Page 25 of Roman & Olivia
Mason shook his head. “More like… camping.”
Camping? As in, they’d be in tents and sitting around a fire telling stories?
“Unless you don’t like?—”
“I love camping.” Roman did too. But Roman didn’t like Mason, so there was a good chance he’d shoot down this idea for a double date. They were on the cusp of something though. Mason had all but confirmed it.
And yet, Olivia felt torn—ripped right down the center.
“Me, too,” Mason said. “I could bring Cammi. You bring Roman. We spend a couple nights out in the middle of nowhere.”
“To be fair, it wouldn’t be in the middle of nowhere. Roman’s property is big, but we wouldn’t be stranded if worse came to worse.”
The way his lips stretched across his perfectly white teeth should have been attractive. But there was something… missing. She couldn’t put her finger on it. He was clean-shaven with a nice jawline. What wasn’t there to like?
“So… is that a yes?” Mason asked.
Her eyes flew to meet his. “And you cleared this idea with Cammi? I didn’t know you two were that serious.”
“Oh, we’re not. I just know you like to spend time with her. She’s fun, but I’m not exclusive.” There were so many words that were left unspoken between them. His comment about their chemistry hung in the air like a threatening storm cloud. “How about I ask her, and you ask Roman. Then text me.”
“Yeah, okay.” Olivia smiled sweetly at him. Her focus followed him as he moved past her and into his father’s office.
Maybe this would be the date that put things over the edge. She could finally get the courage to stage her breakup with Roman, and she’d be free to date Mason.
And yet, thinking about doing that left a twisty, ugly feeling in her stomach. Was she really that nervous to open herself up for rejection from Mason? Or did these feelings have something more to do with the shift her relationship with Roman would take?
She couldn’t think about that right now. She had work to do, and then she’d stop by the ranch to talk to Roman. He could never say “no” to her. She had no worries about that.
Nope. The anxiety she was currently experiencing had to do with something far more intangible.
Olivia didn’t climbout of her car as she watched Roman in the yard. He’d appeared after she’d pulled up, and he hadn’t noticed her car parked among the others nearby. He was shirtless and covered in dirt.
It hadn’t rained, so she didn’t know how he’d managed it, but still, he looked good—like it should be against the law to look that good.
She watched him wrestle with two of the cattle dogs they had on the property. They played with a rope, and he was far too into it for it to be a good thing.
Olivia found herself laughing at his antics. This was the other side of Roman that he didn’t let a lot of people see. The Roman most people knew was the guy who could play guitar. The guy who was quiet but strong. He was the guy who knew how to get a job done.
But with her? With his family?
Roman still had his boyish charm. It didn’t happen as often these days, but he’d been the boy who didn’t think twice about tackling her to the mud after a rainstorm. He’d pulled her braids and teased her for looking like Pippy Longstocking. He’d played countless pranks on her just to get her mad at him so she’d retaliate, which would end with both of them laughing until they couldn’t breathe.
Ever since she’d asked him to be her fake boyfriend, those sides of him had faded away. He was more reserved—more careful about how they were together. Sure, he still teased her here and there, but it wasn’t the same.
The worst part about it was that she found she missed that carefree side of him more than ever.
Okay, that wasn’t the worst part.
Something was changing between them—something she couldn’t seem to stop.
Roman wasn’t supposed to be the guy who gave her butterflies. He wasn’t supposed to make her wonder what life could be like with him at her side and not married to some other woman. The more she thought about the possibility of that kind of future, the angrier she became.
She didn’t want to lose him.
Yet, here she was, feeling like he was slipping through her fingers.
They needed to really get back to where they’d been before this whole mess.
