uncomfortable. She was too big to carry; both her bathroom scale and her doctor knew she was no pixie. Barefoot, she was five-eleven and though she was fit, she was also muscular and that tipped the needle more than most realized, but Romeo wasn’t a lightweight either. Quite the opposite, he was a professional UFC heavyweight and it showed. It made her feel soft and feminine in a way she never had before and until this moment she hadn’t realized how desperately she needed the experience. Instead of fighting it, she savored it by wrapping her arms around Romeo’s neck and enjoying how nicely they fit.
The room was large and opulent in grand Las Vegas style, with a separate bedroom that was twice as big as the one she had back home.
“This is a nice room,” Jules observed as Romeo laid her down on the king-size bed.
Romeo smirked and leaned over her. His hands buried themselves in the comforter on either side of Jules’s head as he studied her. “Are you gonna hurt me for saying you’re worth it?”
Jules shook her head, her voice cracking with more emotion than she wanted it to be. “No.”
“I want this night to be special,” Romeo admitted, sounding embarrassed as he did. His gaze ran over her for one hot moment before he sighed. “I need it—something nice. Something to make life feel like it’s worth living, you know?” Two nights ago Jules had been celebrating this man’s defeat. She had shouted in triumph when Clay laid into Romeo viciously enough to be crowned heavyweight champion of the world, and everything about the moment had been amazing. Now the memory nearly ripped her heart out, and the realization was as bizarre as everything else about this night. She couldn’t give Romeo Wellings a heavyweight belt, but she could give him one night if that’s what he needed, because Lord knew, Jules needed it too.
55
“Lemme see you,” Jules whispered as she ran one hand up his arm, tracing her fingers over the powerful lines of his bicep through his white shirt. “All of you.” Romeo pulled away from her and stood to loom over the bed—tall, dark, and sexy—as he undid the cuff links at his wrists. He set them on the nightstand and then pulled open his shirt confidently, looking like a man who knew he was attractive.
“You too.” He stared pointedly at her panties. “Even trade, skin for skin.” Jules leaned up and undid her garters. She shimmied out of her panties as Romeo tossed aside his shirt. It wasn’t even close to an even trade skinwise, but Jules wasn’t exactly shy and Romeo did look amazing shirtless. Then she was pulling off her heels as Romeo leaned down to tug off his shoes and socks. She thought of leaving on her stockings, just for novelty reasons, but something in her wanted to be completely naked with him.
The comforter was scratchy and hot, so Jules worked at pushing that down to the bottom of the bed. She was crawling back to the pillows, tugging out her gold hair clip along the way, when Romeo reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of condoms.
He tossed them on the bed next to her, and Jules couldn’t help but look at the brand.
Stark naked, still on her hands and knees, Jules grinned like the Cheshire cat.
“Those are big-boy condoms.”
Bare-chested and barefoot, Romeo held out his hands and looked down at himself as if it were obvious. “I’m a big boy.”
Jules flopped onto her back, not even bothering to hide her anticipation. Her cheeks hurt from smiling as she snuggled into the bed, feeling alive and enthusiastic because she’d always had too much energy to be normal. She placed her hair clip on the nightstand and then eyed Romeo expectantly. She took in all of him: big, broad chest made of rock-hard, massive muscles; the deep ridges of a defined eight-pack; the small trail of hair that led beneath the waistband of his dark gray slacks. She licked her lips as she eyed the outline of his dick, hard and straining for freedom.
56
“Let’s see it,” she said, still smiling broadly. “Skin for skin, that was the deal and that’s all I got going here. There ain’t nothing left to show, only what my mama gave me.”
Jules even kicked at the edge of the comforter touching her calf, pushing it farther down the bed to make sure all of her was visible in fear of him welching on their deal.
Jules was an admirer of fine male bodies, and they didn’t get any finer than Romeo
“The Gladiator” Wellings.
Romeo laughed at her antics and shook his head. “Not exactly timid, are you?”
“Not a day in my life,” Jules confirmed. “Bold is my middle name.”
“I like that,” Romeo said, his voice low and husky with desire as he studied her sprawled out on the bed, hair fanned out over the white pillow, long legs bent, spread apart eagerly. He even tilted his head to eye the thin, blonde strip of hair between her legs. “You really turn me on, Juliet. I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who turns me on like you do.”