Page 90 of Nothing to No One

Roxie’s sweet voice brought her around with such joy, the blonde lived up to her online handle: “Lomond’s Delight.”

“Roxie…” She threw both arms around the woman to hold her tight. “You’re here.”

“See this is why real people are better than showbiz people,” Roxie said, smoothing Bambi’s hair when she pulled back. “That was a genuine welcome, not one of your Hollywood mwah-mwah things.”

When Zairn stooped, she raised her chin to accept his cheek kiss. “You look beautiful, Bambi.”

“Thank you.”

That was more attention than her date gave her.

“Try to put your arms around me, Kyst—”

“Oh no, Roman, let me contain my disappointment,” Roxie said, deadpan.

Zairn wasn’t in the mood to play around. “You’re lucky you’re this close, Lowe.”

Did Roman know what playing around was? Or that doing it with fire never ended well?

Best probably to leave the men’s beef be.

“I’m surprised you haven’t been mobbed,” she said. “Even up here.”

“See that guy standing with his back to Zairn?” Roxie asked as her fiancé helped her onto a stool. “Yeah, he does a growly thing that keeps people at bay. What are we drinking?”

She pointed at her glass. “This is just the house white.”

In front of Roman were two empty glasses. She hadn’t seen the bartender bring the doubles, but those definitely hadn’t been there before. No mystery where the liquid ended up.

“And that’s the downside of small-towns,” Roxie said, accepting Zairn’s jacket over her shoulders after he removed it.

“The downside of…” Her head went almost all the way around, then snapped back to follow Zairn’s progress behind the bar. “Is he going to—”

“He’s good at it. And if we force him to stay close to Roman for too long, it’ll get ugly.”

“Yeah,” the actor griped, “for him.”

Roxie slapped both hands to the edge of the bar; the beauty looked at her then him. “Let’s open a discourse,” the blonde announced. “We have to fix this.”

“Fix it?”

“This attitude Roman has with everyone. What is your problem?”

“You.”

“Okay, that’s a start.”

The blonde wasn’t accusatory, in fact, her tone was conciliatory. Even when he was offered a break, Roman still chose obstinance.

“Roxie’s a good person, Roman. If you gave her a chance—”

“She took Sway from me and gave her to that—”

“Contrary to your apparent assumption, I am not a pimp. Sway is a human being,” Roxie said, leaning in, lowering her voice. “Women are people too, Mr. Lowe. We make our own choices.”

“We’re meant to be together.”

“My friend Jane went out with a guy like you.”

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