Chapter 7
7
JUDE
T he encrypted message lit up Jude's phone: Security compromised. Multiple assets turned. Get out now.
David's warning scrolled across her screen as she maintained her position near the conference room door, watching Carmen navigate the latest round of negotiations. Morning sun streamed through bullet-resistant windows, painting patterns across the marble floor that her tactical mind automatically cataloged as potential cover points.
"The indigenous councils reject these terms." Carmen's voice carried that particular blend of steel and silk she used when cornering opponents. "Your corporate interests cannot override established treaties."
Victor Ramirez from the consortium shifted in his expensive chair, jaw set tight. His security detail—the same contractors Jude had been watching all morning—adjusted their stances with too much precision. She counted four visible weapons between them and spotted the distinctive bulge of shoulder holsters under their tailored suits.
Her phone buzzed again. Sarah this time: Hotel security feeds showing unauthorized access. Last night's team compromised.
Ice settled in Jude's stomach as more messages from her team flooded in. The pattern was familiar; she'd seen it in Yemen before everything went wrong. Small changes in security rotations, unexplained equipment glitches, local police showing too much interest in their movements. She'd missed the signs then. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
"These negotiations are finished." Ramirez stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor tiles. "Until the indigenous leadership shows proper respect for progress?—"
"Progress?" Carmen's laugh held no humor. "Is that what you call burning villages and poisoning water supplies?"
Jude caught the subtle hand signal between Ramirez's contractors. She'd run enough protection details to read the silent communication: they were coordinating positions and preparing for something. Her body hummed with combat readiness as she tracked their movements while maintaining her relaxed stance. She subtly moved closer to Carmen.
Another message: Police bands showing multiple units mobilizing. No official orders given yet.
Through her earpiece, she heard Kate's fingers flying across a keyboard. "Facial recognition found three of our hotel security team in cartel databases. Recent bank payments traced back to corporate shell companies."
Jude watched Carmen press her advantage at the negotiating table, her hair catching sunlight as she leaned forward. To anyone else, she appeared completely focused on diplomatic warfare. But Jude saw the almost imperceptible tension in her shoulders that meant she'd picked up on the room's shifting dynamics.
Their eyes met briefly across the space. In that split-second contact, Jude saw that Carmen had already read the situation. The slight tilt of her head conveyed volumes: What do you need me to do?
More messages illuminated Jude's phone. Marcus reported suspicious vehicles near their exit routes. James confirmed that hospital staff had been asking questions about their medical arrangements. Sarah documented multiple security breaches at the hotel.
The contractors were moving again, their choreographed repositioning creating coverage zones that made Jude's combat instincts scream. She recognized the pattern from her own training: standard special operations forces procedure for coordinated action in confined spaces.
"Perhaps we should recess," Carmen suggested smoothly, gathering her papers with practiced efficiency. "Give everyone time to consider their positions." Her diplomatic mask remained perfect, but Jude caught the subtle urgency underlying her words.
Ramirez's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Of course. We have all the time in the world."
The threat in his voice was clear enough that even the civilian observers shifted uncomfortably. Jude's hand moved fractionally closer to her weapon as she cataloged distances to exits and noted which corporate contractors had the clearest shots.
"Ma'am." She kept her voice professionally neutral as Carmen approached. "We should review the afternoon's security arrangements."
"Of course, Captain." Carmen matched her tone perfectly while closing the distance between them. "I believe we have that briefing scheduled now."
They moved into the corridor with practiced synchronization, their steps falling into familiar patterns. Jude maintained her relaxed posture until they rounded the corner, then immediately shifted to high alert.
"How bad?" Carmen asked quietly, dropping the diplomatic facade.
"Yemen bad." Jude guided them toward their pre-planned evacuation route, every sense straining for threats. "They've compromised our security teams, hotel staff, and local police. David caught it just in time."
Carmen absorbed this with the same composure she used for international crises. "The corporate contractors?"
"Moving into attack positions while we talked. Former special operations, probably the same unit from Venezuela." Jude checked her phone as more warnings flashed across the screen. "They're mobilizing now."
"Like Yemen?"
"Worse." Jude's voice dropped lower. "In Yemen, they just wanted to destabilize the embassy. This is personal. They want you specifically." She swallowed the fear that rose at that thought. "We need to move. Now."
Carmen nodded once, trust implicit in her immediate acceptance. "The peace treaty?—"
"Won't matter if you're dead." Jude caught herself, remembering how many times they'd had this argument. "We'll find another way to protect the indigenous communities. But right now, I need to protect you."
Something softened in Carmen's expression, despite the danger surrounding them. "You always do."
The words carried weight that made Jude's chest tight. She forced her focus back to tactical concerns, coordinating with her team through rapid text exchanges. But part of her awareness remained fixed on Carmen's presence beside her, on how much she had to lose if she failed this time.
"Sarah is meeting us at the service entrance," she said, guiding them through back corridors she'd memorized during security sweeps. "Kate has eyes on the corporate teams. They're moving to cut off the main exits."
"And the hotel?"
"Compromised. We'll head to the fallback position." Jude checked her phone again as more warnings scrolled past. "Marcus has the vehicle ready. We move fast, maintain cover, and don't stop for anything."
Carmen's hand brushed her arm, the touch grounding them both. "I trust you."
The words hit Jude like physical contact. Trust had gotten people killed in Yemen. Trust had led to betrayal in Caracas. But Carmen's trust felt different. Not blind faith, but a conscious choice between equals.
She pushed that thought away as they approached the service area. She had a diplomat to protect, a peace treaty to salvage, and feelings she couldn't examine while their world collapsed around them.
But as they moved through shadows toward extraction, Jude accepted a truth that made her both stronger and more vulnerable: she would die before letting anyone harm Carmen.
Not because of duty or protocol.
But because losing her had become unthinkable.
The service corridor stretched endless as Jude led them through the building's arteries, each turn bringing fresh tactical calculations. Her phone vibrated constantly with updates from her scattered team, but she kept her focus on the immediate threats that enveloped around Carmen.
"Two vehicles blocking the main exit," Sarah reported through comms. "Black SUVs, diplomatic plates."
"Like Venezuela," Carmen murmured, keeping pace perfectly with Jude's movements. Her heels clicked softly against concrete, somehow managing to sound precise rather than anxious.
Jude nodded, noting how Carmen had already accurately categorized the threat pattern. She guided them through another turn, using the building's service infrastructure as cover. Every shadow held potential threats, but Carmen matched her movements without hesitation, their bodies falling into practiced synchronization.
"Kate, status on the corporate teams?"
"Moving to secure the parking structure." Keys clicked rapidly in the background. "They've got someone monitoring city surveillance feeds. Traffic cameras are being redirected."
A professional hit, then. Jude had seen this level of coordination before—teams that knew how to manipulate the local infrastructure to isolate targets. She adjusted their route, leading Carmen deeper into the building's maintenance areas where surveillance coverage thinned.
A door slammed somewhere ahead. Carmen tensed beside her, but Jude had already identified the sound pattern as one of their people. Not a threat.
Marcus emerged from the shadows, his movement silent despite his size. "Vehicle's ready. But we've got company watching the approach."
"Show me."
He pulled up surveillance feeds on his phone. Jude studied the positions of unmarked vehicles and too-casual observers. The pattern was elegant in its simplicity. They had established overlapping fields of fire covering every standard escape route.
"The loading dock," Carmen said quietly, studying the footage over Jude's shoulder. Her perfume cut through the service corridor's industrial scents, grounding Jude in the present moment. "They're expecting us to take the most defensible position."
"Which means they've planned for it." Jude switched channels on her radio. "Sarah, that construction site we scouted?—"
"Already in position. Access route is clear."
Carmen raised an eyebrow. "You expected this."
"I plan for everything." Jude checked her weapon, hyperaware of Carmen watching her movements. "The construction site connects to maintenance tunnels under three blocks. They won't expect us to go underground."
More updates flooded her phone: local police establishing checkpoints, hotel security doing suspicious sweeps, and corporate contractors moving with coordinated precision through the building.
They were running out of time.
"Multiple targets approaching the service area," Kate warned through comms. "You've got maybe two minutes."
Jude led them through narrow passages she'd memorized during security sweeps, each step calculated to avoid the compromised security cameras. Carmen kept pace effortlessly, her diplomatic poise transformed into fluid movement that matched Jude's tactical advance.
They emerged into weak sunlight filtering through construction barriers. Sarah materialized from behind scaffolding, weapon ready but concealed.
"Vehicle's in position," she reported. "But we've got movement on the south approach. Looks like local police, but their response pattern is wrong."
"Compromised units," Carmen said, recognizing the implications. "Exactly like the checkpoint ambush in Venezuela."
An engine revved nearby—too close, too deliberate. Jude pulled Carmen behind a concrete pillar as headlights swept past their position. She felt Carmen's pulse racing where their bodies pressed together, but the diplomat's breathing remained steady.
"Four minutes to contact," Kate updated. "Corporate teams are sweeping outward from the conference room."
They moved as soon as the vehicle passed, using construction equipment as cover. The armored SUV waited exactly where Jude had positioned it during morning security sweeps, its engine already running with James at the wheel.
Sarah took rear guard as Jude got Carmen into the vehicle. But before Jude could go around to the other side, movement caught her eye. A glint of metal in the construction site's shadows.
"Contact left!"
The shot cracked against concrete as Jude pushed Carmen down, covering her body with practiced instinct. Sarah returned fire, forcing the shooter to retreat. They used the distraction to get mobile, engine roaring as James executed a precise exit that looked unplanned.
"Two vehicles in pursuit," Kate reported. "Unmarked sedans, heavily modified. They're carrying specialized communications gear."
Jude maintained her protective position over Carmen as the SUV wove through traffic. Their driver took them through pre-planned routes, each turn designed to look random while following a carefully calculated pattern.
"Police band's lit up," Sarah noted from the front seat. "They're establishing containment zones."
"Standard special operations protocol," Jude confirmed, studying their pursuit in the side mirrors. "They're herding us toward prepared positions."
Carmen shifted beneath her, but made no attempt to move from the protective embrace. "Like Caracas?"
"They learned from that attempt." Jude's voice was steady despite how her heart raced from the contact. "But, so did we."
James took them down an alley barely wide enough for the SUV and scraped paint from their pursuers' vehicles. The unexpected move bought them seconds of separation, enough for Kate to spring the first surprise.
"Construction barriers deploying," she reported with satisfaction. "Pursuit vehicles are blocked on Third Avenue."
But their celebration was cut short as new warnings flooded the comms. Multiple vehicles converging on their position, compromised police units moving to cut off escape routes, and hijacked surveillance cameras tracking their movement through the city.
"They've anticipated our fallback routes," Sarah said quietly.
Jude felt Carmen tense against her as she said, "Then we improvise."
The words carried absolute trust that made Jude's chest tight. She had gotten them out of worse situations, but something about this felt different. More personal. More final.
"Kate, initiate Protocol Echo." She made the call while calculating alternate routes. "Full communications blackout, activate all decoy vehicles."
"They'll know it's a deception," Carmen noted, still pressed close despite the immediate danger passing.
"Yes." Jude allowed herself to breathe in Carmen's perfume, drawing strength from her presence. "But they'll have to chase everything, just in case. It buys us valuable time."
Their SUV turned onto wider streets where James could better maneuver. Through the bulletproof glass, Bogotá's afternoon traffic flowed around them like water around stones. Every vehicle became a potential threat, every intersection another chance for ambush.
"New pursuit vehicle," Sarah warned. "Black SUV, diplomatic plates. Coming in fast."
Jude studied their follower's approach pattern. "Former special operations forces. See how they maintain tactical spacing?"
"Like the contractors from the summit." Carmen's analytical mind never stopped working, even under threat. Especially under threat. "They're better trained than the cartel teams."
"Which makes them more predictable." Jude shifted to get better sight lines through the rear windows. "They'll expect us to follow special operations forces evasion protocols."
"So we don't," Carmen finished, understanding immediately. "We do something they won't anticipate because it's technically wrong."
Jude allowed herself a small smile despite the danger. "Exactly."
She gave James new instructions, and their vehicle suddenly shifted patterns. Instead of tactical evasion, they drove like local traffic: making minor traffic violations, taking inefficient routes, and behaving exactly like someone trying not to draw attention.
The pursuit vehicles hesitated, clearly expecting a trap. Their confusion bought precious seconds as James wove them deeper into the city's maze of streets.
"It's working," Sarah reported, watching their followers. "They're splitting up to cover more ground."
But Jude kept her body protectively over Carmen's, hyperaware of every point of contact between them. The immediate danger had passed, but experience had taught her that false safety often preceded the worst attacks.
"The safe house?" Carmen asked quietly.
"Soon." Jude checked her phone as more updates arrived. "We'll wait until we're clear of pursuit. I won't risk leading them to our fallback position."
Carmen's hand found hers in the vehicle's shadows. The touch felt like anchoring, like trust made tangible. "You'll get us there." It wasn’t a question.
The strong, simple conviction in her voice made Jude's breath catch. She had gotten them out of worse situations, sure, but something about this felt different. Maybe because she had more to lose now than just another protectee.
But as they wove through Bogotá's streets toward safety, Jude drew strength from Carmen's presence beside her. They had survived worse odds together. They would survive this too.
Even if it meant breaking every tactical rule in the process.
Three hours and six false trails later, they finally approached the safe house. James had taken them through a series of calculated misdirections: switching vehicles twice, using underground parking structures to mask their movements, and even doubling back through service roads until Kate confirmed they'd lost their pursuers.
The Spanish Colonial facade rose from Bogotá's shadows, deliberately unremarkable among the neighborhood's other wealthy homes. Jude studied the building's lines through tactical eyes as James brought their vehicle around to the underground garage. The high walls offered good coverage, but they also created blind spots she would need to compensate for.
"Perimeter sensors are active," Kate reported through the comms. "No unauthorized movement detected in the past six hours."
Jude maintained her protective position as they exited the vehicle, scanning shadows while guiding Carmen toward the building's reinforced entrance. The garage's climate-controlled air carried traces of oil and concrete, masking any telling scents that might betray recent activity.
"Initial sweep complete," Sarah confirmed from inside. "Building's clear. Security systems are online."
They moved through the house's arteries with practiced efficiency, Jude noting defensive positions and potential vulnerabilities. Carmen matched her pace perfectly, their steps falling into natural synchronization born from months of protection detail.
"The previous owners were arms dealers," Carmen noted, studying the building's architecture with her usual analytical precision. "I recognize the construction style. Same engineering team that built the embassy in Caracas."
Jude glanced at her sharply. "How did you?—"
"I make it my business to know these things." Carmen's smile held warmth despite their situation. "Especially when they involve keeping me alive."
The observation drew an unexpected laugh from Jude as they reached the main security room. Screens lined the walls, displaying feeds from carefully hidden cameras that covered every approach to the property. Kate's fingers flew across keyboards as she established their surveillance network.
"Communications are up," she reported. "But I'm keeping us dark except for emergency channels. They'll be scanning for our signals."
Jude nodded, studying the camera feeds. The neighborhood looked peaceful as dusk quickly approached, but experience had taught her that peace often masked the deadliest threats.
"Standard sweep pattern," she ordered her team. "I want every inch of this place mapped and monitored. Check for surveillance devices, entry points, and anything that looks wrong." She turned to Carmen, who watched her work with that particular expression that made Jude's pulse quicken. "I need to secure the panic room. Will you?—"
"Stay where you can see me?" Carmen finished, amusement warming her voice. "Of course, Captain."
The title carried layers of meaning that had that had much more to do than just rank. Jude forced her focus back to security protocols, trying to ignore how Carmen's presence filled the space with an energy that constantly grabbed at the edges of her awareness.
She moved through the house methodically, checking sight lines and defensive positions while cataloging potential risks. The panic room's reinforced door opened smoothly on well-maintained hinges, and it was clear someone had been regularly maintaining the space.
"The ventilation system is independent," she noted, examining the room's infrastructure. "Separate power supply and communications array, and there are enough supplies for three days."
"Impressive." Carmen's voice made her turn. The diplomat stood in the doorway, backlit by security lights that caught the shine in her hair. "Though I hope we won't need it."
"Better prepared than surprised." Jude tested the room's communications setup, hyperaware of Carmen watching her movements. "I won't take chances. Not with—" She caught herself, but Carmen heard the unspoken words anyway.
"Not with me?" Her voice softened. "Or not with us?"
The question hung between them, weighted with everything they'd become to each other. Jude's hands stilled on the control panel as memories of last night flooded back. Carmen's skin under her fingers, soft sounds in darkness, and whispered truths they couldn't take back.
"Both," she admitted quietly.
Carmen moved closer, her perfume cutting through the room's filtered air. "You can't protect me from everything."
"I can try." Jude turned to face her fully, letting Carmen see past her professional mask. "I've lost people before because I missed small clues. Because I let my guard down at the wrong moment." She swallowed hard. "I won't lose you too."
"Oh, darling." Carmen's hand came up to trace the healing cut on Jude's cheek. "You're not alone in this anymore. We protect each other now."
The touch sent electricity through Jude's combat-heightened nerves. She caught Carmen's wrist gently, feeling her pulse race beneath her fingers. "It's my job to?—"
"To what?" Carmen stepped closer, erasing the careful distance between them. "To pretend this is just another protection detail? To act like last night didn't change everything?"
Before Jude could respond, Sarah's voice crackled through her radio. "Building's secure. But we've got increased police patrols in the area. They could be compromised units."
The interruption snapped Jude back to tactical awareness. She moved to check the security feeds, noting how the patrols had established coverage zones that looked too precise to be routine.
"They're searching grids," she noted, studying the pattern. "Methodically covering the neighborhood."
Carmen joined her at the monitors, their shoulders brushing against each other. "Looking for signs of recent activity. Changes in traffic patterns, new security features, anything that might indicate a safe house."
"They know our protocols." Jude switched between camera views, tracking vehicle movements. "Which means they have someone with intimate knowledge of our operations."
"A traitor?" Carmen's diplomatic mind was already analyzing implications. "Or someone forced to cooperate?"
"Either way, we're exposed." Jude checked her weapon, comforted by its familiar weight. "We need to establish a security rotation. Four-hour shifts, overlapping coverage, and?—"
Carmen's hand on her arm stopped her. "When was the last time you slept?"
The question caught Jude off guard. "I'm fine."
"That's not what I asked." Carmen's voice carried that particular tone that could make diplomats and warlords alike reconsider their positions. "You've been running on adrenaline since the assassination attempt. You need rest."
"I need to protect you."
"And you need to be at your best to do that." Carmen's fingers traced patterns on Jude's arm that made it hard to focus. "Let your team handle the first watch. You're no good to anyone if you're exhausted."
Jude wanted to argue, but fatigue was starting to blur the edges of her alertness. "Two hours. Then I'll?—"
"Four hours minimum." Carmen's smile held both affection and steel. "Doctor's orders."
"You're not that kind of doctor."
"No, but I've spent enough time in war zones to recognize combat fatigue." Carmen's hand moved to cup Jude's face, her thumb brushing the cut on her cheek. "Let me take care of you for once."
The words struck deeper than any argument could have. Jude felt her resistance crumbling under the weight of exhaustion and the impossible tenderness in Carmen's touch.
"Fine," she conceded quietly. "But I'm sleeping in the security room. And you stay where I can?—"
"Where you can see me," Carmen finished, understanding as always. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
As if summoned by their discussion, Sarah appeared in the doorway. "First watch is set. Kate's monitoring communications, and Marcus has eyes on the perimeter."
Jude nodded, already calculating response times and defensive positions. But Carmen's presence beside her kept drawing her attention from tactical concerns to more personal ones.
They had survived the extraction, found relative safety, and established security protocols. But as night settled over their sanctuary, Jude knew the real challenge lay ahead: maintaining professional focus when every fiber of her being wanted to pull Carmen close and never let go.
The safe house might protect them from external threats, but nothing could shield them from what they'd become to each other. And somehow, that felt more dangerous than any assassin's bullet.
A perimeter sensor's soft chime pulled Jude from combat-light sleep. She was instantly alert, one hand moving to her weapon before her eyes fully opened. The security room's monitors cast blue shadows across unfamiliar walls as her tactical mind reoriented: safe house, Bogotá, three hours since she'd reluctantly agreed to rest.
"Just the neighbor's cat again." Carmen's voice came from nearby. She'd kept her promise to stay where Jude could see her, and she sat in the chair next to the couch where Jude had insisted on sleeping, reading glasses perched on her nose as she reviewed intelligence briefs in the dim light.
Jude checked the sensor display anyway, muscle memory taking over. The thermal imaging showed a small figure moving along their outer wall: feline, not human. She forced her hands to relax their grip on her weapon.
"How long was I out?"
"Three hours, seventeen minutes." Carmen set aside her papers, and even in the blue-tinted darkness, Jude caught the hint of affection in her smile. "And yes, I counted."
The admission made something warm bloom in Jude's chest. She sat up, running a hand through her short hair, hyperaware of Carmen watching the movement. "Anything from the teams?"
"All clear. Sarah has the perimeter, Kate's monitoring communications, and Marcus is coordinating with our local contacts." Carmen's voice carried that particular tone that meant she was leading up to something. "The State Department sent updated intelligence while you slept."
Jude was fully awake now. "Show me."
Carmen handed her a tablet displaying surveillance photos. The corporate contractors they'd escaped earlier had spread out through the city in a precise search pattern. Their movements suggested military training, too coordinated to be random patrols.
"They're being methodical," Jude noted, studying their coverage zones. "Working outward from the last confirmed sighting."
"Like you would, if you were hunting someone."
The observation hit closer to home than Carmen probably intended. Jude had run similar operations during her SEALs days, tracking high-value targets through urban environments. She recognized the search protocols because she had helped write some of them.
A soft sound drew her attention to the monitors. Carmen had moved closer while she studied the intelligence, near enough now that Jude caught the subtle notes of her perfume beneath the room's filtered air.
"You're worried," Carmen said quietly.
"They know our procedures." Jude switched between surveillance feeds, tracking patrol patterns. "They're using our own protocols against us."
"Which means they have someone with intimate knowledge of your operations." Carmen's analytical mind never stopped working, even at this hour. "Someone who knows how you think."
The implications hung heavy in the darkness. Jude started to stand, needing to check the perimeter herself, but Carmen's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Don't." The single word carried layers of meaning. "You've barely rested."
"I need to verify?—"
"What your extremely competent team is already monitoring?" Carmen's fingers traced patterns on Jude's arm that made it hard to focus. "For once in your life, let someone else carry the weight."
The gentle command in her voice struck deeper Jude had expected. Jude found herself studying Carmen in the monitors' blue light, noting how silver threaded through her dark hair, how her reading glasses had left small indents on the bridge of her nose, how her eyes held equal parts strength and tenderness.
"If they find us?—"
"They'll face a fortress designed by arms dealers, defended by one of the best tactical teams in the world." Carmen moved closer, until Jude could see flecks of gold in her dark eyes. "And protected by a woman who's already saved my life more times than I can count."
The space between them seemed to shrink with each breath. Jude's combat-heightened senses cataloged unnecessary details: the soft silk of Carmen's blouse over her beautiful breasts, the warmth radiating from her body, how her pulse visibly raced at the base of her throat.
"I can't lose you." The words slipped out before Jude could catch them.
Carmen's hand came up to trace the cut on her cheek. "Then trust that I'm not going anywhere."
Carmen leaned in and her lips crashed against Jude’s. Jude felt the need in her that came harder and harder as her mouth opened to Jude’s tongue and she moaned deeply. It was a moan that begged for more. Carmen tasted of coffee and conviction and everything Jude had been fighting since that first night on the hotel terrace. Her hands found Carmen's hips as if drawn there by magnetic force, pulling her closer until there was no space left between them.
When they finally broke apart, Carmen's smile held equal parts heat and certainty. "Come to bed with me.” Her voice dropped lower, intimate in the darkness. "Let me remind you what we're really fighting for."
The words struck home with unerring accuracy. Jude felt her remaining resistance crumble under the weight of exhaustion and need and everything they'd become to each other.
"Sarah," she said into her radio, "maintain perimeter watch. I'm going off comms for a few hours."
"Copy that, boss." Sarah's voice carried knowing approval. "We've got this covered."
Carmen's smile was worth every protocol they were breaking. She drew Jude up from the couch by their joined hands, leading her from the security room's blue shadows toward something warmer and more vital than any tactical objective.
They had survived pursuit and betrayal, found sanctuary in a fortress meant for arms dealers, and established defenses against inevitable attack. But as Carmen guided her down the hall, Jude accepted that some surrenders were more powerful than any victory could be.
Jude let Carmen guide her down gently on the bed but didn’t stay down for long. As soon as Carmen crawled into bed with her, Jude rolled over on an elbow then her knees.
“Your first,” she growled, light flickering in her eyes.
She peeled off Carmen’s pants in one swift motion and discarded them on the floor by the bed, then she rubbed the heel of her hand over Carmen’s black lace panties, teasing her and eliciting gasps and the grinding of Carmen’s hips against the pressure she was providing. After Carmen’s panties became too damp, she slid those off, too, and continued to slide her whole hand up and down through Carmen’s wetness, slowly, surely, enjoying how Carmen thrust and ground her hips against her.
She could feel the stress of their increasingly dangerous situation melt off Carmen’s body and mind until all that was left was them two, together, in this moment.
Jude could smell Carmen’s desire and she ached to taste her. She couldn’t resist anymore and buried her face in between Carmen’s thighs, honing in on Carmen’s clit that was swollen with want.
She flicked her tongue over it before moving down to paint her folds with long, slow strokes of her tongue before she paused then sucked on her labia and then on her clitoris. Underneath her, Carmen came undone, and the woman twined her fingers in Jude’s hair, twisting the strands between her fingers as she arched her back, giving Jude even more access to the sweet taste of her.
Jude slipped her fingers into Carmen’s soft wetness, feeling the way Carmen’s walls relaxed to make room for her, allowing her in. She added another finger, pushing in as deep as they would go and eliciting a deep earthy moan from Carmen.
“Oh, please…. please… I need you…” Carmen’s voice was just above a whisper.
“Hard?” Jude asked, wanting to be sure, as she curled her fingers to reach Carmen’s G spot and began to thrust in and out of her.
“Yes,” Carmen gasped, “Just like the first night. Fuck me so hard I can’t feel anything else.”
Jude smiled, remembering how beautiful it had been the first night on the balcony. Her body tight against Carmen’s, her right hand fucking her so hard and fast, Carmen had unravelled completely beneath her.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Jude growled as she pressed her body down on top of Carmen getting a good angle so her trusty right hand could take her exactly where she wanted to go.
Carmen’s eyes closed and her head tipped back. Her moans became screams of pleasure as Jude’s four fingers rammed into her again and again.
Carmen’s whole body jolted beneath her and she began to squirt again and again and again for Jude’s fingers.
Jude knew the bed would be soaking beneath them, but she didn’t care. Carmen wanted to give everything to Jude here and now and take everything from her and perhaps, just to feel alive, and Jude wanted so desperately to be exactly what she needed.
She felt something more building beneath her and she pressed her hip down against Carmen’s clitoris as she continued fucking her.
Carmen leaned her head back and cried out in pleasure as her orgasm came fast and strong, rippling over her body in waves.
Jude held her as she rode it out, fingers still buried deep within her and as Carmen eventually stilled in her arms with tears falling from her eyes, she kissed her tenderly.