Chapter Thirty-Four Juliette
THIRTY-FOUR JULIETTE
It is funny the things you learn about someone when intentionally staying the night.
Earlier, while Luca ordered room service, Juliette had raided Luca’s suitcase and put on a pair of her sweatpants and a T-shirt. She is hiding from Livia and Antony, and she doesn’t have the energy for a conversation or argument, so she stays in Luca’s room.
Which, to be honest, is nicer than hers.
Juliette lounges in Luca’s bed as she watches her go through her meticulous nighttime routine.
“What’s that?” she asks as Luca pops a pill with a swig of water.
“Melatonin,” Luca says before crawling into bed and kissing Juliette silent.
Juliette pulls back after a moment and tilts her head at Luca. “Why?”
Luca rolls her eyes. “Why do you think, Jules? I don’t sleep well.” She rolls onto her back, and Juliette snuggles into her shoulder. The herbal sweetness of lavender washes over her in calming waves as she breathes in Luca.
“Do you want to talk about that?”
Luca sighs, long and resigned. “Not really, no.”
Juliette nods. She wants to know everything she can about Luca, but she doesn’t want to push her, so she focuses on what she can do to help.
She lets her fingertips skate beneath the hem of Luca’s shirt, tracing nonsensical patterns onto her stomach and hips.
Juliette loves the way Luca shivers under her touch.
She caresses the line of Luca’s sternum to her navel, up and down again, adding gentle pressure like she’s seen Luca do dozens of times.
Slowly, she feels the tension unwind from Luca’s body until she is boneless against the pillows. “Oh,” Luca whispers.
“What?” Juliette asks, lifting her head to look at Luca’s face. Pink tinges across Luca’s cheeks and ears.
“Nothing,” Luca says stubbornly. “I’m not going to inflate your ego.”
Juliette can’t help but burst out laughing. “You don’t have to say it, darling, I can tell.” Even if sometimes it is difficult for Juliette to see past the hard wall Luca’s built around herself, her body never lies.
“I’m going to kick you out of my bed,” Luca grumbles even though her lips threaten to tip upward in a traitorous smile.
“No, you won’t,” Juliette purrs, curling her leg around Luca’s and pressing soft kisses to Luca’s throat, if only to feel her pulse jump.
“You know an orgasm helps you sleep, right?” She slides her hand up Luca’s stomach again, curving her palm to cup Luca’s breast and rolling the heel of her hand over Luca’s already hard nipple.
“Yeah?” Luca is breathless. “Are you going to do something with that information?” Her chest preens upward, and Juliette kisses the corner of her mouth.
“Maybe?” She lets go of Luca’s breast and drifts her hand down her chest again, dipping her fingertips beneath Luca’s sleep shorts and finding she isn’t wearing any underwear.
“I did just get ready for bed,” Luca says softly as Juliette sweeps her fingers along the fuzz of hair on her mound.
She twists onto her elbow so she can see Luca’s face. “We can just go to sleep,” she says teasingly, pulling her hand free of Luca’s shorts, but she lets it roam across her trembling lower stomach.
“You started this,” Luca says, her fingers threading through Juliette’s hair. Warm tingles shower down Juliette’s spine at the scratch of Luca’s nails against her scalp, and she almost loses her train of thought.
“Maybe it’s not worth having to change your shorts?” Juliette asks, as if truly pondering.
“Do you want me to beg, Jules?” Luca whispers, fingers tightening in Juliette’s hair, and she leans into Luca.
“You do it so prettily, Lou,” Juliette says, and Luca grimaces.
“Oh no, Nicky is the only one who calls me Lou.”
Juliette pauses. She likes how Luca uses her nickname, and she wants one for her. “Luce?” She suggests and Luca fake-gags. “Lux?”
Luca blinks, her brow furrowing. “Lux?”
“Because you’re my light,” Juliette says, and Luca laughs.
“You’re so—”
Juliette pinches Luca’s nipple between her fingers and twists, just enough pressure to cut off what Luca was about to say.
“What was that?” Juliette asks sweetly, letting go and slipping her hand back into Luca’s shorts. Her hips tilt up, and Juliette skims two fingers on either side of her clit.
“Perfect. You’re absolutely perfect,” Luca breathes, her lashes fluttering closed. “Don’t stop, please.”
Juliette’s stomach flutters at the way her voice catches on please . She takes her time, circling her fingers around Luca’s clit, speeding up and slowing down at random. She never goes beyond the gentle touches, no matter how much Luca whines in the back of her throat.
“Don’t hold back,” Juliette whispers against Luca’s throat. She rucks up Luca’s shirt and cups her mouth around Luca’s nipple, her tongue flicking, pointed, just the way Luca likes.
Luca’s breath shudders through her teeth.
Juliette loves watching how Luca’s body locks up and then relaxes, her muscles flexing and shifting as she leans into Juliette’s hand.
Luca’s knees spread wide, and Juliette slides her hand down, fingers slick.
She circles her thumb against Luca’s clit, nudging against it at different speeds and pressures.
Piece by piece, Luca falls apart in her arms. Juliette’s name falls like a litany from Luca’s mouth as she comes.
“God, you’re so gorgeous,” Juliette whispers as she strokes Luca’s thighs. A flood of warm affection threatens to overwhelm her.
“Shut up,” Luca pants, tugging Juliette closer so she can hide her blotchy red face in her neck.
Juliette laughs as Luca’s hair tickles her skin and Luca nibbles kisses up the column of her throat to her jaw.
Heat crackles through her body as Luca’s fingers skate down the ridges of her ribs, squeezing her hip.
Before, whenever she was around Luca, she felt tight and jittery, like all of her limbs were twisted on too tight. But now, as Luca explores her skin with curious fingers, she melts.
Her body immediately coils as Luca’s fingers sweep through her slick heat before she dips two into her slit, curling against her walls and sending pleasure spiking through her body.
Her fingers move shallowly, but the heel of her hand grinds against Juliette’s clit.
“Fuck, Lux,” Juliette breathes, and Luca chuckles in her ear.
It’s as if Luca has a road map to every sensitive spot on her body, and in true Juliette fashion, it does not take long for her thighs to shake and her toes to curl. Heat burns through her gut, searing every nerve with vibrant pleasure.
Luca peppers her face with kisses as she returns to her body. She opens her eyes to see Luca’s face, bright with unbridled joy.
She loses track of time, twined in Luca’s arms and indulging in languid, soft kisses. She wishes she could live in this moment forever, caught in the rose-soft glass of whatever is unfolding between them.
Eventually, though, they wordlessly rise and clean themselves off. They rotate around each other like twin stars, hips bumping, knuckles grazing, and stealing kisses.
Luca collapses on the bed first with a yawn while Juliette twists her curls into a bun on the top of her head. “Come here, you’re too far away,” Luca whispers, splaying her hand across the bed.
Juliette laughs as she slips beneath the sheets again.
Luca wriggles closer and wraps her arms around Juliette, letting their bodies slot together perfectly.
Usually, Juliette doesn’t like being the little spoon, but as Luca interlocks their legs and Juliette tucks her forehead into the hollow of Luca’s neck, she finds she doesn’t mind.
Actually, she loves it. Especially as she breathes in the dreamscape of Luca and lavender, as she finds warm comfort in Luca surrounding her.
“I needed this,” Luca murmurs, and Juliette nearly misses it as sleep crashes over her.
“Me too,” Juliette mumbles before she slides into inky dreams.
Luca is gone before Juliette’s alarm rips her from sleep. She flails her arm out for Luca as her eyes adjust to the murky light slipping beneath the curtains. Her side of the bed isn’t even warm anymore. Juliette swallows the knot of disappointment in her throat.
She sees a message from Luca time-stamped an hour earlier, telling her she’s going out for a run with Vladimir. Beneath that are a flurry of messages from Livia.
PICCOLA POLPETTA
Before you get rightfully pissed, I truly didn’t realize you were in the background.
And I’m not the only one who clocked it.
It’s fine Jules, trust me, it’s not that bad.
I promise
(guess some tennis girlies were on the boardwalk last night)
Her heart drops into her stomach as she scrolls through the pictures that accompany Livia’s messages.
The first is of Livia, a selfie she posted with them in the background.
It seems like they’re only talking, but Luca’s head is bent toward Juliette.
Livia has done the most helpful thing and circled them in red.
The rest are from other Twitter sources, threads compiled by fans, and most are surreptitiously low-angled but close enough to make out Juliette Ricci and Luca Kacic.
Several of them are of Juliette with her camera lifted, taking a picture of Luca.
She can’t see Luca’s face in this photo, but she remembers the beginning curve of her smile.
The next is closer up and of both of them.
Juliette with her curls flying in the breeze, the sun burnishing the edges of them gold, and Luca squinting into the sun, her smile wide and her dimples adorable.
The composition is actually really nice, which makes Juliette irrationally angry.