Page 37 of The Road Trip Romance

“Because she does. She’s stuck with us, trying to fly under the radar while clearly wishing she was anywhere but here,” Tate states.

“That’s not true!” I yell. All the men stop and stare at me.

I swallow hard and stare back, crossing my arms. “Idecided to come on this…crazy trip.” I motion around us with a wave of my hand. “Iwas the one who was stupid and didn’t question why we were without security.” I point to myself. “Istill think this trip is worth it even ifmyphoto is plastered all over the tabloids.” I pause and take a deep breath. “Now, we will need to figure out how to spin this. I think we could just say we were meeting to discuss adapting my last book for film. I mean, that’s not untrue and it’s easiest to stick to the real story or as close as we can.”

“What about all of us though?” Penn asks.

I shrug. “You want to be in a romance film?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

Jordan bursts out laughing followed by Tate and Rex and then even Penn’s lips twitch until he can no longer hold back laughter.

I find myself giggling too at the thought of Penn being a male lead in a romance film. It’s so far from his usual roles and certainly far from his real self.

“Let’s go see some corn,” Rex says as he opens his door and puts on his baseball cap.

“Maybe we should, like…divide up so we aren’t so…conspicuous?” I suggest.

Penn takes Rex by the arm. “Come on,sweetie, we don’t want to miss the gift shop,” he says.

Rex glares at him.

“What? We’ll pretend to be a couple and…” He pauses and turns to Tate, Jordan, and me.

“No…no way. We are not a thruple. Get your weird-ass mind out of the gutter,” Tate mutters.

Rex laughs. “Fuck it. This…is going to be fun. Come on, love. I can’t wait to see all the corn.”

I slip my arms through Tate’s and Jordan’s and look up at them. “I mean…when in Rome.”

Jordan rolls his eyes. “Alisha is going to kill me.”

“Hey, what happens at the Corn Palace, stays there,” I declare, and Tate elbows me.

I look up at him and wink. His lips twitch as he appears to fight a grin, but then he shakes his head and smiles down at me. And suddenly, it doesn’t matter about the paparazzi. It only matters that I’m here with my new friends, having fun. That’s what’s real, after all.

* * *

After looking at…well, a shit ton of corn, I make my way to an area without a lot of people. Penn is looking at something and I stand next to him. We’ve done well, keeping a low profile today. Tate is currently calling Carol, while Jordan went to the bathroom.

“Where’s Rex…I mean…your boyfriend?” I tease as I bump my hip against his.

“He’s at the gift shop,” Penn says before turning toward me. He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I frown.

“What’s with the serious look?” I ask.

He shrugs and looks back across the room. I follow his gaze. It’s a couple. The woman is leaning her head on the man’s shoulder as they sit on a bench talking and laughing. She has a very prominent baby bump.

“Penny for your thoughts?” I ask.

“My thoughts are more expensive than that,” he grumbles in a very unlike-Penn way.

“How about a million dollars, then?”

He gives me a pointed look and I shrug. “It was worth a try,” I add.

He wraps his arm around me and gives me a sideways hug. I wrap my arm around his midsection and we both watch the couple as the man clearly feels his baby kick. His eyes light up and I smile as I remember those moments with Mark.

“What’s it like?” he asks, not looking away from the people across from us.

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