After several long minutes Chuito came stumbling down the stairs with his short, dark hair still mussed from sleep. He wore only a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips, showing off the word Slayer tattooed over the deep ridges of his stomach muscles in thick, black, Old English letters.
Chuito rubbed a hand over his face as he walked up to Jules’s desk. “Okay, what is it you need me to say?”
“They called me.” Jules shrugged. “It’s got to be ’bout that adoption I’m working on for the Handovers.”
Chuito took the phone, speaking Spanish before he looked to her. “They got your request, and they’re just calling with a list of requirements.” Jules fell into her seat and rolled up to the computer. “Give ’em to me.” 142
Translating all the information took a while, and Alaine brought Chuito a cup of coffee, placing it on Jules’s desk next to where he stood. Chuito said something into the phone and then placed his hand over the receiver to grin at Alaine. “Gracias. ” Alaine shrugged, looking pleased. “De nada. ”
“Ah.” Chuito’s smile grew broader. “I see I’m starting to leave an impression. It only took three years.”
“Aren’t you on the phone?” Jules said, looking pointedly at the receiver in his hand.
Chuito went back to the conversation, and by the time he was done, Jules had a fresh new to-do list for the Handover case. She was still working on it as Chuito stood there sipping his coffee.
“Go put 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 ain’t 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
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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 a 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 ya 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?
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Chuito’s your friend, and I’m tired of telling you to hide it. We both got to learn to start living our lives the way we wanna live it.”