Gaël.
She pictured her guardian touching her sex, and her own fingers started to move until they were directly over the area where her sensitive nub was already quivering in anticipation under her pad.
Oh, Gaël.
Juliette pressed hard...and harder and harder and harder, but just as her juices started to flow past the inner walls of her sex, it was then she heard someone knock on the door—-
Oh my God!
Didn't Nurse Vaughn promise she wouldn't be disturbed—-
—-and in came walking her guardian himself.
Noooooooooo!
Gaël's gaze narrowed at her. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
What was he doing here?
The door fell silently shut behind him as Gaël strode forward, and Juliette knew if she didn't do something soon, her guardian was sure to realize what she had been doing.
A Caro's sense of smell might not be as good as a shifter's, but it was still so much better than an ordinary human's, and oh God, he was coming closer and closer and closer—-
Please God, please!
Gaël stopped dead in his tracks when a distinct noise popped in the air, and he saw his ward's face pale.
Juliette felt like dying yet again when she saw her guardian's expression turn suddenly...grave.
"Did you—-"
"I can explain," she said desperately.
"—-just fart?"
Thirty minutes later, and Juliette still wished she could just die. They were in the backseat of Gaël's limousine, and even though her guardian hadn't said a word, the gleam in his cold, blue eyes was more than enough.
He was totally laughing at her, and could she blame him for doing so?
Gaël's lips pressed together in a straight line as his normally meek ward turned towards him again in a fit of frustration.
"I did NOT fart!"
"If you say so."
"I mean it," Juliette nearly yelled. "It really wasn't a fart! It was just air! You didn't even smell anything, did you?"
"No," Gaël conceded. "I did not."
"See?"
"But since by definition, flatulence is the expulsion of gas from one's anus—-"
Juliette moaned, and she was still moaning back at home as she shared today's mortifying episode with the other wards.
Today had been the first - dear God, the first! - time Gaël had surprised her at school, and she had dreamt of such a day for years. She had fantasized about her guardian proudly declaring his love for her in front of the other students. But instead...this!
Aprilynne and Sydney were beside themselves with laughter while Luciella, being the well-mannered girl that she always was, did her best to stifle her smile.
"How can you accidentally fart just like that?" Aprilynne wanted to know as they descended the stairs.
"I was nervous." Juliette had no qualms fibbing, since there was no way she would admit the truth.
"Nervous about what?" Severin questioned, having caught the tail end of Juliette's words as he followed them inside the dining room.
Sydney, seeing Juliette turn red, quickly came to the other girl's rescue by distracting her guardian as she asked, "Can I talk to you in private?"
Gaël was the last to come in and join his family for dinner, and his lips curved in a slight smile when he noticed how Juliette carefully avoided looking his way.
"Hello again."
Juliette's toes curled under the furry top of her house slippers at the rare note of teasing in Gaël's voice, and it was all she could do not to melt.
"I know what you're doing," she muttered.
Gaël leaned close, and her heart started pounding. "Is that so?"
"You're trying to charm me out of my bad mood."
"Ah." Gaël leaned even closer to take an almost-playful peek at her expression, and Juliette could no longer keep her gaze from colliding with his icy blue eyes, which were still gleaming with amusement.
Ugh!
"Please stop laughing at me!"
"I wish I could," Gaël said solemnly, "but how can I, when you're too damn adorable when you pout?"
Oh, dear Lord, please, please, please be still, my racing heart, because this is a Caro we're dealing with, and he'll absolutely know when you start acting funny!
While Gaël smirked and Juliette blushed, the rest of the family had a harder time as they struggled to continue pretending they were deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid.
Severin looked at Sydney with a grimace. Why do they always act like they're in a fucking world of their own when they obviously aren't?
His stepsister gave him a look of pity. A Caro like you will never figure it out.
The mood for the rest of the evening was one of great conversation and laughter, and the girls had tears in their eyes when Juliette slipped up all on her own. They were talking about a UdLA student that had been expelled, and as Juliette argued that the student's expulsion was a rotten act of justice, she had seen her guardian choke on his soup, and Juliette, forgetting herself, had cried out, "I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong! How many times do I have to tell you it wasn't a fart?"