man who had a broad, cheerful, ruddy face. Clearly Jessie might have gotten her coloring from her father but not her body build. His grip was firm, strong, direct, much like his daughter’s and Diana had an initial good impression. “Good to meet you,” she greeted him even as she began to casually look around the park. The hair stood up on the back of her neck, and her stomach clenched with a vaguely familiar unease. She felt like she was being watched, something she really didn’t like; like when she went over to her papa’s and he was under surveillance. Her warning radar was going off like mad and she didn’t understand why.

  “Where’s Nicki?” she heard Jessie ask her dad. Diana took the opportunity to look around when Matt turned to point at the kids at the wooden castle inside the fence. She scanned the entire area, didn’t see anything that should have made her uneasy. There were no parked cars with drivers just sitting in them, no one on park benches just casually reading the newspaper. Still she turned, trying to act as if she were looking at the kids. She gripped her unease and clamped down on it when she saw Jessie give her a curious glance and she stood still, focusing on the playground.