Page 39 of Romeo

She raised her gaze up and gave me a shaky smile.

Zia grinned at me. “You got yourself a smart girl here, Romeo.”

I nodded. “I know. She’s probably smarter than I am.” I didn’t want to say much else. We were still so new. I also need to find out what I’d done wrong.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Julianna teased.

Zia stood and grabbed the tray. “You two can run along now.” She looked over at the maids that came in from the back entrance. “Sofie and Gina are helping with the cleanup.”

Julianna chuckled. “Ok, if you are sure?”

“I am.” Zia nodded.

I grabbed Julianna’s hand.

The two maids stared at us with wide eyes, then they both giggled.

Shaking my head, I tugged Julianna out with me.

She glanced back at them and then asked me, “What’s with the maids?”

I shrugged. “They aren’t used to seeing me with a woman, probably?”

She paused and stared at me. “Really?”

I nodded as I again took her hand.

“You never brought a date home?”

“No.”

“Wow, that’s crazy!”

“Why?” I asked her.

“It just is. I mean you are what? 28?”

“Yeah,” I replied as we headed upstairs. “I did tell you that I never dated much.”

“But most men say that and it’s never true!”

I chuckled as we went up the stairs. “Well, in my case, it is true.”

“Amazing! A man that looks like you do? Dressed to the nines and you smell like heaven…” she replied as we went down the hall.

I laughed. “Ok, that’s…like a great compliment, but I don’t—”

“Wait,” she cut in as she looked puzzled. “Where are we going?”

“To my room,” I informed her as I finally stopped at my door. “It might be a little messy. I don’t let the maids in here.” I took out my keys and unlocked the door. Opening it, I motioned for her to head in.

She shook her head as she walked past me into my room. “Ok, I think we need to talk about these maids.”

I bit at my lip as I dreaded doing that. I closed the door behind me. “They sort of had a crush on me?”

She kept looking around at my room. “This isn’t messy.”

I shrugged. “The bed is still unmade.”