“Do you think you’d be married with children?”
“Maybe. I’d like to have a couple of kids someday.” He lifted his chin. “What about you? Where would you like to be?”
“Well, I’ll be thirty-two in five years, so I’d love to be married and have a child. Possibly even pregnant with a second.” I smiled, imagining it. “I’d love to continue working, too. Maybe part time. To me, that would be the best of both worlds. My mom never worked, and I feel like her identity was her family, and she could’ve used something of her own to be passionate about.”
“That sounds nice.”
I sighed. “Too bad it will likely never happen.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for starters, since I moved out to California, I haven’t even told a man my real last name. Imagine dating me for a while and then one day I drop a bomb that my last name isn’t what I go by and oh, by the way, my dad is Vince Ginocassi, head of one of the five families.” I scoffed. “I’m pretty sure Jett would’ve run the other way if I’d told him.”
Wes scoffed. “Jett’s a weasel. I told you, any real man won’t care about who your family is. He’ll take you for who you are, no matter what obstacles come with it.”
“I guess I haven’t met any real men then yet.” I placed a palm on Wes’s chest. “Present company excluded.”
He didn’t respond, but I heard his breathing grow labored. My heart pumped faster.
“As long as we’re living in the land of make believe,” I said. “Could you…see yourself coming home to me?”
“I thought I was a cop.”
I smiled. “You are. I didn’t mean come home to me because you work for my dad. I meant because you want to.”
“Juliette…”
“What? You said in the car that wanting me wasn’t a problem. Are you attracted to me?”
“I think you know the answer to that.”
“Maybe. But I’d really like to hear you say it.”
Wes was quiet for a long time again. When he spoke, his voice was gritty. “You’re unbearably beautiful. When I look at you, it’s impossible to think of anything else. A lack of attraction is probably the one issue we don’t have.”
My heart thumped. “I’m very attracted to you, too.”
Maybe I was a glutton for rejection, but I couldn’t help myself lately. “We could…spend one night in the land of make believe and go back to reality tomorrow.” I gnawed on my bottom lip and lowered my voice. “I really want to touch you right now, Wes.”
He let out a loud, painstaking groan. “Fuck.”
“What? Don’t you want to touch me?”
“It doesn’t matter what I want, Juliette.”
“Because of my dad?”
“Because I can’t get involved with someone I’m protecting. That’s dangerous for more than one reason. I need to keep my mind and emotions sharp, not clouded with things that distract me from doing my job.”
Because of the way I grew up, I could understand that, at least in theory. Though in reality, I wasn’t ableto let go of my idea. “What about when you’re done protecting me? When I’m no longer your job. Would you let me touch you then?”
Wes abruptly shot upright. “I’m sorry. I need to go sleep on the couch. I can’t stay in the room with you tonight.”
“What? No. What about your mom? What will she think?”
He stood from the bed and grabbed a pillow. “I’ll tell her I didn’t want to wake you with my snoring.”
I rose to my knees on the bed. “No, don’t go. I’ll back off, I promise.”
