Follow Your Heart (Catalina Cove #4) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,64
good judge of character.
“I know you do, Roman, and I’m sorry if I made you feel that you don’t.” She reached across the table to touch his hand. “I honestly believe that you are one of the good guys, and I see the point you’re trying to make and concur it’s a valid one. However, there’s the other issue that will bother me. You’re always on some reporter’s radar and any woman you’re involved with will be, as well.”
He nodded. “Yes, I know of your fear of being in the limelight.”
“I don’t fear it. I’d just prefer avoiding it.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute and then said, “So you mean to tell me that if your boss came to you and said there’s a television station in New York that wanted you as part of their team, and taking the job could make you a household name, you would turn it down?”
She frowned. “Of course not. I would be crazy not to grab that opportunity.”
“Even if, subsequently, you’d become the next Oprah and be cast in the limelight?”
She didn’t say anything for a minute because she didn’t have to. He had cornered her into admitting that she was capable of being flexible about things when it suited her.
“I’ve told you what I want regarding our relationship, Victoria. But you have to want the same thing. I believe we owe it to each other to see what, if anything, can become of us. Things might have started off between us as mere friends, but I believe it’s more than that now.”
She had to agree with him. “Yes, it’s more than that,” she said, although she refused to define just what their relationship was. The one thing she did know was that she didn’t sleep with her friends.
“So will you at least think about it?”
Sighing deeply, she nodded. “Yes, I will think about it.”
“Thanks. Another thing I’d like you to think about is your involvement with Tanner Jamison. If we agree to continue to see each other after I leave here, I can’t help but wonder what will happen if Tanner gets his act together and wants to claim you as his.”
Victoria drew in a deep breath knowing there was a possibility that might happen since Mama Laverne hadn’t failed in matching up couples yet.
Even if her great-grandmother was certain Tanner was the person for her, Victoria wasn’t convinced. He didn’t love her, she didn’t love him and she refused to sit around and wait for him to make a move. She might have thought she was capable of playing the waiting game for Tanner, but that was before Roman. Before spending time with him, sleeping in his arms and making love with him.
Drawing in another deep breath, she said, “You’re right. I have a lot to think about.”
“Will you give me your answer before I leave here?”
She nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment and then said, “Yes.”
Her response brought a smile to his lips. “And another thing. If we decide to continue to see each other, there’s a ball at the Kennedy Center next month. I’d love to invite you as my date.”
“Whoa,” she said, holding up her hands. “Not sure I’d be ready for something like that so soon, Roman.”
“I hope you will, Victoria. I have no problem being seen with you and hope you don’t have a problem being seen with me. Things have been pretty low-key here, but I think the best way to deal with everything once I leave here is to be transparent. Once people see we’re nothing more than a couple dating, the media will eventually leave us alone.”
She wondered if he really believed that. “I wish I could be as certain about that as you are.”
“Have faith.” He glanced at his watch. “Do you still want to make a pit stop at the ice-cream shop?”
She shook her head. “No. I want to go back to the boat with you.”
She needed him to hold her and make love to her. Including today they had eleven days left to be together in Catalina Cove. That would be all they had if she decided not to agree to continue to see him after he left.
He stood and held his hand out to her. “Then let’s return to the boat.”
* * *
ROMAN AND VICTORIA walked out of the café not aware they were being watched. The man who’d been seated at the table across from theirs pulled his cell phone from his shirt pocket and