Page 50 of Star Crossed
“Go put some clothes on,” Jules said without looking up from her computer. “You know you can’t be walking ’round half-naked. Her father would burn this office to the ground if he saw that. He’s already fit to be tied over you two living in the same building, and I’m not even getting into your flirting. You got to stop that. You know that girl’s naive.”
“Maybe I’m naive too,” Chuito said in a low, playful voice.
Jules glanced up from the computer, giving Chuito an unimpressed look.
“What?” Chuito’s smile grew teasing and devious. “I could be innocent; you don’t know I’m not.”
“I know plenty. Now go put a shirt on. This is a place of business.”
Chuito leaned down and got in her face. “You’re welcome, Jules.”
“Thank you, Chuito,” Jules said in a singsong voice. “If you get dressed, I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Sounds good to me.” Chuito turned with his coffee in hand and headed up the stairs.
Jules went back to work. The phone rang more than usual for a Monday, and it took her a few minutes to get to her cell phone when it buzzed on her desk. She picked it up, glancing at the picture on the screen and then frowning. Work had distracted her, and for a moment the wires felt crossed in her brain. She slid her finger across the screen to get a closer look.
Below a picture of the Garnet city limit sign was a text from Romeo.
Where’s the nearest restaurant? Starving.
Jules’s heart rate picked up because there in living color was something she’d been trying to deny knowledge of all morning. This was actually happening. Romeo was in Garnet, and Jules was in so much trouble.
She hadn’t just spent one night with him in Las Vegas. She’d spent nearly every night since then with him. His voice had been the last thing she’d heard before she closed her eyes to sleep for the past three months. Now there was no denying the obvious—she was in a relationship with this man.
And he was here.
Despite the problems it caused, she just wanted to see him again. To hold him. To feel those big arms wrapped around her. There were so many things she wanted to do with him—to him—and she’d been looking forward to this day for the past week when Romeo had finally cleared his schedule and given a date.
She texted Romeo an address and then stood up and screamed at the top of her lungs. “Chuito! If you wanna eat, you better be down here in three minutes!”
Alaine stopped filing and turned to look at Jules in surprise. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Jules walked to the coatrack and grabbed her coat off a hanger. “Get your coat, darlin’. I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Really?” Alaine perked up, her gaze darting to the ceiling as if she could see Chuito through it. “But—”
“Trust me, you two sitting in the same booth is the last thing this town is gonna be talking ’bout today. And if your preacher of a daddy don’t approve, who gives a shit? Chuito’s your friend, and I’m tired of telling you to hide it. We both have to learn to start living our lives the way we wanna live it.”
“Well, okay, then.” Alaine turned away from the file cabinet without a backward glance. “I’ll get my coat and make a sign.”
Alaine taped a handwritten sign on the door to the office stating what time they’d be back from lunch, and listed Jules’s cellphone number in case of emergency. Chuito barely made it past the closed door because Jules was determined to get where she was going and if Chuito’s free lunch was a casualty—so be it.
Once outside Jules pulled her keys out of her purse and then pushed the button to unlock her car doors.
“Can I drive?” Chuito asked as he zipped up his coat.
“Boy, you better stop fussing with that coat and get in the car,” Jules said as she used the reflection of the window to her Mercedes to fix her hair.
“I’m Puerto Rican. I need my coat zipped up in this cold ass weather. What’s the hurry? Is Hal’s running out of food?”
“Just get in the dang car.”
She slid into the driver’s side just as Alaine sat in the passenger seat next to her. Jules pulled down the visor and put lipstick on while she waited for Chuito to get into the backseat. He wasn’t moving any faster despite Jules’s obvious impatience because Chuito had a hard time functioning before noon.
“You sure I can’t drive?” Chuito complained as he closed his door. “I feel like I’m gonna die when we let you behind the wheel.”
“That ain’t a lie.” Alaine smiled. “The only one worse is the sheriff. Maybe it’s a cop thing.”
