“Shoot.” Rome groaned. “I should’ve thought about that. She has such a fervent following. And they never really liked me.”
“Really? That wasn’t the impression I got.” For the few weeks I knew about their relationship, everyone seemed to love the idea of the rom-com actor and the pop princess dating. Like they were Hollywood royalty. Meant to be.
“Most times you don’t notice the trolls unless you feed them.”
“Yeah, but still. Everyone loved you two together. You two made sense.” I cleared my throat and had to look away as I finished under my breath, “Unlike us.”
Rome snorted. “I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen Victoria. We weren’t dating.”
“What?!”
“Image, remember? Our PR people thought us seeing each other would be mutually beneficial to our careers. We went on a few public dates, held hands, posted about each other on social media, apparently. I think Jeff wrote those. It wasn’t real. Nothing about me out there is real.”
Before I could wrap my mind around all that information, Rome pulled into the parking lot, put the vehicle in park, and turned to me. “Right. So we’ll walk inside, hold hands, order coffee, and try to look lowkey while also totally in love with each other. Any questions?”
“So many. You have no idea how many questions I’ve got.” I rolled my eyes at him and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“Relax. You’ll be fine. If it helps, just think of my character inSWAK. Everyone loves Officer Hendrix. And I’m here to protect you.”
Right. Because Roman fricking Grier wasn’t yummy enough.
“We’ll stay long enough to create a stir but try to dip out before it becomes mayhem. You ready?”
“Yup.” I reached for the door handle but froze when Rome spoke again.
“Wait. Let me get your door.” Rome’s charming smile lit his face up and my heart stuttered. Until he spoke again. “You know, in case anyone followed us.”
As he walked around to my door, I closed my eyes and took a few breaths. I know I should be telling myself that this wasn’t real, but wasn’t my job to pretend it was? It was so hard to separate make-believe from reality when Rome smiled down at me like that.
And held my hand.
For the first time in my life, I felt some pity for Victoria Jay. Because she must’ve had the same struggle when she fake dated Rome too.
We stood next to his Escalade while he bleeped the locks, and I took a second and just stared at him. He caught me looking and brushed a hair off my forehead then gave me a sweet, gentle kiss that was over before I’d even realized. Like we’d done it a million times before. Like we fit together.
Like we didn’t even have a contract.
Did he feel it too? Or was he just that good of an actor?
He held my hand while we walked down the sidewalk to the coffee shop. We weren’t going to my coffee shop since Rome had thought it might still be a scene.
His thumb brushed against the back of my hand, and I bit my lip and looked down. Every single time he touched me I felt an electric charge. Holding hands this long was making my nipples tingle. He was just…so much perfection. Sexy and gentle and attentive.
How much of that was real? Was any of it?
He held the door for me, his eyes still hidden behind his sunglasses, and I slipped in before him. We stood patiently in line, and no one seemed to notice who was standing in their midst. My eyes swept over the crowd. Everyone else was just minding their own business—even though Rome looked more like the Unabomber than a movie star with his hat and sunglasses indoors.
Still, no one said a word until we stepped up to the counter.
Rome gave the barista his charming smile. “I’ll have a small black americano. What do you want, sweetheart?”
It took me a few seconds to realize that I was his sweetheart. Shaking my head, I answered, “I’ll have a medium iced peach green tea lemonade.”
“Seriously?” Rome laughed. “Not a coffee?”
I scrunched up my face back at him and shook my head. “Not this late in the day.”
And not their coffeeI thought to myself but didn’t say out loud. Theirs wasn’t as good as Morning Jolt’s.