Page 11 of Roman & Olivia
He leaned back with a laugh, his fingers laced behind his head. “You can practice with anyone as long as they play the part. We’ll work on it. You’ll see. All you have to do is get out of your head. Mason is like every other guy.”
Maybe he was right. Her reactions were all because Mason was whoshewanted. The fear of failing was all it took for her to make her lose her cool. She tossed a side-eyed glance in Roman’s direction. There was never any fear she’d lose him. He was her rock, after all.
But the crazy thing was, just for a moment—when he’d looked at her like that—she’d almost been able to see what it could be like to have a deeper sort of love with him.
Almost.
5
Roman
Mateo threw down a bag of feed and it landed at Roman’s feet. “I heard a strange rumor in town the other day.”
It had been a couple days since Olivia had stopped by to lament her goose giggle—or at least that was what Roman was affectionately calling it. He glanced up at his oldest brother just as Marcus came in with another bag, followed by Cameron.
Roman leaned down to grab the bag so he could put it on the metal shelves in their storage shed. “Yeah? What’s that?”
By now, all three men lingered in a semicircle, and that was the first clue that Roman wasn’t going to like the conversation that was about to happen. Cameron smirked. Marcus simply looked curious. He wasn’t in on this intervention of sorts. Mateo was unreadable, as usual.
Roman gave his oldest brother a pointed look. “What rumor?”
Cameron was Sophia’s fiancé, and he had no real right to be involved in whatever was happening. Not yet, at least. But Roman couldn’t find it in his heart to kick the guy out. He was nearly family. And clearly, he was enjoying himself. “That you and Olivia are more than just friends. I seem to recall a conversation not so long ago where you said?—”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Oh,that’swhat this is about? Olivia?” He smiled and shook his head. Dragging an arm across his brow to rid himself of the sweat dripping there, he lightly laughed. “Yeah, those rumors have been circulating since we moved to Copper Creek. You know as well as anyone that they’re nothing.”
“That’s not what I heard,” Mateo said. He was digging in his heels.
“And why exactly are you allowing yourself to get swept up with the rumor mill? You know Olivia. We grew up with her. Do you honestly think?—”
“Lots of people saw you with her at that event hosted at the Capitol.”
“Yeah,” he said, “because she works for the mayor and had to go. She needed a date.”
“And,” Mateo drawled, “several witnesses overheard a conversation that made it clear you two were…more.”
Roman crossed his arms and arched a brow. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Olivia asked me for a favor. There’s a guy she likes, and she was embarrassed to show up at the same function as him alone. I told her I’d pretend to be her boyfriend so she could save face.”
All three men were now as unreadable as Mateo had been to start with. Then Cameron burst out laughing. He nudged Mateo. “How long do you think that’s gonna last?”
Mateo studied Roman with shrewd eyes. “It’s not going to turn out the way you want it to, Roman. You know better.”
“What’sthatsupposed to mean?”
“Playing pretend,” he said flatly. “Someone is gonna get hurt.”
“No oneis going to get hurt,” Roman shot back. “She’s my best friend. We get along. And if I want to help her figure things out with the guy she likes by making him finally notice her, then I’m going to do it.”
Mateo huffed and shook his head.
“I think this is hilarious. Who wants to bet money that the two of them will end up together?” Cameron goaded.
Roman scowled at him. “That’snotgonna happen.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Mateo said.
Marcus looked between the three men. He was the youngest of all of them, having just turned twenty-two. Or was he twenty-three now? It didn’t matter. He shrugged. “I don’t see a problem with it.”
“Thank you,” Roman huffed. “And for the record,” he drawled, turning his focus to his oldest brother again, “I don’t like the way she went about it either. But what was I supposed to do? She’s my friend.”
