Page 14 of Dark Romeo

Julianna looked up to me as the guy she had in an armlock made whining noises against the bar. She gave me a smile like nothing was the matter. Unbelievable.

“Oh. Hi,” she said, almost shyly. “Again.”

I gave her my best charming grin. “I was just coming over to save you…”

She raised an eyebrow. That tiny movement was a challenge. “Why?” she said sweetly. She applied the slightest pressure to the unfortunate guy’s wrist and he let out a low pained cry. She jutted her chin out and a defiance flared in her feline eyes. “Because I’m a girl and all I need is a big strong man to come save me?”

“No, because you’re a human being. I don’t like it when I see other human beings being treated without respect. Not when I can do something about it.”

She shifted, seemingly surprised by my honest comment, embarrassed even. “Well…I don’t need saving.”

“I can see that.” I indicated her unfortunate victim. I spotted a bouncer heading towards us. I held my hand up to signal to him that I had it under control. He nodded and kept his distance. The bouncer was a low-level street thug who’d been trying to climb my family’s ranks for years. Part of the reason why I could score the VIP treatment here at the last minute.

Julianna spotted this exchange. “Do you own this place or something?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I know some of the guys who work here.” Here and pretty much every hot spot of Verona. I didn’t want to explain to her how I knew them. Tonight, I wasn’t Roman Tyrell. Tonight, I was just a guy and she was a girl…

“Can you let go of me now?” the man whose face was squashed up against the bar interrupted in a whining tone.

I shot Julianna a grin and leaned in close to him. “Tell the lady, you’re sorry and maybe she’ll let you go.”

The man’s eyes widened when he saw me, recognition flaring in his eyes. “Y-y-you.”

That’s right, stupid fucker. You just pissed off a Tyrell. “Tell her you’re sorry,” I repeated.

“I’m sorry,” he cried out.

I stared up at Julianna and was struck again by how stunning she was. She raised an eyebrow at me as if she knew what I was thinking. I gave her one of my trademark half-smirks. “Are you satisfied with his apology, milady?”

“Only if you don’t try and touch up a girl without her permission again,” she said to him.

The idiot was silent.

I leaned in closer and growled. “When the lady speaks to you, you answer her.”

He let out a whine. “Okay, okay. I’ll never do it again.”

Julianna applied some more pressure to the guy’s arm and he let out a louder cry. She was staring at me, a half angry, half lustful look in her dark eyes. “Tell Roman,” she said, her voice coming out low and heated, “that I don’t need him to fight my battles for me.”

“What?” the guy cried.

“Tell Julianna,” I said, matching her stare, “that she should learn that it’s okay for a man to help her. It doesn’t make her weak.”

“Tell Roman, that he’s an arrogant ass who has no idea what it’s like to be a woman in a man’s world.”

“Tell Julianna, that I can’t tell if she wants to fight me or fuck me tonight.”

Julianna’s red lips pulled up into a smirk. “Why can’t it be both?”

Jesus, fuck. I felt my cock surge with blood and I swallowed back a groan. I wasn’t finished. “Tell Julianna that she’s the most stunning creature I have ever seen.”

“What the fuck?” the guy stuttered against the bar.

“Ever?” Julianna asked, an amused eyebrow raised.

“Ever.” And I fucking meant it. She was captivating. Intoxicating. A lioness among sheep. This wasn’t a woman who’d fall at my feet and gaze adoringly up at me. She’d demand to stand beside me. She’d demand to be pleased. She’d deserve to be pleased.

I had to have her. Here. Now. Anywhere. I’d take her here on the fucking bar if she’d let me.

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