Romeo had to agree. The very last thing he expected to be doing on his remaining night in Las Vegas was having dinner with Wyatt Conner’s sister. He’d spent a good deal of time hating the bastard. The irony wasn’t lost on him, and his smile was wide as he took Jules’s card when she offered it. He stared at her cell number on the back.
“I’m not your enemy.” Romeo lifted his gaze to hers and studied her beautiful face under the bright Nevada sun. “Juliet.”
She gasped in surprise, her eyes growing wide. “I don’t—” She floundered. Her cheeks flushed pink as she narrowed icy eyes at him. “How?” 26
“That’s what Jules is short for, isn’t it?” he asked simply, refusing to look away.
“Juliet.”
“I go by Jules,” she said rather than rise to the bait. For a brief moment it looked like she might reach over and snatch the card back. Her guard was obviously up, but instead of lashing out and rescinding the offer, she looked to his left hand that was wrapped in a white gauze bandage and sighed in defeat. “I’ll see ya at eight, Wellings.”
“I go by Romeo.”
“Fine.” Jules took a deep breath, her cheeks more flushed than ever. “Then eight o’clock, Romeo.”
He did it then, took one long, hard look of Jules Conner standing there in formfitting jeans that clung to her long legs like a second skin. It took everything he had not to adjust himself, because eyeing her made his jeans tighter than usual.
Romeo gave her a devious smile. With a voice low and husky with anticipation, he said, “I’ll look forward to it.”
27
Chapter Two
“Why don’t we just order room service?”
Jules paused from her search through her suitcase and looked up at Wyatt stretched out on her bed, watching her television. It was obvious he planned to camp out in her hotel room all night. “Ain’t ya got a room of your own?” Wyatt flipped the channel. “What the fuck am I supposed to do in my own room?”
Jules rolled her eyes, knowing Wyatt was clingy because of the drama with Clay.
It shook her up too. The bullet could have easily hit Clay’s heart. Then they would have been dealing with a real crisis instead of an extended stay in Las Vegas while they waited for the hospital to set Clay loose on the world once more.
Usually she’d have been perfectly content to hang out in the hotel room with her brother. Wyatt was like a bad habit, one she’d formed in the womb and hadn’t been able to break in thirty-three years. The sad truth was the two of them irritated the hell out of each other, but they were still inseparable.
Maybe things would be different if Wyatt hadn’t gotten his heart broken at a young age and stopped his search for female companionship. Jules wasn’t exactly a champion in the dating department either, so she took half the responsibility for this dysfunctional disaster.
“Why dontcha go out, Wy?” Jules stared at her brother, bare-chested and barefoot on her bed. It pained her to admit it, but he was a very handsome man. There really was no reason for him to be as lonely as he was. “This hotel’s crawling with beautiful women who’d love to spend time with you. You’re as famous as Clay, probably more 28
so because you don’t growl at anyone who looks in your direction. Take advantage of it for once.”
“I thought you hated groupies.”
“At least they got a pulse. Enjoy the time off work. Go live a little.” Wyatt lifted his gaze to her, blue meeting blue as he said, “You’re telling me to get the fuck out of your room and go get laid.”
Jules lifted her eyebrows as she studied him sprawled out on her bed. “Pretty much.”
“And catch Hep-C.” Wyatt pulled a face of distaste. “No, thanks. I’ll just hang out here and order room service.”
“Always the romantic.” Jules cursed life for sticking her with such a difficult twin.
“I swear, you can put anyone off on dating. When’d you get so cynical?” Wyatt didn’t answer, because it was a rhetorical question. They both knew the moment he turned from a hopeless romantic to a bitter, cynical man who didn’t understand anything past duty and work.
“You’ve turned into Daddy,” she told him, though it wasn’t the first time. “I hope you know that.”
Jules abandoned her search through the suitcase and walked to the closet. She pulled out the last clean dress she’d brought with her. This was the dress she’d brought just in case. It wasn’t a business outfit. It wasn’t a going out with Clay and Wyatt outfit.
This was a “fuck me” dress, and she stared at it in trepidation. It’d been a very long time since she wore a dress like this.