Page 56 of Cherishing Happily Ever After

The smile she gave him then lit up her gorgeous face. “You’re one hundred percent right. Thatiswhat I wanted. Just a few people, nothing flashy. But Dax, my ex, wanted it all. The bigger the better. The only part of the wedding that Faith was planning that I was excited about was the location. I fell in love with Ever After Ranch and Glacier Falls the minute I got here. The mountains, the river, the waterfalls—it’s amazing. And that’s what I wanted. Not all the rest of it.”

Travis nodded. That made sense to him and the version of Stephanie he knew.

“And the man? I can’t say I’m not pleased that didn’t work out.”

Stephanie almost spat out the sip of wine she’d just taken. “No, that didn’t work out.”

“But he must have been pretty special if you almost married him.”

Steph shrugged and set her wine down. “I thought he was,” she said after a moment. “But it turned out that I wanted it to be something it wasn’t.” She spent the next few minutes telling him about how the men she’d dated in the past, including her ex-fiancé, were all in the business in some way, and thrived off the attention she got. Or, alternatively, they were jealous of it and used her to help raise their own celebrity status.

“You’re different,” she finished.

“In more ways than just that one, I hope.”

“So many more.” She studied him carefully for a minute and leaned forward, closing the distance between them. “But you bring up an interesting point, Travis.”

He thought about making a joke about weddings, but she looked so serious, he kept his mouth closed and waited for her to continue.

“My celebrity is a real thing in my life. And in one way or another, it’s always been an issue in my relationships.”

He took her hand and squeezed. “It won’t be for me.” He meant it, too. Travis didn’t care that she was famous. In fact, he often forgot that it was part of her life at all. “I don’t care about what you do for a living,” he said. “Really.”

She gave him a half smile. “I appreciate what you’re saying. But you haven’t experienced it yet. And I think when that bridge is repaired tomorrow, you’re going to come face-to-face with exactly what it means to date someone like me.”

He hadn’t thought of that. Not really. Earlier when Levi called to tell him about the progress on the bridge, he’d mentioned the reporters in town, but he’d been far too focused on the fact that their time together was coming to an end to consider what it might really mean. Judging by the look on her face, Steph had considered it. “I can handle it,” he said confidently. Whatever it meant, he didn’t care. If the last few days had taught him anything, it was that he wanted Stephanie. All of her. And if that meant dealing with some of the harder aspects of her career, he would. No matter what that meant.

“So, I was thinking,” Stephanie continued. “Tomorrow when we get across, there’s going to be enough attention on me, I don’t know if it will do any good to tell the world we’re…” She looked at him with a question in her eyes.

Travis squeezed her hand to reassure her as well as himself.

“We’re together,” he said. “I mean…if…”

She smiled, giving him her answer. “So I don’t think we should announce our relationship yet,” she finished.

He sat back abruptly, as if he’d been slapped. “You just want me to pretend that we’re…”

“Friends,” she suggested. “You did some work here and you helped me out and—”

“That’s it?”

She nodded slowly and he released her hands completely, unsure how he felt about shoving his feelings aside—even if it were just for show—when he’d already spent way too much time not acknowledging them. “I don’t know, Steph—”

“Please, Travis.” Her lower lip quivered a little before she sucked it between her lips, but she couldn’t hide the shine of unshed tears in her eyes. “I don’t think you understand how bad this could be, and I—”

“Okay. Don’t cry.” He would agree to anything if it would make her happy. He knew that with clarity in that moment. “Whatever you want. I trust you on this. It’ll be okay.”

But even as he agreed, Travis couldn’t ignore the unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he was wrong and nothing would be okay.

ChapterFourteen

“Okay,”Travis said as they pulled up to the edge of the river and the newly installed bridge the next morning to see what could only be described as acrowdon the other side. “I might have underestimated this a little.”

Bythis, he referred to the throng of reporters, with their telescopic camera lenses all aimed in their direction. Two police cars, half of Glacier Falls’ force, had lights flashing as the officers held back the press—a small mercy Stephanie was grateful for—and there was the familiar vehicles of both Nick’s SUV and Logan’s truck.

“I tried to tell you,” Steph said. “It’s intense.”

“Itisintense,” Travis agreed with a nod of his head. “Wow. You’re kind of a big deal.” He winked at her and moved to slide his hand over her thigh, but Steph stopped him.

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