When In Rome...Find Yourself: A Sweet New Adult Romance by Lena Mae Hill

student. Of course he’d want to see the marble statues as much as she did. The problem wasn’t that he was bored and she’d worried about him too much to get in the zone with her camera. The problem was, she hadn’t thought about him at all.
    He must have noticed how weird she was. He must think she was completely bonkers after seeing her go wherever it was she went when she found a groove like that, got into the moment with her camera. She’d probably made all kinds of weird faces as she contorted her body this way and that to get the shots she wanted.
    “Sorry,” she said. “We can go if you want. I’m done.”
    “Whenever,” Ned said, not sounding concerned at all. Maybe they hadn’t been there very long.
    “Did you want to take some pictures?” she asked. “I hope I wasn’t in your way, or hogging all the good angles.”
    “I take my pictures with my mind,” Ned said. “I don’t use a camera.”
    “Not even on your phone?” Rory tried to imagine not taking pictures, but she couldn’t. It was the only way she really saw what was right in front of her. It became more real through the lens, each part of it something special in its own rite, something to appreciate and marvel over.
    “Not even with a camera,” Ned said. When they had hung out a few more minutes, a couple walked up to the fountain, hand in hand. They made their way around it, then stopped and murmured to each other.
    “Ready to go?” Ned asked. “Let’s get out of their way.”
    They’d started across the cobbled plaza when a car whipped around the corner and honked at them. Ned grabbed her hand and sprinted for the sidewalk. His touch caught her by such surprise that he had to tow her across, but she was laughing, too, and out of breath all over again. She paused to zoom in on the couple at the fountain, who were now caught in a passionate embrace.
    “Are you taking a picture of those people kissing?” Ned asked.
    “Oh—no.” Rory lowered her camera and turned away, walking up the sidewalk quickly so he couldn’t see her face.
    He caught up with her after a few steps. “That’s a bold move,” he said. “But hey, whatever you’re into.”
    “It’s not like that.” With her camera in front of her, all the anxiety melted away. It was as if she became invisible when she held it up in front of her face. It didn’t matter what they thought of her, because she wasn’t there anymore. Only her camera remained. Usually, she forgot people were real on the other side. They became part of the composition, part of the fountain and the plaza with the cobbled street and the stone buildings beyond.
    They climbed back into Jelly and continued around the city for a while. Ned took her to another fountain, a shop that sold glass made in Venice, and a church. By the time they had finished at the church, Rory had gotten used to Ned’s presence. He was quiet, never speaking while she photographed her subjects or adjusted settings on her camera. He didn’t hover, either, but stood looking at everything while she took pictures. She was able to forget him most of the time, which still unnerved her.
    Finally, after they’d left the church, Ned said, “I think it’s lunch time now, right? You’re not going to bite my head off for mentioning pizza this time?”
    “I didn’t bite your head off. And you really don’t have to do that.”
    “You can stop saying that now,” he said. “Dude, I know I don’t have to show you around. But I wouldn’t be doing my duty as your self-appointed tour guide if I failed to introduce you to Luigi’s pizza.”
    “You know the guy by name?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
    “Italians are a very warm and generous people,” Ned said, adopting a phony tour guide air. “They welcome you to their restaurants and take your money with great friendliness and…deliciousness.”
    Rory laughed and shook her head. “Okay, show me the pizza.”
    “It will be worth it,” he said. “And just so