Signed With Desire

Read Between Me

It had only been maybe ten or so minutes when Juliette's laptop pinged for the second time that night. She didn't move—not at first.

There was something about restraint— about waiting—that Juliette had always found more satisfying than indulgence. The anticipation before the thing was often better than the thing itself. She liked the anticipation. She liked the ache of it all.

Sipping on her last sip of her second glass of wine that night, eyes now fixated outside her window, Sade now just a low murmur. She could wait.

But her body betrayed her

She felt a small twitch in her fingers, then a shift in her hips. That tiny voice whispering in her head "what if it's her again?" Juliette mumbled a "fine" to no one else but herself, almost a little excited that it may be Claire.

Softly padding from her window and back to her couch, she placed the now empty wine glass on the side table, and lowered herself onto the couch. As if he was summoned, licorice kept silently beside her. Rubbing his head against he knee, demanding affection with the kind of confidence she envied.

Juliette smiled despite herself and softly began to scratch gently behind his ears. "You want attention, I get it." With one hand petting the purring ball of fur beside her, she opened up her laptop. The glow of the screen felt brighter now, more warmer.  She clicked the tab.

New Reply: ClaireWreads.
ClaireWreads:
That is such a beautiful way to put it— "Shame like silk." I think that's what I felt reading it, but couldn't quite name it.
I haven't read Giovanni's Room yet, but I've always meant to. Would you recommend that next?

Also—there's something about how you describe desire, like it's being yearned for.. longed for even. I've now reread your reply three times now. I just... wanted to say that.

Juliette inhaled very slowly, she read Claire's reply once, and then twice, and then again for the third time. It was something about how Juliette could feel the younger woman's sincerity in her reply. For the first time in what felt like years—Juliette had felt seen, had felt heard, and she didn't know what to do that with that. After about the third read her pulse lifted—not by much, but it was just enough to make her feel something she also couldn't quite name.
Claire's response wasn't flirty like she had seen in many of the other online threads, it wasn't copy either. It was... sincere.

And that somehow felt more dangerous than anything to Juliette.

Juliette let Claire's words settle. Rolled them over like smooth stone in her mouth. "I've read your comment three times now." Did something to her. Stirred something low and rarely touched inside of her.

As if licorice could sense that Juliette was giving her attention to someone else, he purred louder, nudging her wrist. She scratched under his chin, in a thoughtful gaze. "She hasn't read Giovanni's Room," she murmured to herself. "What a world she still had awaiting for her."

She leaned back and let the new warmth of the moment wrap around her like the second glass of wine she had. Maybe she would reply straight away, or maybe she would leave Claire for the moment being. She liked the space between the messages.

But one thing was for certain; she'd be thinking of ClaireWreads tonight. And not just because of the book.