Page 57 of Lease to Love

Then Roman's arm slipped around my waist and tugged me closer.

When I looked up, he was already looking at me.

The smile on his face was warm enough to make every person watching us believe he was completely gone for me. His jaw was relaxed. His eyes soft. His body angled toward mine like there wasn't anywhere else he'd rather be.

Anybody else would have seen a man looking at his girlfriend.

I saw Roman Sterling… And I could read his eyes better than I had any business being able to.

They were saying, You wanted to lead? Lead.

I smiled… And just like that, Summer Proctor came home.

I greeted people the way I'd always greeted them. Hugging. Laughing. Asking about children, businesses, mothers, renovations, church anniversaries. I stopped at the community garden table first, because I knew Miss Janice had been complaining for three months that nobody had fixed the irrigation system. Then I made my way to the young business owners along the back wall, checking in on the new bookstore and the hair salon that had opened on Main Street.

Roman followed.

Not hovered. Followed.

And every time I introduced somebody, he listened. Really listened.

People who had never gotten past a guarded handshake with him were suddenly telling him about zoning issues, property problems, expansion plans, things they had been too nervous to say out loud to a developer.

He didn't bulldoze the conversations.

He asked questions.

He remembered names.

He listened.

Twenty minutes in, Miss Cheryl had Roman trapped in a conversation about a zoning issue she'd been fighting for nearly a year.

He listened to every word.

Then he asked questions.

Not the kind people asked when they were waiting for their turn to speak.

The kind that meant he was actually trying to understand.

By the time I came back around, Miss Cheryl was laughing and Roman was nodding.

Then Mr. Keegan cornered him about the empty lot on Main Street.

Then Miss Arlette invited him to church.

He actually accepted.

I nearly choked on my drink.

"What?" he asked.

"You just agreed to go to church with Miss Arlette."

"I did."

I stared at him.