Juliet pursed her lips. “That’s something you should probably get used to.”
Darcy frowned, shaking her head in distaste. “Look, if I wanted to go, I would.” She lifted an eyebrow at Juliet, jerking her thumb over her shoulder toward the front door. “Doyouwant me to go?”
“Not tonight,” Juliet immediately denied. “It was a piece of advice for you, in general.”
“Very deeply appreciated.”
Juliet didn’t give Darcy one of her quippy rejoinders, didn’t respond back with a sultry, sexy order to jumpstart their night. In fact, the look in her eyes made Darcy’s stomach tie into knots.
It wasn’t something she’d seen on Juliet thus far. Because her expression was suddenly very serious, and not in the glitteringly angry kind of way.
They’d done annoyed, they’d done snippy, they’d done collaborative, they’d done sexy and seductive. They’d even done amusement and light banter. But they hadn’t had this super serious expression.
“Speaking of advice…” Juliet started, before she reached up and drew a hand through her hair, which was still down, drawn over her shoulder, obviously a little stressed. “If this is possibly going to be a thing, there’s a conversation we need to have, first.”
“A thing?” Darcy echoed.
“You and I fucking more,” Juliet answered, bluntly. “Obviously.”
“I’d assumed, but wanted to clarify. As you know, this is uncharted territory for me.”
“Exactly.” Juliet pointed at her as if to sayduh. “There are a few rules of engagement we need to agree to.”
Darcy furrowed her eyebrows, snorting out a laugh. “What, do I need to get my manager on the phone or something? Juliet, we’re having sex not signing a contract.”
Those dark eyes narrowed at her. “This isn’t a joke, Darcy. And it’s not as simple as you… I don’t know, hooking up with random women in the back of a bar.”
Feeling her hackles rise slightly, Darcy rolled her shoulders back and took a deep, even breath. Blythe had called her on being impulsive and going toe-to-toe with everyone only an hour ago. “Fine. What do you want to talk about?”
“First and foremost, whatisyour plan when it comes to coming out? Do you have one?” Juliet pressed, sounding less like a lawyer and more like a curious normal person.
Feeling far less defensive, especially as her mind went sort of blank, she shook her head. Did that make her naïve? She was positive Juliet would tell her if she thought so. “Not really? I don’t know. I just have never felt the need to tell people my own business. Especially…” She trailed off, rolling her lips tightly in thought. “Look, I don’t hate Pineford. And there are a lot of great people who live there. But there are also some real assholes. I’ve never been looking for some sort of relationship, either, so it seemed kind of moot.”
“And now?” Juliet pushed, her staresointense.
Darcy had to assume this was her own test. She shrugged, questioning if she was going to pass; she’d never been very good at passing tests. But she hoped that she did more than she cared to admit. Because she really didn’t want this to not happen again.
Shewasintrigued by Juliet. By the real-Juliet, whoever she was. The woman who wasn’t some simple sweetheart/angel because she clearly did have the ability to be sharp, to makejabbed barbs, to intuit where a scar was and try to pick at it. Conversely, she was the woman who went to visit sick kids in the hospital,notas a publicity stunt.
She was also the woman who read Darcy’s mind when it came to sex. Who’d taken her to a place her mind hadn’t been able to reach in months, and this was responsible for Darcy being able to actually rest.
Yeah, she wanted more.
But she didn’t really know what Juliet wanted to hear. And she wouldn’t lie about it even if she did.
If Juliet wanted to keep sleeping with her, Darcy needed it to be because Juliet had worked through whatever her hang-ups had been with her, too. Feeling Juliet admit to and give in to her attraction to Darcy was intoxicating. It could only be better if Juliet could get on the same page about somewhat liking one another as people, too.
“I don’t know, Juliet,” she admitted, wondering what that would mean for her. “I’m a lot less focused on my personal life than I am on everything else going on. I don’t want to do anything that would limit my career – our careers, my sister’s and Emerson’s, too – before we canreallyeven start.”
That was all she could promise.
She had no idea when – or if – she’d want to come out, publicly, and on that note, “All I can say is that I don’t think I owe anyone any explanation about who I want to have sex with. And I’ve never been head-over-heels for anyone, so maybe that would change things for me, but when it comes to sex? That’s my business.”
Juliet’s lips tugged into a considering frown before she nodded.
So… had she passed? Hope sparked through her at the prospect.
“That’s good,” Juliet decreed.
