Page 22 of Roman & Olivia
Was that so bad? If Mason had been interested in Camilla or Isabelle, would Roman feel the same way? Would he honestly be able to say he’d stand in the way of his sisters’ happiness if it meant settling down with a guy who had a career and a future?
No. Of course he wouldn’t.
He sighed, raking his hand through his hair back and forth with agitation. He needed to bury these feelings he was having. Olivia deserved to be happy, and the way she was flirting with the guy over dinner the other night was proof that this was the path she’d need to take in order to achieve said happiness.
More than anything, he wanted that for her.
He wanted Olivia to be happy.
His steps slowed, and his shoulders slumped. No use getting bent out of shape just because he was confused. Everything would even itself out. It always did.
Olivia didn’t need any more help with winning Mason’s attention, and yet she’d messaged him this morning to ask ifthey could have one more lesson. It sounded like she was getting anxious the closer they got to their planned breakup.
The problem with complying with her demands was that Roman knew he would have a hard time keeping his reaction to her to a minimum. The more time he spent with her discussing romance, the more difficult it became to separate his real feelings from the pretend ones.
He hated to admit it, but he was severely regretting telling her to come over after work. What more could he even teach her? The way she’d been acting with Mason at the country club had been perfect.
Roman sighed. What he needed to do right now was ignore what was happening with Olivia, if only for the day. He could deal with her when she showed up for their meeting. At that point, he’d decide what to do with her. It was too dangerous to think about what might happen if he smelled her perfume or had to stare too deeply into her eyes.
She didn’t belong to him. She was just Liv, and he would scream about it in his own head as many times as he needed to in order for it to stick.
Roman cursedwhen Olivia climbed out of her car. She was wearing the cutoff jeans and tank top that she’d borrowed from Sophia that one afternoon when they’d first started their lessons.
And,oh boy, did they look good on her.
The fact that it didn’t look like she’d brought a change of clothes meant she had no intention of returning them.
Maybe Sophia had told her not to. Or maybe she liked them too much to bother. Either way, seeing her dressed like that only served to riddle his already chaotic mind.
She skipped up to him, then shoved her hands into her pockets.
His eyes traced over her petite form, and he nearly had to bring his fist to his mouth to bite down on it and prevent himself from saying something he might truly regret.
“What?” she chirped.
Roman lifted a single brow and cocked his head. “What… are you wearing?”
She frowned, looking down at her clothes.
Had she worn this outfit on purpose? Was she teasing him? He couldn’t decide if he liked that notion or despised it. Of course, it was completely possible that she had no clue what that outfit did to him on a molecular level and he’d found himself in an alternate universe where she was no longer his Liv.
She was Olivia—the girl who checked all the boxes, the girl who could make his heart storm, and the girl who would shatter him to pieces without realizing it.
“I thought you might need some help today. You didn’t sound that interested in teaching me anything, so I figured if you had fewer chores…” Her eyes lifted to meet his, and he might as well have been knocked on his backside by them. Then she cocked her head slightly as she studied him before scoffing with a roll of her eyes. “Let me guess. They’re not good enough.”
He swallowed thickly. If she had been any other girl—any girl who wasn’t off-limits to him in any way—he would have made sure she knew exactly how much he liked the way she was dressed.
But he couldn’t do that—wouldn’tdo that.
Roman swallowed thickly and folded his arms. “Most of the work is done today. You didn’t have to try to bribe me with free labor for me to help you.” They were on a rocky edge of sorts. She might not be able to feel it, but he certainly could. And hewould rather die a thousand deaths before he was caught up in something he might regret when it came to Olivia.
Roman blew out a heavy breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly, you don’t need any more workshopping on the way you interact with him. Anyone with eyes can see that Mason likes you. Heck, he looks like he’s one bad decision from being a homewrecker at this point.”
That had Olivia laughing, and he couldn’t help the twitch of his lips as he smiled along with her. This. This right here was what he needed to get back to. Too many lines were being crossed when he was focused on the dating aspect. They needed to return to being just Liv and Roman.
“How about we do something else? Mateo bought some more of those old-fashioned root beers. We could go up to the loft and hang out like we used to do before…” Before she’d complicated things by telling her crush that they were dating. Before he realized that she could be something more than his best friend.
Before he’d fallen in love.
