She was just about to click into Emerson’s voice note when she was on the receiving end of a video call from Juliet.
A thrill shot through her and she sat up with it. She and Juliet didn’t ever call one another like this. Not in the two months since they’d started this arrangement. They strictly texted. Even then, it was usually limited to making plans for hooking up.
Swiping her hand over her face, she scoffed at herself. What, so she had some bedhead and she was wearing a threadbare t-shirt hanging off her shoulder with a logo from the bowling alley so worn it was barely visible? Juliet saw her in the morning all of the time.
With that in mind, she answered the call. “Well, this is a surprise.” She clicked her tongue, fluttering her eyelashes. “You just can’t get enough.”
Juliet didn’t take the bait to either dismiss her or flirt with her. She was bright-eyed and fresh-faced for the day, her dark, silky hair tied into a knot at the top of her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t respond to me last night.”
“I didn’t realize we had a deadline to answer one another?” She shot back, baffled. “I, uh, I wasn’t looking at my phone for a while before bed.”
She shifted slightly as the nerves set through her. It wasn’t as though Juliet would be able to read her mind or something, beable to figure out that Darcy had to impose limits to stop staring at Juliet’s tour videos.
But Juliet’s stare was always so intense.
It was even more so now, through the phone, than usual. Her dark eyes narrowed, her jaw set. “Why?” She asked, her voice dipping to that frosty cold place that Darcy hadn’t heard – directed at her, anyway – for months.
“Why?” She echoed. “You know I have trouble sleeping. It’s not good for you to be on your phone before bed,” she hedged. And hey, it was scientifically backed!
“Are you by yourself?” Juliet asked, pointedly. She’d leaned in slightly, eyes moving like she was trying to search the frame she could see Darcy in.
“By… myself?” She echoed again, feeling absurdly slow.
She hadn’t told Juliet how weird she’d felt about being alone in the apartment. They didn’t really… do that. So, she couldn’t fathom why Juliet would be asking.
She shrugged. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Unfortunately?” Juliet pressed, in that same tone.
“What is with your angry laser-eyes?” She demanded to know. “Yes, I’m alone. Blythe and Colton are officially living in their farmhouse that I think I mentioned to you at some point.”
Juliet blinked, her expression completely flat. “Your sister and her fiancé. That’s why you said unfortunately.”
“Is that a question or…?”
Juliet closed her eyes, working her jaw back and forth.
“Who did youthinkI’d be with?” It was only then that she understood what Juliet was getting at, the realization shifting through her. “You thought I was with another woman?”
“I didn’t know, Darcy,” Juliet returned, eyes opening again, blazing at her. But the color rose high in her cheeks, giving her away. “Either way–”
“Uh-uh, no,” Darcy immediately jumped in, shaking her head. She couldn’t stop the satisfaction that pumped through her veins or the smile that worked over her mouth. “What if therehadbeen someone else in my bed? Because, if I recall correctly, you didn’t list that as one of your dealbreakers.”
“I said if you werereallydating someone–”
“Sleeping with someoneobviouslydoesn’t mean dating,” she stared, pointedly, at Juliet.
Who’s jaw visibly twitched. “Fine. Yes. That’s a dealbreaker for me. If you’re sleeping with someone else, I have the right to know.”
“Areyou?” Darcy asked, flipping it around, her heart beating a little harder.
They hadn’t really established this before, but… maybe it was foolish of her to have simply assumed Juliet wasn’t. God, she didn’t want to say that to Juliet and give her more evidence to accuse Darcy of more naiveté.
“No,I’mnot,” Juliet informed her, arching a sharp eyebrow up expectantly. Waiting.
Darcy didn’t express any of the swift relief she felt from the momentary jealousy. All she said was, “Me, neither.”
“Okay, then. Regarding the point of this call–”
