Page 173 of His Juliet

“What do you have, Queenie?” Juliet asked, crouching down to pick up the cat. “Is that Noodle’s bone? That’s not for you.”

Noodle sat by Juliet’s feet, his pitiful eyes fixed on the bone as he licked his lips.

“You need to give that back, cutie. Come on.” Juliet tugged the bone out of a disgruntled Queenie’s mouth and gave it back to Noodle. “You little troublemaker.”

Sienna and Matteo ran over to us.

“Oh good, you caught her,” Sienna said.

Matteo frowned. “My son needs to learn to defend himself.” Noodle head-butted him in the leg, tail wagging.

“Fucking crazy family,” I said.

Juliet laughed as Queenie fell asleep in her arms. “Ourcrazy family.”

Hearing her say that did something to me. I gripped her face and pulled her in for a kiss that was not really appropriate for being surrounded by people. I ignored the hoots and whistles. I would never get enough of this, enough of her. My life before her hadn’t been bad, but now that I’d experienced it with her?

Nothing else could ever compare.

81

JULIET

I giggledas Romeo pulled me into our bedroom. We’d eaten copious amounts of Chicago deep-dish pizza and danced with our friends late into the evening until my husband’s patience had run out. He’d thrown me over his shoulder like the caveman he was and carried me away.

Not that I minded one bit.

“I have one more present to give you,” he said.

I cocked an eyebrow, very ready forwhateverhe wanted to give me.

He laughed. “Okay, two more presents, because we’re definitely doing whatever you’re thinking about right now. This one first.”

He unbuttoned his shirt, parting it to reveal another tattoo.

My name, written over his heart.

“Remember the first night we met?” His hands ran down my sides until he gripped my hips and yanked me against him. “You marked me right here, and I knew at that moment you would be mine.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the tattoo, yet another permanent symbol of our love.

“You couldn’t have known then,” I said.

His lips skated down my cheek, the roughness of his beard electrifying my skin. “I knew, stellina. That morning, when I left you, I knew you had altered me forever. And now the whole world knows. I belong to you, my Juliet.”

“You can’t make me cryagain. All I’ve done today is cry.”

His chuckle vibrated through my chest. I pressed a light kiss to my name on his skin.

“Now I want a tattoo of your name.”

Romeo froze, and his grip on me tightened. “Fuck, you can’t just say things like that.” He picked me up and gently tossed me onto the bed. “I can’t be expected to control myself when you say shit like that.”

He crawled over my body, eyes dark.

I gripped the back of his neck. “Good. I love when you’re out of control.”

He let out what could only be described as a growl as he flipped me over onto my stomach. He kissed a line down my bare back until he got to my zipper.

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