I was shocked. He’d just moved his mom here and now he was planning on being out of town all the time. And more than that, Liam wasn’t a planner. He didn’t think of things like his schedule or where he was going to be that evening, let alone weeks or months in advance. This CiCi must be a pretty special woman.
We continued the meeting but it was cut short when he received a phone call. I immediately knew who it was from. His entire face lit up. I’d never seen him like that and I was happy for him. I was happy that he had love in his life and it gave me hope.
I admired Liam personally and professionally and if he and CiCi were going to have a long distance relationship, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for Romeo and me.
I stood to excuse myself and Liam stopped me. “Here. This is for you.”
He handed me an envelope with my name on it. I looked at him, trying to find a clue as to what it was but he’d already returned to his conversation. I stepped out of his office and opened the envelope to find a pink slip with a key attached to it. It was the title to a Chevy Bel Air and it had my name on it. Ownership had been transferred to me last week, before Romeo had even come to Oasis. It was never a rental. He’d bought me a car identical to my grandpa’s.
I was still absorbing that information when I saw that there was something else in the envelope. A letter. I pulled it out.
Dear Jules,
I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to reply. I’ll keep this short and sweet: I love you, too.
I’m not going back to California. I’m staying in Oasis. We don’t have to live together, although I hope we can. But if not, I’ll find a place as near to you as possible. I’ve already spoken to a few of your neighbors, so I have a backup plan. I know how much you love plans.
Speaking of planning, in the spirit of full disclosure, I feel I should tell you that I fully plan on marrying you. But I know that you need time to process things so I won’t ask you until you’re ready.
Just so there are no surprises, since that didn’t go so well last time. I’m waiting for you back at your condo. I may or may not be in sexy lingerie…you’re just going to have to come home to find out.
I love you, Jules!
I reread the letter. He wasn’t going back to California. He was staying. And he may or may not have on sexy lingerie.
CHAPTER 32
Romeo
“You’re moving to New Mexico.” Jessie spoke as soon as I answered the phone. No hello, how are you, just right down to business.
I’d sent her an email earlier outlining my plans and had been expecting her call. Her tone didn’t reveal whether she was happy for me or not. If I had to guess, I’d say not.
Publicists didn’t normally love when their clients decided to move to the middle of nowhere to settle down and live a quiet life.
“What are you going to do there?” she asked.
“I’m going to write and play, get back to basics.” I’d already looked online at several places where I could build a studio near the resort.
“Back to basics,” she repeated. “So, things went well, I take it?”
“It’s still a work in progress.” Jules and I still hadn’t had “the talk” but I loved her and I knew that she loved me. The rest was just semantics.
“You’re selling your Malibu beachfront house for a work in progress?”
“Yep.” I’d sell everything I owned and give up all rights to every song I’d ever written if it meant that I could be with Jules.
“New Mexico? Why can’t it be Nashville or New York?” she muttered under her breath.
Because my soulmate lives in New Mexico.
“And what about touring?”
In the email I’d sent her, I’d told her that all future plans would have to be readjusted to fit my new lifestyle.
“I don’t think that will be a problem, but I have to talk to Juliette.”
I wasn’t going to agree to anything without running it by her. It wasn’t just me anymore. We were an us. At least I hoped we were.
“Romeo and Juliette. If I hadn’t heard it from you, I wouldn’t believe it.” She sighed. “Keep me posted.”
“I will. Thanks, Jess.” I hung up the phone and checked the time. I assumed that Liam must’ve given Jules the letter by now. He’d told me his meeting with her was at five. Any second she’d walk through that door and we could start what I hoped was our forever.
I’d just started pacing when the door opened and Jules entered. She wore a dark, gray skirt that formed to her body like a second skin. She’d paired it with a navy blue top that complimented her fair complexion and her hair was pulled back off her face. I still wasn’t used to seeing her dressed like that but I had to admit, it was so hot.
“No lingerie?” Her left brow arched as she looked me up and down.
I glanced down at my T-shirt and jeans and grinned. “Are you disappointed?”
“Are you really staying?” The hopeful glimmer in her caramel stare caused my heart to swell in my chest.
“Yes.”
“Then no.” A wide smile spread across her face. The smile that I’d missed, and ached to see for years. “I’m not disappointed.”
I crossed to her in three long strides and picked her up in my arms. I buried my face in her neck as I said, “I love you, Jules.”
“I love you, too.”
Hearing her say those words, out loud, was the best sound in the world.
She held me tightly as she said, “Thank you for the car, but I can’t accept it. As much as I love having a car just like Papouli’s, I don’t need it. I don’t need cars, or things, I just need you.”
I leaned back, so I could look into her beautiful eyes. “It’s not a car just like Papouli’s. It’s his car.”
Her lips parted as her jaw dropped. “What?”
“I tracked it down and found the owner. Then I bought it and restored it exactly how he’d always talked about. I know you don’t need cars, and things, but it belongs with you. He’d want you to have it.”
She was silent for a moment before tears began to fall down her cheeks. She threw herself back against me and nuzzled into my neck.
“Thank you.” Her lips brushed against me as she spoke before and then I felt them press firmly to my skin.
I slid my hands beneath the waistline of her skirt, loving where this was going, but she shifted away from me. She leaned back and her eyes were locked on the place where she’d just kissed me.
“They really are my lips,” she spoke with a sense of wonder and awe.
I chuckled. “How long have you been wanting to do that?”
A coy grin tugged at the corner of her lips. “Since you told me last night.”
I playfully swatted her backside and she giggled before returning to her previous location, snuggled against me.
My arms tightened around her and just like I said in the song, I held my whole life in my arms. “I love you, Jules. And I really am sorry. For everything.”
Her chin tilted up and her eyes filled with a teasing glint. “You have plenty of time to make it up to me.”
I did. And I wasn’t going to waste a second of it.
EPILOGUE
Juliette
ONE YEAR LATER
“And last one, sign here.” The notary pointed to the final sticker with a yellow arrow on it.
“Are you sure about this?” I paused, not sure that I truly deserved this.
“Yes.” Liam said firmly.
“Okay.” Excitement bubbled up in my chest as I put pen to paper.
“Congratulations! You are now the majority owner of Oasis Hot Springs Resort and Spa!” The notary declared.
I felt tears begin to prick at my eyes as I looked up at Liam. “Thank you.”
He smiled back. “Thank you!”
Liam had spent the past twelve months splitting his time between New Mexico and Illinois. He’d started visiting every other weekend, like originally planned. But that quickly turned into
every weekend, and then soon he and his mom had relocated there. He’d only been back to Oasis a handful of times in the past six months.
In his absence, I’d stepped into his role, but now it was official. Unable to express fully in words what the gift he’d just given me meant, I hugged him.
“You earned this. I’m not doing you any favors,” he assured me.
The notary gathered the papers and when she left, Liam handed me the keys to his office.
I shook my head, not wanting him to feel like he didn’t have a place here. “You can keep your office. I have my own.”
“I know you have your own office, but this one is nicer and it has its own bathroom.”
A bathroom would be nice. “Good point.”
I took the keys and looked around, still in shock at the turn this morning’s meeting had taken. And a little overwhelmed by the fact that Liam really wasn’t going to be here anymore. He’d done so much for me and believed in me when I had nothing. If there was one thing that I’d learned being with Romeo over the past year, it was to never let anything go unsaid.
“Thank you, Liam. For everything. You took a chance on me when my resume only had food service on it. You constantly challenged me, but were always there to throw me a life preserver when I was in over my head. You gave me more responsibility than I’d earned. You never treated me any differently because I didn’t have a degree, and every time I brought it up you’d tell me that I had—”
“A PhD in running the world.” We both repeated the phrase he’d coined in unison.
I continued, “You trusted me with staffing decisions and always had my back whenever those decisions were called into question. You led by example by treating all of your staff with equal respect and expecting nothing less than the same in return. No job has ever been beneath you. You’d never ask any employee to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself. You build the people around you up and inspire them to be the best that they can be. You know your strengths and weaknesses and you accept both with equal grace, command, and class.
“You’ve been the best boss, mentor, and friend that I could’ve ever asked for. And I can truly say that I am the woman I am today because of the four years I’ve spent as your assistant.”
“Wow. I’m a pretty amazing guy.”
I laughed and gave him one more hug. “Yes you are.”
“You’re pretty okay, too,” he joked.
I stepped back, excited to report, “And everything is set for tomorrow.”
Liam was going to propose to CiCi and surprise her with a wedding here tomorrow. He’d flown in both of their mothers and her boys. “Is everyone here?”
“Yes. Alexis is on wrangling duty, so there won’t be any early sightings.” My assistant had seamlessly stepped into my shoes when I’d stepped into Liam’s. I wasn’t sure how I would’ve gotten through the past year without her. “And Shane is manning the bar to keep the bird from leaving the nest.” We had a bartender keeping CiCi occupied so she wouldn’t wander and accidentally run into any of her family.
Liam tilted his head to the side. “The bird from leaving the nest?”
“What do you expect?” I shrugged. “You give us a covert mission, there’s going to be code names.”
“Fair enough,” he chuckled.
We met everyone at the employee breakroom before Liam pulled off his romantic proposal. Everything went perfectly. CiCi was sincerely shocked and I watched the joy and love on both of their faces as Liam slid the ring on her finger. The family that we’d been keeping in hiding joined the newly engaged couple while Alexis and I stayed back, letting them celebrate.
As happy as I was for Liam, I couldn’t help but wish that I was the one getting a ring slid on my finger. I quickly shook that thought out of my head. I had nothing to complain about. My life was going better than I’d ever imagined, both professionally and personally. I’d just been made majority owner of Oasis Hot Springs Resort and Spa. Romeo and I had been together for a year and we were more in love than ever. We’d settled in and put down roots. We’d made a great group of friends. Jared had been out to visit a few times and I’d kept in touch with my father.
My phone buzzed. It was a text from Romeo.
Meet me at our picnic spot.
I smiled. About once a month he surprised me with lunch at “our picnic spot.” I wouldn’t normally take the time out with so much going on, but I couldn’t wait to share the news with him about the papers I’d just signed.
“I might be a little late coming back from lunch, but I’ll have my phone on me if you need anything, just—”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” Alexis smiled.
I practically skipped out of the resort and hopped in a golf cart. As I drove out to the spot, my mind was filled with details for the wedding tomorrow. Just like the proposal, everything had to go perfectly. I was so preoccupied that it took me a second to figure out what I was looking at when I got to my destination.
There were stacks of hay forming a maze. Rose petals lined the entrance, like a red carpet. I gasped as I got out of the cart and began down the path. With each step I took, my heart beat faster. By the time I reached the end of the trail and found Romeo on one knee, my pulse was racing so fast I was sure my heart was going to explode. And it might…with love.
Love for the man that was kneeling in front of me. I tried to inhale slowly through my nose, but it was futile. Tears had already started to spill down my cheeks and my breathing was so shallow that I was in danger of hyperventilating.
“Are you okay?” Romeo stood.
I waved him off as even more emotion crashed over me. Those were the first words he’d ever said to me. In a hay maze. This couldn’t be more perfect. “I’m fine. I promise.”
He kneeled once again and held out a box with a gorgeous pear-shaped diamond that sparkled in the sun. “Twenty-five years ago I found you in a hay maze, lost and scared. You’ve always said that I rescued you that day, but the truth is you rescued me. And I didn’t even know I was lost.
“When my mom left, she took a part of me with her. I didn’t trust people anymore. I was only ten but there was ice around my heart. I didn’t believe in the good in people. But the moment you took my hand and trusted me, a little part of that ice started to melt. And over the years, it continued melting until my heart only beat for you.
“It’s always been you, Jules. No matter where I was, or what was going on in my life, you were my safe place. You were my home. You were my heart. You were my perfection. And I know that we lost a lot of time together, but I don’t want to waste another second.
“Juliette Hannah Pierce, will you marry—”
“Yes!” I blurted out before he even finished the question.
Romeo stood and lifted me into his arms and I heard an eruption of cheers behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Jared, Alexis, my father, Romeo’s father, and several of our friends clapping and whooping in the distance.
“It looks like we have another wedding to plan,” Alexis enthused.
“I can help,” Jared offered, and my jaw dropped.
Not just because my brother volunteered to help, but also because of the look in his eyes as he stared at the blue-eyed, brunette beauty. It hit me then that my assistant and my brother had never met before. My first instinct was to tell my brother to back off, but instead I just smiled. Maybe I was caught up in the moment or maybe it was just that I’d never seen that look in his eyes before. I had to admit, they made a striking couple.
“Thanks.” A shy smile lifted on Alexis’s lips as a blush spread on her cheeks.
“Did your brother just offer to help?” Romeo whispered in my ear.
“He did.”
Oh boy. Maybe the staff was right, maybe there really was love in the air.
And if that was the case, then I wanted to breathe it in forever.
THE END
Stay tuned for more Steamy Weekends…
We will be returning to Oasis
in 2021
with
Alexis and Jared’s story!
A Note From Melanie and Shawna
Hello party people! You are not seeing things, there are two of us, and we’re sisters. *cue: We Are Family by Sister Sledge*
That’s one factoid about us and if you’d like to get to know us better then make sure to like our Facebook page and join us in our reader group: Club HEA with Melanie Shawn where we provide a place of support, friendship, and share our love of not only books but also movies, music, life hacks, fitness, kids, friendships, love, food, the daily grind, wine and other adult beverages, and hero inspiration in the form of hot guy pics. (And make sure to say HI and tell us something about yourself when you join!)
We hope you enjoyed your stay at the Oasis Hot Springs Resort and Spa. We frequently get asked to write virgin, rock star, brother’s best friend romances so we decided to put it all in one book! And for an extra dash of romance we named the characters Romeo and Juliette. Romeo and Jules were destined to be together, and we hoped you enjoyed the ride to get them there.
Want to know the soundtrack of Bailey and Josh’s love story? Check out their playlist below.
I Will Always Love You – The Rolling Stones
Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars
In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
The Way You Look Tonight – Frank Sinatra
A Thousand Years – Christina Perry
You’re the Inspiration – Chicago
Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
When a Man Loves a Woman – Michael Bolton
Hero – Enrique Iglesias
Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
All of Me – John Legend
Let Me Love You – Mario
Resisting Romeo (Steamy Weekends Book 3) Page 16