Star-Crossed(139)

“It looks sexy,” she told him with a smirk as she took a sip of her water. “I’m proud of you.”

“I’m sorry you couldn’t come.” Romeo pulled her closer and placed a kiss on top of her head. “Next year.”

“This is the first year I haven’t done the 5K since I was a little kid.” She sulked.

“And you just dumped my pity tea.”

“The tea’s bad for you. I’ll buy you a lemonade. They’re selling some around the corner.”

“Forget it.” Jules wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him. The smell of coming rain permeated the air, and she looked up. “You wanna head back to Hal’s? You know it’s gonna pour and summer storms ’round here ain’t anything to laugh at.”





361

Romeo looked to the sky rolling with thunderclouds, making the summer heat sticky and humid. “Good plan.”

They walked slow, not because either of them couldn’t move faster. Jules was still getting around well despite a belly working hard at hiding her shoes from view, and Romeo ran the 5K with the big boys—really racing to win instead of walking like a lot of the residents. He hadn’t won, but he hadn’t done too bad either.

They were just enjoying the day. Jules waved to people who called out to her as she continued to lean heavily on Romeo, using her pregnancy as an excuse to get closer to him. Some days it was a little harder to forget she’d almost lost him, and she found herself getting clingy regardless of who was watching. If the town had a problem with Jules being close with her husband, they could go hang.

“Hey, getta room!”

Jules turned in Romeo’s arms, seeing Tino and Chuito coming up behind them.

She rolled her eyes and turned back around. She and Romeo had bought a house, and they were working on renovating it before the twins were born. Over the garage was a fully functional apartment that Tino had taken up residence in. Now she was tripping over Tino at home and Chuito at work.

“Check it out.” Tino dashed in front of them and threw out his chest triumphantly.

He pointed to his shirt. “See what that says?”

“I see it,” Jules said with a grin. “I saw it the last ten times you pointed it out.”

“Winner!” Tino ran his finger under the letters to better emphasize his point. “I killed it!”

“I was there,” Jules reminded him. The race had been exciting. The last five hundred yards had been a head-to-head sprint the whole way. “A photo finish.”

“Fucking second place.” Chuito shook his head in disgust. “I can’t believe that.

I’ve won the past two years, then this pendejo shows up.” 362



“I guess Tino’s done more running in his life than you.” Romeo arched an eyebrow at Chuito. “And that’s probably saying something.”

“Yeah, no shit, this guy can book it. Thug.” Tino pushed at Chuito’s shoulder. “I’ll bring my sick trophy over to the office for you to admire on a regular basis.” Chuito kicked at the back of Tino’s calf, forcing him to fall to one leg in the grass.

Instead of complaining or retaliating, he simply held up the trophy in his hand and kissed it with exaggerated flair as he looked mockingly at Chuito.

“Hey, take a picture of me.” Tino popped up like an overenthusiastic puppy.

“We’ll text it to Nova.”

“We’ve sent him at least twenty pictures today.” Romeo pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up. “I don’t think he gives a shit about this race. He has real problems, Tino.”

“Nah, he cares,” Tino said with confidence as he held up the trophy in front of him. He flashed a dazzling smile for the camera. After Romeo took the picture, Tino dropped to his knees next to Jules and held the trophy in front of her stomach. “Take one with Uncle Tino.”

Romeo laughed and took another picture.

“Take it sideways so Nova can see how huge she’s getting.”

“Get off me.” Jules shoved at his shoulder and then hit the back of his head for good measure. “I’m not huge.”

“It’s all baby.” Tino rubbed her stomach affectionately. “They’re big, strong boys like their Uncle Tino.”

“How gigantic are these kids gonna be?” Chuito asked as Romeo took a picture of Jules’s stomach sideways. “You’re both like—supersize.” Jules gave him a look. “Thank you, Chuito.”

The skies chose that moment to open up, and the rain came hard and fast, forcing them to make a dash toward Hal’s around the corner. Jules wasn’t supposed to be