that he had offered and wondered why he looked so unhappy.

  "Good morning, Ms. King." Logan Sully held his hand out after his

  greeting and waited for the tennis player to take it. He figured after he told

  her what he came to say, she would have him tossed out.

  "Please call me Parker. Do you have more questions? If you do, I'm not

  sure how much more I can help you but maybe refer you to my girlfriend. She

  lived with Gail for a number of years, so I guess that makes her more of an

  expert on the nut than I am."

  "I came by to tell you that Ms. Ingles made bail and was released this

  morning." It was as if a storm cloud had passed over her face when the

  news sunk in and Logan almost shivered.

  "How much?" asked Parker.

  "How much, what?"

  "How much was her bail, detective?"

  Logan took a seat next to her on the bench and watched Natasha and Gary walking

  into the facility. "That's an interesting question, I believe it was

  $150,000. Why do you ask?"

  "I'm figuring when Emily gets home and tries to kill Gail it's nice to

  know that it'll only cost me eighteen grand to get her out of jail. It's only

  twelve percent of the total right?"

  The seasoned police officer laughed at her reasoning and was looking forward to

  working with the player to catch whoever else was trying to kill her.

  "That's right, Parker. What I wanted to ask you though is, do you think it

  was Gail outside the restaurant when you first got into town?"

  "Detective Sully, this's my coach Gary and my practice partner

  Natasha." Parker waved to the two that had come to stand before them

  staying silent as to not interrupt. "To answer your question, no I don't.

  I hadn't seen Emily in two months at the time and the fact we're together is

  why she supposedly stabbed me, it wouldn't have been a motive then."

  "Any idea who the first assailant might have been?"

  "No clue. All we have are the letters the bozo keeps sending talking about

  God and sin. Me and my lifestyle being the sin part of the equation, thus the

  getting rid of me becomes important to achieve the perfect balance. Then again

  it could've been a crime of opportunity. Crazy person with knife and ski mask

  whose hobby it is to hang around nice restaurants on the off chance lesbian

  tennis players have dinner reservations."

  Logan shook his head and laughed along with Gary and Natasha. "Good theory

  but I'm thinking no. I want to concentrate on that crime since we already know

  who committed the second attack. And please call me Logan. I agree with your

  coach in that there's someone out there that wants to hurt you for no other

  reason than how you choose to live your life, Parker. I'm going to do

  everything in my power to see that doesn't happen." He handed her a card

  with his information on it and was trying to find a reason to stay and watch a

  little bit of her practice session.

  "Thanks, it'll be nice having someone watch my back aside from Gary and

  everyone else that loves me. I don't like having to put them in danger as well.

  Do you play?" Parker asked handing the card to Gary and picking up a

  racket.

  "Just enough to know how bad I am at it."

  "Stick around then and see if we can show you some new tricks,"

  offered Parker.

  Gary took her place on the bench and put the officer's card in his shirt

  pocket. The thought of having Gail out of jail and having Emily on the cover of

  the paper that morning made him nervous. One good thing about the whole

  situation was that all the danger was not affecting Parker's play. Her shots

  were clean and smooth, free of the stress that was spilling over in every other

  aspect of her life.

  "I first saw Parker play in the French Open a couple of years ago and I've

  been a fan ever since. You look at her like this and wonder why anyone would

  want to hurt her. All of us would love to be as good at something in life as

  she is at tennis," said Logan to Gary.

  "Some people are only good at hate, Logan, and that's why I always have to

  look over her shoulder for her. Because she sure as hell isn't going to alter

  anything about herself for someone who disagrees on who shares her bed at

  night. Thank you for helping out, anything you need from us just call."

  Gary offered his own card before getting up to tweak a couple of Parker's

  strokes.

  *************************************************************

  ***********

  "Ladies and gentleman, if you would please pick up your trays and bring

  your seats into their full and upright positions we will be on the ground

  shortly. The temperature in New York is a balmy eighty-six degrees and the

  local time is nine fifteen. Any of the personnel picking up drinks will be

  happy to help you with any connecting flight information.

  On behalf of myself

  and the crew we want to thank you for flying Virgin and we hope to serve you

  with all your future flying needs." Emily turned off the microphone and

  concentrated on the landing lights that would lead them back into JFK.

  "Good job, guys, I'm glad this day's finally over." Emily checked her

  position again and made some minor adjustments for their final approach. The

  layover in Dallas had been extended by forty-five minutes because of a stupid

  passenger that tried to get on with a loaded gun and had made it through the

  first security checkpoint. That and the newspaper cover were running a close

  race to trample on her last nerve.

  "Anytime, Em. Any chance we'll get to meet Kong at the airport? We heard

  we missed out a couple of days ago," her navigator kidded her ignoring the

  quick glare she shot his way.

  Emily stood at the door with the rest of the crew to bid farewell to at least

  the last couple of passengers. If she hurried she might be able to get home

  before eleven and Parker wouldn't be sleeping. When the crew slowed in front of

  her, Emily wondered why the waiting area was still crowed with people

  considering the hour and the fact they were in the domestic corridor of the

  airport. The sight was a confirmation that if Parker was the person she was

  going to spend the rest of her life with, that time would never be boring or

  lack in practical jokes.

  Parker was signing autographs for some laughing fans wearing an animal tag from

  her ear and a leash around her neck. It wasn't until she turned and faced the

  crew that they could read the t-shirt that answered the question Emily's had

  possessed. The 'Bagged and Tagged' caption had all of them wiping tears from

  their eyes and Emily shaking her head.

  "Yep, definitely not boring, thought Emily as Parker handed her the

  leash when she got close enough. "And don't you forget it, King. I have

  witnesses," said Emily as she puckered up for a kiss hello which Parker

  readily delivered. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home

  resting for tomorrow."

  "I have good news and not so good news. And we can talk about that later.

  Why don't you introduce me to all these good looking uniformed people milling

  around behind you?"

  Emily turned around in Parker's arms and introduced her crew to Parker, feeling

  the bicep resting against her shoulder flex every time Parker shook hands with

  someone new. Their captain was thinking of giving more than one of them

  bathroom cleaning duty if they threw any more flirtatious looks at Parker.

  "This might come in handy," said Emily as she pulled lightly on the

  leash in her hand before unbuckling it from Parker's neck.

  They walked hand in

  hand to the drop off and delivery where Bobbie was waiting by her car. Parker

  had bribed her with another ticket for the match the next day if she would give

  them a ride into the city. The tall blonde could see that Emily was pissed as

  she tried to convince the guy about to write a ticket that it'd only be a

  couple more minutes.

  "They let her out? But she tried to kill you, Parker."

  "I'm aware of this, a lot of cat gut made the ultimate sacrifice for

  me," joked Parker.

  "This isn't funny. People who do that don't deserve to be walking around.

  She's probably planning her next strike now."

  "Em, calm down. If anything Gail's trying to find a good attorney, not

  another way to kill me. I just wanted to come down here and tell you so you

  wouldn't be pissed when you heard it from someone else, but I see that's

  wishful thinking on my part," said Parker as she opened the back door of

  the car.

  "I'm not mad at you, sweetheart. It's just not fair that you have to worry

  about this the night before your match."

  Parker leaned over and kissed Emily again running her hand through the soft

  blonde hair she had come to love. "I'm not worried, baby, and I don't want

  you to be either."

  "Yeah, why's that?"

  "You should be more worried about what Bobbie's going to think of you when

  you don't talk to her because you're making out with me in the back seat. But

  just in case she's listening, she should look at the road instead of the

  backseat. Because if she gets into a wreck trying to get some new pointers

  we'll give her name and address to the papers and tell them she's the one that

  knocked me out of the Open. Bookies everywhere would be happy to come over for

  a visit." Parker laughed softly when the driver took her eyes off the

  rearview mirror and gave the road her full concentration.

  By the time they got to the apartment, Bobbie needed a cold shower from just

  listening to the moans coming out of Emily, and Emily needed to be carried up

  the stairs because her legs refused to move except to come apart.

  "Hurry with the key, honey," demanded Emily. Parker had put her down

  and propped her against the wall to get the door open. "I need you."

  Parker got the door open and grabbed her partner to make a quick trip into the

  bedroom. When she got Emily on the bed and had her skirt half way off, the

  pilot put the brakes on any further advances.

  "We have to stop, Parker."

  "Stop? I don't think so."

  "Yes, you have a match tomorrow and remember what happened the last time.

  I don't want Gary make you start staying at the hotel because I can't control

  myself," explained Emily.

  Parker threw the skirt over her shoulder and pulled Emily's panties off in one

  quick move. When she started on the buttons of the shirt Emily had on, the

  blonde tried to squirm further up the bed and out of Parker's reach.

  "I mean it, Parker, you have to stop."

  Parker kneeled on the bed and moved toward Emily coming to lie beside her when

  she was close enough. "You want me to stop?"

  "Yes I do. I don't want to, but we have to be good."

  Parker ran her fingers through drenched blonde folds getting Emily to moan

  again. "You want me to stop doing this?"

  "No. I mean yes! Don't do that."

  Parker withdrew her fingers and brought them up to paint a wet spot on Emily's

  blouse over a hard nipple. "How about this? Should I stop doing this

  too?" Parker asked before biting down gently over the material.

  Emily set a new record in getting her top and bra off pulling Parker's head

  down to her chest as soon as she was done. Once she had Parker latched on to a

  happy nipple, Emily dragged the big hand back between her legs. The sounds

  coming out of Emily were starting to drive Parker into combustion when the

  blonde stopped them again.

  "Come on, Em, you know you want this. I can feel you want this,"

  Parker wiggled her fingers surrounded in wet heat to drive her point home.

  "Just take off your clothes before you get too caught up, baby, then get

  back to work." Emily pulled on the t-shirt while Parker pulled down the

  sweat pants she had on.

  Naked, Parker lay down on Emily and just took a second to enjoy the feel of

  soft skin pressed against her own. The short nails dragging up her back got her

  to roll over until Emily was laying on her before she put her mouth and hands

  back to where they were before the stripping break.

  When Emily's hips started to move it was Parker that stopped them. "Not

  yet, honey, I'm not there yet," protested Emily.

  "Kneel down for me, Em." Parker was confused when Emily's face that

  was pressed against Parker's chest got hot and the rest of her body wasn't

  moving. The heat was coming from the blush and the stillness was coming from

  hesitancy. "What's wrong?"

  "I just don't…what I mean is, I'm not usually so….I've never,"

  rambled Emily.

  "Baby, I'd never force you to do something that would make you feel

  uncomfortable. I don't want to tie you up or hurt you, I just want to make you

  feel good and what I had in mind was going to do that, I promise. You trust me

  right?" asked Parker. The slightly red face nodded against her shoulder

  getting Parker to smile. "And you know we can stop whenever you want,

  right?" The blonde head nodded again. "Ok, kneel down for me and face

  the headboard."

  Emily was so timid that Parker vowed to kick Gail's ass the next time she saw

  her. No one acted like this unless the person they had been with had taken

  their time to make them feel wanted and appreciated.

  Emily looked down when she felt movement on the bed, finding big blue eyes

  looking up at her and from the crinkles at their sides she could tell Parker

  was smiling. With exaggerated slowness, Parker parted the slick swollen lips of

  Emily's sex with her fingers before dragging her flat tongue along the same

  path until it found the hard button that was going to be the focal point for

  the next few minutes.

  The moment her tongue touched the place Emily most wanted her, Parker got the

  result she was looking for and Emily tipped her hips forward seeking a firmer

  massage letting Parker breathe. When the licking switched to sucking, Emily

  closed her eyes and hung on to the bed to keep from falling over the feeling

  was so intense.

  Emily was enjoying the sensations so much, any feeling of embarrassment over

  her position was forgotten, and she was about to ask for something more when

  Parker beat her to the punch. Slowly Parker slipped two fingers in and curled

  them a little hitting just the right spot to get Emily to start keening. When

  it became too much, Emily released the bed and grabbed onto Parker's head to

  get her to suck harder.

  The only thing that saved Emily from cracking her head on the bed when it was

  over was the fact Parker was able to hold her up. Emily felt like Parker was

  slowly changing the woman she was and it was a wonderful thing.

  "You doing ok?" Parker asked the top of Emily's head that was lying

  on her shoulder.

  "I'm doing great, thanks to you. I'm sorry…" Emily's apology was cut

  short by the fingers pressing up against her lips.

  "I love you, Em, that means we go slow until you feel comfortable."

  "I love you too, and I want you." Emily moved down until she was

  kneeling again, only this time between Parker's legs.

  "The shirt wasn't a joke, baby, I'm all yours."

  Emily leaned over and went to kiss Parker when the phone rang. She was thinking

  of ignoring it, but then thought of all the stuff going on in their lives and

  reached for it over Parker's objections.

  "Hello."

  "Hello, Emily. Is Parker there?"

  "Hey, Gary, yeah hang on she's right here." Emily handed over the

  phone then sat on her feet to admire the long expanse of skin on display.

  "Parker, are you having sex?" asked Gary as soon as he heard Parker's

  breathing on the other side.

  "Not right at this moment if you must know, so whatever you want make it

  snappy."

  "Could you put Emily back on the phone for me please?"

  Parker

  complied hoping it would make him hang up faster.

  "Yes?" asked Emily looking into Parker's eyes while she talked to

  Gary.

  "Emily, have you ever heard of Della Sanchez?"

  "Should I recognize the name?" Emily shimmied forward at Parker's

  request, loving the feel of the callused hands running along her body when she

  straddled the firm abdomen.

  "Maybe a subscription to a tennis magazine would do you good. Della

  Sanchez is the number five player in the world and the person that knocked

  Parker on her ass last year during this tournament."

  "Uh huh," said Emily loosing track of the conversation when Parker

  pinched her nipples.

  "Just a few more minutes, Emily, I promise." Gary could only imagine

  what Parker was doing to make Emily want to hang the phone up faster.

  "Think about how much better Park would play tomorrow if she's lacking a

  little something from you."

  "Do you know what you're asking? She's not going to be