Falling for Romeo (7 page)

She stopped. Her face heated. The colors in his eyes deepened as he swept her from head to toe. “Wow.” She thought the same of him. His wild dark hair was striking against the autumn colors in his clothing.

His golden skin set darker against the blousy white shirt underneath an ornately beaded vest in rich jewel tones.

Though she’d seen his legs plenty of times at the pool, when he wore shorts, while mowing his lawn his legs looked boyishly cute in hunter green tights now. She squelched a laugh. “Are those tights?” He shifted. “Shut up, will ya?”

“Oh.” The draft on her back had her turning her spine toward him. “Could you do me?”

“Excuse me?”

She shot him a grin. “Hurry. Chip’s gonna kill me.”

“You’re always late, Vien.”

“It’s my watch.”

“Hmm.”

He gently eased the zipper up. She went still. A line of heat traced from the bottom of the zipper all the way to the top. When he finished, she took a deep breath and turned. His dark brows were cinched over eyes now serious. “Thank you,” she said.

“No problem.”

As she turned to go to the stage, he stopped her with a light touch to her elbow.

“Jenn?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry about earlier. I was—I didn’t think anybody was in there.”

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She almost reminded him it wasn’t the first time he’d caught her nearly butt-naked. But the look on his face and the warm thickness in the air between them had her wondering if he already remembered. Neighbors.

Windows. Oops.

Shrugging made her feel better, like the incident was nothing. But it was. It was a naked dream come to life. And she was always the one naked.

He’d never remember his lines now. His brain was branded with the stark image of Jennifer in her underwear. The flash of vision hadn’t missed a thing and he cleared his throat as a fast, hot surge jammed his system. No, he’d pretty much seen it all.

He smiled.

Sweat popped out around his neck, under his arms.

Heat flushed him from head to toe. It was hot enough on stage. He didn’t need to think about Jennifer in her underwear. He lifted his tunic away from his body so air cooled his steaming skin. John stayed in the fringes of the stage watching and his gaze found her and only her.

Juliet talked to her mother, Lady Capulet, and her nurse trying to convince them that her love was justified, even if that love was forbidden.

John filled with awe. Jennifer was amazing. Every line flowed with emotion and passion. Her moves weren’t staged but completely natural. The way the lights glistened off her pale hair was like the sun and moon had become one. No one had eyes the color of blue diamonds like she did. So multi-faceted, he had to look k

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long and hard to believe they were real, and even then, that wasn’t enough.

At first he was afraid he might not be able to match her performance. She’d been doing this theater stuff way longer than he had. He’d even been to some of her plays over the years. He’d watched her abilities grow. Now she was just plain awesome.

He didn’t back down from the challenge because if he worked hard enough he could do it. None of it came naturally for him. Before he’d set one foot at a rehearsal he spent hours in front of mirrors practicing.

Jennifer simply walked onto the stage and
was
Juliet.

The kiss was coming and his heart tripped thinking about it. He almost kissed her last night. He wanted to.

It was a kick, seeing her all worried. But deep inside, something he’d never felt before happened when her eyes teared. Something that made him want to hug her.

More than that even. He wanted to comfort her.

He’d make sure the kiss they shared tonight was better than the last one. He never thought much about kissing. He thought it just happened, that nature took its course and then it was what it was. He wondered if more was expected of him. He scanned the faces of those in the room, most with their eyes on the action. A handful of eyes met his, girls mostly.

They’d all watch him kiss Jennifer.

Movement caught his eye. In the faded light shining on the front rows of seats, Alex Jesperson moseyed down the aisle. The football player’s body might have been moseying but John recognized the intense stare on the guy’s face. Intensely focused on…John followed Alex’s

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heavy gaze right to Jennifer. He looked from Jennifer to Alex.

No way.

The guy smiled and sat all husky and jock-like, propping his big feet on the seat in front of him. The sight grated at John like cleats on bare flesh. Jennifer hadn’t noticed Alex’s entrance since she was too focused on the scene. Almost time for the kiss. John relished his chance. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Alex. There wasn’t anybody at school he couldn’t hang with and he’d hung with Alex and Spencer and their friends before. But he had more than the play riding on this production.

John didn’t care why Alex was there. Whatever he had to do, he’d do. And right now, he had to make this kiss so hot that Jennifer melted into the floor.

Chip called a five-minute break. Most of the actors fanned themselves with their hands. Nobody dared moan about the heat, about how heavy and uncomfortable the rented, perfectly accurate renaissance costumes were. Chip was a perfectionist down to the finest detail: no fingernail polish for the ladies, no bleach-tipped hair for the guys and absolutely no jewelry or tat on any visible body part. Only Andrew had whined about that, knowing he’d have to put pancake makeup over the small tattoo of snakes sitting like a necklace around the base of his throat.

Jennifer wanted to unzip her dress and cool off but since that wasn’t possible she walked to the edge of the stage where lights dropped off into darkness. Maybe it k 0

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wasn’t as hot there as it was center stage.

She saw Alex. He sent a studly wave and mouthed,

“Hey.”

Jennifer looked around to see who he was waving at. When it was clear it was her he was scamming, her face scrunched. To make sure he didn’t blow the lid off their secret pact she went to him, holding her skirt up as she walked.

“Hey.” Grinning big, he sat forward. His eyes sparkled with something Jennifer didn’t recognize but looked on the edge of nasty. “You look good up there.” His low voice dropped to the gutter.

“Thanks.” She glanced over her shoulder at the stage. The sets were wonderfully detailed down to faux brick walls. The lattice John climbed to her balcony was brand new. He’d be safe on it, even if he did have to dodge a hedge of plastic red roses.

She searched for him and found him on stage standing with Chip, the two talking.

“So, what are you doing here?” She turned back around to Alex.

“I thought we could, you know, after the practice.

Want to?”

Her heart thumped. “Uh. Well. I’m not sure how long we’ll go. It gets late sometimes.” Alex reached out and looped some of her hair in his fingertips. A lazy grin spread across his face. “Can’t wait.” Jennifer stiffened.
Uh-oh. What have I done?

Brought a monster to life? No, Alex isn’t really a monster.

He’s a football player, heavy emphasis on the player.

“I’ll probably be really tired after,” she explained. “Really tired.”

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He still had her hair in his fingers, wasn’t letting go.

“I’ll wake you up.”

As casually as she could, she eased back. Her hair fell to the side of her face. Chip announced the five-minute break was over and relief coursed through her. “I have to go.”

Alex sat back in the chair, as if his butt was rooted.

“I’ll be right here.”

“Oh—okay.”

Jennifer wrung her hands as she walked back to the stage. The heat of every curious eye in the auditorium pricked her in the back. Snaky whispers snuck in the air.

Her gaze fell directly on John. His gaze bore into hers.

“Let’s take it from scene twenty,” Chip announced.

“John. Jenn.”

The stage cleared. Because scene twenty was the scene where they kissed, none of the cast disappeared backstage; they eagerly found seats in the auditorium.

“ ‘Kay you guys, we’ll start whenever you’re ready,” Chip called, his voice fading as he walked to the rear of the theater. “People, take your seats, we’re almost out of time.”

John only briefly looked down at the tape marking the spot on the dark wood floor. His eyes lifted to Jennifer’s. Raw determination set firmly in his jaw, fired bright colors in his eyes. Jennifer took in a deep breath. It wasn’t enough. She couldn’t think of her line.

The room was quiet as a tomb.

“Jenn?” Chip asked.

Her entire body flushed. “I’m ready.” Then she made herself walk to her starting mark.

John began.
“With love’s light wings did I o’erperch
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these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out.”
Intensity snapped in the hot air around John. Gold flecks in his eyes lit to fiery amber. Muscles in his arms and body flexed and moved with urgency. Jennifer almost lost her train of thought. She had to switch gears fast.

She forgot the bodies to her right and the scent of paint evaporated. When the music crested, cuing them to kiss, her heart soared with the violins. He took her hands.

Gently, he drew her toward him and the air was filled with everything wonderful and curious about him, past and present.

She wet her lips, looking at his as he spoke.

“Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty
of their swords. Look thou but sweet, and I am proof
against their enmity.”

She took a breath and said,
“I would not for the
world they saw thee here.”

“I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes.

And but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were
better ended by their hate, than prorogued, wanting of
thy love.”

The colors in his eyes shifted, like a rainbow moved by the breeze. Silence surrounded them. His head dipped. She closed her eyes, eager to taste the soft sweetness of him again.

“We’re out of time, guys,” Chip’s booming voice severed the silky silence.

Jennifer’s eyes shot open, John’s did the same.

Both moved back, still joined at their hands by the poetic exchange of words. Chip ordered the house lights up over moans and complaints barking from the cast who felt gypped not getting to see the kiss.

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“Sorry, guys.” Chip held up both hands as he quickly strode to the front of the stage, clipboard tucked under his arm. “But I’ve had a few complaints from parents who will remain nameless about rehearsals going too late.” Another round of groaning followed, snapped by accusations and finger pointing as the group tried to figure out whose parents snitched. Chip hoisted himself onto the lip of the stage. Jennifer expected John to let go of her hands. His face shadowed with something she’d not seen since they were much younger, when one day she chose to play with a new girl in the neighborhood over him.

When he finally let go, she crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her empty hands and watched him move across the stage to Chip.

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Six

There was no way to get out of it. Now Alex was following her home, his loud, fire engine-red truck with its diesel engine chugging behind her bright yellow VW like a roaring dragon after a baby duck.

As awkward went this moment, the next few moments, or however long they’d be at it, would rate as her most memorable. Jennifer really didn’t have any idea what to expect, having only kissed on stage that once.

Her parent’s kissed everywhere, in the car, at the mall, in restaurants. She’d seen kids kiss at school, in the hall, before class, on the grass at lunch. Just where did Alex intend to give her these kissing lessons?

She took her time parking in the driveway, even though she knew very well how to park the car. She powdered her chin and nose, looked at her scared eyes in her compact and then glanced in her rear-view mirror.

Alex’s big red truck sat idling in the street, its parking lights two dim embers of sin.

She swallowed.

She couldn’t stay in the car all night. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought ahead. How would she explain to her parents the red truck parked out front with windows that just might get steamy?

She got out of the car clutching her backpack to her chest like a shield. Alex was halfway up the driveway,

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his muscular form striding casually, confidently. Jennifer thought she must look like a nerdy third-string player readying to be tackled.

They stood facing each other in the unseasonably bitter cold air of the spring night.

“So.” Alex shrugged, smiled. “How about we get in my truck? It’s warm.”

Biting her lip, Jennifer nodded. “Okay. Sure.” Then she looked over her shoulder at her house, lights glowing from random windows. Her mother would come out, suspicious of any car she didn’t recognize, and Alex Jesperson’s red truck had not been a regular in the neighborhood.

“Just let me take my stuff inside,” she told him.

The house was warm and smelled of garlic and Italian sauce. The warmth didn’t take away the chill that lying caused her. She dropped her backpack in a chair in the front room. “Mom?”

“In here.”

Jennifer followed the sound of her mother’s voice and found her family around the kitchen table with two steaming pizzas, half devoured, in the center. Four liters of root beer were nearly empty. Her brother Parker had one liter possessively tucked in the crook of his arm. His right hand held a floppy triangle of pepperoni pizza at his eager mouth. He grunted. Little Amber reached for her liter bottle with two greasy hands. She stopped when she saw Jennifer, her red-smeared lips breaking into a smile.