Star-Crossed (21 page)

“Do you have condoms with you?”

“Yeah.” Romeo blinked from the whiplash Jules’s one-eighty gave him. “I got two in my wallet and a whole pack in the bag I threw in your car at your office.”

“I got another hour to hide from work and responsibility,” Jules said as she looked up. “You wanna try out the bed?”

Romeo shook his head again, a laugh of disbelief bursting out of him. “I guess. If you’re sure—”

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“I’m sure,” Jules said, sounding sad with the certainty. “With the amount of money I’ve spent on doctors who paint grim pictures ’bout my hopes of reproducing, if ya knocked me up after a quickie in the shower, I’d have to be impressed.”

“Well…” Romeo couldn’t help but smile and reminded her, “I am Italian.”

“Half Italian.”

“Yeah, this half.” Romeo held a hand at his midsection and looked down at his dick; that was impressive if he did say so himself. “You think that dumb asshole who nailed my mother left me with that? Hell no, that’s a hundred percent Sicilian, baby, and we’re virile people.”

Jules laughed, a deep, throaty burst of joy that came from the center of her chest and echoed off the tiles. Then she pinched his waist, as if looking for fat she’d never find and said, “I’m not convinced.”

“Oh no, it’s true. Ask anyone. Italians do it better.” Jules tilted her head, looking skeptical. “I dunno.”

“Longer, harder,” Romeo went on, licking his lips before he finally offered. “I could prove it if you don’t believe me.”

Then Jules squealed, spinning around so fast she nearly knocked him off his feet.

She pushed at the glass door and leaped out of the shower, a streak of slick, pale skin and blonde hair, completely fearless of the wet tile.

Romeo didn’t even have to think before he went after Jules, intent on catching her.

He did just that, wrapping an arm around her midsection and then pulling her to him before she could reach the big, king-size bed in the master bedroom.

Jules shrieked and laughed and fought him to the point that Romeo pushed her against the mattress and then draped his big, heavy body over hers to keep her from squirming. To soothe the defeat, he kissed her bare shoulder, the back of her neck, the curve of her spine, and she went soft and pliant beneath him, making it obvious she had wanted to get caught. If she hadn’t, it would’ve never been this easy.

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ROMEO FELT SO good over her. Jules loved the weight of him, the strength in his arms as he held her down and kissed her wet skin. Everywhere he touched was a shimmer of bliss, a small dance with a rippling affect that made her nipples ache and her pussy clench for more.

Their skin was dewy, and the house was chilly in the late winter afternoon. She could feel the icy brush of it on her arms and legs, but it didn’t matter because Romeo radiated so much warmth it was impossible to be cold around him.

He had a way of touching and kissing Jules like he was worshipping her body.

Jules practically purred when his lips found their way back to the nape of her neck, soft against the sensitive erogenous zone. She placed one knee up on the bed as she offered herself to him, and Romeo didn’t hesitate. He slid a hand down, reaching for her pussy, finding her clit, and rubbing in soft, gentle circles. Jules buried her face in the comforter to muffle her gasp of pleasure.

She shouldn’t want him again this soon, but it felt like she would
never
stop wanting him. He was more playful now, the hard angles were carved off his need, and he obviously felt like teasing. She pushed her hips back impatiently because his gentle touch was making the fire blaze brighter, scorching her with the throb for more. She was already slick for him, quivering on the edge of another climax.

“Do it,” she said impatiently when it seemed he wasn’t getting the point.

Romeo just fisted her hair instead. He tugged her head back and kissed her before she could argue or demand more than what he was giving her. His touch was still featherlight, tormenting her, and his tongue pushed past her parted lips when she gasped.

He used his knee to nudge her other leg, forcing her open wider as he touched her body, relearning her by running his fingers over the folds of her pussy. He breached her, one finger pushing inside, and she sucked in a breath from the sting. Sensitive and sore from the first harsh mating in the shower, she bit her lip to hide it.

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“You’re sore.”

Jules shook her head, feeling like she’d die if he stopped. “It’s nothing.”

“If you come from my fingers, it’ll hurt less,” Romeo suggested, nuzzling his face against her wet hair. “You wanna come again for me, Juliet?” He had a point, and she moaned in defeat. “Yeah.”

Romeo rubbed her clit and worshipped her body as Jules came for him with a harsh cry of release. She shouldn’t make it so damn easy, but he tore down her walls, leaving her vulnerable to the pleasure, and it was nice to have someone she trusted enough to own her like that.

The ecstasy was still buzzing through her bloodstream like the low hum from a hive of bees—warm, white noise that left her peaceful and content, but she remembered the promise for more. She reached for him, stretching blindly behind her and then grabbing his thigh. She dug her nails into his skin in reminder while she searched for her voice.

“I’m gonna fuck you like this,” Romeo said with a low growl of possessiveness.

The teasing done, the hunger was stark in his voice. “You want it?”
Is he kidding?

“If you don’t, I’m gonna hurt ya.” Jules moaned from the fresh surge of lust, fighting for sanity as she reminded him, “Condoms.”

“
Merda,
” Romeo cursed, pulling away from her. “I’m losing my friggin’ mind.” Jules laughed, feeling oddly flattered as Romeo tore through his clothes, abandoned on the floor in front of the bathroom. Before Jules could crawl onto the bed or find a more comfortable position, Romeo was back over her, making her grunt from the impact.

He tossed his wallet on the bed, spilling black and gold credit cards, and then running a hand over the curve of her hip. He kissed and teased for only a few brief minutes before he used his grip on her waist to hold her in place.

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“Stay like this,” he said and then pulled up.

Jules heard the tear of a wrapper and craned her neck to watch him roll the condom on. She liked the sight of his dick in his hand, and Romeo saw her watching, giving her one naughty smile before he stretched out over her.

Jules spread her legs wider in anticipation, her knee on the mattress making room for Romeo as he stood on the floor between her thighs. She was prepared, but she still moaned when he started pushing in, his thick cock stretching her wide. The burn was there; he was too big for it not to be, but the wash of pleasure swept it away like a passing memory, and she closed her eyes to savor being filled.

When he was fully buried inside her, Romeo blanketed her body with his. He used his arms to hold most of his weight, but still she was surrounded by him, his smell, his warmth, the vibration of passion that always pulsed off him with such blazing intensity.

“Say it. I need to hear it,” he whispered as they lay there shaking together. “Tell me you love me, Juliet.”

“I love you, Romeo.” The confession slipped past her lips like a prayer rather than a confession. “Only you. Always.”

She reached back to run her fingers through the short hair at Romeo’s nape and then tugged his head down until it was buried in the curve of her neck. She could feel the emotions pounding off him as they lay there connected in the quivering silence, but she didn’t push him. If he needed time, she could give him that.

Finally he swallowed hard and whispered, “I love you too.” She understood why Romeo chose now to force the confession. Together, but hidden, it was a safe space when they were both a little dented by life and cautious because of it.

Jules savored the moment as Romeo started moving in her. Touching her reverently, his hands running over the curves at her sides, his thumbs brushing at the edges of her breasts as his hips thrust in and out, slow, steady. Like the budding love

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that had erupted between them, the passion started to bloom before she knew it was really happening.

She tightened her hold on the comforter, pushing her hips back against his as each thrust forced a sob of ecstasy out of her. Romeo was moaning into her hair, the sound of it reminding her of all their late-night phone calls. The knowledge that he was finally here, with her,
inside her
made the bliss start to swell until Jules was tinkering on the edge of a precipice.

“Touch me,” she pleaded, wanting it to be his hand and body that pushed her over instead of her own. “Please.”

Romeo slid his hand between her body and the bed, finding her clit as he started moving faster, losing himself to the rising tide. He was speaking in Italian. She could tell he was confessing things, and she heard the emotion even if the words were lost on her.

Love. Passion. Fear.

They all spilled out of Romeo as he fucked her body and owned her soul. Then his hand fisted in her wet hair once more, pulling her head back until she was tasting the passion, salty with tears—she didn’t know whose, and it didn’t matter because they were suddenly one soul, two halves that had found home in a place where they least expected it.

Every cultural divide evaporated as they came crying into each other’s mouths and trembling from the violence of the collision. Nothing mattered, just Romeo, that’s all Jules wanted to think or know as she shuddered from another powerful orgasm.

Wave after wave washed over her as Romeo rode out his own climax, his hips jerking against hers to the rhythm of it.

They collapsed when it was over, sweaty and breathless. Jules’s neck throbbed a bit, the ache between her legs made her want to take a long bath, and Romeo was choking the air out of her because he was big by heavyweight standards.

And she’d never been happier in her entire life.

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Jules wanted to spend every lunch break under him like this, and she smiled with the knowledge that he was going to be here for several months. She had him all to herself until his fight in May. After that they’d have to figure something out, because this was too beautiful not to fight for.

“What’re you gonna do about your hair?” Romeo asked, tugging at it softly.

“How’s it gonna look if you show up back at your office with it all wet?” After the confessions of undying love, only they could jump into a conversation about her hair. Rather than respond, Jules buried her face in the comforter and cracked up. Something about everything just seemed so very funny to her.

Romeo laughed with her as he brushed the wet strands off her shoulders. “Why the hell’d we take a shower in the first place?”

“You had an accident in the car.” Jules laughed harder, her shoulders shaking with the mirth. It’d been so long since she’d laughed this much, but still she fought to speak enough to choke out, “But why’d I have to get in with you? What the fuck am I gonna do ’bout my hair?”

“Call in sick,” Romeo said as he touched her back softly and pulled out of her.

“Take a day off for once. Stay with me.”

Jules rolled over beneath him, still giggling, knowing her face was flushed and her mascara was probably running from the shower and the crying. She gave him a wide, happy smile and said, “Okay.”

“Yeah?” Romeo asked, surprised.

“I think we’ve earned it,” Jules said, not feeling even mildly guilty for the indulgence. “A whole afternoon to ourselves.”

Once Jules stopped laughing and Romeo had washed up in the bathroom, the two of them made a ritual of shutting off their phones and then curled up in bed for the afternoon.

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