Borrowed Time

Chapter 176

If there was any money to be made by the simple beauty of waking up next to your lover day after day, Juliette was sure that she would be the wealthiest woman in the entire world easily...

Unfortunately, the world is a cruel place, and that will never be a reality, instead she can only enjoy it for herself, there is no monetary gain to be had... But there wasn't a universe where she wasn't going to be okay with that. 

The light was filtering into Esme's window in the perfect way, making her heart catch in her chest as she watched them shift around, their nose crinkling a bit as they let out a sigh, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer in a way that made her chuckle as she traced her fingers over the deep scars on their arms, looking at the contrast of the pink and white against their dark body hair... They were full of contrasts, full of light and dark, and that was something that she felt lucky to be able to behold whenever she pleased.

Who else could possibly say that they were that lucky?

She tucked some hair from their eyes, tracing her finger down their face with a smile as they turned their head, still mostly dozing, to press a kiss to the palm of her hand.

"Mmm... G'morning, princess." They mumbled, their voice rough from sleep in a way that made her heart catch in her chest... The sound of their morning voice was something etched into her brain, and she hoped it never faded.  It was magical to have that kind of intimacy with someone, that was never something that she wanted to go around taking for granted...

She never wanted to take Esme Panchek for granted.

"Hi." Juliette breathed, tracing her fingers over their face as they lifted their head, their face getting bathed a bit in the light, their eyes becoming a beautiful honey brown... She was pretty sure that their exact eye color could go down in history as the most beautiful color in the entire world and no one would bat an eye.

It was just the truth.

"Been up long?" They asked, and Juliette shook her head... She really hadn't been, maybe a few minutes longer than Esme at most - it'd just given her the chance to wake up a bit and get her wits about her before they woke up.

It gave her an edge... Not that she needed one.

"No, only a few minutes." She pressed a kiss to their forehead, watching a brilliantly sleepy smile spread across their face as they leaned into her touch and kiss. God, I love you so fucking much it hurts. "I was just watching you." She murmured, hearing Esme let out a chuckle as they lifted their arm up, wrapping around her to pin her back against the bed, knocking the breath out of her as they simply laid deadweight on top of her.

That always shut her brain off even if there was nothing bothering her, simply having the comfort of Esme applying pressure to her... It was nice. Like her own personal weighted blanket.

"You know, if you weren't so beautiful and I wasn't so in love with you, you'd be incredibly creepy." They murmured, making Juliette let out a scoff as she pushed their face up so that they were looking at her.

How dare you say that to me as if you're not embracing me right now.

"Okay, if I was watching you sleep as a stranger through your fucking window, yeah. But I'm watching you as your girlfriend who sleeps in your bed every night so it's fine." Juliette clarified, making Emse smirk as they shrugged, pulling their face back from her hand, pushing themself up a bit so that they were looking down at her, their hair falling down as a curtain around their face in a breathtaking way.