Page 117 of Backhanded Compliments

“I know,” Luca says.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I haven’t been a good person.” Juliette swallows thickly, and when she looks up, her eyes are glossy.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Luca soothes, pulling her fingers free to cradle Juliette’s face. “Don’t think like that. We can only look to the future.”

Juliette sniffs and cants her cheek into Luca’s palm. “Still hate that I was a jealous bitch. That I hurt you.”

Luca knows Juliette will let this guilt fester. Luca’s pain has already transmuted into a scar, scabbed over and healing. They have each other now. “Want to know how you can fix it?” Luca asks, keeping her voice light and teasing.

“How?”

“Order us food. I’m starving.”

Juliette bursts into laughter, and her head drops into her folded arms.

Luca weaves her fingers through Juliette’s curls, brushing her thumb across the different strands of bronze and caramel and gold.

“Of course, Your Majesty. What would you like?” Juliette asks, slipping out of Luca’s loose grasp to grab her phone.

Luca licks her lips at the beautiful cut of Juliette’s naked body, bronze even in the low light. “You,” she says honestly.

Juliette smirks over her shoulder, coy and sultry at the same time.

LUCA

By the time the food arrives, Luca is beyond satiated. Juliette had taken her time breaking Luca apart again with her sensational mouth. Then, while Luca was showering, Juliette had slipped in, and they made love again, lazy and slow, with Luca pressed against the cool tile of the shower and Juliette wrapped around her from behind, water tracing warm fingers across them.

After, they’d dried each other off with care, kissing languidly until the pizza guy rang the doorbell. Now they’re arranged in their usual position on the couch in pajamas, the pizza having been demolished within the first ten minutes of whatever stupid movie Juliette chose.

“Hey, Luca?” Juliette pauses the movie, her free hand resting on Luca’s ankle and tracing aimless patterns on her skin. “You know how you said you would’ve been okay with me kissing you a thousand different times today?”

Luca tilts her head. “Yeah?”

Juliette breathes in deep, tipping her head back against the couch. “Did you really mean that? What if we were public? Like Remi and Xinya? I know I panicked about the media having pictures of us hanging out together, but I think if we controlled how we revealed our relationship, I’d be okay with it.”

Luca considers Juliette’s words, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know. Genuinely. I don’t need to be public. I want you to be comfortable with this first.” Luca takes Juliette’s hand, twisting their fingers together.

Juliette breathes out a sigh of relief. “And you know I don’t want to hide it because I’m ashamed or anything, right?” Juliette asks, a little desperation in her voice.

Luca nods. “Relax, Jules,” she says soothingly. “As long as we’re together, it doesn’t really matter to me what the media knows.”

“I don’t want to hide it for years like Remi and Xinya did. I know the public will find out eventually,” Juliette says with a smirk. “I can’t keep my hands off you.” Her hand slides up Luca’s calf and knee until she can splay her fingers against Luca’s thigh.

“I don’t want you to,” Luca says, tilting her hips to try to encourage Juliette’s hand to slip a little farther into her shorts where she wants it.

Juliette brushes her thumb back and forth against a patch of skin that Luca missed when shaving, so featherlight it almost tickles. “I want you to understand that I don’t want to lose you, and I’m worried some outside force is going to try to rip us apart.”

Luca swallows. That is a concern. But she curls her fingers around Juliette’s wrist, her fingertips brushing her soulmark. It makes Juliette shiver and calm drip into Luca’s mind. “I understand.”

Juliette relaxes against the couch. “Okay,” she says, a yawn eclipsing the word.

Luca snuggles back into the couch and pillows. It’s comfortable now that the air conditioner is rattling away, driving out the excess August heat.

“You pick the weirdest movies,” she says, changing the topic as Juliette unpauses whatever rom-com she’s picked. It’s snowing on-screen.

“Love Actuallyis a god-tier choice after sex,” Juliette says haughtily, and Luca rolls her eyes.

“Jules, it’s August.”

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