Page 49 of Crossing the Line
The rooftop garden felt suspended in a liminal space, the thick harbor fog creating a cocoon around them that made the rest of Phoenix Ridge disappear. Even the hospital below felt distant, irrelevant compared to the woman in Carmen's arms who was looking at her like she was worth any risk.
Harper's fingers found the hem of Carmen's blouse, hesitating. "Tell me what you want," she said softly. "Not what you think you should want, but what you actually want."
Carmen's breath caught at the question. What she wanted felt too dangerous, too overwhelming to voice. But Harper was waiting with infinite patience, her dark eyes steady in the fog-muffled light.
"You," Carmen managed, the single word carrying everything she'd been too afraid to admit. "I want you, Harper. I want to stop pretending that loving you isn't the best thing that's happened to me in years."
Harper's smile was radiant. "Then have me," she said, her hands sliding beneath Carmen's blouse to find warm skin. "All of me. Because that's what I'm offering you—everything, with no reservations."
Carmen lifted Harper’s shirt over her head, exposing the emerald green lacy bralette. She let the shirt fall on the gardenpath as she untied Harper’s scrubs, letting them fall and pool over her sneakers, revealing a matching emerald green lace thong. Harper kicked off her sneakers and shook off the scrub bottoms, and she leaned against the railing. Carmen took off her own blouse, tossing it by the pile of discarded clothing.
In one fluid motion, Carmen kissed Harper against the railing, their tongues dancing around each other as their lips were locked. Carmen played with the lacy bralette and snuck a hand underneath, cupping and squeezing Harper’s breast, then playing with her nipple that was already hardened in the cool evening air.
She raised a knee and gently pressed her thigh against Harper’s hot core and felt a wet spot through the fabric as she circled her leg against her.
“Yes,” Harper moaned quietly. “That feels amazing.”
Carmen let her hand drop from underneath the bralette, and she played with the hem of Harper’s lace panties, then she slipped her hand underneath the soft, now moist fabric. She ran her hand over Harper’s folds, feeling the heat radiating off her. Carmen circled Harper’s clitoris gently, then with a little more pressure, and she felt Harper fully lean against the railing to support her.
In one swift movement, she slipped both hands underneath Harper’s panties and slid them down to let them fall around her ankles. Carmen lowered herself to her knees in front of Harper, and she spread Harper’s folds then slid her tongue from the bottom to the tip of her clit. She made lazy circles with her tongue at first, then tightened the circles and added more pressure.
Carmen knew they were technically in public and could be exposed at any moment if someone decided to take their lunch break on the roof, but in that moment, she didn’t care about anything other than Harper’s pleasure and tasting her again.
Carmen slipped two fingers inside Harper, feeling Harper’s knees almost buckle as Harper resteadied herself against the railing.
“Are you okay?” Carmen asked, her voice cracking.
“More than okay,” Harper said.
Carmen pushed her fingers even deeper inside Harper and curled them upward, easily finding the soft spot that made Harper gasp with pleasure. Carmen continued pumping her fingers, and she left barely there kisses on Harper’s thighs and above her pelvis in the dip of her hips.
Harper moaned, louder this time, and Carmen snapped her eyes up to see Harper’s eyes grow wider as she slapped a hand over her mouth. A moment later, Harper smirked. “You’re just too good.”
Carmen’s eyes darkened with desire and affection, and she resumed sucking on Harper’s clit.
“If you keep that up,” Harper moaned, “I’ll scream.”
Carmen saw the twinkle in Harper’s eyes as she did exactly that. She pumped her fingers even faster, feeling Harper’s juices slide down her arms, and buried her face even deeper between Harper’s legs.
“Oh my god, oh my god, Carmen, oh my god.”
Carmen felt Harper’s entire body tighten and shake, and Carmen steadied Harper as she lost herself in her orgasm. Carmen stood and gently carried Harper over to the garden space where there was a patch of grass.
“Here, lie down,” she said as she curled up next to Harper’s warm body.
They both looked up at the night sky, and Carmen wondered what it was, exactly, Harper saw in those constellations as Harper's fingers lightly wound their way over her body.
The fog had thickened around them until the rooftop garden felt like its own world, cut off from Phoenix Ridge and thehospital below where their professional lives waited with all their careful rules and boundaries.
Harper's scrubs lay scattered beside Carmen's blouse on the garden path, evidence of a choice that felt both inevitable and impossibly reckless. In the soft glow, Harper looked peaceful in a way Carmen had never seen during hospital hours. There was no tension around her eyes, no careful calculation of words before speaking.
"We should probably get dressed," Carmen said softly, though she made no move to disentangle herself from Harper's warmth. "The fog won't last forever."
Harper's hand stilled on Carmen's skin, and Carmen felt the shift in her breathing that meant she was thinking rather than just existing in the moment. "Back to reality," Harper murmured, but there was no bitterness in her voice, just acknowledgement.
Carmen turned her head to study Harper's profile in the dim light. Her lips were swollen from kissing and her hair mussed from Carmen's hands, but her expression held something that looked like contentment mixed with resolve.
"What happens tomorrow?" Carmen asked, surprised by the steadiness in her own voice despite the anxiety building in her chest. "At work, I mean. When we have to pretend this didn't happen."
