Bex stood around the food tables with the rest of her sisters, brothers-in-law, parents, and everyone’s kids, putting items on her plate, when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and saw it was a text from Ian, her newest roommate.
Remember how you asked about Roman Powell the other day?
He wants to meet with you, and is hoping to set up a dinner with me, Addison, you, and him. Probably to make it less awkward.
Do you want me to tell him yes or say sorry we can’t?
Bex turned her phone so that Nikki could see it. “Look how thoughtful this is. He’s offering to be the bad guy for me.”
“Sweet. And wow. Roman is coming to you to ask for an interview. Are you going to meet with him?”
“Of course, I’m going to try to make an interview work. Voting closes in two hours and he’s got nearly half of all the votes. Two hundred thousand more than Corbin Shields. Roman Powell’s who my viewers want to see. I was going to contact him as soon as the barbeque was over, but it looks like now I won’t have to.” She typed out Tell him yes one-handed and slid her phone back into her pocket.
She was just putting a big scoop of potato salad on her plate when her five-year-old niece Chelle tugged on her shirt. “Aunt Bex? Do you have a corner brownie? Because I called one, but Drew took the last one and then licked it.”
“I do have one. And because I think you’re the bee’s knees, I’m giving it to you.” Chelle beamed as Bex put it on her plate.
Nikki shook her head. “You’re such a pushover.”
“Nope—it’s all in service of my goals. Maintaining ‘Favorite Aunt’ status with the kind of competition we have isn’t easy, so I have to butter them up any chance I get.”
“I really need to step up my game,” Nikki said as she reached across the table to grab a roll. “What’s your plan if an interview with Roman doesn’t work out?”
“Then we sweet-talk Corbin Shields’s publicist. My readers would be sad I didn’t get Roman, but Corbin would make for a much better interview. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind that for a consolation prize if I at least tried to get Roman first.”
“And it might just win you that Eddie Award.”
Bex stepped into the lobby of the restaurant with Addison and Ian. Ian had set everything up with Roman, and he said Roman was the one who chose to travel from Gresham to Quicksand. Okay, so maybe the guy got a checkmark in the positive column for that one. She didn’t know if it was Ian or Roman who chose Buffalo Bill’s Steakhouse—not that there were a ton of other choices in Quicksand.
They checked in with the hostess, who said, “Oh, I’ve already seated the other rough rider in your group.”
Wow. Early, even. Another check mark in the positive column. As the hostess led them across the Western frontier-inspired decor, complete with lassos, horseshoes, wanted posters, wagon wheels, and saddles attached to the walls, Roman stood up from the table he was seated at on the far end of the room. The man was dressed in a suit, which seemed at odds with the cowboy hat light that hung just above their table and the boot-shaped menu holder on the table, but to each his own.
Overdressed or not, the man looked stand-up-and-applaud fine in a suit. Like apparently millions of other people who normally wouldn’t pick up an issue of Business Success magazine, Bex had seen him on the cover. They had made a good choice to put him there—it had apparently skyrocketed their sales. If she could just get the guy to let his guard down a bit and stop being so stiff and serious, an interview with him might do really well on her channel.
When they reached Roman, he greeted Ian and Addison and the two took their seats at the table—thankfully across from each other—and Roman held out a hand to shake hers. And wow, it was a good handshake. Sent zings of electricity right up her arm. She had put her arm in his as they had walked up the aisle together as bridesmaid and groomsman, but she hadn’t touched his hand before.
“It’s good to see you again, Bex.”
“You, too,” Bex said as they both took their seats across from each other. “Started any brawls between three-year-olds lately?” She didn’t know why she said it. Probably to try to crack that shell of seriousness just a bit.
But Roman’s brows knit together and she could practically see his defenses rising. “I wasn’t the one who—”
“Either way,” Addison interrupted, “it was a fun moment to catch on camera. Made the wedding even more memorable.”
Then she shot Bex a look, so Bex put on her best innocent yet apologetic look.
As they each gave Roman their recommendations on the menu, she studied Roman. She wasn’t looking for herself, of course, but when she looked at him through the lens of her viewers, she noticed how much depth his beautiful brown eyes had. Like dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and honey tried to see how epic they could be if they all formed a team. His skin had a golden glow to it, too, like maybe he didn’t spend all day scowling at a computer screen.
And that jawline, too. The first time she’d seen him, she’d immediately wanted to put her hands on his face and feel that perfect amount of scruff. To run her fingers through the hair just above his ears that curled slightly.
But that was back then. Definitely not now that she had been around him a bit. But she was sure her viewers would be noticing that fine jaw.
The waiter came over to take their order. He was probably twenty-one but looked seventeen or eighteen and introduced himself as Kenyon, which Bex already knew from eating there so often. When Bex ordered the sirloin steak and baked sweet potato, from the corner of her eye she saw Roman’s flinch of surprise, so she looked over at him. “What?”
“I’m impressed you got the steak.”
She lifted a shoulder. “This is a steakhouse. ‘When in Rome’ and all that.”
He nodded, and then also ordered a sirloin steak, but unlike the rest of them, he ordered a regular baked potato. She thought about telling him that their sweet potatoes were to die for, but she let it go.
After the waiter left, Roman asked Ian and Addison how their honeymoon in San Jose del Cabo was, and they both lit up like a grandma who was just asked to show off pictures of her grandkids. Bex was glad the two of them were sitting across the table from each other. Not only did it mean that she and Roman could discuss business face to face instead of shoulder to shoulder, but it meant that Ian and Addison could only make moon eyes at each other instead of both cuddling up to each other, basking in their honeymoon glow.
But man, did she wish Roman would relax a bit. Slouch in his posture. Be a little less guarded. Maybe ditch the tie and undo the top button. Bex was wearing a dress, but a casual, wear-grocery-shopping-on-a-Tuesday dress. And, because they were at Buffalo Bill’s, she was also wearing cowboy boots. Addison and Ian were both wearing jeans.
It wasn’t that she had anything against seriousness. Her dad was rather stoic, and she loved him. He was a pretty cool guy. But on Roman, it felt wrong. She read people pretty well, and with Roman, it felt like the inside didn’t match the outside. That there was more to him than met the eye.
Kenyon came back, holding a tray with their drinks on it, and started passing them out. “Okay, and you two also wanted a water on the side, right?”