50. Breaking the Rules

"Buzz has a surprisingly nice wine collection for someone on a cop's salary," Gus said as he studied the label on a bottle he'd opened a few minutes ago.

Juliet sat on the kitchen counter and swung her legs back and forth, hard enough to make a satisfying thunk, but not enough to dent the cabinet door. Buzz and Francine's house warming party was going on in the living room, but here in the kitchen there was a nearly full bottle of wine, a fake granite counter top, and Gus, so she stayed where she was and thunked happily against not really solid oak doors. She had easily passed from tipsy to drunk about an hour ago-the nearly full bottle of wine wasn't the first of the night-and she pitched forward a little bit after a particularly enthusiastic swing. Gus' hand was warm and steadying on her arm, and he peered up at her, his deep brown eyes concerned.

She smiled, her cheeks flushed from the wine and her lips soft and inviting, and Gus blinked and thought, Damn, she's pretty, and forgot to ask if she was okay. Juliet leaned back on her palms, her expression turning drunkenly thoughtful.

"Did I ever tell you that I have a tattoo?"

Gus blinked again, thrown by the sudden non sequitur. "Uh, no, I don't think you have. I thought that tattoos were discouraged in law enforcement."

Juliet giggled and patted the air near his cheek, only the tips of her fingers brushing his skin, which made her giggle harder. "They aren't. Or they are. Not allowed." She lifted a finger to her lips and made a shushing noise. "It's preezisi...preexis...from before I entered the academy. Spring break of sophomore year. Also, it's hidden. Wanna see it?"

"Yeah, sure," Gus said, because that's what you say when a beautiful, drunk woman offers to show you her hidden tattoo. Juliet took Gus' hand to help keep herself steady and lifted the bottom of her shirt to just below her bra. The bright red cardinal, it's wings spread across her right ribcage in midflight, was vibrant against the creamy skin of her torso.

"The guy said cardinals are spunky." Juliet smiled and swayed, her eyes half closed. "I liked the sound of that."

"It's nice. It looks very...accurate," Gus said thickly and tried to pretend that he wasn't noticing how smooth and warm her skin looked. Or how very, very much of it there was to not notice, for that matter.

"You can touch it, if you want," Juliet said. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she pulled the hand that she was holding toward the tattoo.

Gus' fingers skimmed lightly down her ribcage, barely caressing the bird, before he splayed them, warm and solid, across the tattoo. Juliet's breath hitched and she pressed into the touch, her hand sliding up his arm to clutch his shoulder and tug him closer. She leaned forward, her pupils huge, and licked her lips, and Gus stopped even trying to pretend that he had a coherent train of thought going on in his head.

"You want me."

"You're drunk," Gus said. He was just sober enough to know that that mattered, but drunk enough that he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Yeah, a little, but I don't think I'm wrong about that," she murmured, her lips not even a whisper way from his, "but stop me if I am."

Kristin: Did you miss me? Because I missed you. I'm having such a hard writing week, darlings. It's been a ridiculous combination of too little time and everything I try to write ending up being crap. I feel bad about doing this, but I'm probably not going to be around much for the next few weeks. It's getting close to the end of the semester and I have concerts, exams, juries(a performance final for private music lessons), papers, projects, and an upcoming tour in Italy to prepare for. I just don't have a lot of time for recreational writing. I'll post as often as I can, but I can't make any promises. There probably wouldn't have even been an update today, but it's my birthday and my present to myself was to chisel out some writing time.

PeanutTree-Thanks!

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