Chapter Twenty-Five

Guin had new appreciation for her former partner these days. Previously, Cheryl would go to the station every morning extra early, trade her car for the squad car, and then come to pick up Guin, like clockwork. Guin was not as early a riser as Cheryl had been, but she supposed having a husband and two small children to look after would probably require routine. Such was not Guin’s strong suit.

On this morning, she nervously pulled into the first parking spot in the parking lot of April’s apartment building and waited. She hadn’t even talked to her partner since they’d had words several nights earlier; didn’t know for sure if they were still sticking to their routine of morning pick up or not. She was there strictly on the faith that time had healed…something.

She’d begun to think the worst by the time April emerged from the front door, two cups of coffee in hand. She dropped into the passenger seat, even smiled like it was just another day. But Guin held her breath not quite trusting the odd tremor in her consciousness.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

Fair enough. April handed her one of the steaming cups. Guin took it; shot her a little insecure glance.

“I had time to think about it.”

Guin was thankful that April was getting right to the point about “it,” and quickly, too. She hated the suspense. “I suppose it could be purely coincidental that you happened to sleep with two women who just happened to be your partners.”

Guin expelled the breath she’d been holding. “Thank you for seeing it my way.”

“Even though we’re the only two female partners you’ve ever had, and you did sleep with both of us.”

There was a dangling note of allegation in her statement, but overall, Guin thought April seemed even more confident than she had during the entire time she’d known her.

“Okay…”

April took ownership. “And in fairness, I am the one who came on to you.”

“Not that I didn’t want you to.” Guin felt it was only right to extend a confession on the tail end of April’s. They were clearing the air. It felt good. “And I missed you a lot this weekend, April. A lot.”

“Really?” April slyly grinned. “How much?”

Guin rolled her eyes, chuckled softly. “Enough to go to Masquerade and come home totally alone.”

“Masquerade?” April tipped her head, quizzically. “Isn’t it Faces now?”

“Who cares, it’s a meat market.” Guin shook her head. “I thought being with someone would be better than being alone. But that wasn’t true.” She looked April straight in the eyes, spoke with purpose. “There’s nothing like being with you.”

“Oh baby…” April reached across, stroked a curl out of Guin’s eyes. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that.”

Guin smiled. “And I actually had an unexpected companion that night.”

April nudged her hand away, prepared to be hurt. “Oh, really?”

“It was Sloan.”

“Lieutenant Sloan?” April’s eyes widened dramatically. She practically gulped out loud. “Our Lieutenant Sloan?”

“The one and only.” Guin nodded. “I guess she lives nearby.” She started the car, backed out of the parking space. “Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen her there before.”

“Oh, wow…”

“And not to make you nervous, but she knows,” Guin stated quite simply.

“About us?” April wasn’t nearly as calm about it. “You told her about us?”

“No, she actually told me. She knew about Cheryl, too. Woman doesn’t miss a trick.”

“How’s that possible?”

Guin gave a little push. “Maybe she’s psychic.”

“Get serious.” April’s quick discounting of the notion set Guin’s senses on high alert. “Not cool. Not cool at all. I need this job, Guin. I love this job.”

“Relax. She won’t say anything.”

April’s eyes flashed with intrigue. “You have some dirt on her?”

“Seriously? Blackmail a superior officer?” Guin shot her a look before pulling onto the main road. “No thanks. Besides, I don’t need to have any dirt on her. I trust her.”

“You trust her?”

“Yeah.” Guin shrugged. “I have a good feeling about her.”

April didn’t look reassured in the least. She rubbed the lines in her forehead, gazed out the window. “And I suppose you’re psychic now.”

“Would that be…all that bad?”

“Get serious,” April remarked for the second time.

Guin kept glancing her way, but April clearly was preoccupied with the notion that Sloan would rat them out. Guin, meanwhile, was preoccupied with the notion that April thought psychics were a fraud.

Guin finally broke the silence. “Listen, don’t worry, okay?” She reached across the seat and gave April’s hand a quick squeeze. “It’s okay. Trust me.”

April’s posture relaxed. She nodded, smiled at last.

“So, since we’re sort of normal again, you want to have dinner tonight?” Guin gave her partner her undivided attention while they were at the stoplight. “We can talk. I mean really talk.”

“I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Guin?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“We’re not going to get to tonight if we don’t get to work today.”

Guin regarded her partner’s sly smile, suddenly noticed the honking behind her despite the fact that they were in a patrol car. God only knew how long ago the light had changed.

Guin snatched up the loudspeaker microphone and made a bold, ridiculous announcement. “Quit honking, or I’ll issue every last one of you a noise citation, I swear to God.”

“Guin!” April’s eyebrows practically hit her hairline. When she saw Guin’s funny smile, she threw her head back and laughed. “You are really going to get us into trouble!”

Her laughter was a beautiful sound. As they pulled away from the stoplight, April couldn’t hold back any longer. She unbuckled her seat belt and scooted close to Guin. She kissed her neck, unbuttoned the top button of her uniform, and suddenly each woman knew she’d be no good until she’d gotten the other out of her system.

They barely made it to Guin’s pool house, crashing into the tiny flowery hedge, fumbling with keys and tripping over the low threshold. They were naked before they even made it to the bedroom; a trail of clothing in their wake gave a clear timeline of their escalating passion.

“You know,” Guin said between frantic kisses. “Sometimes make-up sex just cannot wait.”

“We shouldn’t waste any time,” April wholeheartedly agreed. Guin pressed her body against her partner’s warm, smooth skin, reveled in the intimacy.

“We should have gone to your place,” she whispered. “We’d be a lot closer to the station.”

“Yeah, we could be late.”

“I hope we don’t miss any calls,” Guin continued, but her concern didn’t slow her frenzy any. Her hand wasted no time finding April’s vee.

“Yeah, we could get into a lot of trouble.”

Guin traced April’s already soaking lips with her fingertips. She teased her with a flicking motion that she’d already learned April liked.

“I hope we don’t—”

“Guin,” April said, desperate and breathless. “Shut the fuck up.”

With that, Guin plunged herself deep into April, kissed her, bypassed foreplay and fucked her with the zeal of a lover who’d been gone too long, despite the fact that it was merely a weekend. April’s moan emerged like a deep growl, nothing Guin had ever heard out of her before.

Guin shifted her arm, swung April on top of her for better access. She went deeper, harder, pulling out between moans, causing April to writhe with delight and scream for more. Guin smiled, wondered what her fancy-pants neighbors would think of the early morning ruckus. She hoped every last one of them was jealous.

Another slick plunge sent April over the top. She shuddered as her body exploded and at last she collapsed on top of Guin.

“Oh, hon…” she whispered coarsely. “Oh…holy shit.”

Guin edged onto her side, kissed a trail over April’s breasts and up to her collarbone. She bit the leather corded necklace April was wearing. In a flash of light, she saw April standing before the coffeepot in her kitchen, preparing two cups of coffee. She heard someone humming a Black Eyed Peas song; saw her dump in a creamer and two sugars into each cup. The vision vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Guin smiled, closed her eyes, relished in the feeling of being with April.

April teasingly chastised Guin for ticketing an old guy on the way to the station.

“We can’t walk into that place late and empty-handed, now, can we?”

April laughed hard. “Guin, he was a hundred years old!”

“A hundred-year-old dude going fifty in a thirty-five is clearly a danger to society.”