Page 32 of July (New Orleans #7)

W illa wasn’t sure about this. Juni was in the back seat, playing with her tablet.

She wasn’t paying them any attention, and they weren’t really saying anything, but Jill was driving, and her hand was hanging over the center console, just begging to be held.

Willa resisted because Juni would likely see the obvious move.

Her plan for the night had involved Jill and Juni.

She had wanted a quiet night with the two of them before Juni went to bed.

Then, she and Jill could’ve had some time alone and maybe taken that alone time to the bedroom.

She’d even worn the only good bra she owned and the sexiest underwear she had because she had hoped tonight would be the night.

They would’ve locked the door to make sure Juni wouldn’t walk in, and Jill would’ve gotten to see the best bra Willa had, which had only cost her forty dollars, so that wasn’t saying much.

“Are you okay?”

Willa turned at the unexpected question and said, “Me?”

“Yeah, you,” Jill replied with a little laugh.

“I’m okay. Just nervous, I guess.”

“To meet them?”

“ All of them, yeah,” she replied with an anxious smile aimed at Jill. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting this. I thought it would be the three of us tonight, and then, the two of us,” she added that last part in a near whisper.

“I can turn around,” Jill offered. “I really don’t care about going. We can put the food on plates, and it’ll just be us.”

“No, it’s okay.” Willa smiled over at her a little less anxiously. “They’ll be nice to me, right?”

“They better be. If they’re not, I’ll kick their…

well, you know.” Jill nodded toward Juni as an explanation for why she hadn’t said, ‘ass.’ Then, she laughed a little and added, “Um… I should have asked before, and you can’t really answer now, but I’ll be introducing you to people.

” Jill nodded back toward her sister again. “How should we do that?”

“Oh. How do you want to introduce me?” Willa asked.

“Are we there yet?” Juni interjected loudly.

“Two minutes, kid,” Jill told her. “Kids really do that? Did I do that?”

Will laughed and looked back down at Jill’s hand, really wanting to take it in her own and slip it onto her thigh so that she could have Jill as close as driving would allow.

Three minutes later, they were there. Juni had spent all of a few hours at Melinda and Kyle’s house, according to Jill, but when Jill had told her they were going to hang out there to eat dinner, she’d been so excited.

Apparently, she’d loved the back garden and the fancy room with the old furniture in it, as she had called it.

Juni was running out of the car before Willa had even opened her door.

“Juni, slow down,” Jill said with a laugh as Juni jogged toward the house with her tablet in hand. “She’s going to drop that thing, and I won’t be able to buy her a new one,” she added to Willa.

“So, about that question you asked me before,” Willa began as they slowly walked toward the house after Jill got the food out of the back seat. “Now that we’re not in the car and she can’t hear us, we should probably…”

“Yeah?”

“We’re dating, right?” Willa checked.

“Yes,” Jill said.

“And your friends won’t let anything slip to Juni until you’re ready for her to know?”

“No, they’ll keep it to themselves,” Jill replied. “And you know what I meant before, Willa. I wasn’t talking about introducing you as the woman I’m dating. They already know that.”

“You want to introduce me as your girlfriend?”

Jill looked over and smiled wide.

“Yeah?” Willa asked.

Jill nodded and said, “I don’t want to date anyone else, Willa. I’ve always wanted to find one person whom I could be myself with and someone who would want me for me, you know?”

“Yes, I know. I’ve wanted the same thing.”

“You’re that for me,” Jill said. “Am I that for you?”

It was Willa’s turn to nod and reply, “I don’t want anyone else, but it’s still pretty early for labels. I mean, isn’t it? It feels like this whole thing has happened so quickly, and yet–”

“So slowly at the same time because you’ve been waiting forever?” Jill finished for her.

“See? You get me,” Willa said as they arrived at the door just behind Juni.

“So, we’ll do that thing we just talked about, then?” Jill asked, nodding down at Juni to indicate that they needed to go covert again.

“Yes, we will do that thing ,” Willa replied.

Jill rang the doorbell.

“What thing?” Juni asked.

“Eat all your ice cream,” Jill joked.

“What? No,” Juni replied, looking up concerned and angry at the same time.

“I’m kidding. I don’t even know if there is ice cream.”

“Why did you ring the bell?” a woman asked at the same time she opened the door. “Oh, hi,” she added to Willa.

“Mel, don’t be rude,” Jill said.

“Sorry. Hi.” The woman smiled at Willa. “I’m Melinda. Welcome to our home.” She looked at Jill and added, “You just walk in. You don’t ring the bell.”

“Fine. Sorry,” Jill replied. “Can we come in now, or are you going to keep lecturing me?”

“A little of both, I imagine,” Melinda replied.

“Hi, Melinda,” Juni said.

“Hey. There she is,” Melinda replied. “I’ve got the back doors open to the garden, and we have a hummingbird feeder now. Want to go see if there’s one there right now?”

“Yes,” Juni said with excitement before turning toward Willa and handing her the tablet. “Can I go?” she asked.

Willa was surprised that the question was directed at her, so she looked at Jill, who just shrugged.

“Um… yeah,” Willa answered then. “Just don’t get too close, okay? You’ll scare the birds.”

“Okay,” Juni replied and proceeded to run through the foyer toward the back.

“You must be Willa,” Melinda spoke and held out her hand.

Willa shook it and said, “Yes. It’s nice to meet you.”

She gave Melinda a smile that she hoped didn’t show her nerves.

“You too. Come on in,” Melinda encouraged.

Willa and Jill walked inside the house, and it was gorgeous. Willa had lived in this city her whole life, but she had never been inside a Garden District home like this one before.

“Want the tour?” Jill asked after placing the food that they’d brought on the kitchen counter.

“Sure.”

“You don’t need me for that, do you?” Melinda asked.

“No, I know my way around by now,” Jill replied.

“I’ll keep an eye on Juni, so take your time,” Melinda offered with a wink.

“Thank you,” Jill said, taking Willa’s hand and pulling her out of the kitchen.

The tour, Willa would soon come to find out, had less to do with her being shown the house and more to do with Jill moving her into a corner of what looked like a library and pressing her lips to Willa’s own.

Willa moved her hands under Jill’s T-shirt and rubbed her back up and down in time with the slow, purposeful kiss that felt so damn good.

When Jill pressed her against a bare wall, though, Willa’s hands moved down into the back pockets of Jill’s jeans, and she squeezed her ass.

Jill moaned, and her thigh moved between Willa’s.

Willa hadn’t even realized that she had spread her legs just enough for it to fit snuggly between them until Jill rocked a little, and Willa wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or accident because they were definitely in public and shouldn’t be doing this here.

“Babe, we should stop,” she said, breathing hard.

“Juni’s outside,” Jill replied, moving her lips to Willa’s neck.

“Your friends…”

“Are busy,” Jill stated.

Willa laughed against Jill’s neck and said, “Trust me, I want to do more of this, but they’re going to wonder where we are.”

Jill pulled back a little and asked, “You want to do more of this?”

Willa nodded and said, “Yes. Way more.”

Jill lifted an eyebrow.

“Don’t do that.” Willa smiled at her and pointed at the eyebrow in question. “That’s sexy when you do it.”

“You think my eyebrows are sexy?”

“I think all of you is sexy,” Willa replied.

She wrapped her arms around Jill’s neck and pulled her back in for another kiss.

She savored this one, knowing she wouldn’t get another until they were alone again later.

When it ended naturally, she stared into Jill’s eyes, wanting to memorize how they looked when she said what she was about to say next.

“I’m ready if you are.”

Jill’s eyes widened a little at that, and her smile was the widest Willa had ever seen, if that was possible.

“For…”

“Yes.” Willa nodded a little. “Are you ?” she asked, hopeful.

Jill nodded as well and softly said, “Yes. But are you sure? Because my life is crazy complicated right now, and you were worried just a couple of days ago about being Juni’s teacher. It’s one thing for us to date, but once we do that, it’s another thing altogether.”

“Babe, we’re not just dating anymore, right?

I’m yours. I want to be with you. If the school finds out and it’s a problem, we’ll handle it, just like you said.

I don’t know about your mom or Juni, but I know that I want you .

Complications and all, I want you . No one else.

And if you want to wait longer, we’ll wait.

I can wait, Jill. I just want you to know that I think you are so unbelievably beautiful.

” She ran a hand through Jill’s hair just because she could.

“And kind and funny and so sexy, it hurts to look at you sometimes.”

Willa watched as Jill swallowed, and she wanted to kiss her throat, to follow that nervous swallow with her tongue and then suck on it until they were lying down somewhere, anywhere, and Jill was under her touch, coming undone because of whatever Willa was doing to her.

“Yes,” Jill said.

“Yes, what, babe?” Willa asked.

“Yes. Tonight.”

“After this barbecue, where I’ll meet all your friends?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Willa replied. “How long do we have to stay before we can leave?”