Page 29 of September (New Orleans #9)

Juliet finished eating the banana at her desk and began booking her travel for her October trips, but every time she clicked on a hotel to book a room, she found herself dying a little inside.

She’d only been on two trips so far, but she was already exhausted.

She wasn’t eating right, she was working from her hotel room whenever she wasn’t on the phone with Gwen because she didn’t have anything else to do, and she wasn’t happy.

She clicked to book anyway, though, and tried to think about how this was the right plan for her future with Southern Roastery.

If she were to move up in the company at some point, she had to go through this job first or maybe recertify to make herself ready for another job like Molly’s, should it become available.

She supposed she could do that online on those nights when she had nothing to do in the hotel room, but that didn’t really make her happy, either.

She smiled when she thought about what would make her happy and picked up her phone.

“Hey. I just dropped off your baby girl at your place,” Gwen said when she answered the call.

“Nope. Not a dog convo,” Juliet replied.

“What? Wait. Aren’t you at work?”

“I didn’t call to get an update on Carly. I called to ask you out again.”

“Oh. Well, you did that already, right after you had your tongue down my mouth this morning. And I’m pretty sure you asked before that, too.”

Juliet smiled at the memory of waking up next to Gwen that morning, kissing her, and wanting more, but knowing they couldn’t have it yet because she had to get to work.

Last night, they’d made out like teenagers on Gwen’s sofa for well over an hour before they’d had to pull apart because hands had started to move places neither of them had been ready for.

Gwen had then hopped in the shower to cool off while Juliet had made them each a decaf coffee from Gwen’s pod machine since she hadn’t thought of getting Gwen any decaf from Southern prior to that.

She would definitely remedy that soon because the coffee that had come out of that machine had been awful.

She also planned on asking Gwen when her birthday was because she would be getting her a much better coffee machine as a gift for both of them.

After climbing into bed last night, Juliet had stared at Gwen’s swollen lips and hadn’t been able to resist kissing her until she had climbed on top of her and moved her own lips to Gwen’s neck.

When Gwen had rolled them over shortly after and kissed down her stomach, Juliet had almost asked her to take off her borrowed pants and touch her, but she hadn’t wanted their first time to happen just because she’d lost her self-control.

She wanted them both to be ready for it.

On that note, she really needed to refocus her mind on their morning activities instead, when she had kissed Gwen goodbye and asked her out, because that was a safer memory for her to recall while she was at work.

“I did. That’s true,” she said.

“So, when?” Gwen asked.

“Tonight?”

“So soon? You must really like me.”

“I do. But I also want to squeeze in as much time together as we can before I have to leave again.”

“Ah,” Gwen replied. “Well, I can pick you up tonight. Dinner?”

“Dinner and my place after?”

“Sure. I have some dogs to walk at six, so I can be there by seven, if that’s okay.”

“I’ll be ready.”

“What about Carly?”

“My place after, Gwen. You can pack a bag.”

“I see,” Gwen said. “Will there be a backward baseball hat situation?”

“I guess I can wear it again, if you want.” She laughed.

“One day soon, I’d like you to only wear that hat.”

Juliet cleared her throat and replied, “Yeah, okay. I can maybe… do that.”

Gwen laughed and asked, “You’re at work, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Is someone around?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, eyeing George, who seemed very interested in her conversation.

“Does it bother you that I’m thinking about you wearing only that hat, and you can’t really say anything because someone’s there?”

“Yes,” she repeated.

“And would it bother you if I told you I was heading home and planned to do something about my vision of you in only that hat?”

“Meaning?”

“Well, I have somewhat of a visual since I got the hat look last night, and I’ve now kissed that stomach of yours and seen those nipples in various thin shirts and bras, so… I was going to…”

“Gwen!” She cupped her hand over the phone and added in a whisper, “You’re going to touch yourself when you get home?”

“Yes, I am,” Gwen told her with a chuckle. “And I’ll be home in about ten minutes.”

“Not fair,” Juliet replied.

“Well, you can do that to yourself before our date, too, if you want.”

“But I haven’t seen…” She looked at George, who was obviously pretending not to listen in. “What you’ve seen because of my… shirts.”

“And bras,” Gwen added with a laugh. “I’m sure you can imagine. I mean, you had your hand there last night.”

Juliet leaned back at the memory of having Gwen’s breast in her hand, massaging it just before they had pulled apart on the sofa.

“I have to get back to work,” she said.

“But will you later?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” she lied because she absolutely would be touching herself the moment she got home.