Jules was by the scale, taking long, gulping drinks out of her water bottle. It drew Romeo’s attention to her mouth and the way her throat worked as she swallowed. He jumped up and headed toward her like a moth to a flame. Trying to seem inconspicuous, he stepped on the scale, just looking for an excuse to get closer. He messed with the weights, not really seeing the numbers as he stared at the back of her 174
neck, shiny with sweat. He’d love to bury his face against it as he was fucking her from behind, licking, tasting the adrenaline that always bled off her when she got worked up.
Jules looked over curiously, and her eyebrows rose. “Why do I see a sauna in your future?”
Romeo frowned at Jules’s comment and then looked to the scale automatically, finally paying attention to how far down the number scale that weight was sliding, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, SHIT! This couldn’t be right, eighteen, nineteen—
“Is this fucking thing broken?” he whispered in horror.
“It’s a regulation scale,” Jules said and then let out a low whistle. “Two seventy.
That’s five pounds over weight class, big boy.”
“This isn’t funny, Juliet,” Romeo snapped.
Her eyebrows shot up for an entirely different reason, and she looked around to see if anyone had heard him. When she saw they were alone, she stepped closer, her eyes suddenly soft. “It’s five pounds. That ain’t nothing. Wyatt used to take ten pounds off the night before a fight just sweating it out in a sauna.”
“What sorta heavyweight goes over the upper limit?” Romeo looked at his bare stomach in concern. He’d been eating at that Hal’s place nearly every day, and he was feeling very content and complacent with Jules. Didn’t guys gain ten pounds the moment they fell into a real relationship? “Am I getting fat?”
“No.” Jules giggled and poked at his side. “Don’t know why you’re glaring at that scale like it’s lying to you. You’ve been working out with Clay six days a week doing different exercises than you’re used to, building different muscles. More running, less bench pressing, you’ll be fine. Talk to Wyatt if you get too big. He could write a damn book on how to take weight off before a fight.”
“Pass,” Romeo said with a grimace. “Your brother’s been treating me like I polluted his town by dragging my fat guido ass down here.”
175
“You’re not fat.” Jules poked him in the ribs again, not bothering to deny the rest.
She leaned into him and said in a low voice, “I think ya look sexier than ever.”
“You working late tonight?” Romeo asked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
“I might be.” A ghost of a smile quirked at Jules’s lips. “What’re you gonna do if I am?”
“Maybe I can help?”
She laughed. “What the heck can you help with?”
“I was thinking something along the lines of manual labor. I could vacuum, take out the trash, or maybe…clean under your desk.”
“Sensei?”
Jules jumped. Romeo did too, and the scale rattled from the force of it as they both turned around guiltily. A young, pretty brunette, with long, curly hair tied back in a ponytail, and a black obi wrapped around her waist, winced at Romeo. “Sorry.” Romeo shook his head, knowing she was one of Jules’s advanced students. “It’s okay.”
“Wow, look at you.” The brunette leaned forward, staring at the scale. “You’re five pounds over your weight class. I ain’t never heard of that happening to a heavyweight. What happens when—”
“What’d you need, Danielle?” Jules interrupted her.
“Oh.” Danielle smiled, as if only now remembering what she’d come to talk to Jules about. She pointed over to where Tino was. “He said he’d volunteer to be uke.” Jules looked over at Tino curiously. “Really?”
Romeo stepped off the scale and glanced back to the punching bags, finding that Tino had abandoned his workout and was talking to two of Danielle’s friends. Romeo narrowed his eyes because he’d deliberately told Tino not to fuck around at Jules’s place of work. That could cause complications they didn’t need, because Tino tended to create drama when it came to women, but Romeo supposed he was getting desperate.
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With as hard as they’d been working, Tino hadn’t had the energy to look for a party.
That left the Cuthouse Cellar as his sole source of socialization.
“Uke for your class,” Romeo said, remembering Clay’s warning. “But—” Danielle shrugged. “He just offered.”