The boys from North Dakota
They drink whisky for their fun
Lyle Lovett's voice, and the piano and guitar that accompanied it, added a soft warmth to the room as his song North Dakota played quietly from Trish's iPhone.
And the cowboys down in Texas
They polish up their guns
Their clothes were scattered on the floor, marking the path Trish and Annelie had taken from the front door of Trish's apartment to the bed on which they now lay.
And they look across a border
To learn the ways of love
Some said that it was a song that spoke to the coldness of America, and how cowboys in search of love were forced to cross the border, either north of south, in pursuit of that which all humans seek: love, connection, closeness, any of a thousand other words that could be used to describe what Trish and Annelie had found together in less than a day.
Neither woman would have used the word love to describe what they had found. That word was many months in the future, if it existed at all between them. Neither were they under any illusion that their time together would last that long; they knew that their lives would eventually separate them. But the future had not factored into their desire, and the urgency with which they had stripped off each other's clothes was just one indication that their time was short, and only the here-and-now was important.
So I drank myself some whisky
And I dreamed I was a cowboy
And I rode across the border
Annelie's left arm was draped over Trish's left shoulder, her left leg fit between Trish's legs like a puzzle piece that had found the preordained place that the creator had made for it specifically. Their bodies were still pressed together, the taller, thinner of the pair behind the more muscular, shorter woman. The fingertips of Annelie's left hand moved softly and slowly across Trish's stomach, sometimes venturing down farther, sometimes traveling up farther; a rhythmic teasing, a reminder of where that hand had recently traveled, and what it had accomplished once it got there. Trish smiled at the memory and as her body began to respond to the soft touch, she placed her own left hand on top of the slender hand of the woman behind her and gently began to direct it towards those parts of her body that called out for attention.
"Yes," she said as she bent her left knee and placed her foot behind Annelie's leg, giving their joined hands better access to the manicured mound between Trish's legs, "mmmmmmh…yes…yesss….fuuuuck…"
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, say I do
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, say I do
"Oh…Oh…ohhh…ahhhh…. OHHH…GOD!"
And you can say I love you
And you can say I do
Trish had had several lovers, both men and women, for whom English had not been their first language, and she was always mildly surprised when they would revert to their native tongue during sex; so it was not a complete surprise to Trish when the efforts of her mouth and hands on Annelie's smoothly waxed mons were rewarded with a flow of Swedish from the perfectly shaped mouth that had itself produced a similar flow of English from Trish's own mouth as her back arched and her hands gripped the damp sheets.
"Åh Gud, ja...där...där älskling...där...svårare...sluta inte...STOPPA INTE... OHHHHH…. AHHHH….AGGGGGH!"
Trish's logical brain, which she had to admit was currently being overwhelmed by her animal instincts, knew that this was a mistake, that she should have called Kyle and informed him that she was emotionally compromised, and that he would need to assign someone else to protect this sweaty, heaving woman whose legs were currently wrapped around Trish's head. But she also knew that was not going to happen.
I remember in the mornings
waking up
With your arms around my head
It was the second time that this song had played. The entire playlist was only a bit over an hour, and their lovemaking had gone on long enough for the playlist to start again. It was during their first interlude that Annelie's fingers found and traced all the scars that they identified on Trish's body, traced them first with her fingers and then with her mouth which, finally, lacking any new scars to caress, moved to Trish's breasts and her quick-to-respond nipples.
"Shit…. Oh fuck….. God….. FUCK."
You told me you can sleep forever
And I'll still hold you then
They could have spent the remainder of the day like that, their bodies intertwined, the sweat coating their skin for a time and then drying as they lay still for a time, the cycle repeating again and again. But as immersed as both of them were in their shared animal lust, they were both still conscious of the clock, a clock that told them eventually that their stolen moment was drawing to a close. It would take time to get back to Richmond Enterprises and to the restricted floor that kept Nighthawk Security a well guarded secret, more time still for Annelie to go through hair, makeup, and wardrobe; and for Trish to make her own preparations that included a brown wig, blue contact lenses, tortuous shoes, and a spaghetti strap dress, a dress that concealed two mini tactical batons high on the inside of her right thigh and one Walther PPS high on the inside of her left one.
Their clothes went back on much more slowly than they had come off, both women stealing glances at the other as they sat next to each other on the edge of the bed, as if they had not seen every inch of the other over the past hour. Trish could still taste Annelie on her lips.
If you love me, say I love you
If you love me, take my hand
And you can say I love you
And you can have my hand
They were at the private entrance to the Richmond Enterprises in no time but Trish was sure that Sharon and Annelie's hard-to-miss bodyguards had already arrived. It would take Sharon a little time and effort to change into a similar outfit as Annelie was wearing now and depart back out the private entrance, their exchange of identities completed, no one the wiser. After that, Annelie Bodin and Maja Johansson, bodyguards in tow, would walk out the front entrance and into the limo for the ride to Hell's Kitchen and the Actor's Studio.
After that, it was anyone's guess what the evening would hold.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, ten years ago the world was introduced to Inspector Klara Bergman of the Ystad Police Department. The Chill of Winter would go on to become the third highest grossing movie of 2012, and the highest grossing movie of that year with a female lead actor."
It was not a very large theater, but it was packed, every seat taken. Trish had been here before and knew that the majority of the people in attendance had paid between $35 and $75 for the honor of watching a ten year old movie in the presence of the lead actress. Trish had never paid for the $1000 ticket that included an in person meet and greet after the showing, but she knew that four people had done so tonight; four strangers standing much too close to the woman seated beside Trish as everyone in the room listened to the man standing on the narrow stage at the front of the theater.
"The world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016, Annelie Bodin's films have grossed over $6 billion dollars worldwide to date."
Trish glanced at Annelie, and smiled as their eyes met. Annelie smiled back, and Trish thought she could detect a trace of their hour of shared passion in the face of the tall, beautiful woman whose bright crystal eyes poured out warmth like blue molten fire.
No one looking at Trish, even knowing the weapons she carried concealed, could have guessed that her most dangerous weapons were not strapped to her thighs. Neither were they the shoes she wore, which had titanium shafts in the stiletto heels, and could kill a man with one blow to the temple. The reason that Trish had been given this assignment, the reason that Kyle Richmond, no stranger or novice when it came to up-close-and-personal violence, had chosen Trish to protect Annelie Bodin, was because Trish needed nothing but her hands, feet, knees, or elbows to do so; even if Trish was wearing a spaghetti strap dress instead of a ballistic hypermesh suit.
Trish knew in that moment, as her eyes and Annelie's returned to the man speaking to the audience, that she had gotten much too close to her protectee, and that protocol required that she be replaced. Trish also knew in that moment that there was no fucking way she was leaving this woman's side, and that anyone who tried to harm Annelie Bodin would die screaming. The third thing that Trish realized was that she had not heard a word the man on the stage had said for over a minute.
"Ladies and gentlemen, The Chill of Winter."