Page 26 of Star Crossed
“Why dontcha share with the whole car what’s so funny?”
Jules looked up from her phone, seeing that everyone was looking at her. She felt her cheeks heat once more and grabbed her purse on the floor to hide her phone in it. Then she looked out the window as a distraction when she saw both Melody and Clay grinning at her in amusement. Seeing the signs announcing various drop-off and pickup points at the airport had Jules breathing a sigh of relief.
She sprang out of the car when they finally pulled up on the curb, getting her second wind from the knowledge that they were almost home free. The press had been hounding them all day. At the hotel, at the hospital it’d been constant, and Clay hated the attention on a good day. One day after being shot in the soft spot beneath his right shoulder, with no pain management save a couple of ibuprofen, keeping Clay media-friendly was almost impossible. Especially when he was still overprotective of Melody, whose ex-husband was the one who’d shot him. That asshole was still in the hospital with a serious head injury courtesy of Clay. They weren’t entirely certain he was going to recover to stand trial, and all of them were treading lightly trying not to mention it. Having Clay nearly kill Melody’s ex-husband with his bare hands was a touchy subject. The last thing they needed was more tactless reporters firing questions at them.
Jules went to grab someone to check their luggage at the curb. She had everyone’s ticketing information, but they needed IDs and once she got herself handled, she headed back to the car.
“I can carry my own bags,” Clay snapped at Wyatt, who flat-out refused to let Clay mess with the luggage.
Wyatt laughed. “Really? ’Cause that sling on your shoulder and the fact that you’re growling at me like an injured grizzly tells me you can’t.”
“Just go give the guys your license and head inside. Take Melody with you. We need to get y’all off this curb as quickly as possible.” Jules took her carry-on out of Wyatt’s hand and tossed it over her shoulder before she turned around and hollered to Tony and Jasper, Clay’s coaches, who were getting their things out of the other limousine that had pulled up behind them. “Y’all need to go give them your IDs.”
Jasper left his luggage on the curb and walked up to Jules. “Do we need our tickets?”
“Nope, it’s all electronic.” Jules tossed Melody’s carry-on over her other shoulder while Wyatt helped the limousine driver unload the luggage they were going to check. She saw them put Clay’s carry-on on the cart and grabbed Wyatt’s arm. “Get that. He’s taking that one on the plane. It’s got his medicine and everything in it.”
Wyatt frowned. “He’s not taking the medicine. What’s the point of carrying it on? And don’t say just in case ’cause you know his arm could be falling off and he wouldn’t take the darn pills.”
“Just grab the bag.”
Wyatt grabbed it and tossed it over his shoulder with his own carry-on bag, leaving the two of them standing there looking like an oddly matching pair of weighted-down travelers.
Jules struggled to search through her purse while pushing Melody’s carry-on higher on her shoulder, knowing she owed the driver a large tip. She was handing the guy a fifty when Wyatt nudged her and said, “Look what the cat dragged in.”
She turned to see three large, luxury limousines parked on the curb in front of them. In comparison to these vehicles, the ordinary airport shuttle limos Jules had rented looked old and mediocre. Car doors were still opening, and every man who stepped onto the curb was olive-skinned and undeniably Italian, but there was one who stood head and shoulders above the others. He wore designer sunglasses and one of those flat-topped, military-style black baseball hats that were in fashion now, but it did nothing to hide his identity. Like Clay and Wyatt, something about a heavyweight UFC fighter just screamedlook at me. They were larger than life, impossible to miss, and never hidden by caps and sunglasses.
“Those guys pack more than a flock of trophy wives,” Wyatt observed when their driver started to unload. “That’s a lot of luggage.”
“There’s more of them,” Jules said defensively, though she had to admit theydidhave a lot of luggage. “They got twice as many people on their team.”
“He’s got an entourage.” Wyatt grabbed the last bag and handed it to the skycap waiting for them to finish unloading. “How city is that? He thinks he’s a fucking rock star.”
“Leave it alone.” Jules turned to Wyatt rather than stand there gawking at Romeo, who still hadn’t noticed them. “Romeo did save Melody. Please don’t forget that.”
“You’re calling him Romeo now? Like we’re buddies with him or something? What the hell kinda name is Romeo anyway?”
Jules gaped, feeling vaguely insulted. Romeo wasn’t any more odd a name than Juliet was. “Just try and remember our daddy raised you with manners.”
Her purse buzzed, and she wrestled once more to search through it. She tilted the phone to read the text, using the dimness of her purse to make the screen easier to see.
Hey, sexy.
Jules glanced up to the other team still unloading and found Romeo next to the skycap station looking in her direction. For one brief moment time seemed to stand still as she admired him wearing designer jeans that had been professionally faded and a tight black T-shirt with a Chinese dragon on the front. It showed off his powerful chest and massive biceps that were impossible not to appreciate. He was completely New York, trendy and hip in a way Jules found herself drawn to. Romeo was so different from the men she knew, and she liked that about him.
She smiled because she couldn’t help it. Romeo tilted his head and smiled back. Despite his dark sunglasses, Jules got the distinct impression he was studying her too, and the thought affected her. A white-hot rush of desire swept through her as she remembered what it felt like to be skin to skin with Romeo, his big body crushing her into the mattress as they moved together. The soreness between her legs became more pronounced at the memory, and she shifted uncomfortably.
“You gonna let this driver earn a living, or you gonna stand there all day?”
Jules blinked, realizing she was still on the street behind the car and the driver couldn’t leave until she stepped away.
“Oh hell.” She jumped onto the curb next to Wyatt and asked, “Didja tip the skycap?”
Wyatt shook his head. “I thought you did.”
“Shit.” Jules forgot about Romeo and ran up to the skycap already processing their luggage. She shoved the bags on her shoulder out of the way and pulled her wallet out of her purse. She grabbed the first large bill she could find, tipping him a hundred dollars. “Here you go.”
“Wow, thanks!” the young skycap said, giving her a beaming smile. “I’ll take good care of your stuff.”
