Free Roman Holiday: The Adventure Continues by Ruthie Knox Page A

other people.”
    “She stands up for causes,” Nana said. “Remember when she was with that Sierra Club guy?”
    “But that was for him,” said Stanley. “She’ll do it for a no-account man, or if it’s going to tick off her daddy, or because Susan was doing it.” He looked at Ashley again, eyes bright with conviction. “But this—this was
you
, wanting something, sticking with it even when it got rough. I can’t remember you ever doing that before.”
    “Really?” Roman asked. “She’s a natural.”
    “Well, sure,” Stanley said. “I knew she had it in her. I just wasn’t sure when it was going to come out.”
    “Isn’t there a saying about that?” Nana asked. “Something about desperate times?”
    “Desperate times call for desperate measures?” Ashley asked.
    “Not that one. About rising to the occasion? Or the chips being down … Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The point is, you kicked ass when ass needed kicking.”
    “I object to being referred to as ass,” Roman said mildly.
    “Oh, but honey, you’re
my
ass,” Ashley said.
    The eyebrow rose again, amused this time. She wanted to lean across the table and kiss him right on that lifted-eyebrow spot, but he was too far away, and she’d probably knock over the jam jar with her boobs. Instead she wiggled her toes against his palm. He squeezed her foot with just enough pressure to anchor her amid all this giddy lightness.
    Nana looked back and forth between them. “So where do we stand now?”
    “My colleagues want to knock the place down this morning,” Roman said. “They’ve probably got all the equipment there, ready to go, and they’re just waiting to make sure they’re not going to get sued for it. That’s my end—making sure Ashley doesn’t sue over the imaginary Key deer.”
    “The presumed-to-be-imaginary Key deer,” Ashley corrected.
    “Which are not, in fact, imaginary,” Roman agreed.
    “Right. At least, one of them isn’t.”
    “But since I’m not holding up my end, and I can’t put off calling Carmen back too much longer, we need to start formulating a plan.”
    “What kind of plan are you open to?” Ashley asked. “I mean, you’re still the one who wants to build the resort right smack dab on top of Sunnyvale.”
    “Not just on Sunnyvale, all over that side of the key. Sunnyvale is where the hotel is supposed to go.”
    “Is there anywhere else the hotel could go?”
    Roman took a moment to consider. “We had second- and third-choice sites, sure. At one point I wanted to do several smaller hotels, at different price ranges, scattered around the properties. Heberto rejected that idea. He said there’s more money in a large one, because then you get the conferences along with the vacationers. So, yes, there are other possibilities. Sunnyvale is just the best one.”
    “And are you willing to let go of the best possibility?”
    He gave her the smile she got when she was yanking him around and he didn’t want her to know how much he hated it. “Are you giving me a choice?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I trust you.”
    Roman watched her, that unfortunate smile lingering at the edges of his mouth.
    “Sunnyvale is yours,” she said. “Not mine. That means no more blackmail. If you need to knock it down, you do that.”
    “Why?”
    She considered how best to put it.
    Because I can’t be my best self if I’m not playing fair
.
    Because I want to find out what kind of future I can make for myself honorably
.
    Because I’m starting to think I might want
you
to be part of my future
.
    Too soon. Too complicated.
    “You told me you’re on my side. I believe you. What I want to do, if you’ll let me, is help find some other future for Sunnyvale—one I can live with, one that preserves the Little Torch Key I love. But I think if we’re going to be a team, we have to start like this. As equals.”
    His phone buzzed again, and he stood up.
    He came around the table with his right hand extended. When she