Page 24 of From Rome, With Hate
“You don’t hate me,” I tell her. If she did, she wouldn’t be reacting to me this way.
Her gaze is cast down because she’s unable to look me in the eye. At least until I’m lifting her face with my fingers. I press them gently under her chin. Her eyes sparkle under the bathroom lighting. Fuck, I want her so badly.
The air is tense, stifling my lungs. I lean closer, bringing my mouth dangerously close to hers.
“Stop telling me what I feel.” She tosses my words back at me.
I chuckle, the corner of my mouth tilting. “I like your smart mouth, Lark.”
“You never have before.” She pulls back, looking past my shoulder. “No Macy tonight?”
“No Macy ever.”
Tipping up her chin, she firms her jaw. “How can I trust you?”
“Because I was willing to risk my reputation by following you into this bathroom.” I step forward again, placing my fingers under her chin once more, hovering my mouth above hers, aching to taste her.
“Someone could walk in and see us.”
“I don’t care,” I lie. I do care. Only because I know if someone sees us together, the rumor will spread like wildfire. The Montgomery prince and Capuleti princess caught together.
Julianna lets out a small moan as my fingers move along her jaw to her cheek, then behind her ear. We’re almost there. I feel her breath brushing my lips, begging to be put out of their misery. The silence. Her averted gaze. All of it is utter torture.
“I should still hate you.” She softly closes her eyes before flickering them open again.
“But you don’t.”
The only reply I get is a heavy breath and a subtle, very minute shake of her head. A silent answer, one only I can hear.
I lift my other hand to cradle her other cheek when her eyes drop to my arm to look at the fresh ink scarring my still-healing skin.
“New tattoo?”
“My first.” I force myself to look away from the beautiful woman in front of me and down at the snake wrapped around my wrist, up to my elbow. “Birthday present from my dad.”
Julianna’s brows knit. “Interesting gift from your dad.”
“It’s a Montgomery thing.” I don’t really want to talk about this here. Or at all. “We all get the same one on our eighteenth birthday.”
“Oh.” She runs her hand along the serpent. “Well, happy birthday, then.”
“It was four days ago. I’m just glad it’s over.”
“You’re eighteen, Rome. You shouldn’t want your birthday to be over.”
“In my family, I do,” I admit. What the hell? I’ve never been this open with Julianna before. Well, duh, of course I haven’t. But then I remember why I fell for her so easily in her emails and letters. She’s easy to talk to, and despite the hatred she may still have for me, I get the sense she also understands me.
“Lark…” I start, pressing my fingers against her cheeks.
She shakes her head and pulls my hands away from her face. “Not here, Rome. Not here.”
“Where, then?” I ask, hoping this means she wants to meet with me again. Maybe in a place where our entire senior class isn’t waiting on the other side of the door. “When?”
“Not tonight. I’m staying here, at Sola’s.”
“You are?”
“Yep.” I can’t look away from her mouth. “We’re celebrating my eighteenth birthday. I wanted to spend it at my best friend’s house. I mean, it’s not as crazy or exciting as getting a snake tattoo…” Her gaze shifts to my arm again before a laugh is spilling from her pretty mouth.
