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Julie hated cheating husbands.
Not morally. Morally required energy she no longer possessed after seven years as a private investigator.
Professionally, though? They were exhausting. Same patterns. Same ego. Same belief that lowering their voice while lying on the phone somehow made them subtle.
They’re always cheating, Julie had told her client earlier that afternoon while accepting a photograph of her boyfriend, Ethan, and a disturbingly generous retainer fee. Usually badly.
Now, three hours later, Julie sat alone at the bar nursing a whiskey and watching Ethan attempt to flirt with a woman near the dartboards. ‘Attempt’ being the operative word.
Ethan was exactly what she’d expected: handsome in the aggressively conventional way mediocre men often were. Expensive watch. Overly practiced smile. Loud enough to pull attention without technically causing a scene.
Julie had already gotten everything she needed: photos, video, even a lovely recording of Ethan murmuring: “No babe, still at work” into his phone ten minutes earlier, while actively buying another woman a drink.
Case closed. Technically, Julie could leave; instead, she stayed. Because the woman Ethan was flirting with was impossible to ignore.
Dark curls, black jeans, one boot hooked lazily against the brass rail beneath the dartboard while she laughed at something Ethan said.
Julie watched closely: the laugh arrived a fraction too late, polite but not genuine. Interesting.
Ethan handed her a dart dramatically.
“You sure you can handle losing?”
The woman smiled.
“You seem very emotionally invested in this.”
That one was real. Julie could tell by the quick, effortless tone; she felt immediate, irrational irritation toward Ethan, because there it was again, that subtle softening. The woman was clearly sharper than him. Funnier than him. More interesting than him. And yet, she kept sanding herself down conversationally to make him comfortable.
Julie hated it instantly.
The woman threw a clean eleven.
Ethan blinked.
“Well,” he said after a beat, “that was kind of hot.”
The woman laughed softly again.
Then it was Ethan’s turn, and even though he made a show of aligning himself perfectly and showing off his mediocre technique, he threw a mere five; except the dart didn’t stick and bounced helplessly off the board, landing on the floor.
“Fuck!” he protested, punching lightly the back of a chair.
“Tragic” Julie murmured into her whiskey before she could stop herself.
Both heads turned: Ethan grinned immediately, while the woman narrowed her eyes with interest. Julie lifted her glass slightly.
“Sorry” she said. “Reflex.”
“What’s your name, sweetie?” Ethan asked, and Julie had to swallow back her pride to not punch him in the face there and then. But the mystery woman was looking her way, and she couldn’t blow her cover.
“Julie.”
“You play, Julie?” Ethan asked.
“A bit.”
The woman was glancing again toward Julie, studying her. Julie felt her gaze wander slightly more than necessary before settling back on her face.
“A bit” she repeated skeptically.
Julie shrugged.
“I’m trying humility. People say it builds character.”
That earned a genuine laugh, warm enough that Julie felt it somewhere directly beneath her ribs. Ethan gestured vaguely toward the dartboard.
“Well, if you’re such an expert, maybe you should show us how it’s done.”
Julie should have declined. She absolutely should have declined.
Instead she stood.
“Dangerous invitation.”
Up close, the woman was even more distracting. Warm brown eyes. Rings on elegant fingers. A faint citrus perfume beneath the smell of beer and polished wood.
Ethan handed Julie three darts.
“So, what do you do?” he asked casually.
“Research.”
The woman smiled faintly.
“That sounds fake.”
“It’s deliberately vague.”
“A spy?”
Julie looked at her.
“I think actual spies would find that offensive.”
Ethan laughed loudly. He was clearly having the time of his life, and Julie was determined to end it.
She stepped toward the throwing line, rolled her sleeves once up her forearms, then threw two of the darts in quick succession without visible effort.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Triple twenty.
Triple twenty.
Silence.
Ethan stared.
The woman looked openly impressed now.
Julie glanced sideways at her, then made a show of gripping the last dart with her non dominant hand, aiming for a second longer, and landing a double twenty.
“Pity. Only a double.”
The woman laughed again, brighter this time.
“Humility attempt failed.”
Ethan recovered first.
“Okay” he admitted. “That was insanely attractive.”
Julie ignored him entirely.
“You drop your elbow at the end” she told the woman.
The woman blinked.
“I do?”
“A little.”
Ethan grinned.
“Oh, we’re coaching now.”
Julie stepped behind her before she could overthink the decision, gently guiding her to the throw line she just left, close enough to feel the immediate tension in the woman’s posture. Very interesting.
“What’s your name?” Julie asked quietly.
“Didi.”
Julie repeated it once softly like she was testing how it felt in her mouth.
Didi visibly noticed.
“You tense your wrist right before release” Julie murmured.
Then she reached forward carefully, one hand wrapping lightly around Didi’s wrist to adjust her grip. The other settled briefly at her waist, guiding her a few inches sideways as Julie tapped the inside of Didi’s boot gently with her own foot.
“Open your stance a little” she added.
Didi inhaled sharply, but obeyed automatically. Julie felt the subtle shift ripple through her posture beneath her hands.
This could still fall under the broad category of confident woman being casually magnetic. Didi knew women like that: women who flirted indiscriminately because they enjoyed the game of it. Women who made eye contact too long with everybody and existed at a permanently elevated baseline of charm.
Ethan looked delighted for entirely the wrong reasons.
“This,” he announced happily, “is becoming my favorite night.”
Julie closed her eyes briefly.
Didi bit down visibly on a laugh.
“Throw again” Julie said softly near Didi’s ear.
Didi obeyed.
Bullseye.
Julie smiled immediately.
“There it is.”
Didi turned slightly toward her.
“What?”
“That look.”
“What look?”
“The one you get when you stop pretending to be bad at things.”
The words landed harder than Julie intended. Didi stared at her for a beat too long. Ethan whistled.
“Okay, wow. There is definitely something happening here.”
Julie distanced herself to pick up her whiskey again, but she didn’t sit back down on her stool.
“With who?”
“With everybody” Ethan said confidently.
Didi physically turned away to hide her laughter.
Ethan went back to talking about himself, something finance-adjacent Julie had immediately stopped listening to, and Didi made some dry comment under her breath about men who voluntarily used the phrase “grindset.”
Ethan missed it completely.
Julie didn’t: she laughed instantly, a real laugh, low and surprised. And then she looked at Didi again with this expression that made Didi feel so intensely interesting she could get drunk on it.
God.
That was the problem.
Which was ridiculous, because Julie had always been the composed type. Bit of a control freak, even. Except every time Didi made her genuinely laugh, some small part of that composure cracked. And there she was, currently flirting with a witness during an active surveillance assignment because said witness had a devastating smile and laughed like she genuinely enjoyed existing. Not ideal.
Ethan leaned casually against the dartboard wall, looking between them.
“You know,” he said, lowering his voice conspiratorially, “I’m actually very open-minded.”
Didi made a strangled sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh.
Julie fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose.
“That’s wonderful, Ethan.”
“I’m serious.”
“I can see that.”
“I just think there’s a really cool vibe here.”
Julie looked at Didi.
Didi looked back.
Ethan kept talking, completely oblivious.
Julie leaned casually against the wall beside the dartboard, whiskey resting loose in one hand, looking at Didi again like she had all the time in the world, gaze steady enough now that Didi could finally stop pretending not to understand it.
“You’re staring at me” she pointed out quietly.
Julie answered without hesitation.
“I know.”
That should not have been attractive, and yet, it nearly short-circuited Didi’s brain completely.
“You know,” Didi said slowly, “I genuinely can’t tell if you’re flirting with me or if this is just your personality.”
Julie tilted her head slightly.
“I’m not doing anything” she said finally.
Which, somehow, made it worse.
Didi narrowed her eyes.
“So what, this just how you look at people?”
Julie’s gaze flicked to her as she smiled into her whiskey.
“No.”
Didi laughed softly despite herself, but Julie didn’t laugh back immediately. She was still looking at her, long enough that Didi forgot what she was expecting the answer to be.
That was the thing that finally got her. Sure, the darts were hot, and so was the confidence, without even getting into the borderline inappropriate touching.
But God, the attention. The almost possessive quality of it.
Heat crawled immediately up Didi’s neck.
Ethan pointed between them proudly.
“See? The chemistry.”
Julie tilted her head.
“Ethan.”
“Yeah?”
“Have you considered the possibility you are dramatically misunderstanding this situation?”
He laughed.
“No chance.”
Didi lost composure completely, laughing hard enough she had to lean briefly against Julie’s shoulder.
Ethan, tragically, interpreted this as encouragement.
“This is unbelievable” he said happily. “I walk into a bar and somehow end up flirting with two gorgeous women.”
“We need another round” Didi announced suddenly, squeezing Julie’s shoulder where her hand was still resting, hoping to get the message across. Julie nodded immediately.
“Excellent idea.”
“I’ll come with!” Ethan smiled, smacking his hands together.
“No” both women said simultaneously.
Silence. Then Julie recovered first.
“Someone has to hold the dartboard.”
Ethan frowned briefly.
“…That’s a thing?”
“Very serious darts etiquette” Didi said solemnly.
“You wouldn’t want someone to steal your precious board, would you?” Julie asked, a singsong tone in her voice that she had never used before. Didi could hear the mocking dripping from it.
Ethan accepted this with embarrassing ease, puffing up his chest.
“Right. Smart.”
Julie took Didi gently by the wrist before either of them completely lost composure.
“Back in a minute.”
The second they disappeared down the hallway toward the bathrooms, both women dissolved into helpless laughter.
“Oh my God” Didi gasped.
“He thinks he’s winning at life” Julie muttered.
“He definitely thinks he’s assembling a threesome.”
Julie leaned briefly against the wall laughing under her breath.
Didi was still close, still warm beneath Julie’s hand, smiling at her like this entire night had become absurdly fun.
“You’re evil” Didi informed her.
Julie stepped closer almost unconsciously and laughed softly.
“He makes it very easy.”
God, she wanted to kiss her.
The realization landed hard and immediate.
Didi must have seen it happen in her face because her expression changed immediately.
The hallway suddenly felt too small.
Julie’s gaze dropped briefly to Didi’s mouth.
That was confirmation enough.
Didi grabbed the front of Julie’s blazer and kissed her hard enough to push her backward against the wall; Julie made a surprised sound against her mouth before immediately kissing her back and pushing her straight through the women’s bathroom door.
Finally.
The bathroom was empty.
Julie barely registered the fluorescent lights before Didi was sitting on the edge of the sink counter and pulling her back in by the lapels, refusing to stop kissing her mouth. The position nearly destroyed Julie’s remaining self-control: Didi perched on the sink meant Julie could stand comfortably between her knees now, one hand braced beside her head against the wall mirror while the other settled instinctively at her waist.
Kissing Didi became immediately addictive.
Slow at first.
Then less slow.
Didi laughed softly into one kiss and Julie felt something dangerous unravel pleasantly in her chest.
“You are really good at darts” Didi murmured against her mouth.
Julie kissed the corner of her jaw, nipping at the soft skin.
“I’m actually better than that, but you’re distracting.”
“That seems like a professional failing.”
“You have no idea.”
Didi grinned, then immediately moaned when Julie nipped again at her neck.
God.
She couldn’t help but smile like she genuinely couldn’t believe this was happening.
“I wonder if you might be good at something else with those hands” Didi whispered again, grabbing Julie’s ass to pull her flush against herself. Julie pressed one slow kiss beneath her jaw.
“I might.”
“I hope so.”
The bathroom door suddenly swung open and both women jerked apart. A drunk girl stumbled halfway inside, froze at the sight of them, then raised both hands immediately.
“Oh my God” she exclaimed. Leaning in, she lowered her voice conspiratorially: “I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs.”
Didi burst out laughing. Julie covered her eyes briefly with one hand.
“Thank you” she said gravely.
The girl pointed toward the stalls.
“Please, keep going.”
Then disappeared into another cubicle, humming loudly to herself.
Didi looked back at Julie, and then, without waiting for a reaction, she grabbed Julie’s wrist and dragged her into the nearest stall before either of them could pretend dignity still existed.
The stall door slammed shut behind them. And whatever composure Julie had left finally disintegrated.
Didi pushed her lightly back against the door, smiling against her mouth as Julie kissed her again immediately, one hand already sliding under Didi’s shirt like she physically could not stop touching her now that she’d started.
“This,” Julie informed her breathlessly between kisses, “is an extraordinarily bad idea.”
Didi tilted her head just enough to look at her.
“You say that, but you don’t sound very committed to stopping” she murmured, sliding her hands slowly up Julie’s blazer. Julie groaned softly as Didi kissed the corner of her mouth again.
That was the problem.
Julie was normally very good at staying controlled, at keeping her feelings in check; even flirting usually felt deliberate with her.
This felt increasingly like losing a fight.
Didi’s hands slid slowly up beneath Julie’s blazer, fingers warm against the thin fabric of her shirt before groping her breasts through it. Julie inhaled sharply.
“There she is” Didi murmured softly against her lips.
“Don’t get smug.”
“You’re the one melting.”
“I am absolutely not…”
Didi kissed her again before she could finish the sentence, pressing closer as one knee slipped carefully between Julie’s legs, just enough to make Julie’s head tip briefly back against the stall door with a muffled curse.
“Oh” Didi whispered, visibly delighted now. “Okay. You’re surprisingly easy to ruin.”
“That is not true.”
Didi kissed slowly down the side of her jaw. Julie’s hands tightened instinctively into the fabric of her shirt.
“You know,” Didi murmured against her skin, “for someone who walked in here acting very composed and mysterious…”
“Christ.”
“…you’re making some extremely encouraging noises now.”
Julie closed her eyes briefly.
“I liked you better when you thought I was intimidating.”
Didi laughed softly against her throat.
“No, you didn’t.”
The worst part was that she was right.
Julie tilted her head enough to capture Didi’s mouth again, kissing her harder now, impatiently, because every teasing little smile was becoming genuinely unbearable.
“Didi.”
“Yes?”
“I want…”
Julie had to stop for a sharp intake of breath, as Didi bit harder into her neck and started fumbling with the zipper of her pants.
“I might need a bit more than that” Didi mused, soothing the bite with her tongue.
“I need you. To touch me” Julie moaned softly.
The words seemed to hit Didi immediately. Her expression darkened with something warm and pleased as she pressed Julie back against the stall door again, smiling against her mouth when Julie made the faintest sound of surprise at the feeling of one finger teasing her through her underwear.
“You are so wet already” Didi hummed, pleased, and Julie felt it low in her stomach.
“You’re getting confident.”
“You like confidence.”
“I like yours specifically.”
Julie had spent the last hour dismantling Ethan psychologically with perfect control while running active surveillance. Now she was trapped in a bathroom stall, about to be thoroughly fucked by a woman who kept laughing into her kisses.
Didi’s fingers slipped briefly into Julie’s underwear, and Julie made a helpless sound before she could stop herself.
“Shh. You don’t want the whole bar hearing you, do you?”
Julie managed to shake her head at that, but she whimpered again when Didi started circling her clit with slow, lazy strokes. She buried the noise quickly against Didi’s shoulder, barely fast enough to hide it from the rowdy group of girls who had just stumbled into the bathroom.
“And Sean finally asked me out!”
“No way!”
“Girl, he’s so hot!”
“Doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”
“Fuck the girlfriend!”
Julie heard the voices distantly, but her head was already swimming.
Didi had somehow worked herself so snugly against her that she was practically holding Julie upright now, chest pressed to chest, hand finding an angle that had Julie’s hips jerking helplessly before she could try to stop them.
Didi kissed her slowly then, one hand dropping to pull up Julie’s leg around her waist, and Julie actually had to steady herself against the stall wall because something about the combination of warmth and teasing and friction was becoming genuinely overwhelming.
“Think you can come like this?” Didi whispered against her ear, breath hot and uneven.
Another round of laughter echoed through the air.
“I… I think I can.”
“Think you can be good for me and be very quiet?”
Julie felt herself clenching hard at the words, but she managed to grit her teeth hard enough to prevent any sound from escaping her lips. She had stopped breathing properly several minutes ago and was no longer entirely sure what parts of her body still belonged to her, except maybe the desperate grip she had on Didi’s shoulders to keep herself upright.
She shook her head weakly.
Didi smirked against her cheek.
“Well,” she whispered, slipping two fingers slowly inside her at last, “good for them.”
Julie bit hard into Didi’s shoulder to stop the sound that threatened to escape her.
“God, Didi” she sighed weakly. “I can’t…”
“Shh” Didi soothed immediately, kissing beneath her ear before catching her earlobe gently between her teeth. “You’re doing great.”
Outside the stall, the girls dissolved into another round of loud laughter before eventually gathering their things and stumbling back out, the bathroom door slamming behind them.
Silence rushed back in around them.
Julie felt like she was about to pass out against the stall door.
“That’s it. Let go” Didi said quietly against her ear, fingers working her faster as her other hand dug into Julie’s thigh hard enough to bruise.
As soon as Julie heard the word, she came hard against Didi’s fingers, muffling the sound of her own moans into a messy kiss. Didi froze slightly when she felt the sting of Julie’s teeth catching her lower lip, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling slowly as the pain was replaced by a warm feeling between her legs.
Finally spent, Julie dropped her forehead against Didi’s shoulder as the absurdity of the situation caught up with her all at once.
“Oh my God.”
“That was…” Didi trailed off, slowly lowering Julie’s leg to the floor. Julie smacked her arm without opening her eyes.
“Don’t.”
Didi burst into helpless laughter.
“I was going to say, ‘really hot’.”
“This is insane” Julie muttered, still catching her breath.
“You started this, remember?”
“In my defense, you were extremely pretty.”
Didi visibly softened for half a second at that, then immediately recovered.
“You know what I think?”
Julie barely looked up through half-lowered lashes.
“I think,” Didi continued, sliding one hand slowly back down Julie’s chest, “we should maybe continue this somewhere that isn’t a bathroom stall.”
Julie stared at her for a quick second before nodding immediately.
Too immediately.
Didi laughed softly.
“Wow.”
“I’m trying to preserve the last surviving fragment of my dignity.”
“That ship sailed when you made that pretty noise into my neck.”
Julie closed her eyes to chase away the memory. Not her proudest moment.
“You’re very cruel.”
“And yet, you’re obsessed with me already.”
Julie reopened her eyes slowly. God, Didi was gorgeous.
“Yes” she admitted helplessly.
The honesty of it seemed to surprise both of them. Didi’s expression softened again.
Julie was in real trouble.
“Okay” Julie said, clearing her throat slightly and pushing herself up on wobbly legs. “I can still salvage this situation.”
“Oh?”
“I’m going to call us an Uber with my last functioning neuron.”
Didi grinned and stepped back just enough for Julie to dig her phone from her pocket.
The screen lit immediately with unread messages.
Rebecca Client - 5 MISSED TEXTS.
Julie winced slightly.
Didi glanced downward automatically and froze.
The visible bit of conversation read:
Did you get enough evidence? I knew he’d flirt with someone eventually.
Below it sat a photograph thumbnail of Ethan at the bar with his arm draped around a woman’s waist while buying her a drink.
Even without seeing her face clearly, Didi recognized herself instantly.
She blinked once, then slowly looked back up at Julie.
“…Why do you have texts about Ethan?”
Julie closed her eyes briefly.
Well.
There it was.
She leaned back against the stall door with the careful expression of someone about to detonate her own evening.
“This is going to sound genuinely insane” she said carefully.
Didi stared at her expectantly.
Julie held up the phone.
“I’m a private investigator.”
Silence.
“What?”
“Ethan’s girlfriend hired me.”
Didi blinked again.
“His girlfriend” she repeated.
“Yes.”
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been investigating him this entire time?”
Julie nodded.
“He’s cheating on her.”
“Well, trying to, at least.”
Julie huffed a laugh despite herself.
“He’s inexplicably more successful than he should be.”
Didi hummed thoughtfully, stepping closer again almost absentmindedly until Julie was pinned against the stall door once more. Julie still felt lightheaded, and her body reacted immediately and traitorously to the proximity.
“And then you started making out with me in a bathroom?” Didi asked again.
Julie’s mouth twitched.
“You were significantly more interesting than the case.”
For one terrifying second Julie genuinely thought she might have ruined everything.
Then Didi stared at her another beat longer and burst into helpless laughter.
“Oh my God” Didi gasped, folding briefly against her shoulder and laughing hard enough she could barely breathe. “You flirted with me during a stakeout.”
Julie smiled despite herself.
“Looks like I did.”
“That is completely insane behavior. And you’re supposed to be a professional?”
“I usually am!”
Didi pulled back just enough to look at her properly again.
“And then what happened?”
Julie met her eyes steadily.
“You laughed.”
Something in Didi’s expression shifted at that. Julie exhaled quietly.
“You laughed,” she repeated, “and then I noticed you were pretending to be smaller around him. Less clever. Less sarcastic. Like you were trying to make him comfortable.”
Didi looked startled.
“And I got annoyed” Julie admitted.
“Annoyed?”
“At him.”
Didi studied her silently now.
Julie suddenly felt strangely exposed standing there with smeared lipstick, shaky knees, and her entire professional credibility in flames.
“You barely know me” Didi said softly.
Julie smiled faintly.
“I’m literally trained to read people.”
“And?”
“And,” Julie said quietly, “I thought someone should remind you that you don’t need to shrink yourself for mediocre men.”
For a second Didi just stared at her.
Then her expression shifted into something warmer and infinitely more dangerous as she stepped forward again, hands sliding slowly up Julie’s blazer until she caught her gently by the chin and tipped her face upward. She stopped just shy of another kiss, close enough that Julie could feel her breath against her mouth.
“That,” Didi murmured softly, eyes flicking once to Julie’s lips, “might be the hottest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
Relief hit Julie so abruptly she laughed softly under her breath.
“Thank God.”
Didi smiled against her mouth.
“It’s also a lot of talking for someone who just let a stranger fuck her in the bathroom of a bar.”
Julie tilted her head slightly.
“I think we stopped qualifying as strangers a while ago.”
Didi kissed her lightly before Julie could lose momentum thinking about it.
“I really hope that Uber gets here in less than five minutes,” Didi whispered, eyes still dark with lingering arousal, “because otherwise you’re going to end up on your knees in this stall, and honestly? That feels wildly inconvenient for both of us.”
Julie’s breath caught embarrassingly fast.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time” Julie replied, blindly clicking the last buttons to call the car and shoving her phone away, before cradling the back of Didi’s neck to pull her in for another kiss.
Somewhere back in the bar, Ethan was probably still standing proudly beside the dartboard.
Julie found the thought deeply comforting.