Star-Crossed (40 page)

“Eh!” Gino held up two cups of coffee. “Thought you could use it.”

“No shit.” Nova took the coffee and shut the door behind him. “Thanks, man.” Gino patted his back affectionately as he walked past. “You look like hell. Hear anything from Romeo?”

Nova stiffened, sick of that question. “No.”

“Talking to Tino yet?”

“Grudgingly.” Nova took a sip of the coffee as he followed Gino back into the living room. “For information purposes only. He keeps texting me. I know it’s driving him crazy that I’m ignoring him.”

“That chick’s brother still calling every five minutes?” Nova held up his hand as Gino fell onto the couch. “What are you? Fucking twenty questions?”

Nova pulled his gun out and set on the coffee table and then sat next to Gino, willing the coffee to give him a fresh surge of energy.

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“Heard you had a sit-down with Frankie,” Gino started casually, looking around Romeo’s apartment as if he wasn’t nosing into issues that didn’t concern him. “How’d that go?”

Nova gave him an annoyed look. “Again with the questions.” Gino grabbed the remote, obviously giving up on getting answers. “Mind if I watch the game?”

Nova took another sip of coffee, asking against the rim, “Is there something I don’t know?”

“Why?”

“You don’t got shit to do besides hang out here watching TV?”

“Aldo’s worried about you. He suggested I keep you company.” Gino shrugged.

“You went to a sit-down looking like that? When’s the last time you shaved?

“Merda.”

Nova closed his eyes against the barrage of questions, knowing Gino was going to be on him like glue until Aldo told him otherwise. He picked up his computer as a distraction and started tracking Romeo’s phone. He was desperate for this whole nightmare to end. He wanted a reason to sleep well at night.

“You wanna help me with my portfolio?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“’Cause you peeve me.” Nova lit another cigarette while he waited in vain for the phone to be located.

“You’re in a shit mood.”

“That makes you a fucking genius.”

Nova took a drag off his cigarette and stared at the screen. For one heartbeat he thought he was seeing it wrong. Then he blinked at the tiny, red pin sitting on the edge

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of West Virginia. His heart rate picked up as he clicked to zoom in, making the map bigger and bigger, taking in the different images until he had an address.

He tossed his computer on Gino’s lap and snatched his cell phone off the coffee table. The surge of adrenaline gave him a surplus of nervous energy to the point that he started pacing as he listened to the phone ring.

“What’s going on?” Gino asked.

When the phone clicked, Nova answered Gino’s question by telling Wyatt, “I found Romeo.”

“Where are they?” Wyatt asked, all business, obviously incredibly focused now that he had somewhere to direct his attention. “Do you have an address?”

“Yeah, you got some way to write it down?”

After Nova was done giving him the address, Wyatt groaned. “West Virginia.

You’re closer than me.”

“I’m leaving now,” Nova promised. “I should make good time. I thought they’d head west, get as far as possible from both known locations.”

“West is too obvious. If you hadn’t thought of tracing their phones, we’d have never guessed West Virginia. That’s pretty darn close to in between the two places they ain’t supposed to be, but you’re still getting there before I am.”

“Don’t worry.” Nova paced on the mat behind the couch. “I’ll keep tracking his phone on the road. I’ll call you if their location changes.”

“Then get going, boy,” Wyatt said with annoying authority. “I’m already in my car.”

Wyatt hung up without another word, and Nova turned and went back to the couch. His laptop was still open on Gino’s lap, and Nova slammed it shut. He slipped it under his arm, then stuffed his keys in his pocket next to his wallet and tucked his gun in the back of his jeans.

Gino stood, holding up his hands in disbelief. “Just like that you’re leaving?” 324

“Just like that,” Nova confirmed as he turned to leave.

“You’re gonna drive to West Virginia without packing shit?” Nova opened the front door and gestured to it. “Get the fuck out, Gino.” Gino walked past the open door without complaint, which Nova would’ve considered a minor miracle if Gino wasn’t trailing after him like a lost puppy. Into the elevator and down to the parking garage, he was at Nova’s heels until they reached his car. Then Nova tossed his laptop on the passenger-side seat, but it didn’t stay there.

Gino placed it in the back and fell into Nova’s Escalade comfortably.

“Get outta my car.”

Gino lifted his gaze to Nova and said, “Aldo told me to keep you company.” Nova stared at him, knowing life was very simple for Gino. Do what you’re told, and don’t ever diverge from your instructions. Arguing about it was pointless, and Nova got into the car rather than waste time with it.

“We could call Aldo,” Gino suggested. “Not like I gotta hard-on to see West Virginia or Romeo.”

“Fuck it,” Nova said as he started the car and backed up. “Just don’t speak. Your mouth pisses me off.”

“Fine, whatever.” Gino shrugged. “But I gotta stop and take a piss before we get on the interstate.”

Nova looked at Gino, wondering why he didn’t just take a leak before they left the apartment if he knew he was coming along. The lack of foresight made him growl,

“You can hold it.”

“For nine hours? I gotta weak bladder.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“I just drank a whole cup of coffee and that means—” Nova held up a hand before he could finish the sentence. “We’ll stop.”

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It was starting to look like Wyatt might beat him there. With Gino along, Nova knew it was going take longer than it should.

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Chapter Twenty-Three

Corrupting Romeo was becoming Jules’s new favorite thing. She licked the beads of water off his skin, running her tongue over his small, flat nipples before moving lower. She pulled at the white motel towel around his waist, revealing his cock, already half-hard despite the two of them making love for most of the day and into the night of their first day as a married couple.

“I thought we were going to find food?” Romeo arched an eyebrow when Jules lifted her head. “That was the point of the shower.” A mischievous grin tugged at Jules’s lip. “Am I not being gentle enough? Do you feel used and abused?”

Romeo laughed. “No, I feel hungry.”

“You’re all right,” Jules announced, licking at his stomach muscles. “Dang, but I love your body. I get wet just looking at ya.”

“That’s a bonus.” Romeo pushed strands of her wet hair off her forehead, tucking them behind her ear. “Good to know all the hard work’s paid off.” Jules took his cock in her mouth before he could think of another way to complain.

When Romeo got hungry, nothing distracted him from it. She stroked him as she sucked on the head, circling her tongue over him and tasting the tang of precum.

Romeo’s back arched, forcing him deeper into her mouth. “Fuck.” Jules pulled back, still stroking his cock as she grinned at him. “I guess I finally found something that’ll distract you from food.”

“Your mouth always distracts me,” Romeo assured her as he slid a hand into her wet hair. “Get me off, baby. I’m gonna watch you do it.”

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Jules’s smile grew broader as she leaned down and sucked him once more, taking him deeper this time, letting him guide her when she usually hated a man pulling at her hair. There was something about the way Romeo did it, demanding but still loving, that made it sexy.

Everything about Romeo was sexy to Jules.

Like the sounds he made as she used her hands and mouth to get him off. The look in his heavy-lidded eyes, a deeper green than usual as his pupils dilated from the desire and the darkness of the room. His skin, a warm olive color that was utterly lickable.

“Merda, your mouth feels good.” Romeo groaned, his hand tightening in her hair as he leaned up on one elbow to get a better view. “And you look fucking gorgeous like this.”

Jules smoothed a hand over his stomach lovingly as she took him deeper. Then she started sucking him faster, moving up and down his thick length until his eyes closed and his head fell back under the weight of pleasure.

She didn’t have to touch herself; it was a high just knowing she could do this to him. Turning him on so completely that his muscular chest was rising and falling with the harsh, shallow groans of pleasure Jules was dragging out of him. Even if it took a while, she enjoyed it, savoring every sound and tug on her hair as she pushed Romeo closer and closer to the edge.

When he finally came, it was with a harsh shout of ecstasy despite the thin walls in the motel. He held on to Jules’s hair like a lifeline, leaving the warm, salty taste of his pleasure on her tongue as his cock pulsed in her mouth. She squeezed and milked it, wanting to stretch out the orgasm as long as possible. Even when he stopped coming, she still ran her tongue over the head of his cock, cleaning him and causing little aftershocks to shake his big body.

She released Romeo and glanced up to find him sprawled out beneath her on the bed, looking sated and exhausted.

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With his eyes closed, he reached for her arm, caressing it gently. “Lemme do you now.”

Jules laughed as she crawled over him. He didn’t look like he was up to anything but lying there. She reached for her cup, taking a sip of the lukewarm sweet tea that was old three hours ago. There was no question; they needed fuel.

“I can go out and get food,” Jules offered as she sat over him, knowing he was almost asleep. “Maybe stop by the store to buy some bottles of water and snacks. This fast-food crap is starting to get old.”

“Nah, I’ll go with you.” Romeo huffed as if trying to find the energy. “We gotta find a better motel. This place is sucha friggin’ dive.”

“I was tired. It was the first one to show up.”

“You wanna take off tomorrow? Get far away from West Virginia? In case they can track the marriage papers?”

Jules nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. Where’d you wanna go?”

“Florida?”

“No.” Jules pulled a face, thinking Wyatt’s ex Tabitha lived in Key West.

“California?”

“It’s too obvious.” Jules took another sip of tea and laughed. “We like to shop too much to move to California. That’s the first place they’d look for us.”

“I love California. It’d be perfect. Weather’s nice. Lots to do. Las Vegas?”

“With summer ’round the corner. Are ya nuts? Besides, everyone knows you in Vegas. Too many fights there.”

“We gotta go somewhere we both blend.” Romeo threaded his hands behind his head, comfortably lying beneath her. “Florida would be perfect. New Yorkers love Florida.”

“And it’s kinda country too. I guess that’s a good point.”

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“A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll.” Romeo smirked. “What’d you got against Florida?”

“Nothing.” Jules shrugged, refusing to talk about Tabitha on her wedding day. “I guess we could go. Maybe northern Florida where it’s cooler for the summer.”

“Rent a place on the beach. A condo or a little house facing the shoreline.” Jules’s eyebrows rose at that idea. “It would be nice to live on the beach.”

“Go running every day at sunrise. Watch the sunset together at night.” Jules laughed. “Since when do you like waking up before the sun?”

“I guess Garnet’s been a bad influence on me.” Romeo laughed with her. “You wanna go grab something to eat? We’ll look for a legitimate restaurant?”

“I knew you’d get back to food.” Jules poked him in the side playfully. “You always do.”

“And I need real food. None of this empty calorie shit we’ve been eating.” Romeo emphasized. “You take it outta me. I need genuine fuel.”

“Then let’s go find ya real food.” Jules crawled off Romeo and set her tea on the nightstand. She walked over to her suitcase. “But it’s gonna take me a bit to do something with my hair. I forgot a dang hairdryer. I wonder if the hotel’s got one.”

“Don’t count on it.” Romeo snorted as he also rolled out of bed. “I’m gonna get dressed and go down to grab my phone. I left it in the car for sanity purposes.”

“Better you than me. I still ain’t worked up the nerve to turn on mine.” Jules stepped into a clean pair of panties and frowned when she saw Romeo grab a pair of jeans out of his suitcase. “I thought we were going somewhere nice?”

“I didn’t say nice; I said real. Like a pizza place or something?” Jules laughed as she fussed with her bra. “That’s real food to you?”

“Yeah.” Romeo held up his hands as if it was obvious. “Pizza has all the major food groups. It’s the most balanced meal you can eat.”

“It doesn’t have legumes.”

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