Page 29 of The Summer We Made Promises (The Destin Diaries #3)

I f someone had told Lacey a few months ago that she’d be driving through the rural back roads of Florida with a great-looking NFL player in a car that cost more than her college tuition, she would have laughed at them.

And if they’d have told her that somewhere in the past few weeks—after spending hours together at the Summer House, on the beach, out and about in Destin, and generally side by side—that this fake relationship would slip into kind of real?

Whoa. She’d have told that person to lay off the rom-coms.

And yet…here they were, doing all that.

As the days rolled along, they had hit a rhythm that included long conversations, easy hours, and lots of laughs.

With his parents still on their dream cruise in the Mediterranean, Lacey had tamped down her desire to tell Tessa the truth, though it still rose up and tightened her throat in the middle of the night.

Thinking it all through, Lacey sighed into the butter-soft leather, letting the Florida sun burning through the windshield warm her legs and arms. Next to her, Roman handled the sports car with practiced ease, cracking jokes and humming along to old-school R&B.

“What are we rescuing again?” he asked, glancing over. “I mean, I know it’s a dog, but any more details?”

“A Chihuahua-bulldog mix named Pickles.”

He snorted. “Epic.”

“Naomi—our Bat Mitzvah candidate—apparently went to this refuge on a field trip that her mom chaperoned, and they both fell in love with Pickles. Jennifer decided the dog would be the perfect surprise gift to be presented at the party, so we’re picking him up and holding him until tomorrow’s Bat Mitzvah. ”

“What a great mom,” he said with a chuckle, then looked her way. “And full-service event planners.”

She shrugged. “It was going to be a long and boring drive up here, but with you going?” Lacey was unable to deny how happy it made her that Roman had volunteered to join her on this errand. “I don’t know if I’ve thanked you enough.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Roman added. “I would have wanted to take this drive even if you didn’t have to get the dog.” He gestured toward the tall pines that lined the winding road, silhouetted against a blindingly blue sky. “It’s gorgeous. And…” He smiled. “I like the company.”

No matter how many hours they spent together, his open admission that he was attracted to her made Lacey’s heart flip. Part of her couldn’t believe it, but another part—the one getting to know what a genuine man he was despite the trappings of professional sports—absolutely did believe it.

And she felt exactly the same way, which was maddening. And thrilling. And complicated beyond description.

She smiled back, trying to suppress the swell of affection in her chest. “I’m sure I’ll pale in comparison to Pickles.”

“A bulldog-Chihuahua mix? Possibly,” he teased. “But that’s a high bar.”

“Especially when he’s presented,” she said. “Our client wants him to wear a bowtie and we used his picture to make a cake with his face on it.”

“You and Tessa don’t play about your parties, do you?”

“No, we do not.” She laughed. “To Tessa, fun is a real business, and I’m learning. I’ll say this—it’s my favorite job I’ve ever had. I mean, no one cheers from the stands like they do for you, but?—”

He rolled his eyes. “Most of the time I’m on the bench, but I’m sure that there will be huge applause for the Pickles presentation.”

She couldn’t argue that, and she appreciated his humility on the topic of who and what he was.

They turned off the highway onto a gutted rural road, the car bouncing.

“Ouch.” Lacey made a face. “That probably annihilated your suspension.”

He shrugged. “Just a car.” After a second, he glanced at her. “What? Why are you looking at me like you refuse to believe a word I’m saying?”

“I refuse to believe a person with your talent and success is that free of an ego.”

His brows lifted in surprise, then he shook his head.

“I can have an ego,” he said. “Ask my high school classmates. But the higher I go in sports, the more humbling the experience is. That and my parents never let me get too cocky.”

“Really? It sounds like they doted on you.”

“They did everything imaginable to raise me right,” he said. “So I wasn’t the boss of the house by any means. Dad made sure I remembered I was just a kid who got lucky with speed and hand-to-eye. Oh, here we are. Stillwater Animal Refuge.”

She turned to see the understated wooden sign and peered between the pine trees to glimpse the property and a weathered barn in the distance.

“This looks pretty,” she said.

“And huge.” He gestured toward the GPS on the dash. “We’re still almost a mile from the main building.”

He drove through an open gate and that mile took them past acres of woods and trails, around a picturesque lake, and past some stables and a festive red barn called “The Cat House.”

They finally reached a one-story ranch-style structure painted buttery yellow with a tin roof and a covered porch. Inside, it was as rustic as the rest of the place with faded couches and paneled walls.

An older woman stood behind the front desk, smiling as she greeted them. “Can I help you get the dog of your dreams?” she asked, then eyed Lacey. “Actually, you look like a cat girl.”

“I love cats,” Lacey told her. “But I’m here to pick up a dog named Pickles. Jennifer Kaplan arranged the adoption and emailed the paperwork. I’m Lacey Knight. I believe she named me on the form.”

The woman’s face lit up. “Oh! Yes, he’s been waiting for you. Hold on. I’ll get someone in the kennels.”

She picked up a phone, and Lacey turned to Roman, who’d stepped to the side and was studying a bulletin board covered with thank-you notes written with dozens of pictures of happy families and their new pets.

He turned to her with a wistful look. “Adoption,” he said softly. “Whether human or furball, is a beautiful thing.”

“It sure is.”

“Look at all these happy families.”

“Just like yours,” she replied.

He let out a sigh, his expression troubled. “Their cruise is almost over and they’ll be home soon.”

She put a hand on his arm. “The longer you wait, the harder it will be for Tessa when we tell her. She’s going to struggle with the fact that we kept it from her all this time.”

He started to answer, but then the front door swung open and the woman behind the desk called out, “Cute overload on the way!”

They looked down to see a bug-eyed brown and tan Chihuahua, fur bristling and tail wagging at breakneck speed. He trotted toward them, a few steps ahead of a girl who looked to be about seventeen, holding the dog’s leash.

Roman blinked. “That is the most ridiculous animal I’ve ever seen.”

Pickles gave a high-pitched bark in response.

“I love him already,” Lacey said.

The girl handed over the leash. “Pickles has a lot of energy,” she said. “The best way to calm him down before you get him on the road is a walk around the property. That’ll help you bond with him, too. All you need to do is sign the paperwork with Miss Nellie.”

“I’ve got that right here,” the woman behind the desk said.

While Lacey handled the administration and gave the donation that Jennifer wanted to make, she kept glancing over her shoulder to watch Roman, who’d gotten on the floor to play with Pickles.

“He’s so cute,” Nellie whispered as she flipped pages for Lacey to sign.

“Man or dog?” Lacey asked with a smile.

“Honestly? Both.”

A moment later, they headed outside into the sunshine, with Pickles proudly leading the way, obviously familiar with every inch. So much so, that they let him off the leash for the sheer joy of watching him trot from tree to tree.

“What do you think she’ll say?”

Roman’s question was so unexpected, Lacey stopped mid-step. “Tessa?” she asked.

“I mean, will she be mad that we didn’t tell her?”

“She might be. She might also be mad that I found you at all. I don’t know.” And worrying about it was starting to gnaw at Lacey, but the decision to tell her—or his parents—wasn’t hers.

“I like things status quo,” he said. “It’s one of my personality traits. I hate change.”

“Really? You up and moved to Destin on a whim,” she remarked. “I would have thought you love change.”

He lifted a shoulder. “With people and relationships,” he said. “I’m so solid with my mom and dad that I don’t really want to throw this monkey wrench at them. And I’m enjoying getting to know Tessa as a person, not as my biological mother. And don’t start me on you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He draped an arm around her. “Once the truth is out, we will definitely change.”

“I know, but…we didn’t do this for us, Roman. We did this to give you easy access to Tessa.”

He tightened his grip. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fake, phony, ruse, pretend. I know your buzzwords, Lacey Knight. If I want to believe you’re my girlfriend, you are. I mean, assuming you agree.”

She just smiled, amused that he even had to ask.

“But all that will change,” he said. “And I don’t want it to. I’ll have to go back to Jacksonville, so…”

When he didn’t finish, she slowed her step and then stopped again, waiting. “So…” she urged.

“So maybe you’ll…come over and watch me play sometime.”

“I would,” she said. “Assuming…”

“Assuming I get off the bench,” he joked.

“Assuming you and I are still friends after the truth is out and our loved ones respond.”

He pulled her a little closer. “If they’re loved ones, they’ll…keep loving us. They’ll understand that I was curious and needed to know my biological mother.”

“I hope so,” she said, trying to make it sound light but she was concerned about Tessa.

“And by the way…” He turned her in his arms and looked down at her. “When are you going to realize we’re more than just friends?”

“We are friends.”

“Really? ’Cause I’m about to kiss you right on that beautiful mouth and I don’t kiss my friends.”

She felt her whole being melting into him as their lips met and the world disappeared into a haze of delicious, perfect, soft….barking.

From a distance.

They jerked apart.

“Pickles!”