Her bed was soft. Their lovemaking was not.
Yet even intensified as it was by their long-denied hunger, it wasn't rough or abandoned. The beast inside awoke, tried to take over and have its dark way with her, as Riddick knew it would. As it had done so many times before, with her eager cooperation.
But now was not one of those times. Now was a time of tasting, of feeling, of relearning the curves of a body and the subtle meaning of a breath. No room for dark demons here.
Don't bite the hand that feeds you, he told the thing inside him. I need this. And that means you need it too.
The beast, denied its release, retreated, grumbling and switching its tail. It knew his words were true. It knew, too, that its time would come, and she would welcome it as she always had.
They lay quietly afterwards, twined together like the roots of a tree, still not quite believing the solid reality of touch. She closed her eyes and replayed everything they'd just done, shivering when she remembered the sound of Riddick's voice whispering her name over and over as he moved inside her. He said it again now, his lips brushing her ear.
"Carolyn."
She shivered harder and molded herself even closer to him. "Mmmm...I just can't get enough of that."
Riddick kissed her ear, sending a shock through her still-sensitive body. "Plenty more where that came from."
Carolyn turned on her side so she could look into his eyes. That little blue spot simply fascinated her; she'd seen blue-eyed people before with tiny brown flecks in their irises, but never the opposite. The effect was almost as captivating as his shine job had been.
"Mind if I just stare at you for a few hours?"
"Not at all," Riddick grinned at her. "Lotta starin' to make up for." His smile faded into an expression of gentle wonder as he traced the curves of Carolyn's face with his fingertips. The same fingertips, he reminded himself, that had traced her blurry image on a monitor four years ago as he'd watched her go out of her mind with grief.
She saw the pain that flickered over his features for a few seconds, then just as quickly was pushed away. "What's wrong?"
Riddick sighed and gave her a small, tight smile. "Nothin'. Bad memories." His fingers continued their exploration. "Don't worry about it."
Carolyn kissed his fingers as they moved lightly across her lips. "Yeah...we should be remembering good things right now. Happy things."
"Like what?"
"Oh...let's see..." She rolled her eyes up as she thought for a moment. "How 'bout that water fight you had with Jack?"
He chuckled at that, the unexpected laughter sending a joyous tingle through him. "Oh, man...forgot about that."
"Jack didn't." Carolyn paused and watched his face. "Matter of fact, she still has both those water pistols in her apartment somewhere."
Riddick's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "She has her own apartment?"
Carolyn laughed and shoved at his chest. "She's nineteen, Riddick. Been living on her own for almost a year now. Did you think she'd stay a little girl forever?"
"Wow..." Riddick laughed again. "Nineteen, huh? Guess I kinda lost track. Damn..." His face grew thoughtful. "How'd she, uh...how'd she take it?"
"Slightly better than I did." Carolyn pressed her lips together with remembered pain. "She ran away right after Abu told her. I wanted to look for her, but Abu made me wait. Said she'd come back on her own. And she did, the next day."
"What happened after that?"
"Well..." Carolyn rolled away from him onto her back and stretched. "She was a real handful for about a year or so, and then just settled down on her own. She's been pretty much ok ever since, except for the nightmares." She thought for a moment before going on. "I've tried really hard to hold it together and help Abu make a stable life for her. She deserved that. Hell, we all did."
Riddick rolled onto his back and stretched too, then lay looking up at the play of sunlight through the curtains on the cream-colored ceiling. "You've done pretty well for yourself." He laughed and shook his head. "I had no idea you'd turn into a farmer."
"That's 'produce magnate', thank you very much," she laughed back, slapping his arm.
"C'mon, Carolyn," he said playfully. "You grow fruit, you pick fruit, you sell fruit. *And* you have horses. You're a fuckin' farmer."
"Bite me." Carolyn slung her pillow from beneath her head and whapped Riddick firmly in the chest with it.
He grabbed it and whapped back. "Gimme somethin' nice to bite, and I will, baby."
"Watch it, pal, or I'll send you back outside to pick fruit." She tried to snatch the pillow, but Riddick held onto it. They struggled over it for a minute, snickering like children. Suddenly, Riddick tossed the pillow away and rolled himself up to straddle Carolyn's body.
"I bet you're still ticklish," he said with a sly grin.
"No, I'm not," Carolyn answered a bit too quickly. "I outgrew it."
"Liar." Riddick grabbed her ribs with both hands, making her shriek. "I knew it." He stretched himself out on top of her and clapped a hand over her mouth as he tickled her with the other. She screeched and struggled as she tried to push him off, her tears of laughter wetting Riddick's hand.
"Boss?" Hannah walked into the kitchen and looked around. Funny - Abu had said she was in here. Oh well, it wasn't that important. As she turned to leave, something bright caught her eye, something that hadn't been there before. She turned back and walked over to the table, noting Carolyn's portable computer, half- eaten breakfast and pushed-back chair. On the other end of the table was a knotted red bandana and a pair of big sunglasses.
Where have I seen those before?
A basket of freshly-picked tanda fruit sat by the pantry door. Hannah's eyes went from the basket to the bandana and sunglasses, then back again. Finally, it came to her - that's what that big worker had been wearing when she sent him up here with the fruit.
Where the hell *is* he, anyway? she thought. And what's his stuff doing on the kitchen table?
She didn't remember seeing him go into the dining room with the other workers. Maybe he was in the bathroom. For the second time, she turned to leave the kitchen, and was stopped by something red. Something else that hadn't been there before.
No, no, no... she told herself. I've gotta be seeing things.
Hannah advanced slowly towards the wall behind where Carolyn had been sitting, shaking her head in disbelief. The red thing on the wall was exactly what she'd thought it was - part of a bloody handprint.
A big one.
Oh, fuck...
She drew her pistol and cocked it, holding it up by her shoulder to point at the ceiling. Her eyes went to the floor, noting the muddy boot prints. Those were big, too. Leaning into the hallway, she traced the mud to the front door, where the worker had obviously come in (contrary to her instructions), and followed it to the kitchen. More of it went into Carolyn's office. Hannah stepped carefully into the hallway, checking for people, then tiptoed to the back and into the office, where the traces of mud were lighter, but still visible. Carolyn's desk was undisturbed.
The mud led to the little door in the corner, the one Carolyn used to get to her upstairs room. Hannah moved silently to it and waited, listening intently. She heard nothing. Grabbing the handle, she twisted it and threw open the door. In the same motion, she landed in a crouch at the foot of the narrow stairs with her pistol pointing upward towards the second-floor exit. No motion, no sound. Hannah raised herself cautiously to her feet and moved towards the first step, then froze in horror.
On the shiny metal door handle was a smear of blood.
"Fucking bastard," she whispered. Returning her attention to the stairs, she started up them, placing her boots carefully so they made almost no noise. A few seconds of listening at the top told her no one was moving around on the second-floor balcony, so she turned the handle and pushed the door open. The balcony was empty, as she'd thought, but noises were coming from the direction of Carolyn's room.
A muffled scream brought her to attention. That had *definitely* come from Carolyn's room. Hannah ran to the door and listened; it sounded as though some sort of struggle was going on in there. Then two things happened in quick succession that galvanized the foreman into action.
From inside the bedroom, she heard Carolyn's voice screaming, "No! No! Please, stop it!"
And she saw a smear of blood on the bedroom door.
With her gun in one hand, aimed at the ceiling, Hannah reached out with the other and closed it around the door handle. The struggling sounds went on, and now she heard a male voice as well.
Keep your cool, she told herself. He's a big guy, but remember - you've got the gun.
With the same swift motion she'd used downstairs in Carolyn's office, Hannah turned the handle and pushed open the door. She ran into the room, holding her pistol with two hands and aiming it in front of her. She was just in time - the big worker was naked, and had an equally nude and struggling Carolyn pinned beneath him on the bed with his hand over her mouth.
"Don't you fucking move." Hannah was beside the bed in the blink of an eye, her gun inches from the top of the man's bald head. He froze, as did Carolyn. They hadn't even heard her come in.
"Get up," Hannah barked at the worker. "Now!"
Riddick took his hand slowly from Carolyn's mouth and pushed up off the bed, finding himself face to face with the dusky East Indian foreman who'd sent him to deliver fruit to the house. "Hey, it's ok - "
"Shut up!" Hannah yelled at him. "Get over there by the wall. Keep your hands up." Hannah walked around the foot of the bed, her gun aimed now at his crotch.
"Carolyn - " he started again.
"Don't you talk to her!" Hannah spat. "You ok, boss?" she shot a quick look towards a stunned Carolyn, who sat up and pulled a sheet over herself.
"I'm ok." Carolyn finally managed. "Hannah, it's ok. Don't hurt him." She got up and hurried over to stand beside Riddick, who looked quickly back and forth from her to the gun-wielding foreman.
"Did he hurt you?" Hannah asked, her eyes back on Riddick's.
"No, Hannah..." Holding the sheet to her chest, Carolyn cautiously approached her and took her by the wrist, bending her arm back so her gun was once again aimed upward. "It's ok, really. He didn't hurt me. I brought him here."
She *what*???
In the three years Hannah had worked for Carolyn Fry, she had never known her employer to consort with men - or women either, for that matter. And certainly not with field workers. She turned to Carolyn, her face a mask of confusion.
"I don't understand..." She shook her head. "You're telling me you brought a *field worker* into your bedroom? On purpose?"
"He's not a field worker."
Hannah's eyes went to a still-naked Riddick, who stood with his hands in the air and his eyes focused tensely on Hannah's upraised gun. "Well, who *is* he, then?" she asked, looking back to Carolyn.
"Rick Adams, at your service," said Riddick. "Hi," he added with a little wave when Hannah returned her gaze to him.
"Hi..." Hannah's voice was faint and uncertain.
"Can I put my hands down now?"
"Yeah, sure..." Hannah turned to Carolyn again, her eyes full of questions. "If he's not a field worker, what was he doing in the fields?"
"Well..." Carolyn began, glancing over at Riddick. "Rick and I haven't seen each other in a really long time, and uh...he was just playing a practical joke on me." She laughed nervously. "Good one, too."
Riddick's hands were down, but he still had his eye on the foreman. She didn't look too convinced, and she was still holding a gun.
"So you two are..." Hannah raised her eyebrows and gave Carolyn a significant look. "You're...*together*?"
"Yeah," Carolyn answered quietly, looking at Riddick with a little smile. "We're together."
Riddick looked back, his eyes softening when they met Carolyn's.
That was good enough for Hannah. "Ok, then." With a quick, efficient movement, she uncocked her gun and flipped it back into the holster at her side. She stood still for a moment, looking Riddick up and down slowly, taking in every inch of his nude body.
"Nice catch, boss," she said, nodding approvingly. "'Bout damn time, too."
"Hannah!" Carolyn rushed to Riddick's side and held out part of her sheet to cover his lower half.
The dark-skinned woman walked over to Riddick and stuck out her hand. "Hannah Ghandi, senior foreman."
"Nice to meet ya - I think..." Riddick said, shaking her hand.
"Sorry 'bout the confusion," Hannah said apologetically. "All that blood kinda got me suspicious, and then the screaming..."
"Blood?" Carolyn looked confused. "What blood?"
"In the kitchen," said Hannah. "On the wall, a big bloody handprint. There was more on the door handle to your stairs, and then some on your bedroom door."
"Ohhhhh...." Carolyn nodded, understanding. "Show her," she said, elbowing Riddick. He raised his injured hand so Hannah could see the synthaskin bandage.
The foreman nodded too, then looked down with a little laugh. "All this shit over nothing." She looked back up. "I'm really sorry, you guys."
"Don't worry about it." Carolyn smiled at her foreman. "It's good to know we can count on you."
Hannah straightened her shoulders and beamed back at her employer. "Thanks, boss." She stood there for a moment as an awkward silence descended on the little group.
Finally, Carolyn cleared her throat. "We should, uh...get dressed."
"Oh, right. Of course." Hannah raised one hand in an embarrassed wave and started backing out of the room. "I'll uh, see ya later, I guess..." She turned to go, but stopped when Carolyn spoke to her.
"Hannah..."
The foreman turned back around. "Yeah, boss?"
"Not a word." Carolyn raised a finger to her lips in a gesture of silence. "I mean it. Ok?"
Hannah's face grew serious. "Sure, no problem." She threw them another little wave and left, closing the door behind her.
Riddick and Carolyn stayed where they were, naked, with a sheet draped in front of them. Neither of them moved or spoke for a few seconds. Finally, Riddick broke the silence.
"Well...*that* was interesting."
"To say the least," Carolyn agreed.
"Am I gonna meet *all* your employees like this?" Riddick's voice had a playful tone now. "'Cause if I am, then it'd be a lot more efficient if we just had sex on the front lawn."
Carolyn burst into helpless laughter. "Stop it!" she giggled, swatting at Riddick with her sheet.
"No, really, think about it," Riddick continued, starting to laugh himself. "They could all just file past and point their pistols at us..."
Carolyn turned to face him and pushed him back against the wall. "You're crazy, you know that?" she said, laughing harder.
"And then we could have a nice picnic under that big tree in front of the house," he finished, a big grin on his face.
"Shut up!" Carolyn poked him in the ribs on both sides.
"Make me."
Carolyn let her sheet fall and wrapped her arms around Riddick's neck. "Okay, I will," she whispered, and covered his mouth with a kiss.