Page 37 of September (New Orleans #9)

J uliet’s day hadn’t gone as planned. She was supposed to arrive at the hotel by noon.

She’d given herself plenty of time to get there on schedule, check in, grab something to eat, and set up the classroom before the managers would get there at one.

Today was meant to be a half-day of instruction and activities.

Tomorrow would be a full day, and they would return to their stores the following day.

Three hours of driving had turned into over four, though, because she’d gotten stuck behind an accident.

On the way there, she’d also gotten a call from not one but two managers who were supposed to be attending.

They wouldn’t be able to make it because people had called out at their stores, and they were needed there.

On top of that, when she got to the hotel, her room wasn’t ready yet, so she had to wheel her luggage into the conference room they were using for the class.

She’d gotten there too late to be able to grab lunch, so she just started setting up the room with the training guides she had printed out and brought for them, along with some pens, highlighters, and notebooks.

After that, she hung up the flip charts that they used for their activities around the room.

At ten minutes before one, she checked her email and found one from another manager letting her know that he’d be over two hours late for the class today.

Juliet groaned because the policy was that if anyone was more than thirty minutes late, they couldn’t take the class.

She emailed him back and told him to stay where he was and register for an upcoming class instead, which she hated having to do.

Then, she sat down in a chair and looked at the activities she now had to alter because she’d planned on having twenty participants and had already made their groups for the first icebreaker.

Quickly, she redid the groups to make them relatively even, and just as she took a long swig from her water bottle, two participants walked in, so she put on her best not-tired smile.

Ten minutes after the class had been scheduled to start, they were still missing three people.

She did her best to stall, hoping they would walk through the door so that they could get moving with the intros, but after another five minutes, she gave up, and they went through their icebreaker activity that she had quickly changed for the second time due to the attendees not showing up.

Of course, right when they finished the activity, one participant walked through the door, and they had to introduce themselves separately while she checked her email for news on the other two.

There wasn’t anything, so she got into the content, giving them a break to check into their rooms about halfway through, which also gave her a chance to put her stuff into her own room.

When they gave her the room key, it was to room one zero seven, which was only two doors down from the conference room and also on the first floor.

Juliet hated rooms on the first floor, but they didn’t have anything else available, so she was stuck with it.

Dropping her stuff quickly into the room, she made her way to the vending machines where she got herself a candy bar, a bag of chips, and an energy drink to help her make it through the rest of the class.

“Hey, babe,” Gwen said when she answered Juliet’s call. “I thought you’d be teaching.”

“We’re on a break.”

“You sound exhausted. It’s my fault for keeping you up late.”

“I don’t regret that at all,” she replied.

“But traffic made me late, my room wasn’t ready when I got here, participants didn’t show up or got here late, and I had no time for lunch.

So, now I’m eating chips with a candy bar, and I’m drinking an energy drink that is gross, but I need the caffeine stat.

They also put me in a first-floor room. I hate first-floor rooms. It has a sliding glass door that leads straight to the parking lot. ”

“That’s not safe,” Gwen said, sounding concerned.

“There’s a big manual lock and stuff, but yeah, it means I probably won’t sleep well. I didn’t have time to check the bathroom yet, but I’m hoping there’s an actual tub in there because I think I need to lie in it and not just shower.”

“Jules, I’m sorry,” Gwen replied. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No, I just needed to vent for a second. I have to get back inside, but thank you for listening.”

“Want me to send you pictures of Carly? We’re at the dog park now.”

“I’d love that. But will you send me a picture of you , too?”

“I can’t do that right now, Jules. I’m in public.”

Juliet laughed and said, “Of your face.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, I can do that.”

“Can I see the other parts of you later, though? At least on the screen? I packed that vibrator you wanted me to.”

“That can definitely be arranged,” Gwen said. “What are you doing for dinner?”

“I have no idea. There’s a diner in the same parking lot, so I’ll probably just grab something there after class.”

“You need something better than that.”

“I’ll be fine, but thank you for worrying. I have to go. I need to get them started so that we’re done by five.”

“Okay. Call me later.”

“I will.”

She’d gotten the group back together, reviewed the next section of content with them, answered any questions they’d had, and then introduced the last activity of the day, which took over an hour.

She had to go a little past five with the end-of-day wrap-up, and by the end of it, all the participants looked totally drained.

She felt that, too, as she let them all head to their rooms. She suspected they’d all grab dinner together and possibly at that diner, so as she sat in the now-empty conference room, she pulled out her phone and decided to see what other restaurants were around.

She’d get something delivered to save herself the trip.

Before she could do that, though, a text notification came in.

Gwen Benedetti : Hey, sexy. Can you come out here?

Juliet Francis : Uh… No. I’m at the hotel. What are you talking about?

Gwen Benedetti : Parking lot. Someone out here really wants to see you.

Instantly, Juliet turned to the window that overlooked the parking lot.

She could see her car and two cars next to it, but then she noticed Gwen’s car and Gwen herself standing outside it, leaning against the trunk and staring down at her phone.

Juliet jumped up and, leaving everything in the room where it was, she ran to the conference room door that led outside.

“Babe?”

“Hi,” Gwen said, looking up at her and smiling widely.

“What are you doing here?” Juliet asked, feeling like she hadn’t seen her in weeks when it had been hours.

“Well, I was concerned about you not eating right and not getting any sleep because you have a room that leads to a parking lot with a view of a diner and a strip club across the street, apparently, so I came here.”

Juliet hugged her hard and said, “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Gwen replied.

“How long can you stay? Dinner? It’s a three-hour drive during rush hour. You drove all the way here for–”

“I’m staying the night,” Gwen told her. “Who else is going to keep you safe? Carly? She’s tiny.”

“Oh, God. Carly… Where is she? Did you drop her off at Molly’s?”

Gwen kissed Juliet’s lips quickly and moved to the back door.

“I told you that someone really wanted to see you.” She opened the door, and Carly jumped out, with her leash attached to her collar. “I didn’t just mean me.”

“Carly!” Juliet knelt down and gave her dog some attention, excited and happy to see her, but she looked up at Gwen. “You did this for me? Thank you.”

“No problem. I figured we could just stay tonight, but I don’t want you to get in trouble with the hotel for having a dog in there.”

“What about work? What are you missing to be here?”

Gwen smiled as Juliet stood and said, “Nothing at all. Everything I want is here.”

Juliet leaned in and kissed her, deepening the kiss almost instantly, before she said, “You are the best girlfriend in the world.”

“I’m even better because I picked up dinner when I got off the highway.

There’s this soup and salad place that serves healthy food, and there’s also a burger joint right next to it.

I got a burger for you in case you need protein, but I got a few salads and some other stuff, too. Does your room have a mini fridge?”

“Yeah, that’s about all it has.”

“Then, I’ll stock you up for lunch and dinner tomorrow with soups and salads, so you’ll at least have something decent to eat. I got a few bottles of water and some juices and stuff, too. No coffee, though.”

“You did all that?”

“Not a big deal.” Gwen shrugged a shoulder. “I was worried about you.” She cupped Juliet’s cheek.

“I’m a little worried about me, too. Come on. Let’s get her inside. Does she need to pee?”

“Probably. I’ll just let her do that first.” Gwen took the leash. “Can you let us in through your room, and I’ll bring her in and grab my stuff and dinner?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Juliet kissed her quickly and jogged back to the conference room door.

Letting herself in, she packed up her stuff and left the items for the next class in the room for tomorrow, closing the door behind her and walking the few steps to her room.

In there, she dropped her bag onto the desk and made her way to the sliding glass door, unlocking it and pulling it open just in time for Gwen to look up and see her.

Carly ran toward her then, and Juliet was so happy to see her that she knelt down and picked her up, removing her leash and hugging her tightly before she put her in the bathroom for a minute, with the door mostly closed, so that she could help Gwen bring in all the stuff from the car.

“Okay. Salad or burger?”

“You,” Juliet said once the door was closed and Carly had wriggled her way out of the bathroom on her own.

She moved into Gwen’s space and made sure that the door was locked and the curtains were drawn before she pulled at Gwen’s shirt.

“No way. You have to eat. You’re starving.”

“We’ll get to that,” Juliet replied. “I want you first. You think you’re not getting lucky after what you did for me today?”

Gwen smirked at her, rolled her eyes, and let Juliet remove her shirt.

“Are you wearing a sports bra right now? I didn’t see you get dressed this morning.”

“Yes,” Juliet replied and held her arms up.

Gwen yanked the shirt off her body and had her hands on the button of Juliet’s khakis next.

Those were gone within seconds, along with Juliet’s shoes and socks somehow, and Gwen, still almost fully clothed, pushed Juliet onto the bed.

Having climbed and settled on top of her, Gwen kissed her deeply before her mouth traveled down to Juliet’s nipples, and she tasted them through the fabric.

She moved down Juliet’s body, pulled off her underwear, and stepped out of her own clothes while Juliet removed her last article and lay there naked.

“Last night was slow,” Gwen noted.

“Yes,” she replied, spreading her legs.

“Fast?”

When Juliet nodded, Gwen put her hands on her hips and brought Juliet’s legs together a bit.

“Roll over, then.”

Juliet smiled up at her and did as she was told, ending up on all fours, waiting for whatever Gwen was going to do to her.

“I know I’m obsessed with your breasts, but you should know that your ass is perfect, too,” Gwen said.

As if to prove her point, Gwen’s hands cupped both her asscheeks before one slipped around Juliet and into her growing wetness while the other moved to her entrance and then inside.

“Fuck,” she said.

“Yes,” Gwen replied.

And she fucked her. She fucked Juliet hard in the way Juliet had expected to be taken last night, and as amazing as last night had been, she really needed this right now: Gwen bringing her to an orgasm; Gwen taking her mind off of her very shitty day; and Gwen telling her how sexy she was when she came before Gwen crashed down on top of her and kissed all over Juliet’s back.

“I really needed that,” she said.

“Me too,” Gwen replied as she climbed off of her and ended up on her own back. “Um… We have an audience,” she added.

Juliet shifted until she had her head on Gwen’s shoulder and looked down at Carly, who was staring up at them.

“There’s nowhere for her to hide.”

“Think she’s traumatized now?” Gwen asked, kissing Juliet’s forehead.

“Possibly. But she should run into the bathroom if she doesn’t want to see it again because I’m about to make you come.”

She climbed on top of Gwen and kissed her before she moved down her body and put her mouth over her center, where it had been just that morning.

Gwen rocked against her mouth, told Juliet how much she needed this from her, and came with Juliet’s name on her lips.

Juliet knew they would do more of this before going to sleep later, but when Gwen stood up and walked over to the bags of food, her stomach rumbled, bringing her attention to the fact that she needed to eat something.

Gwen took care of Carly’s dinner, got her water bowl set up, and she’d even brought the dog’s bed and set it up by the desk.

Juliet sorted their food and drinks while Gwen did that, and they ate in bed after, naked and sated for the time being, at least. Their meal finished, Gwen got up to put the plastic containers of soup and salad into the smallest refrigerator in the world, and Juliet looked over her.

“Hey, want to watch something on your laptop?” Gwen asked. “I doubt this TV gets anything but Fox News.”

She lay back down on the bed, still naked, and held her arm out for Juliet, who slid up against her and into her side, breathing in the scent of her skin and her shampoo.

“Whatever you want to do,” Juliet replied.

“How about I draw you a bath instead?”

“That would be amazing. The tub’s too small for both of us, though, isn’t it?”

“I can stick a leg out or something.” Gwen laughed a little and kissed Juliet’s forehead. “I should’ve brought some bubbles for it.”

“You did too much already,” she noted. “Just give me a minute to hold you, okay? Then, we can take a bath.”

“Yeah, okay. Babe?”

“Huh?”

“Are you okay?” Gwen asked.

“I am now that you’re here,” she replied, meaning it in every way.