Page 105 of Playing Pretend

“No.” His eyes land on mine, sending a thrill through me with the way he watches me. “I’m taking her to dinner.”

I frown. “Dinner?”

I’d thought we were planning a night in with just the two of us.

He nods as he palms his cell, a text lighting up the screen. “Yeah. I’ve already made a reservation.” The message distracts him briefly before he looks at me again. “I have to go.”

I try not to stare after him as he exits the room, but I fail. I fail often at that. Rome steals my attention easily. All of it, all the time. And not just because of his looks.

I’ve always known we were in sync, but I wasn’t prepared for just how perfectly matched we would be. All that agonizing I did over taking our friendship to the next level wasn’t necessary. Rome and I have never faltered, never stumbled. Not once. I credit him for a lot of that. The way he gave me the space to ease into our relationship, to grow into myself, was everything I needed.

We still banter and tease our way through life. But we have a whole new level of trust in each other that only makes me love him more. That always has me looking for him, wanting him, needing him.

“Oh, Rome forgot this.” Olivia grabs a building access card from the table.

“I’ll return it to him.” I take the card from her hand. “How about Wednesday night for drinks?”

She smiles. “Sounds good.”

I leave her and make my way to Rome’s office.

His door is closed, which is strange. I raise my hand to knock, but the door swings open, and an unfamiliar man almost bumps into me as he leaves.

“Who was that?” I ask as I enter the office.

Rome snatches at something on his desk, but fumbles, and a small blue box wrapped in white ribbon falls to the floor. He quickly bends to retrieve it and shoves the item in his pants pocket.

I stare at the square outline against the material, my heart rate increasing. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” He shoves a hand through his hair. “I’m on my way out. Do you need something?”

I narrow my eyes. “Yes, I need to know what’s in that box.”

Surely, I’m misreading the situation.

“No, you don’t.”

“Okay, soneedmay not be the right word, but I’d like to know.”

Surely.

“Piper,” he warns.

“Rome.” He knows I rarely pay attention to his warnings. Andoh, my God,he needs to hurry this along. I don’t do well with delayed information.

He watches me silently for a few moments before finally cursing under his breath. His eyes, though, hold only warmth for me. And so much love.

“This isn’t how I wanted to do this.” He retrieves the item from his pocket. “But if there’s one thing I can rely on with you, it’s that my plans rarely go off without a hitch.”

I stare at the familiar packaging.

The Tiffany box.

My pulse flutters. My heart flutters.Everythingflutters.

Rome moves closer, and I bring my gaze back up to his.

“You’re really going to do this, aren’t you?” I whisper.

---