Page 1 of Roman & Olivia
1
Roman Palmer
Roman chuckled to himself as he left his future brother-in-law behind. His boots pounded against the earth as he jogged toward his most favorite person in the world. Olivia was objectively beautiful, which was probably why Cameron thought there might be something between them.
Alas, they were simply too close for that sort of spark to happen.
Yes, he was aware of how that sounded.
They’d been friends since grade school. He’d seen her go through her most awkward stages, and she’d done the same with him. They helped each other through their first breakups and their most embarrassing moments. They knew how to have fun and how to get under each other’s skin.
She was his best friend, and he didn’t care what other people said about it.
Olivia threw herself into his arms in one of their typical hugs, and he spun her around once before placing her on her feet and stepping back. She laughed when she nearly lost her footing.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Roman asked, leaning against her car and crossing his arms. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing you for a couple days with that new fancy job of yours.”
Olivia brushed a strand of nearly her brunette hair behind her ear and rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that, and you know it.”
“I dunno, a fancy job with the mayor’s office? I’m sure that’s going to open a lot of doors for you.”
“I’m hisassistant. It’s nothing special.”
“Right. From what I recall, you were all for world domination once upon a time. What changed? Are you realizing that the world of politics isn’t your scene? I hear there’s a dark underbelly?—”
She laughed again. “Oh, stop it. Mayor Clearfield is great.” Something shifted in her eyes, and she glanced behind him to where his sister Sophia and her boyfriend were standing on the porch. “Can I ask you a favor?”
“Anything,” Roman said without a second thought. Olivia knew he’d drop whatever he had to in order to help her. That was how it had always been.
She smiled and a glowing blush spread across her cheeks. That gave him pause and one side of his mouth quirked upward in a smile as he pushed off her car. “Olivia? You can’t hide that blush from me. Whathaveyou gotten yourself into?”
Olivia shoved his shoulder with an embarrassed laugh, but her touch might as well have been as soft as a butterfly’s. “It’s nothing.”
He arched a brow. “You can’t hide anything from me. You know that. Spit it out. What’s going on?”
She swallowed hard and her eyes darted away as her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink.
He chuckled a low, throaty sound, and her eyes shifted to meet his once more. “Come on, Liv, you’re killing me.”
Olivia blew out a harsh breath through her lips and started to fiddle with the hem of her blouse. She looked like she’d come directly from work, dressed in a white button-down and a pencil skirt. If she wasn’t… well, Liv… he might have been tempted to ask her out.
He was about to lift her chin with the crook of his finger when she finally met his eyes and quietly said, “I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Roman nearly stumbled back a step. He gaped at her, his eyes probably wider than they’d ever been. If he’d been eating something, he would have definitely choked. “I’m sorry, what?”
She groaned, bringing her hands to her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”
“Now you’re sorry?” He wanted to be amused, but he was still so shocked he wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Please, Roman. I know it’s weird?—”
“There have been weirder things you’ve asked of me, you know.”
She glanced at him with a grin.
“Like when you asked me to poke that dead frog with a stick to make sure it was really dead.”
Her burst of laughter warmed him like nothing else in the world could. “Well, to be fair, itwasdead, and I wanted to make sure we didn’t bury it alive.”
