She looked over her shoulder to see how close it was, and, seeing it much too near, she screamed as her feet hit a stream that ran though the undergrowth, making her slip and fall flat on her back in the water. It took a moment before she was able to catch her breath, and when she opened her eyes, all she could see was Roman, smiling an actual smile, and holding out a hand to her.
“Where’s the deer? Is it going to get us?”
He shook his head. “That scream of yours scared it off. We probably should’ve just started with that instead of running.”
As he pulled her to her feet, she took several heaving breaths, trying to get her lungs to catch up after all the running and the fear and the fall. Then she looked at Enoch, who had the camera aimed at her. “Please tell me you got that.”
“Every last bit,” her nephew said, grinning. “The running, all except that middle part when I was running, too, the chasing, the angry deer sounds, the epic fall—all of it.”
“Excellent.” She tried brushing herself off, but there wasn’t much she could do about how wet she was. The day had been decently warm, but they were in the shade now, and her clothes were soaked. She wrapped her arms around herself and had to work to keep her teeth from chattering.
“Here,” Roman said, taking off his jacket and sliding it around her shoulders. He kept his hands on her shoulders a moment, like he maybe wanted to pull her close to warm her up, but then thought better of it quickly. He dropped his hands, but she could still feel the heat of where they’d been, warming her far more than they should’ve been able to.
His jacket held his scent, though. A scent she didn’t even realize he had until she was wrapped in it. It was nice—as warm and comforting as his jacket, yet there was a clean scent, too. Like maybe it was from his body wash, and it held the scent of someone who knew what they wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it.
He looked off in the direction of the path they were supposed to be on, and she took the moment to admire the way the part of his jaw by his ear curved down to his jaw line, highlighting the dark stubble. And the way his dark hair teetered on the edge of being just short enough and styled enough to show he was a respectable businessman, yet also long enough and just barely disheveled enough to show that there was more to him than that. It was too bad he had the same need to be in charge that she did, because he was a very attractive man.
She hadn’t realized how far they had traveled away from the path until it took so long to make their way back to it and then down the rest of the way to the parking lot. As she neared her car and Enoch headed to the back passenger’s door to lay down the camera equipment, Roman stopped her.
“You asked why I was willing to do the interview with you.”
Her eyebrows shot up. She didn’t think she’d ever get an answer from him.
“It’s because of your sense of loyalty and because you’re willing to stand your ground.” His mouth quirked up in a smile. “Except in the case of trying to run over a stream while being chased by a sweet deer, of course.”
“I may not have stood my ground, but I did manage to scare off the beast.”
Roman seemed amused that she called it a “beast.” But it definitely wasn’t a “sweet deer.” Maybe he was forgetting the sounds it made. Or the way it looked at them like it needed to avenge the deaths of every deer that ever lived.
“And it was a pretty impressive scare off, if I do say so myself. If it was impressive enough to also scare you off from another interview...”
“Nah. I didn’t get to where I am by being easily scared off.”
Good. She may not have been thrilled about interviewing Roman when she first agreed to it, but it surprised her how much she wanted them to continue now. “Are you free during the first half of the week? The episodes will only air once a week, but I don’t want to be so tight on editing, and the more time I get to promote, the better it will be for both of us.”
He gave her a smile that was so adorable it made her insides flutter. Then he said, “I’ll check out my schedule and get back with you on that.”
She knew he was very much the wrong guy for her. But that didn’t stop her from noticing how right he looked as he walked back to his car.
8
Roman
“Roman!” his mom said as she put her hands at the tops of his arms and kissed both of his cheeks. “I’m so glad you could make it!”
He liked that his mom always seemed so happy to see him. And that she acted like it was his choice to come for Sunday dinners, even when they all knew it was mandatory if you were the offspring of Evelyn and Richmond Powell.
“Come in, come in! Your brothers are already here.” She put her arm in his and walked him to the drawing room that was just off the dining room. Most families had a living room—or they would even call this space a great room—but not the Powells. They had a drawing room, like it was the eighteenth century and they were nobility.
His two brothers were already in the room, standing, with drinks in their hands. The brother just younger than him, Drake, was next to his wife, Claire. They were a good match. Claire had the classy look and the ability to host an event that was silently required of Powell wives. But she was also smart and had big ambitions.
Not Briza, though. She was the woman his youngest brother, Legend, had brought to the previous two dinners. She was strictly shallow eye candy, like most women his brother dated. Legend needed someone less predictable, and Roman didn’t think he would see her at too many more family dinners.
It took him aback when he realized that Briza was exactly like most of the women he’d dated, too. Huh. Maybe that’s why his relationships never lasted long.
Everyone turned to look at him as he walked in, all big smiles.
“Hey, bro,” Drake clapped him on the shoulder. “Why so serious today?” He glanced down at Roman’s feet. “Don’t tell me you wore serious socks today.”
“Ha ha.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Claire said. “I read the article, and I thought it was great.”
Legend nodded. “Top notch. I especially liked the part about how your favorite scent is the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking. I wish I could’ve been there to see the look on your face when the interviewer asked you if that’s the scent a woman who was interested in you should wear.”
He made a big show of acting like he was just going to leave because of their comments, but when he turned, his dad was just walking into the room from his office. “Now don’t give your brother a hard time. He’s learned from his mistakes and won’t be so forthcoming on personal details next time. You just wait until you have your first interview with a magazine journalist—you’ll find out how wily they are.”
“And when you do,” Drake said, “follow my lead, not Roman’s.”
Surprisingly, Roman had actually enjoyed the interview with Bex yesterday, and had spent the rest of the day—and today—thinking about her. But all day today, he’d been second-guessing the wisdom in doing the interview in the first place. As if it wasn’t bad enough that his brothers were razzing him about sharing personal stuff in his Business Success interview—just like he had shared personal things with Bex in her interview, which he would never tell any of them about—his dad had to come in and defend him, like he was too weak to stand on his own two feet. The icing on the cake was Drake reminding everyone that his first interview made their dad proud enough that it had earned him a trip down the Columbia.