Juliet snapped her eyes back to Darcy’s, surprised and then soft. “In that case…” She turned, straightening her spine as she faced Darcy head on. “Your album is incredible. You, Blythe, and Emerson should all be really, really proud.”
She was. But she was even more so, now.
Beaming – feeling a little invincible – she asked, “What’s the next question?”
“I wanted – I just wanted to clarify that we’re back on? This,” Juliet gestured between them. “Is officially happening, again?”
Darcy narrowed her eyes, deliberately looking Juliet – still very naked – up and down. “Have you forgotten what we just did?”
Juliet didn’t smile back, though. She looked incredibly serious. “I need to know if it was a reactionary thing on your part. I know that you’re…” She furrowed her eyebrows, huffing out a breath. “Sympathetic, and sweet, and I’m sure that moral righteousness inside of you has been activated. But I need to know if you want to keep doing this, now that you have all of the context. My context. I know you don’t like the lies and the images and the publicity. But… you get to control the narrative when you control those things.”
Darcy leaned back against the headboard, rolling that through in her mind. Because Juliet was right; she didn’t like the plasticity of it all. But… life was far from being black-and-white.
“Even if I don’t like it, I do understand. Especially your situation.” She rolled her lips, staring intently at Juliet, still feeling very warm and very soft, and not just from the sex, but from Juliet truly opening up to her. “Yes, we areon. If you can promise me that you’ll talk to me. If something is going on with Harrison, then… tell me. Besides, isn’t us acting like we barely know one another at an event weirder than being friendly?” She pressed. “Our public image, now, is that we’re friends. This song is our second collaboration in the last six months.”
“That is a good point,” Juliet acknowledged, her voice dragging over the words. “And I just – I do need you to know that it wasonlybecause Harrison was right there. Watching us. Watchingyou.”
She leaned forward so she could nudge her knees against Juliet’s. “I’m not afraid of Harrison. If you were acting that way out of an attempt to protectme, then–” Well, then, she felt her heart skip a beat, and she reached out, cupping Juliet’s cheek in her palm, simply… needing to. “Then, I appreciate the thought. But I’ve never had the easiest life, and I’d say I’ve made it pretty far handling my own business.”
She could see that Juliet believed she was being naïve yet again. But Darcy wasn’t.
She understood the whole scope. She understood that Harrison had connections she couldn’t dream of. But she didn’t have a legal obligation to him, and she wasn’t going to run away from Juliet because of him.
“Well, maybe I’d like you to have an easier life,” Juliet murmured back.
There it was, her breath catching in her throat, before the butterflies exploded in her stomach.
Darcy stroked her thumb over Juliet’s bottom lip. She shivered, feeling Juliet’s warm breath on the tip of her thumb. “The feeling is mutual.”
She felt Juliet’s grin against her simultaneously as it happened. Then Juliet nipped her teeth into her thumb, and Darcy’s mouth fell open as the sparks shot through her.
“Now,” Juliet leaned back, her cheeks flushed, eyes bright. “My third question is… I guess it’s more of a comment.” Her expression shifted into something genuine and earnest. “I think that we need to start this collab from the ground up. So, I want you to take me through your process. How would you approach this song?”
Darcy sat straight up, excitement buzzing through her. “You want to knowmyprocess? That’s how you want to get started?”
“We need to come at this as a team. So, yes.” Juliet held her hands out, palm up. “I’m inviting you to school me in your songwriting process.”
Without needing any further prompting, she scrambled up from the bed, nearly tripping with her foot catching in the sheet. “I need to get some of my things from the guestroom.”
“I didn’t mean we had to do itnow.”
“I’m inspired!” She was already hurrying toward the door, pausing minutely to snatch Juliet’s luxuriously soft, silk robe from where it was hung next to the ensuite. She secured the sash around her waist, the feeling of comfort washing over her.
“There’s my thief,” Juliet mused from behind her.
There wasn’t even a hint of annoyance in her tone. If anything, she sounded relieved.
She half-turned presenting herself in the robe, her arms wide. “I’m back.” Quickly, she turned. “But I’m going to get some stuff. So, I willbeback.”
“Bring your whole suitcase!” Juliet called after her, in that haughty, bossy voice.
Music to Darcy’s ears.
Chapter Thirty
Juliet had neverreallycollaboratedfrom start-to-finish in the creative process before.
And, she’d learned over the last few days, it was very different than starting on a song from scratch, yourself, and then reviewing and revising with input from other writers and producers.
