Tess Awakening (29 page)

“I mostly fly Black Hawks and Kiowa’s,”
Carmen added.”

“I have never met a female helicopter pilot.
You must have a lot of stories to tell.”

“You have no idea.”

Carmen was restless. She needed to bed a man,
and she had a gorgeous Italian sitting right next to her; might as
well take advantage of the opportunity. She initiated her
irresistible coquettish mode; the two of them drove to one of the
few safe hotels in Baghdad.

Carmen took a shower and appraised her tiny
five foot two frame in the mirror. “Not bad, girl, boobs are still
perky, and the tummy looks tight. Time to rumble.”

Her usual approach was to motivate the guy
she had chosen, insist that he lay on his back, make sure he got
nice and hard, jump on top of him and get it over with quickly. It
was seldom lovemaking, just raw sex. She had been raped when she
was young and she resolved to treat men as they often treat women.
She always insisted on the ‘wham, bang and thank you Sir’
approach.

Nicola was lying down on the bed and saw
Carmen coming out of the bathroom. She dropped her robe and stood
naked in front of him. Nicola smiled, appraising the diminutive but
perfectly proportioned young woman. “To say that you are beautiful
would be obvious, Carmen. You are gorgeous.”

Carmen walked to his bed and lay down next to
him. “Well, now that we have established our intentions, get those
silly pajamas off and play.” She got on her knees, straddled him,
and started to unbutton his top. Nicola smiled.”

Carmen then started to pull off his bottoms,
but Nicola stopped her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, annoyed.
“Let’s get it on!”

Nicola looked straight at her and said
“no.”

“What do you mean ‘no,’ you don’t want to do
it?”

“I don’t want to do it this way. I want to
know you first.”

“Nicola, don’t be an idiot, I don’t need
sweet talk or a lot of foreplay; let’s do it and get it over
with!”

“That’s the point; I don’t want to get it
over with. I don’t want to just have sex with you. I want to make
love to you; I want it to last for a long time.”

“I got it, you are gay!”

Carmen picked up her robe and made it to the
door. “I am out of here.”

Nicola swiftly jumped to the door and grabbed
her by her arms. She clutched her nightwear against her bosom,
staring at him with anger. Still holding her, he pushed her against
the wall and softly kissed her.

By this time, Carmen was ready to explode.
This was nuts. All she wanted is to get laid then go to sleep, why
complicate things? Her other men were more than happy to let her
take charge of the proceedings.

Nicola kissed her again and while holding her
by the waist, led her to the bed and eased her on her back. Carmen
attempted to get on top of him, but he used his powerful arms to
make her stay on her back.

Carmen was frustrated. “Nicola, are we going
to do it or not?”

Nicola did not respond; he just took her hand
and placed it on his chest. “Touch me, Carmen. Feel my body. Feel
my heart beating.”

Carmen, for the first time, felt that there
might be more to a man than his penis. He started to guide her
hands, caressing his hard pecs, his abdomen, and his thighs. She
got a jolt when she reached his hard rock erection. ‘He is
interested, after all.’

Throughout, Nicola remained still. Now he
turned toward her, took her face between his hands, and gave her a
full-mouthed kiss.

“Now it’s my turn to touch you.” He started
to caress her throat and breast.

“Nicola, stop. I don’t like to be pawed. I
have never allowed that.”

“I am not pawing you, I am exploring your
body. I want you to enjoy my touch. You have beautiful soft skin,
Carmen. Feel my hands on it. I just want to give you pleasure.” He
kissed her breast; wow, that felt good.

Carmen always controlled how she made love.
She made the first moves, and the men followed. Nicola did not
comply with her desires and his behavior annoyed her. Yet, this
time she started to feel the pleasure of his gentle hands on her.
He moved slowly, languorously, forcing her to delay her usual
urgency, counteracting her resistance with gentle strength.

“Trust me, Carmen, let me please you.”

Carmen did not have much choice; the man was
strong and she still needed sex. She gradually relaxed and allowed
him to touch her body, slowly, tantalizing. Her visions of being
raped in the past receded, enabling her to release control and
start enjoying to Nicola’s gentle ministrations.

He continued his exploration, kissing her
neck, fondling her breasts, her stomach, her tight tummy. He
proceeded to caress her inner thighs, working his way between her
legs, just breathing on her labia. Carmen felt a jolt. She now
really wanted him. She grabbed his head, pulling his lips toward
her feminine center.

Nicola gently licked her, ran his tongue
around her labia and clitoris, then dipped it inside, working
deeper into her.

Carmen normally did not like oral sex, but
Nicola’s tongue and mouth now felt right and heavenly. She exploded
with an intense orgasm.

She had never experienced a climax like that
and now she wanted more. “Come inside me, Nicola, please!”

Nicola kissed her abdomen and worked his way
up to her breasts, finally placing his mouth over hers, both
savoring her wetness. Carmen now spread her legs and raised her
mound, inviting him to join with her. His huge shaft found its way
to her center. He just buried his tip into her wetness, holding
back until she fully opened to him, and then he plunged into her.
The sudden, welcome invasion sunk into her depths to the cervix,
and she screamed in pleasure. Nicola continued to move deeply
inside her, feeling her internal muscles tighten against him. His
mouth was on her throat; he moved his hard shaft side to side and
in a circular motion, totally overwhelming her. They both climaxed
at the same time, something that Carmen had never experienced
before.

This time, she had surrendered completely to
a man who knew how to please a woman and she was rewarded with pure
bliss. She held on with her legs wrapped around his hips, not
wanting the moment to end. Nicola continued to kiss her and nuzzle
on the neck. Carmen was now spent, deliciously so. She had finally
experienced the pleasure provided by a man who knew how to be a
lover.

Chapter 48

Tess was still in a coma. Jake had visited
her early in the morning and was furious about the level of care
that she was receiving. When he came to see her in the morning, her
lips were dry and her tongue looked like a mummified flesh. Every
day, he used several small sponges on a stick and spent at least a
half an hour moisturizing her mouth. He expressed his displeasure
to the head nurse. Her response was that Tess could not feel
discomfort anyway, because she was in a coma. Jake did not buy that
excuse and made himself into a nuisance to no avail.

The next morning they had Tess tied hands and
feet to the rails on the sides of the bed. Jake went ballistic.
Several nurses came over and explained that Tess had pulled all of
the IV and feeding tubes, so they had no choice but restrain
her.

“But isn’t that a good sign? It looks like
she is trying to come back to consciousness. I know my wife; she
would hate being so confined.”

The nurses shrugged their shoulders. Jake
called Tess’s dad and asked him to come up to the hospital. The
General said that he was coordinating the search for baby Morgan
and that he would come over the next day.

Jake spent every available minute at the
hospital, primarily to ensure that the nurses did not bind Tess
again. Every time he had to leave, upon his return, Tess was
confined as usual because she had again tried to pull out all the
tubes. Jake released her bindings once more. He could not help
believing that Tess was desperately struggling to wake up, to
rejoin the living. He just knew that her restlessness was evidence
that her mind was attempting to come back to consciousness. Yet,
the doctors kept insisting that Tess showed no sign of recovery.
Three neurologists scratched their heads, and the only response
they could provide to Jake’s inquiries was “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know, “Jake
fulminated, “What are going to do about it? Is there a procedure
that can relieve the fluid in the brain?”

One of the docs explained: “The general
consensus is that an intervention at this stage is dangerous. We
have to wait and see.”

General Morgan walked in. He heard what the
docs said. “If you people don’t know what to do for my daughter, I
will take her to a place that can.”

Jake agreed. “Let’s move her to Mount Sinai
or a good hospital in New York City.” The same afternoon, an
ambulance transported Tess to a specialized facility.

The General was even more furious than Jake
about the situation. He vowed that he would employ whatever
resources were necessary to help Tess recover. Now he had to tell
Jake that the search for little Morgan was not going well. Looking
for someone in New York was like looking for a needle in a
haystack. All departing flights were scrutinized. Amir’s Falcon jet
was impounded, but the Iraqi Consulate got the State Department
involved, creating a diplomatic mess. The FBI could not accuse Amir
of any crimes without evidence because, during the incident, he had
been in Iraq the whole time. The jet was released and the crew
immediately it flew it to Montreal.

Jake and General Morgan looked at all
available options to find the baby. They assumed that he was being
held somewhere in the city. Even with the dragnet in place, they
were very much aware that with just a little subterfuge, it would
not be impossible to smuggle the baby on an airliner. There were
just too many travelers with kids coming and going to and from the
city. You just could not search everyone.

Jake’s analytical mind was hard at work. He
reluctantly concluded that eventually Amir’s people would be able
to take little Morgan out of the country. He just had to find out
where. The likely destination could be any one of Amir’s houses in
Europe, but Jake thought that Amir was too shrewd to do something
that obvious. Jake concluded that only Tess could provide
information that might be helpful in finding a direction.
Unfortunately, Tess was still unconscious.

Jake’s cell phone rang. The number appeared
to be from the hospital. He answered the call.

“Jake, I am packed, I want to go home.” It
was Tess’s voice.

Jake fell on a chair. Could it be? “Tess
darling, what happened?”

“I don’t know, Jake. I just want to leave
this place. Come and get me.”

“Tess, please, let me talk to one of the
nurses.”

A minute later, a woman answered. “Yes, Mr.
Vickers. Your wife is awake, but we are having problems controlling
her. She pulled out all the IVs, got dressed by herself, packed a
few items of clothing in a hospital bag and is now in a wheelchair
staring at the garden area, waiting for you to come. We can’t stop
her; she threatens to wreck the place if you don’t get over here
soon.”

Jake ran downstairs and caught a cab to the
hospital; he offered the Pakistani driver a bonus to get there
quickly. “No problem, Sir,” said the cabbie, while stepping on the
accelerator. It was mid-morning, and traffic on the city streets
was relatively light. The cab swerved around other cars, changed
lanes with only inches to spare and bypassed bottlenecks by
diverting to side streets, careening to the destination.

‘This guy should have been a fighter pilot,’
Jake thought while clutching the overhead strap. The cab screeched
to a stop at the main entrance of the hospital. Relieved, Jake gave
one hundred dollars to the intrepid fellow and ran upstairs to
Tess’s patient room.

Tess was still sitting in a wheelchair
clutching a hospital-provided bag. At the sight of Jake, her face
lighted up. She opened her arms and Jake gave her a kiss. They both
could not contain their emotions and wept with joy.

“Tess, you are back! I couldn’t wait for this
to happen.”

Tess looked at Jake, confused. “Jake, where
am I? No one is talking to me.”

“You are in a hospital, sweetie. You have
been in a coma for a month. You hit your head in the car
accident.”

“I want to go home, Jake.”

“Tess, listen to me. You have had a rough
time. They tell me that you are going to be confused for a time,
but you will get better. The docs say that you will need a couple
of weeks of physical and occupational therapy. They will work with
you to help you regain all of your faculties.”

“I want to go home!”

“I want you to come too, Tess, but we need to
make sure you are okay. Please let me transfer you to therapy. I
will be with you all the time and you will get back to normal soon.
We just need to make sure that everything is working right.”

Tess looked at Jake with pleading eyes.
“Jack, I am scared. I don’t remember what happened.”

“You had an accident Tess, but now you will
get better. Let’s make sure that you are taken care of. All you
need to do is to work with people that want to help you get well.
Then we will go home.”

Tess finally relinquished the bundle of
clothes. Jack helped her get out of the wheelchair and laid her
down on the bed.

“Jake, I want you to be with me.”

Jake squeezed on the hospital bed, lay
alongside her and embraced her. “It will be fine, Tess. I am here,
I love you and you will get better soon.”

Tess felt his arms around her and comforted,
dozed off. Jake carefully got off the bed and went to find the
doctor on duty. He finally found her.

“Doc, why did she wake up so suddenly? Is
this normal?”