Chapter 29 #2
Darcy half-laughed, half-groaned, as she gathered the strength to push herself up onto her elbow. “I’m not falling asleep. See?” She deliberately widened her eyes at Juliet.
Though it had started as a joke, she then truly trailed her gaze slowly over Juliet’s body, her throat running dry.
It was far from the first time she’d been with Juliet, but… laying the way she was right now, propped up on her pillows, a light sheen of sweat on her body – Darcy had never understood how someone could sweat delicately before, but she understood it now – as she laid naked on top of her covers…
Darcy still had Juliet’s taste in her mouth, she couldn’t feel more gratified if she tried, and still she wanted more. She wanted to give Juliet every ounce of pleasure she could possibly take.
Juliet pointedly cleared her throat, sliding her own fingertips up from her waist, over the side of her breast, up her neck, and Darcy followed that touch like she’d been mandated to.
Right until she landed on the smug, delighted grin on Juliet’s lips.
“Um… what were you saying?” She asked, having absolutely no recollection of what Juliet had brought up only moments ago.
Juliet’s smile sharpened, before she breathed out a chuckle. “I said, I have questions. So, focus.”
Darcy had to close her eyes, nodding firmly. She could do that, she could focus.
With a deep breath, she pushed herself to sit up against the headboard, facing forward. “Ready to focus.”
“Ridiculous,” Juliet murmured, her tone colored with affection, as she, too, sat up. “First…”
Juliet reached out, gently grabbing Darcy’s jaw and turning her eyes back to Juliet once more, her expression both amused and exasperated.
“You said to focus, and I’m feeling very easily distracted by you right now,” she defended herself.
Try as Juliet might be, she couldn’t tamp down the smile on her lips, and Darcy loved being the cause. “Well, first, I want to ask how you’ve been sleeping?”
She tilted her head in thought, before she shrugged. “Not as bad as I was.” She licked her lips, holding Juliet’s stare. “But if what you’re really asking is if I want to be sleeping in here with you and not in your guest room, the answer is yes.”
Visible relief slid through Juliet, and Darcy felt stupidly proud of herself. She really did feel like she had that missing puzzle piece, though. Like things about Juliet made a lot more sense, and she got it. Got her.
“Okay, good.” Juliet rolled her lips as she broke their eye contact. She looked across the room, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I also was asking because… I just wanted to know,” she admitted, quietly. “I think about that.” She took in a deep breath, before turning to look at her. “About you.”
Darcy felt like her smile was made of pure sunshine, warming her from the inside out. “Oh?”
Juliet pursed her lips, shaking her head, but it didn’t disguise her smile. “Yeah, well.” She cleared her throat. “You should be sleeping well. Because Jukebox Calamity is incredible. And it deserves all of the praise it’s getting.”
Scratch that – now Darcy’s smile was pure sunshine, like she couldn’t contain the giddiness that lit her up inside. “You think so? Really?”
“You’ve seen all of the reviews coming in. Critics, audiences. You know people love it.”
Darcy did know. And she’d cried heavy, relieved, overwhelmed tears the day after the album had come out. But, “Your opinion means more to me.”
Which was saying something.
Juliet snapped her eyes back to Darcy’s, surprised and then soft. “In that case…” She turned, straightening her spine as she faced Darcy head on. “Your album is incredible. You, Blythe, and Emerson should all be really, really proud.”
She was. But she was even more so, now.
Beaming – feeling a little invincible – she asked, “What’s the next question?”
“I wanted – I just wanted to clarify that we’re back on? This,” Juliet gestured between them. “Is officially happening, again?”
Darcy narrowed her eyes, deliberately looking Juliet – still very naked – up and down. “Have you forgotten what we just did?”
Juliet didn’t smile back, though. She looked incredibly serious.
“I need to know if it was a reactionary thing on your part. I know that you’re…
” She furrowed her eyebrows, huffing out a breath.
“Sympathetic, and sweet, and I’m sure that moral righteousness inside of you has been activated.
But I need to know if you want to keep doing this, now that you have all of the context.
My context. I know you don’t like the lies and the images and the publicity.
But… you get to control the narrative when you control those things. ”
Darcy leaned back against the headboard, rolling that through in her mind. Because Juliet was right; she didn’t like the plasticity of it all. But… life was far from being black-and-white.
“Even if I don’t like it, I do understand.
Especially your situation.” She rolled her lips, staring intently at Juliet, still feeling very warm and very soft, and not just from the sex, but from Juliet truly opening up to her.
“Yes, we are on. If you can promise me that you’ll talk to me.
If something is going on with Harrison, then…
tell me. Besides, isn’t us acting like we barely know one another at an event weirder than being friendly?
” She pressed. “Our public image, now, is that we’re friends.
This song is our second collaboration in the last six months. ”
“That is a good point,” Juliet acknowledged, her voice dragging over the words. “And I just – I do need you to know that it was only because Harrison was right there. Watching us. Watching you.”
She leaned forward so she could nudge her knees against Juliet’s.
“I’m not afraid of Harrison. If you were acting that way out of an attempt to protect me, then–” Well, then, she felt her heart skip a beat, and she reached out, cupping Juliet’s cheek in her palm, simply…
needing to. “Then, I appreciate the thought. But I’ve never had the easiest life, and I’d say I’ve made it pretty far handling my own business. ”
She could see that Juliet believed she was being na?ve yet again. But Darcy wasn’t.
She understood the whole scope. She understood that Harrison had connections she couldn’t dream of. But she didn’t have a legal obligation to him, and she wasn’t going to run away from Juliet because of him.
“Well, maybe I’d like you to have an easier life,” Juliet murmured back.
There it was, her breath catching in her throat, before the butterflies exploded in her stomach.
Darcy stroked her thumb over Juliet’s bottom lip. She shivered, feeling Juliet’s warm breath on the tip of her thumb. “The feeling is mutual.”
She felt Juliet’s grin against her simultaneously as it happened. Then Juliet nipped her teeth into her thumb, and Darcy’s mouth fell open as the sparks shot through her.
“Now,” Juliet leaned back, her cheeks flushed, eyes bright.
“My third question is… I guess it’s more of a comment.
” Her expression shifted into something genuine and earnest. “I think that we need to start this collab from the ground up. So, I want you to take me through your process. How would you approach this song?”
Darcy sat straight up, excitement buzzing through her. “You want to know my process? That’s how you want to get started?”
“We need to come at this as a team. So, yes.” Juliet held her hands out, palm up. “I’m inviting you to school me in your songwriting process.”
Without needing any further prompting, she scrambled up from the bed, nearly tripping with her foot catching in the sheet. “I need to get some of my things from the guestroom.”
“I didn’t mean we had to do it now.”
“I’m inspired!” She was already hurrying toward the door, pausing minutely to snatch Juliet’s luxuriously soft, silk robe from where it was hung next to the ensuite. She secured the sash around her waist, the feeling of comfort washing over her.
“There’s my thief,” Juliet mused from behind her.
There wasn’t even a hint of annoyance in her tone. If anything, she sounded relieved.
She half-turned presenting herself in the robe, her arms wide. “I’m back.” Quickly, she turned. “But I’m going to get some stuff. So, I will be back.”
“Bring your whole suitcase!” Juliet called after her, in that haughty, bossy voice.
Music to Darcy’s ears.