Page 74 of Backhanded Compliments

Luca’s whimper makes Juliette freeze.

“No, wait. Don’t go.”

There is something in the hitch of Luca’s voice that chills her bones. She turns, swiftly leaning down into her line of sight. She kisses her, gently caressing her face and wiping the tears away on one side. “I’m right here. I only want to get water for you.” She smooths her hair back, trying to assure Luca that she isn’t leaving.

Luca’s breath hiccups, and she nods. Juliette’s heart wrenches, and she indulges in tracing the curves of Luca’s face until her breathing steadies and she relaxes against the pillows again, eyes closing.

Juliette would like to think she doesn’t sprint to the minifridge, but she does. “See, right here,” Juliette says as she tosses herself back into the bed with a water bottle. “I need you to drink this before we continue,” Juliette says.

Luca’s head lolls. “I want to eat you out,” she says.

Juliette shudders. Fuck. She wants that too. “Drink this first,” she says.

Luca struggles to lift herself onto an elbow and tips the bottleback. “Is this the end of the fun?” she asks after draining half the bottle, glancing sidelong at Juliette.

Juliette plucks one of Luca’s nipples, and she nearly shoots water up her nose. “Oh, I’m not done,” she says, then adds, “unless you are.”

Luca shakes her head, hair tangled against her skin, sweaty and clinging to her cheeks and neck. Her gaze is dark and sultry, pinning Juliette to the bed. Luca finishes the water bottle and Juliette tosses it onto the bedside table next to a rather strange statue. “You haven’t come yet,” Luca whispers, “so I can’t let you go running around telling the whole tour I’m an inconsiderate lover.”

Juliette laughs as she drags her thumb across Luca’s lower lip. Luca’s tongue darts out to catch it, and Juliette lets her thumb slide into Luca’s mouth. Luca sucks immediately, swirling her tongue, flexing as if this is simply a warm-up. Her eyes are dark, and her lids are heavy, wanton and heady.

“Oh,” Juliette whimpers, her pulse pounding through every inch of her body. Luca reaches up and takes her wrist, eyes fluttering closed as she sucks on her finger, tongue flicking across it in a way Juliette knows would feel heavenly elsewhere.

She pulls her hand from Luca’s mouth and surges forward, kissing her sloppy and messy. Luca moans into her mouth, melting into her.

Then, Luca pounces. She tackles Juliette into the pillows, straddling her hips. Luca’s hands are everywhere. They caress down Juliette’s sides, digging in and making Juliette’s stomach clench, ripping a laugh from her.

Luca traces circles around Juliette’s nipples as she leans down and kisses her jaw, her throat, dots her collarbones with hickeys. She keeps kissing down the line of her sternum to her stomach, tongue dipping into her belly button and making Juliette laugh again. She scrapes her teeth against her hips before she hooks them on the scalloped edge of Juliette’s panties, and she tugs. It is one of the hottest sights Juliette has ever seen.

Luca uses her thumbs to drag Juliette’s panties down, too impatient to use just her teeth. Juliette is grateful for it because her pussy is throbbing. Luca’s clever tongue swipes up from her wet slit to her clit.She doesn’t stop there but sucks Juliette’s clit into her mouth, tongue flicking rapidly over it.

Juliette has been wet and close, burning with heat for what feels like a lifetime. It doesn’t take long for the velvet heat of Luca’s mouth to be almost too much. “Close,” Juliette whispers, reaching down and threading her fingers through Luca’s ponytail. She holds her tight, and Luca hums.

The blinding orgasm paints Juliette’s vision white. Her toes curl and every nerve shatters, only to be rapidly reforged. It’s embarrassingly quick, but she can’t even begin to care.

The only word she has on her lips is the same one on her wrist:Luca.

When she finally opens her eyes, she’s panting and pliant. She turns her head and finds Luca lying next to her, shoulder to shoulder. Juliette wriggles a bit, bumping into Luca’s. The heady scent of sex is in the air, sweat dewing on their bodies, and it’s stifling in the bedroom.

Still, exhaustion floods over Juliette, the jet lag and long flight catching up with her now that the nerves of excitement have been flushed from her veins. She yawns and rolls onto her side, laying her head on Luca’s chest and slotting their legs together. “That was fun,” Juliette murmurs. She shifts her ear, and she can hear the frantic thrum of Luca’s heart. “Sleep now, and then round two later?” Juliette murmurs, her eyelids too heavy to stay open. Being pressed skin-to-skin with Luca is calming, and she feels satiated in ways she never has before.

Juliette throws her arm around Luca and curls in tighter until Luca’s fingers bury into her hair and scratch at her scalp. She usually isn’t one for cuddling after sex, and if she does, it’s only for a short time.

Still, she never wants to leave. And it isn’t just the jet lag keeping her down.

She realizes, just as sleep is about to take her, that she feels content with Luca, happy to just relax in Luca’s arms.

THIRTYLUCA

It’s dark when Luca jerks awake. Her heart thunders in her chest, but the nightmare is already slipping through her fingers, details too fuzzy to remember. The fear claws at her throat, and she swallows it back, pressing her knuckles against her sternum. She is sticky with dried sweat, and her limbs are heavy on the satin sheets. She hears soft snoring and panic floods through her.

Luca forces herself onto her elbows. Juliette is beside her, turned away, and Luca stares at her back. She blinks and her sleepiness falls away, her memory of their night piecing together. Juliette’s breath rises steadily, her curls in a tangle across the pillow. Luca can’t fill her lungs with enough air. She shoves the sheets off her legs and stumbles into the bathroom.

She stares at her reflection in the mirror, her fingers tentatively touching the hickeys fanning across her collarbones and down. “Oh, wow,” she mutters. Her hands shake as she pulls out her hair tie and runs her hands through her sweaty hair, tangled from Juliette and the bed.

Luca doesn’t regret what happened—quite the opposite. She never wants to stop. And even though her heart hammers at the thought, she doesn’t feel the familiar tug of panic that often spirals her thoughts out of control. Maybe she’s still a little sex-addled and syrupy.

She brushes her thumb along the bruise that shadows the edge of her breast. She likes that Juliette has marked her, as if Luca belongs to her. It sends a shiver down Luca’s spine.

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