Page 35 of Cherishing Happily Ever After

“Oh yeah?”

The other man sounded surprised, and Travis couldn’t blame him. In all the years they’d known each other, he’d never once asked for advice on anything. Ever. Especially a woman.

He swallowed hard and then, with nothing else to lose, Travis said, “Yesterday in the pub, you and Levi—you were…well, you were talking about how when you had a good woman…well, how did you know?”

There was silence on the other end and then Travis heard Logan exhale slowly. “That’s the thing,” he said. “It’s not like it’s one thing. That would be too easy, right?”

Travis nodded to himself as his friend continued.

“It’s more like a series of things. The way she makes you feel inside. The way you can’t stop thinking of her. The way you want to be with her more than anyone else. The way one day you wake up and realize you would turn your whole life upside down if it meant seeing her smile again. The way her laugh is the sweetest sound in the world, especially if you’re the one who made it happen.”

He smiled as Logan spoke, each point resonating.

“I guess, it’s just a lot of little things that are actually really big things,” Logan finished. “Does that make sense?”

“More than you can imagine.” He patted the wet fur of the puppy, who’d curled up on the seat beside him. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate that.”

“Anytime,” Logan said. “Oh, and Travis?”

“Yeah.”

“We are talking about my sister-in-law, right?”

Travis laughed a little. “We are.”

“You do realize she’s like the most famous person in the world or something like that, right?”

He shrugged. Travis almost never thought about that side of Stephanie when he thought about her. “I mean, I guess so,” he said to Logan. “I mean, I know she’s famous and all that, and I know it’s part of her, but it’s not why I love her—” He froze.Loved her.“I mean, it’s not a thing about her that I—”

“Don’t bother, Travis.” Logan laughed on the other end of the phone. “I think you just answered my question, and satisfied my obligatory need to be protective over my sister-in-law.”

Stunned, Travis shook his head and listened to Logan, but it felt as if he were in some kind of space warp, where he floated in the air while simultaneously slammed into the ground. Finally, he managed to speak. “I don’t know why I said that.”

Logan’s laughter stopped. “I do, Travis,” he said seriously. “I do.”

So do I,Travis thought.So do I.

ChapterNine

The momentthe door closed behind Travis and the puppy, Stephanie exhaled a breath she didn’t even know she was holding and sank to the couch.

For a woman who’d been so adamant about not playing games, wasn’t that exactly what she’d just been doing with him?

Shit.

Yes.

But maybe he was right. Maybe nothing could be casual between them? Maybe there was no point in trying? Maybe she was being silly and they should just get it over with? After all, if she just got him out of her system, then maybe she could move on and—

Only one way to find out?

Nick’s words replayed in her head but she immediately dismissed them.

He didn’t know. His situation was completely different. He may have some sort of theory that some men don’t know what they want until it stared them in the face, but that wasn’t a real theory. And it sure as hell wasn’t the kind of advice that Stephanie had any business taking. And now… She dropped her head and groaned.

Now she not only knew what she wanted—a relationship and a family and a life with a man who loved her—but she also now knew with a certainty that ran deep inside her that she wanted that with Travis.

And he couldn’t, orwouldn’t,be able to give it to her.

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