Catherine’s phone pinged, and she untangled it from the sheets. The sight of Jules’s name on the screen lit her up like luminescence.
Jules:
Sexting counts as taking it slow, right?
29
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
When Catherine awoke, her lips were already curving into a smile before her mind had caught up. Within seconds, her evening with Jules flooded back and it felt like her whole body was grinning in the afterglow. She stretched languidly and glanced at the phone still curled in her fingers.
No new messages.
But it was early, and they’d had a late night after all.
Shaking off the restless energy, Catherine set out on her usual morning walk. As if manifesting her mood, another glorious spring day bloomed. With an extra bounce in her step, she power-walked three laps around the park. She’d only meant to do two laps, but she’d lost count because all she wanted to do was charge home and consume the woman who lived above her.
She couldn’t wipe the dopey smile from her face at the thought of lazy Sunday mornings in bed with Jules. A breakfast of coffee, croissants, and deliciousorgasms. Yes, they were taking it slow, but her mind kept racing ahead, wanting to skip to the good parts, even though this was dangerous. She hadn’t let herself get swept up in someone like this since…Francesca.
Had Francesca showing up the other night really brought the closure Catherine had needed all these years? Or had the arrival of Jules into her life altered Catherine’s brain chemistry?
Perhaps it was a bit of both. Either way, it felt good; and far from the usual heaviness that followed a date with a woman who wanted more, at which point Catherine always stepped back. Measure and poise were her whole personality, which had been good for her career, but not her love life. She’d never allowed the temperature with anyone to rise above tepid, lest she get burnt… again. Even on the odd occasion when she’d been tempted to turn up the heat, she’d steadied herself.Measure and poise.But Jules shone hot and bright like the sun, and it seemed worth risking a little sunburn just to bask in her warmth for a while.
On the way home, Catherine swung by Snoots for a coffee and a croissant. She contemplated returning with the same for Jules, then decided against it. Best not to seem too keen, even though she was itching to see her, imagining her with mussed hair and a sleepy grin draped over her kissable lips. Besides, Catherine didn’t know how Jules took her coffee yet. A fact that would have usually dampened her mood — another surface-level connection with a stranger, but with Jules that part made Catherine almost giddy with excitement. Shecouldn’t wait to peel back the layers and discover all of her.
Catherine caught herself whistling as she turned her key in the lock. After a cursory glance up the stairs, she retired to her own apartment.
The day passed in a tedium of chores, which although mundane, Catherine was grateful for — a way to pass the time and busy her fidgety hands. Several times she caught herself freezing at a sound from above, sending her thoughts skittering like marbles —What’s Jules doing right now? Is she thinking about me too? Does she regret last night? Why hasn’t she texted yet?
To stop herself incessantly checking her phone for messages, Catherine pushed in her earbuds and listened to one of her favourite well-being podcasts, which she often drew inspiration from forOm-the-Go. After a short while, the usually calming chatter was putting her on edge, so she shuffled a playlist of recently added music instead, only to be confronted bySpice Up Your Life.
She smiled, turned it up, and sang along as she flung open the windows and dusted the lounge. It was in the briefest pause between tracks that she heard the faint thudding. She pulled out her earbuds and turned her ear.
“Sounds like you’ve been taken hostage by the Spice Girls! Should I send for help?”
On hearing Jules’s muffled yell, Catherine spluttered a giddy laugh.
“Hold on,” she called out, gathering enough restraint to steady herself before flinging the door open.
The sight of Jules leaning against the banister dressedin a plaid shirt and jeans made Catherine’s stomach flutter. She’d pulled her hair up into a neat ponytail, accentuating her neck and jawline. One side of her mouth ticked up, which was probably in response to the way Catherine was eye-fucking her.
“I was beginning to worry Ginger Spice had you tied to a chair or something.”
Catherine clicked her tongue. “No such luck.”
“Oh, you like a bit of Ginger, do you?”
“What’s not to like?”
Jules conceded with a slight nod and held out a cup to Catherine. “I brought you some sugar.”
Catherine smiled and shook her head. “Why? I don’t take sugar.”
“I know, you said. But I do, and I was hoping you might invite me in for a cuppa.”
Catherine tensed, but the silence that followed wasn’t awkward — it was charged, like the pause before a song’s chorus.
Here was Jules, attempting to blithely crash through another boundary wall. And whilst the woman had freely waltzed in to retrieve Juni a few days ago and came in to pick wine the other night, this was different because Jules now knew what it meant to be invited into Catherine’s space.
