Page 34 of Roman & Olivia
Occasionally he liked the anger that flared in her expression. But right now? It only made him feel guilty.
Roman sighed and tore his attention from her toward where Mason’s car had disappeared. “You’re too close to the situation, Liv. The way he was looking at you when he left…” Roman brought his eyes back to Olivia. “He likes you.”
Her brows lifted sharply. “What? How do you know?”
He gave her a self-deprecating laugh. “I’m a guy. I know.”
Olivia’s hands dropped to her sides, and she took a step toward him. “Then we can start planning for the breakup, right?”
Roman flinched, then prayed that she didn’t catch his reaction. He couldn’t break things off with her. Not after he’d started to realize that things were… changing. Olivia had only ever been his best friend.
But now?
The way he felt when he watched Mason hug her. It had torn at him in a way he hadn’t been prepared for. He’d wanted to rip Mason away from Olivia and demand that he not touch her. It had taken a great deal of effort to keep his thoughts to himself.
The irony that he could have said something and Mason would have understood wasn’t lost on him. But Olivia? She would have been even more furious than she was right now.
“Roman?”
He stiffened, blinked, and allowed her to come into focus again. “What?”
“The plan. We can get our breakup started, right? It would be the perfect time. After all that posturing you did at the campsite. It would make sense?—”
“No.”
Olivia froze. Then her face flushed even redder. “What?” she snapped.
He hesitated. Shoot, shoot, shoot. He needed to come up with a plan—something that would make sense for him to keepOlivia close until he figured out if these feelings he had for her warranted such a decision. Roman cleared his throat. “It’s not the right time.”
“Not the right time? Are you kidding me?”
Roman searched his mind for any explanation that would make sense to her. She hadn’t noticed Mason’s interest. It was only Roman’s word she could depend on. He cleared his throat again and looked away. “Mason only just started showing interest. I think the competition triggered something in him. There’s nothing like a friendly competition to make a man want what he can’t have.”
She didn’t seem to want to believe him. The way her brow arched, the way she tapped a finger on her folded arm, the way she chewed on the inside of her cheek—they were all tells he was so achingly familiar with. No one could see what he could when it came to Olivia. And he needed more time.
“Trust me, Liv,” he whispered. “We’re going to make him fall so desperately in love with you that he won’t be able to get you out of his mind. And when we break things off? He’ll be first in line.”
He watched her carefully, for what? He couldn’t be certain.
A part of him hoped she wouldn’t be interested in their little plan, but he knew better. The way she smiled at his words made his heart ache.
It was selfish of him, this new plan of his.
Before he was even willing to admit it to himself, he knew what he wanted to do.
He wanted the chance to make her fall in love with him.
“There’s an event out at the country club coming up. Mason said we should all go.”
Roman made a face—one that had Olivia laughing.
She gave him a little shove. “What isthatlook for? I thought you liked going dancing.”
It wasn’t the dancing that was the problem, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. The last person he wanted to spend any time with was Mason. The guy was getting on his last nerve.
Roman groaned. “Do I have to?”
She brought her arms up and around his neck, edging close enough to him that he could smell her scent. A mixture of sweetness and campfire smoke wafted from her clothes. She tilted her head, and her eyes sparkled with a teasing sort of amusement. “I have a feeling we only need one more date to seal the deal.”
