Page 8 of Roman & Olivia
“Sheesh, Liv, I’ve never seen you this way with anyone. When you told me you had a crush, I was thinking it was like the others. But Mason has really gotten to you, huh?”
Olivia nodded, blushing. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d been embarrassed when she’d confessed something to him. If anything, that alone was enough to tip the scales in her favor.
“Okay,” he murmured, knowing already that he might regret his decision.
Her eyes flew wide.
“I’ve got an idea that might work.” He focused on her for a moment, letting his words sink in.
“Okay… what is it?” she whispered.
Roman draped an arm around her shoulder and motioned for her to open her apartment door. They needed a space to talk, to sit and go over his ideas. She fumbled with her keys before finally getting the right one and opening her door. Roman led her to the couch and had her settled at his side. He tugged her close, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Let me tell you something about guys who think that they’re not ready for marriage.” This was going to be a hard conversation. He didn’tlike it, but there were men like Mason who needed a little handholding in the relationship department.
He placed his hand on her arm, contemplating the best way to say this. The apartment was quiet and dark, with the only light coming from a small lamp that Olivia’s roommate had left on in the corner. She was probably already asleep.
Roman blew out a breath. “Guys like Mason don’t know what they’re looking for. They think they do, but…” He shrugged. “In reality, they don’t.”
“But Mason dates plenty. Sure looks like he knows what he wants.”
“Nope. He’s dated several women because he probably worries there’s something better out there for him. And he’s right.” Roman turned to look down at her, and she craned her neck to stare right back. “You,” he said. “You’re the best he would ever be able to get.”
Her lips parted. She was actually surprised he held her in such high regard. “So, what do I have to do?”
He made a face. “I’m going to say something, but I don’t want you to slug me or whatever.”
She straightened. “That doesn’t sound promising.”
Roman chuckled again. “The thing is, guys like Mason need to see that someone else is interested in the girl they want before they finally realize they want her. It’s terrible, I know.”
Her face scrunched with something that looked like… what? Disgust? Disappointment? He never said that all members of the male population were as charming as he was.
He laughed. “Think about it. You said it yourself. Mason was interested in you tonight… and that was because you were onmyarm. He’s intrigued. He wants to know what I see in you and if it’s the same things he’s looking for.”
“But we’re not?—”
“And he doesn’tknowthat.”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Okay, so you’re saying… that I have to be taken for him to be interested? Isn’t that counterintuitive?”
Roman sighed. This was what he hated about the whole thing. “Didn’t say it was pretty. But if you give him a reason to look a little harder, then he’s going to wake up.”
Olivia studied him for a moment. “Are you saying that you’re willing to—keep—pretendingto be my boyfriend until Mason… ‘wakes up,’” she emphasized as she made bunny ears with her fingers.
Roman stared up at the ceiling for a moment and heaved out another sigh—resignation the key emotion swirling in his head. “I guess I have no other choice in the matter.” He swung his attention around to look at her, putting a lazy grin on his face. “If it means helping my best friend find true love, then I think I can manage a few more double dates.”
She gasped, and yet again, he felt guilty over his reaction to her choices tonight. This was Olivia. She deserved to find happiness—even if that meant he faked being in love with her.
4
Olivia
“So…Roman,” Cammi crooned as Olivia walked into the kitchen the following morning. “He cleans uprealnice.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “It’s not what you think.”
Cammi lifted the steaming coffee mug she held in her hands as she looked at Olivia over the rim. “Oh? You’re not trying to make Mason jealous by pretending to be in love with your best friend?”
Olivia gaped at Cammi. No words slipped past her lips. She and Cammi were close—so close that she’d told Cammi all about her crush on Mason. And since Roman was her best friend, of course Cammi knew what he meant to her.
