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ROMAN WONDERED WHAT CARA THOUGHT of his letter. In fact, he wondered all day—especially since he didn’t see her. Filming was going well, but there was plenty of tension, too, since today had to be perfect. It was Christmas Eve, and no one wanted things to bleed over into tomorrow.
When Lila brought the cast and crew lunch, Roman half-hoped to see Cara coming in, too, with or without fruit tarts. When it appeared that Lila and Thayne were the only ones doing the lunch, Roman shoved thoughts of Cara deeper. At least as much as was possible after knowing what it was like to kiss her, to touch her, to fully embrace her.
Would Cara leaving tomorrow make a difference in these tumbling thoughts and colliding feelings of his? Would distance put things into perspective? Or would it, like he suspected, make him miss her? Like he was now . . .
“You’re a million miles away,” Nick said, nudging him.
Roman looked over at the Hollywood star who’d also become a friend over the past year. “Sorry. What did you say?”
Nick laughed. “Nothing important, but the fact that you looked right through me while I was talking was kind of uncanny. Was kissing her that amazing?”
Roman flinched. How in the world did Nick know about the kiss? “I—what are you talking about?”
“Gotcha,” Nick said with a short laugh. “It looks like I’m right, though. You’re blushing like a kid.”
Roman rubbed his hand along his jaw. “Yeah, well, I can’t help that, I guess.”
“So . . . things are moving along, then?” Nick asked.
Roman puffed out a breath. “I like her, that’s all I know. Maybe she likes me, too. At least it seems so. But you know, our lives might as well be on different planets.”
Nick didn’t jump in with a pep talk. Instead, he nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.” He clapped a hand on Roman’s shoulder. “If it’s meant to be, then things will work out, though, right?”
Roman swallowed. “Right.” He glanced about the set once again. No sign of Cara with Lila and Thayne, even though he already knew that. His gaze landed on Stacy. She was staring at him, again.
They hadn’t spoken for the past couple of days, and Roman told himself that was a good thing. Although it made the on-set stuff a bit awkward.
“She’ll get over you, eventually,” Nick said in a quiet voice. “Or not. But she’ll move on. Just needs to get out of Wyoming.”
Roman looked over at him. “I hope you’re right. The evil glares are wearing on me.”
“Be glad that’s all it is.”
Roman frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She was kind of beside herself last night. Nathan and I had to talk her off the ledge. She wanted to bail on the production—to burn you, I guess. But we both convinced her that breaking her contract would just make her an untouchable with other producers.”
Roman’s gut felt like it had been tied and cinched into a knot. “Wow. I didn’t know. I mean, I’m glad I didn’t know. Thanks for talking her out of it. That would have been . . . a disaster.”
“Yeah.”
“Evil glares are now my favorite thing,” he said.
Nick chuckled, but nothing about it was humorous.
Now Roman wondered if his growing attraction to Cara was showing on his face. Nick had noticed. Had others? Would Stacy?
The day wrapped with success, and Roman realized he had never looked forward so much to sitting down to a delicious dinner after a long day. When they reached the main house and walked into the dining room, Jerry was there to greet everyone. He handed out Santa hats to all the cast and crew, insisting that they were now entering the North Pole.
Jerry had outdone himself with the decorating. On one side of the table, Mia was already seated, wearing her own Santa hat. Roman immediately headed toward her, eager to hear about her day in order to be distracted from his own. And eager with the knowledge that not too far away, Cara was likely in the kitchen. What had she thought about his letter?
The first course was served by Jerry, Lila, and Thayne—all dressed festively.
While they ate, Mia talked about games she’d played, the things she’d colored, and then she mentioned cooking with Cara.
Roman paid closer attention to that. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Stacy was paying attention, too, even though she was sitting on the other side of the table. But Mia was oblivious to all of the adult emotions swirling around.
“Cara showed me how she sets the dessert on fire.”
