Page 46 of Star Crossed
Romeo tilted his head, a look of concern passing over his handsome face. “I don’t want you to be lonely.”
“I don’t want that either,” Jules said with a miserable laugh. “Anyway, I’m being a stick-in-the-mud. I got into a fight with Wyatt, and I’m having a hard time snapping out of it. Tonight’s probably not the best night for—”
“What can I do to make you forget that fight?”
Jules leaned in closer to the camera, unable to help the smile tugging at her lips. “What’re you offering, Mr. Wellings?”
Romeo smirked. “Exactlywhat you think I’m offering.”
“Are you sure?” Jules laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. “I think it’d be weird performing for a camera. I dunno if I can do it.”
“Performing doesn’t really bother me.” He quirked a dark eyebrow in challenge. “I’ll tell you a secret, Juliet.”
“Tell me,” Jules said instantly because she liked secrets.
“Back when I was young and wild,” Romeo started, looking a little bit hesitant as if he shouldn’t reveal this particular side of himself. “I used to be a stripper.”
Jules squealed and cupped her hands to her mouth in shock. She’d been born and bred in a town that loved gossip, and that was the mother lode of all secrets. When she did find her voice, she dropped her hands and smiled at him. “No, you didn’t!”
Romeo laughed. “I did, yeah,” he said, the tension seeming to seep out of his shoulders. “I was stuck with two kids to feed after my mom died, and I tried working construction and other crappy jobs. It just wasn’t cutting it, not even close, so I started stripping rather than let Tino and Nova starve. Not for nothing, but I madea lotmore money doing bachelorette parties than working construction. I did it for about a year before other shit came up.”
Jules knew what other shit came up. She had looked at his record at least a thousand times since Las Vegas. Now she wondered what had happened to his brothers once he’d gone to prison. If they’d been depending on him to keep food on the table, what kept them from starving? How did Romeo feel about being forced to leave them all alone? So many questions, but he hadn’t told her that particular secret, and she wasn’t ready to push him when it was obviously a painful memory.
She reached out, touching the computer screen when she thought about all he’d been through. Why did Clay win that championship belt when Romeo wanted it so badly and Clay had so many titles already? It all seemed so unfair. Romeo deserved to be happy, and Jules realized she desired it with every fiber of her being. To see all his hard work and suffering pay off. She wanted the world for Romeo, and she didn’t know how to give it to him.
She sat up and tilted the laptop’s screen to better capture all of her. “I’m going first.”
“Okay,” Romeo said, surprised. “Abrupt change of pace.”
“Hush before I change my mind,” Jules said and then pulled Wyatt’s football jersey over her head before she lost her nerve.
“God,” Romeo groaned and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he leaned in closer. “I fucking love your body.”
Not every man would agree with Romeo. Her body was more cut and angular than most women. She didn’t have the soft curves and cushy ass others did, but that didn’t feel like a bad thing when Romeo was looking at her like he was, desperate to see her after weeks with nothing but a voice to connect with.
“Are you gonna talk to me?” she asked, feeling shy despite her determination.
“Absolutely,” Romeo agreed, still studying her with rapt interest. “Slide back on the bed. Spread out those long legs for me.”
Romeo’s voice was suddenly low and compelling, that New York accent of his becoming extra thick like it always did when he was doing this, talking to her, turning her on.
Jules did as she was told, sliding back and grabbing the pillows. She propped them up against the headboard and leaned against them as she unfolded her legs. She stretched them out, planting her feet on either side of her laptop as she lay there in nothing but a pair of bikini-cut panties. Then she bit her lip, feeling torn between extreme embarrassment and sexual arousal as Romeo watched her, looking very intense and in charge of the situation.
“What’d you do when we’re talking?” Romeo asked curiously. “Do you touch your tits? Do you tease yourself a little first?”
“Honestly?” Jules asked, laughing self-consciously. “I’m not really one to beat around the bush. I usually get to the point.”
“That works for me,” Romeo said, his gaze still hot and intense. He eyed the pink, cotton material between Jules’s legs. “But you gotta take those off first. Lemme see all of you. I need it, Juliet. I didn’t even realize how badly I needed it until right now.”
The craziest part of all of this was it made her hot as hell, the idea of performing for him, turning him on with her body and her actions. She almost didn’t want to take off her panties. She’d just waxed the other day, and there was only a thin strip of blonde hair to hide her obvious arousal.
But Jules wasn’t shy, and she certainly wasn’t someone to half-ass something. She pushed off her underwear and then spread her legs once more. She knew he could see her blush because it felt white-hot as it rose from the back of her neck and spread to her face.
It was tempting to close her eyes and hide from his reaction, but she didn’t; she looked back at the computer boldly to see Romeo lick his lips. His eyes were a vibrant green against his tan skin. Even through the dimmed resolution of video chat, somehow his longing was palatable. Jules could actually see it, and it drew her in, making her forget the embarrassment.
“Do it,” he finally said, making it sound like finding his voice had been a challenge. “Lemme watch.”
Jules ran her right hand down her body, being more leisurely than she would’ve been if she hadn’t had an audience. She even touched her tits, the pads of her fingers running over her pink nipples, making them pucker. It was tempting to look away from Romeo’s intense gaze and study her own image in the small box in the corner of the screen, but she didn’t. This was for him, and if he liked what he was seeing, she wasn’t going to waste the energy convincing herself otherwise.
