Page 70 of Backhanded Compliments

The anticipation builds, a roaring crescendo that cuts off as the door opens.

Luca leans against the doorjamb, her hair smoothed back into a ponytail. She’s wearing a white T-shirt that shows off how tan she’s gotten. Her gray sweatpants hang low on her hips, and Juliette has to force her eyes up to Luca’s face.

“Hi,” Juliette says, sounding breathless.

Luca’s lips twist into a smile and she steps back, allowing Juliette to enter. “Hi.”

“Holy shit,” Juliette says as she enters the equally bright room. The walls are creamy white, but abstract shapes are painted in teals, oranges, and pinks all over. Weird, crystalline-like lights shower the room with sparkling white light.

Luca laughs, a huff of air. Nerves, perhaps? Juliette can’t tell. “It’s not really my style, but the hotelier insisted.”

Juliette pauses in the center of the living room, and her backpack slides off her shoulder to her feet. Floor-to-ceiling windows show off the sterling skyline and beautiful bay, the water rippling like the metallic hide of a car. The glare from the indoor lights makes it worse. It’s almost as if Juliette is standing above the water, like she could reach out and touch the skyscrapers. She sways on her feet.

“Jules?” Luca moves into her line of sight, and Juliette tries to smile, but it stretches foreign across her mouth.

“Yeah?” Her voice wavers and sounds faraway.

“You look a little pale. Are you okay?” Luca’s brows pinch together in concern.

Juliette glances over Luca’s shoulder at the window, and another wave of dizziness threatens to topple her. She looks down and sees her hand wrapped around Luca’s forearm. Warmth sparks beneath her fingertips, and she tries to focus on that sensation instead. “Erm, I forgot to mention this before, but I am not a fan of heights.”

“Oh,” Luca says, but it sounds like she’s underwater. “Come on.” She tugs on Juliette, who keeps her eyes on her feet until she is guided into a chair.

It’s a stool at a short kitchen island with no windows around it.Juliette swallows and tries to breathe evenly through her nose, but she can hear how harshly she is sucking in air.

“Here, drink this. The curtains are closed. I don’t know if that helps, but we could go to your room?”

Juliette fumbles with the water bottle but manages to twist it open. “No, I’ll be fine, as long as I can’t see how high we are,” she gasps out before taking a few careful sips of water.

Luca’s hand curves around her right wrist, and her thumb sweeps in soothing circles against Juliette’s hammering pulse point. Juliette glances up, but Luca is staring at Juliette’s trembling hands. Then, as if Luca feels Juliette’s gaze, her eyes lift, and Juliette tries to smile. “Thanks,” Juliette whispers.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Luca says.

Juliette shakes her head. “How could you know? I never mentioned it. It’s not like this is new.” Her tremors lessen and then fade until her hands are still. “I wasn’t always afraid of heights.”

“No?” Luca prompts, her thumb never stopping the soft caress.

Juliette’s breath evens out and the tension in her chest releases. “I used to climb all the trees in our backyard when I was a kid. But when I was eight, I fell and broke my arm.”

Luca hisses through her teeth. “Ouch.”

Juliette nods. “I haven’t climbed a tree since, and I can’t stand heights.”

“Luckily you picked a profession where you never have to fly or end up in high-rise hotels,” Luca says with a smirk.

“Shut up,” Juliette says without heat, and Luca laughs. “All right, I told you a secret, tell me one of yours.”

Luca’s thumb falters on her skin, and she chews on the inside of her cheek. “I have anxiety, I’m afraid of everything.”

“That is not a secret,” Juliette says.

“Of course it is. No one knows except Vladimir and Nicky.”

“And me,” Juliette says. “You told me in Naples.”

Luca frowns, and Juliette flips her hand over and starts tracing Luca’s palm and fingers. It’s barely a touch, but Luca looks up at her with a hitch in her breath, her cheeks tinged pink.

“All right,” Luca says, her lower lip wet from where she was biting it. Juliette wants to kiss her again, taste if she’s wearing chapstick. “I like you more than I should.”

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