Page 127 of His Juliet

I wanted to refuse and tell her she needed to return to New York with me now. But Leona was a wild card and could only be pushed so far.

“Fine.”

Amusement flashed in her eyes. “The Romeo I know would jump at the chance to cause some chaos. I wonder why he’s so hesitant to be away from home.”

“Leona,” I warned.

She threw her head back and laughed. “Come on, I’ll fill you in on the details while we mingle. It would be a crime not to be seen in this dress.”

I glanced down for the first time. The dress was skin-tight and plunged deeply between her tits. My body didn’t even remotely respond. But if Juliet wore a dress like that? I would blind everyone in the room before fucking her against the wall so they knew she belonged to me.

As we headed back into the main hall, Leona wrapped her fingers around the crook of my arm. My skin crawled and I fought the urge to shake her off. I wanted Juliet to be at my side, holding on to me, whispering snarky observations in my ear.

“The single women of New York City will be devastated when they discover Romeo De Luca is no longer on the market. Some of the married women, too.” Leona laughed at my responding scowl.

“Like I give a fuck about any of them,” I muttered. “So, what is this job?”

“Haruto Ito has discovered a Boston art collector has a never before seen woodblock print of Katsushika Hokusai, and wants us to get it.”

I groaned. Why were all the criminals of the underworld suddenly so riveted by art? I’d had enough of this talk from the Serbians.

“Since when are you working with the head of the Yakuza?”

Leona waved her hand. “There’s no official alliance yet, but Ronan is always open to making new friends.”

Matteo would be very interested to hear this. The Yakuza currently held Los Angeles. Matteo and I had met Haruto Ito two years ago at a party not dissimilar to this one. I had been surprised to find out he was three years younger than me, having clawed his way to the position ofoyabun, or boss, through his penchant for violence.

“Who knew he was such a lover of art.”

We walked into a smaller room off the main hall containing silent auction items.

“Oh honey, look. A ski trip to Vail. Should we bid on it?”

I ground my teeth.

“Loosen up.” She nudged my shoulder. “Come back to my apartment tonight. We can talk through the plans.”

“Fine,” I said. The faster we got this done, the faster I’d be back to Juliet.

* * *

Romeo

How’s your day been, angel?

Juliet

Good. I practiced throwing punches with Matteo and baked cookies with Sofiya

I groundmy teeth at the idea of my girl practicing self-defense with Matteo. I should be the one helping her. But I hoped this meant she had forgiven Matteo for beating the shit out of me.

Romeo

That sounds like fun

Juliet

Are you on your way back soon?

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