Out Of Love Part 31

"What can I give you tonight that will last you for two weeks?"

"Nothing lasts that long. I'll want you again tomorrow."

Judith dipped her head and licked a nipple. "Then what do you want to miss most? That's what I'll give you tonight."

With her finger, Carmen tipped Judith's head so she could look her in the eye. "I love it when you go inside me . . . and then you work my c.l.i.t with that lovely mouth. That's got to be the most exquisite sensation I've ever felt."

"I love doing that."

"So do I. What do you say we have another contest?"

"Such as?"

"Who can hold out the longest without a climax?"

"That would be me."

"Care to wager?"

"Wager what?"

"The first one to come gets tied up and made to watch the other one have a climax all by herself."

"Hoo boy!"

"Are you game?"

"Sure. I just have to think of what I'm going to use to tie you up."

"We'll see about that." Carmen pushed her onto her side and quickly s.h.i.+fted to position her head between Judith's thighs.

"Somebody's excited already. Is that from thinking about me putting on a show for you?"

"No, it's from imagining you tied up."

212.

Carmen swiped a finger through the wetness and tasted it.

Then she ran her tongue the length of Judith's s.e.x, slipping her tongue inside and swirling it around.

Judith must have been overwhelmed, Carmen thought, because it took her several moments to remember this was a contest, and she had a duty to perform. When she did, she wasted no time burying her face between Carmen's legs, teasing her opening with her fingers.

In tandem, they kissed and caressed, sliding fingers inside as if in harmony.

Carmen began to feel a pulsing warmth with every pa.s.s of Judith's tongue over her sensitive c.l.i.t. Nice . . . she might be wrong . . . maybe it was about o.r.g.a.s.ms and pa.s.sionate ecstasy after all. If that tongue crossed her c.l.i.t one more time, she was going to burst.

"That's it. Give it to me," Judith murmured.

In retrospect, Judith probably meant she wanted Carmen to release. Instead, her command earned her three fingers deep in her v.a.g.i.n.a and a relentless a.s.sault on her c.l.i.t. They climaxed within seconds of each other.

But Judith came first.

That was Carmen's story and she was sticking to it.

"Thank you very much." Judith hung up the phone and finished her notes in Carmen's day planner.

"Did you get it?" Carmen came out of the bathroom, one towel draped loosely around her and another binding her wet hair.

"The Waldorf at twelve thirty." If Carmen came closer, Judith wouldn't be able to resist giving that wrap a tug.

"I better call Sofia."

"And I got you switched to the four twenty flight. Bulkhead seat."

213.

"Perfect." Carmen picked up her cell phone and called her friend to confirm their lunch date. "Who knew it would be so handy to have a travel agent for a girlfriend?"

"With all the things you have to do, I think Cathy should have been your girlfriend."

"I told her that not long ago. I dread going to Tokyo by myself."

"Why don't you take one of your a.s.sistants?"

"They're all trained researchers. That would be like asking one of them to get me coffee or pick up my laundry."

"But they're your a.s.sistants. Doesn't that include helping you organize your materials and get you where you're supposed to be?"

"I suppose." She unwrapped her hair and brushed it with the towel. "The truth is, I'm embarra.s.sed about being such a s.p.a.ce cadet. Cathy has to come in my office and cut tags off my clothes."

"No one's expected to do everything. You have the whole industry hanging on your every word, and you can work a room like no one I've ever seen."

"Are those my greatest skills?"

Judith got up and followed Carmen as far as the bathroom doorway. "Not by a long shot."

Carmen stopped her ablutions and looked up, locking eyes with her in the mirror. "I love you, you know."

The words seemed to steal all the air in the room, and Judith floundered for something to say.

"I know we still don't know each other all that well, but it feels right," Carmen went on.

"You're not taking it back, because I love you too."

Carmen turned and held out her arms. Judith fell into the embrace, a hug so strong she couldn't doubt its meaning.

"This could be a serious thing, Judith," Carmen whispered, pressing a kiss on her temple. "But it's going to be hard to be so 214 far apart."

"I know." The warning tore at her heart, but it was true. "I just can't think about that now."

"Okay, we don't have to."

"I want to be with you as much as I can."

"Then I'd say we want the same thing."

215.

Chapter 17.

As the doors closed at the First Avenue station, a thin woman limped gingerly to the front of the car. A dirty elastic bandage was wrapped around her knee.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am ashamed that I have to ask for your help. Last week, I was. .h.i.t by a car that kept right on going . . ."

Judith looked away to hide her smirk. She recognized the woman from last Monday on the F train, when she had appeared with her arm in a sling made from this same elastic wrap. That story had been more compelling-a man dislocated her shoulder when he s.n.a.t.c.hed her purse that contained the money she had saved for her baby son's operation. She almost said so when the woman walked by with a plastic cup, but instead dropped a folded dollar inside. People needed what they needed.

216.

As she feared it would, the week had dragged by at a snail's pace. With Carmen headed to Tokyo this weekend, she had worked longer hours, banking a few extra so she could leave early for the airport next Friday. Todd was in a better mood about it all, especially after she showed up this morning to work her obligatory Sat.u.r.day.

Carmen was in the air now, one hour into a fourteen hour flight. Her plane would arrive this time tomorrow in Tokyo, giving her half a day and all night to rest up for three days of meetings that started Monday. Though they could speak by phone every day-as she got ready for work and Carmen got ready for bed-she hated being half a world away.

A crackly voice announced Bedford Avenue and she got off, heading upstairs to the sun. It was a beautiful day, but that didn't make what she had to do any easier.

For better or worse, she was on her way to her mother's to have the talk she had been putting off for fifteen years. She would tell her about Carmen, about what they meant to each other and why she couldn't be available every weekend anymore.

It would be difficult for both of them. But what she needed from her mother wasn't for her. It was for Victor.

Ironically, it was Carmen who made her see she had to do this. Their thoughtful phone conversations over the past week were a testament to how important their relations.h.i.+p had become. Carmen had sympathized with her mother, whose only perspective was that her daughter was choosing time with friends over loyalty to family. Her mother needed to understand that the choice was more profound, that Judith needed to be with Carmen because they were in love and headed down a serious path.

She skipped up the steps to her mother's door and rang the bell. After almost a minute, she rang it again. Finally, the door opened.

"Sorry, hon. I was finis.h.i.+ng the dishes."

217.

"It's okay." She handed her mother a brown paper bag filled with Polish pastries. "Faworki."

"Where did you get faworki?"

"I saw them last weekend when I was at the Chelsea Market."

"You got these last weekend?"

Judith shook her head and chuckled. The eternal pessimist, her mother expected hail behind every silver lining. "I went back and got them last night."

"Let's eat them."

"They're for you. I had one for breakfast."

They went to the back of the house to the kitchen, where her mother poured a cup of coffee from a decanter that had probably been sitting there since six this morning. "You want a cup?"

"No, thanks." She had to get this conversation going before the goodwill from the faworki wore off. "I need to talk to you about something . . . something important."

They sat down at the small kitchen table.

"Is Victor all right?" Again, expecting the worst.

"He's fine, Mom. I still plan to pick him up tomorrow, but I'm hoping you'll go with me."

"It's silly for both of us to go. Victor doesn't need that."

"He needs you to come when I'm not here, though. You saw what happened to him last time."

"I know." She could see on her face that her mother wanted to blame her for being away, but held back. "But I need for you to go get him and take him back. You don't know how awful I feel when I go to those places and see how he lives. All those bad smells, everybody screaming. It's like they're not even human."

Halina sniffed and wiped her eyes. "And it's my fault he's there."

Her mother usually waited until later in the discussion to play that particular guilt card, which meant she probably had come up with new arguments since the last attempt to get her to visit the group home. "Some of the people at Wyckoff are more handi-capped than Victor, but a lot are like him, Mom. He really likes it 218 there. The staff is nice and they take good care of him. The only time he ever causes trouble is when we break his routine."

"That's why you have to be there, Judith. He needs you."

"He needs us." She scooted her chair closer and laid her hand on top of her mother's. "I've met somebody . . . somebody who lives in Chicago."

Immediately, Halina started shaking her head. "No, you can't leave us. You know what will happen to Victor if you leave him."

"I'm not . . . I don't . . ." What was the truth? "I haven't even thought about moving away. We haven't been seeing each other that long. But the only time we can see each other is on the weekends, and it makes me feel guilty not to be here for Victor.

That's why I need your help."

She hadn't expected her mother to be happy for her, and she wasn't surprised. Not since Kevin had she even mentioned dating anyone.

"So the friend you mentioned was a man. You told me it was a woman."

Wonderful segue. "Well, no. The person I went to see was a woman . . . like I said, it was a woman I met at the convention."

Before her mother could try to fill in the blanks, she drew a deep breath and finished. "She's the one I'm in love with."

"That's just ridiculous."