Page 39 of Roman and Jules
When had Ty become this spontaneous? She felt like she was talking to his cousin. A part of her was tempted, especially if it got rid of this pain of losing Roman. She’d been that reckless before. “Ty?” Her voice echoed through the auditorium. For a moment she’d forgotten that they were not alone, and she winced, trying to block out the thousands of watching eyes by concentrating only on him. “You’re saying you’d give up everything for me?”
“Yes, Jules, I would.”
Jules swallowed. Things had definitely changed between them. Straightening her shoulders, she read the sincerity on his handsome face. He was made for pretty speeches and grand gestures. Some impulse tickled the tip of her tongue, and the words came tumbling out. “What about your inheritance? You didn’t come for me before because you wanted to keep that intact, isn’t that right?”
“Oh, Jules.” His mouth pressed grimly together, and he took her hand, tenderly pressing her fingers through his. “I’m not the kind of person to settle my differences with my fists.”
That hadn’t stopped him before—not that she agreed with it—but starting a rumble in public wasn’t what he objected to; it was losing his inheritance.
“I’m sorry, Ty.” With some difficulty, she untangled herself from his grasp and held up her hand to show him Roman’s ring. “I’m already married.”
His eyes slid to the cheap bauble. She knew Ty would’ve given her something worth a hundred times more, but she refused to back down under his mocking gaze. “Why can’t you see he’s nothing to what we have?” he asked. “I don’t care if he gave you his mother’s ring.”
Her hand shook and she touched the band with her thumb. “Roman got it from some random dollar store place. It was our little joke.”
He snorted. “How many lies has he told you? You’re really going to choose the bad boy of Vegas over me?”
The loud engine of a motorcycle sounded behind them. Both Jules and Ty swung around. What had these producers done? Jules was ready to murder them, but even Angelica held her hands up at this one, proclaiming her innocence. This one was a surprise.
Roman rode over the stage on his Harley. He was in biker boots and a black leather jacket over a red plaid shirt tucked into dark blue jeans like he’d ridden straight out of the 50’s. He completed the look with aviator shades and a toothpick hanging loosely from his lips. He pulled it from his mouth and tossed it onto the ground.
“You messing with my wife, Ty?” His whole manner was calm and collected like he didn’t care, and Jules didn’t think he did until he took off his shades and his eyes went to hers. And for that moment, it was just the two of them as he gave her a look that showed her his heart—the same one he’d given her every day after work since they were married. His lips curved up with his wink. “There are a lot of cameras here, aren’t there?”
Ty backed up.
Roman’s attention swerved back to him, and he pulled off his bike. “Oh, don’t run away, cousin. We’ve only just started.”
“We’re not doing this.” Ty held up his hands. “Okay?” Irritation threaded his voice. “You want to ruin your life. Be my guest. Jules clearly doesn’t care about her choice of men. You can have her.”
“Oh, those are fighting words.”
Ty snorted. “How are those fighting words? Unbelievable. Let’s just make it clear that you started this, notme.”
“Yeah,Idid, and I’m gonna enjoy every part about losing my part of good ol’ Aunt Priscilla’s inheritance. She’d probably approve, but rules are rules and I’ll be cut off. I think Jules is worth it, though, don’t you?”
Hedidlove her! Jules wove around her guitar to get to Roman. Her heart was singing again. And now she needed to get to him before he did something he regretted.
Chapter 18
Sure, Roman had every intention of getting into a fight with Ty in front of the cameras at Jules’s show. He knew he’d be the only one to blame and Priscilla would be forced to cut him from the will, but he had to show Jules that he didn’t care about that anymore. Still, he hadn’t planned on ruining the actual performance. All of that had changed as soon as Ty had gone onstage to ask Jules to marry him. Then there had been nothing left but to ride his bike through the backstage door.
Jules threw herself into his arms, and he let out an “oof,” stepping back at the impact. His whole body sagged at the relief of holding her again.
“No, no.” She pressed her face against his chest. “You don’t have to lose everything for me, no grand gestures. No more goodbyes!”
He groaned at the reminder of that song. It had scrambled his heart into one of his cheesiest omelet recipes, and it had been all he could do not to go to her while she’d sung it.
“I just want you!” she said into his ear, her breath soft against his cheek.
He smoothed back her hair, drinking in the familiarity of her face, her pink lips and intelligent brows. Was she truly here with him? She was wearing that same lacy blue dress and those cowgirl boots from that night he’d fallen in love with her. His eyes crinkled at the sides with the sudden lifting of his heart. “You took my dog,” he said.
She nodded. “Yeah… he misses you.”
“What about you?”
She held up her finger and he saw that she still wore his ring. “Someone told me that this thing was real.”
“Yeah, sorry. I’ll give you a fake one if you want. Just come back home with me. I guess you can bring the dog.”
