Page 9 of Roman & Olivia
But the fact that her roommate had figured it all out with one glimpse of who had picked her up for her date last night spoke volumes.
“What? How?” she sputtered.
Cammi rolled her eyes. “Come on, girl. I’ve known Roman about as long as I’ve known you. And there’s zero chemistry between the two of you.” She rolled her lower lip between her teeth, then let out a sultry sort of sound. “But dang, he does look good in a suit. I might have to see if I can convince him to go on a date with?—”
“Over my dead body,” Olivia huffed. “You are not dating my best friend.”
Her friend only laughed. “Yeah, I know. Way too messy.” Her smile broadened as she moved across the room toward the table before pulling out a chair and settling down. “Spill. What’s going on? And is it working?”
Olivia turned her back on her friend to pull out a mug from the cupboard. There really was no hiding what was happening between herself and Roman in regard to Mason. And it would be nice to chat with someone else other than Roman. They were close, but he was still a guy, and she knew he didn’t have the least bit of interest in her swooning over a guy he had nothing in common with. After she poured herself some coffee, she spun to face Cammi. “He’s pretending to be my boyfriend. It’s not going to be a one-and-done.”
Cammi didn’t speak. And she didn’t look surprised either. She simply continued to wait for Olivia to finish.
“Last night,” Olivia sighed, a smile tugging at her lips, “Mason finally looked at me. You know, like really looked at me.”
“And you were with another guy,” Cammi stated the obvious.
“Yeah, apparently that’s a thing.” Olivia wrinkled her nose. “Some guys want what they can’t have or something like that. It’s easier to draw their attention when they…” She didn’t want to finish the sentence. It sort of left a bad taste in her mouth. “But I’m not going to cheat or anything. We have a plan.” She wrapped her fingers around the mug tighter. “Roman and me.”
“Well, if Roman is pretending, is it really cheating?” Cammi’s eyes were narrowed.
Olivia flushed. “What I mean to say is that I’m not going to let Mason believe that I’m willing to do that to Roman. When we’re done reeling him in, Roman and I will stage an argument. Then Mason can swoop in and help me through the breakup.”
“Scandalous,” Cammi murmured with a smirk.
“You don’t think it’s… problematic?” Olivia asked, her voice small.
“Oh, it’s definitely problematic.” Cammi laughed before taking another sip of her drink. “But I get it. Guys can be a bit dense when it comes to this stuff. Sometimes they need to be guided to the water, you know? And if this is what you have to do in order to assert yourself and get what you want, then go for it. Flirt your heart out. Make him see what he’s missing so he takes action.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have felt better after Cammi said her piece, but Olivia wasn’t going to look too hard at that. Roman was on board. Cammi wasn’t judging her. Now all she had to do was put the plan in motion and reap the benefits.
“Hey.”
Olivia stilled. She’d recognize that deep timbre anywhere. She stood before the copy machine, waiting for the letters that were supposed to be mailed out later this afternoon to finish printing. Mason was at her back, and she could feel the heat emanating from his body.
Or maybe that was her imagination.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. The flutters in her chest exploded when she saw his crooked grin.His blue eyes flashed at her with amusement, and it was as if his stare alone could drill holes right through her soul. “Hey,” she whispered breathlessly.
“You looked… real good the other night.” He moved beside her and leaned his hip against the copy machine. “That color was…” He made a show of kissing his fingertips.
Olivia blushed and looked away. “Thank you.”
“Have to say, I was a little jealous. I kinda wish I had the foresight to ask you to the event first. It’s too bad you’re taken.”
Her stomach flipped over and over. There were so many things she wanted to say to him right now—like the fact that she wasn’t actually taken. She wanted to tell him that he could ask her out if he really wanted to.
But then Roman’s words filtered into her mind. She needed to show him what he was missing first, and one night wasn’t going to be enough. As hard as it was, she trusted Roman explicitly.
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she looked off to the side and changed the subject. “Your date was lovely. Is she excited about the trip to the ranch? Roman said he’d talk to his brothers about what day they could spare him. Looks like two Fridays from now?”
“Oh, Tish isn’t going to be coming. I’ll have a different date.”
Her eyes darted to meet Mason’s. “Tish—I thought you twoweredating.”
He laughed. “Oh, no. I met her a couple days ago. I’m not into the whole serious relationship thing. Not ready to settle down yet, you know?” Mason winked at her. “But I guess that could change with the right woman.” His voice was low, sultry, and it did things to her body that she couldn’t control.
She giggled. Then she clapped her hand over her mouth. What waswrongwith her?
