Page 78 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

Roman was introduced in A More Than Mayhem Christmas (A More Than Series Novella).

This title is the sixth book in the More Than Series, so it is recommended to read the entire series to get a better grasp of the character dynamics.

However, if you’re here for Roman, here’s a little sneek peek.

This scene took place the Christmas prior to Addie’s return.

Roman

I step out of the house, momentarily freezing when I see Heidi sitting on the porch steps, a glass of wine in one hand, her phone in the other. She looks up when I close the door behind me. “Hey.” She smiles. Soft. Sweet. Exactly the way I remember her.

“Hey,” I reply, shoving my phone in my pocket.

“It’s Roman, right?”

I nod in response, but don’t say anything more. I don’t expect her to remember me. It’s been over a decade since I’d seen her last, and besides, we didn’t exactly run in the same circles.

“So how do you know Cam and Lucy?” she asks, and I realize it’s the first time she’s ever spoken to me.

“I work with Cam.” I take a step forward and lean against the handrail, half turned to her, half looking out at the darkness in front of us.

“You work construction with the Prestons?”

“Yeah.” I pause a beat. “Technically, he’s my boss. So is Dylan.”

Her eyes narrow, confused, and I get it. I would be, too.

“I work four days with the Prestons, two at Mayhem Motors.”

“Ohhh…” she drawls, nodding slowly. She brings the glass to her lips, downs two giant gulps, then asks, “So you got kids, huh?”

“ What ?”

She rushes out, “No, I just mean you work a lot.” She shakes her head now, laughing to herself. “That was such a weird conclusion to think, let alone say out loud.” She looks at her glass as if the wine is at fault, then shrugs, takes another sip.

“No kids,” I answer. “I just work a lot.” Honestly, working as much as I do keeps me out of trouble. In more ways than one.

“So, you work with Cam and Dylan, and you know the rest of the gang through them?”

I grimace. “Actually, I went to school with them.” And you , I don’t say, but she’s quick to put the pieces together.

Eyes wide, she almost gasps, “We went to school together?”

I nod, pushing down my laughter when she covers her face with her hands.

“Oh, my god, I’m so embarrassed.”

“No, it’s fine,” I assure, finally sitting down beside her.

Face still in her hands, she refuses to look at me, even when I tap her leg with mine. “I left when I was sixteen, so…”

Heidi looks up, her blue eyes even brighter against the porch lights. “Oh, so you were just there for two years of high school?”

“Yeah…” I hesitate to add, “And middle and elementary.”

Face back in her hands, she shakes it slowly. “I’m the actual worst.”

Maybe I shouldn’t laugh at her reaction, but I do. And she doesn’t seem to mind it. I settle my hand on her back, duck my head so it’s closer to hers. “It’s fine,” I repeat. “It’s not like we had the same friends back then.”

Heidi peers up at me, just one eye open. “We didn’t?”

“No,” I assure. “I played baseball with Jake.”

“ You did ?” she almost yells.

“But Dylan played basketball, right?” Everyone knows Dylan and Heidi got together sophomore year. From what I understand, they stayed that way until college, when Dylan joined the Marines. He met Riley when he came home on medical, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Heidi groans now, sitting up straight. “Thank you for trying to make me feel better. I appreciate it.” She offers a smile that has me pulling away slightly.

Heidi Stanford has always been beautiful…

in that untouchable kind of way. Even without being Dylan’s girl, very few boys had the courage to speak to her, let alone look in her direction.

To be honest, it’s hard to believe I’m even doing it now.

“You know what it is?” she says, then runs a finger along my arm. “It’s the tattoos. I bet you didn’t have them in school.”

“Actually…”

“No, you didn’t!”

I crack a smile. “You’re right. I didn’t.”

Her eye roll makes me want to smile wider. I don’t. Instead, I glance toward the door, then back at her, and ask something I’ve wanted to since I stepped out and noticed her here. “What are you doing out here?”

After emptying the rest of her glass, she mumbles, “The wheel fell off.”

“The wheel ?”

She sighs, long and loud, her shoulders dropping with the force. “I’ve been the ninth wheel for a long time, and sometimes I just need to…”

“Fall off?”

Nodding, she rests her back against the siding and faces me completely. “I have to say, I’m glad you know -know the guys, otherwise the paranoid part of me would assume that you’re here for me.”

“Uh…”

“I mean, like, they wanted to set me up with you.”

“Oh.”

“No offense. I just?—”

“ Definitely don’t need help in that department,” I cut in.

Her mouth opens, shuts, opens again. For a second, I think I may have said something wrong. “If it makes you feel any better, I never confirmed that I was going to come tonight.”

“Same,” she says.

“So, technically, the whole pimping us out to each other thing is very unlikely.”

She taps her temple. “I like the way you think.” Her eyes are right on mine for the first time in what might be ever, and the longer she stares, the harder it is to breathe . Ridiculous, I know, but it is what it is.