Page 30 of The Road Trip Romance

And she just…went with it. I’ve watched my friends get to know her and I can tell that they’re all smitten with her already. I can’t blame them. After only a few hours with her, I felt like I’d known her my entire life.

The wind picks up and a piece of her hair blows free of her ponytail. I watch as she tucks it behind her ear as she says something to Jordan.

“She’s pretty great, huh?” Penn states as he too watches Sophia. I glance over at him and see red. Penn has that look in his eye, the one he has when he has a new conquest for dating. There is no fucking way that I’d let him date Sophia. I love Penn, but he goes through women like tissues. And they don’t have anything in common. It’d be a mess. Plus, Penn isn’t into kids, and he wouldn’t have a clue how to handle raising Cal and Lizzie.

Penn glances over at me. “What? Wait! You like her,” he says as he comes to a stop, nearly causing an older couple to run into us.

I pull him to the side. “No, I don’t. Not like that,” I mutter, but deep down, I’m not sure.Do I like Sophia? No. Definitely not. That can’t be.Plus, I have to keep my eye on the prize, and the prize is Lacey.

“Oh, then what’s the face for?” he asks as he motions to my face.

“I just…you don’t have anything in common with her, bro. And I’m going to work with her, so can you try not to give her the Penn treatment?” I ask as I attempt to dodge the nugget of truth in Penn’s questioning.

Penn grins. “Ladies like the Penn treatment,” he states with a smirk.

I groan. “You are a pain in my ass. Come on,” I add as I start walking toward Jordan and Sophia again.

Jordan looks our way and sees us, giving us an inconspicuous wave. We walk over and join them.

“How was it?” Sophia asks.

“It was great. You really should have come along,” Penn answers.

Sophia grimaces. “No, thanks. I enjoyed my time on the ground very much.”

I give her a wink and she smiles at me. Penn laughs.

“We’ll make an adventurer out of you yet,” he says as he looks around. “So, what shall we do? Any word from Rex yet?”

As if on cue, our phones buzz. I pull mine out and see that Rex has just texted the group chat.

Rex: Trevor has offered to cook us a meal tonight if you all are interested.

I look back up to find all three of my companions reading the same message. Sophia looks at me and I raise an eyebrow. She shrugs, and it’s the first time I feel like I’ve had an entire conversation without saying a word.

“Sophia and I are in, if you two are,” I state, keeping my gaze locked on hers.

“Sure. Trevor is a great chef. I’d love to see the place Rex gifted him,” Penn says as he looks out at the water.

“Let’s go. It’s going to get hard to keep a low profile with commuters joining the tourists around here,” Jordan mutters as he looks around us.

I see a few people do double takes as if trying to figure out if we are who they think we are. I answer Rex.

Tate: Send us the address and we’ll head over.

Rex responds immediately with the address and Jordan orders us a car. We pile into it and head off toward Trevor’s rowhouse. Jordan and Sophia are talking about everything they’ve seen today, and Penn talks about the Willis Tower, while I just watch them, again overcome with a strange feeling. Even Lacey doesn’t talk this comfortably with my friends. I mean, they all get along, but she isn’t all buddy-buddy with them.Why is that?I frown as I consider the answer to that question. She should be good friends with them. She’s not even that close with Alisha.

We pull up to a very posh-looking rowhome. It’s old, but modern with stone and black trim. Rex’s ex is an interior designer, so I’m sure this place looks amazing.

Rex opens the door, and we all freeze as he holds up a baby.

“Uh, is Trevor babysitting?” Jordan asks.

Rex smiles and shakes his head. “Meet my grandson, Lucas.”

All of us freeze, our jaws dropping as we look from the smiling baby’s face to Rex’s. Rex lets out a long laugh.

“You’re right, Trev. I think I broke all four of them,” he yells.

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