Page 57 of Cherishing Happily Ever After

“Not here. Not anymore.” She kept her eyes facing forward, but she didn’t miss the flinch of rejection on Travis’s face.

Shit.

She knew it wouldn’t be easy to pretend they were just friends. Not now.

She squeezed her eyes shut and let her mind take her back to a few hours earlier when she’d woken him up gently, with her hands trailing down his chest. They’d made love slowly, taking their time with each other. Stephanie tried not to be overly dramatic about it all, but she couldn’t help but feel like it was a good-bye of sorts. Hopefully nothing more than a good-bye to their little hideaway away from the rest of the world, and that was it. Nothing more.

But now, it felt like they were already miles apart and she could hardly remember the way they were back at the cabin. Between them, Tink nudged Travis’s hand, and he stroked the dog’s fur.

Stephanie took one last glance at his hand and focused her gaze back out the windshield, a practiced smile on her face. “Remember,” she said. “They’re likely taking photos right now. I’m going to have to make a statement to keep them from running all kinds of ridiculous headlines.”

“Ridiculous like, ‘Stephanie Starz and mysterious new lover emerge from the woods’?”

She burst out laughing. “Are you sure you don’t write forThe Pulse?” More than anything, she wanted to reach for his hand. Instead, she clasped hers together in her lap and said, “All right. Let’s do this.”

They drove slowly and carefully across the makeshift bridge. Stephanie tried not to look down at the still very high and very fast river, and then they were across. Just as they discussed, Travis stopped the truck so Stephanie could get out. The moment she opened her door, the paparazzi started yelling her name, but she ignored them and went to Nick, who was already waiting for her next to his vehicle. He gave her a hug.

“You ready for this?”

She nodded. “I went over my statement with Lewis this morning. Basic. Nothing exciting. Mention the movie.”

Nick laughed but didn’t release her from his grip yet. “And Travis? How’s he—”

“It’ll be fine.” She gritted her teeth and swallowed hard before turning around with her trademarked friendly smile and a wave. “Hi, everyone,” she said. “Thank you for being so concerned.”

“Stephanie! Were you scared?” someone yelled out.

“Were you ever in danger?”

“Who’s the man who was with you?”

“Is he your new—”

“I know you have lots of questions.” Stephanie spoke loudly and with confidence, the way she’d been coached years ago. “I’ll do my best to answer them quickly.” She waited a beat and continued. “I was perfectly safe, with more than adequate supplies on my property, Lynx Creek. With all the rain, combined with the melt from the mountains, the river unexpectedly flooded and unfortunately, took the bridge with it.” She paused for a little laughter.

“But I want to assure you all that I was never in any danger and in fact, my friend Travis Bishop, who is also a very talented craftsman and did a lot of the work restoring my property, was on the right side of the bridge when it washed out, and so I was never alone.” She waved toward Travis, who stood with Logan and Faith, who was crouched down playing with the dog. She’d instructed Travis to try not to look at her, but in that moment, he turned and their eyes locked. She sucked in a breath and quickly looked away. But it was probably already too late. It likely was already noticed.

“So as you can see,” she quickly proceeded with her comment, “there was no reason to worry about me at all. I am, however, happy to once again move freely between my gorgeous property and amazing hometown as I get prepared for the promotional tour ofBombshell. I can’t wait for you all to see this movie. It’s amazing!”

She lifted her arm in a wave, blew a kiss, and went to join Faith and the others for a moment.

Faith gave her a hug. “You did great,” she said in her ear. “There’s no way anyone noticed the way he looked at you.”

Shit.

“You did.”

“I knew to look,” Faith said with a wink when she released her.

But Steph wasn’t smiling. She had her back to the press as she shook her head, just a little. “So do they.”

“This is bullshit.” Travis drank deep from his mug of beer before replacing it on the table, a little harder than he intended. Caitlin, the bartender, shot him a look and he waved his hand in an apology before turning back to the guys who’d joined him at the Knot for a drink and a debrief about the last few days. Travis was sure they all just wanted to hear the gossip before it hit the internet. He still couldn’t wrap his head around how this could possibly be news, but Stephanie had warned him that it would probably take less than two hours for it to hit the world wide web after her little press conference earlier that morning.

And that had been almost two hours ago. Two hours that he hadn’t seen or spoken to Stephanie, who’d gone back to Ever After Ranch. Because it was private property and set acres back from the road, it was one of the most private places she could go. ElkView Ridge, Nick’s property, was another good choice, but she wanted to be with her sisters.

Travis just wanted to be with her.

But apparently that wasn’t going to happen.

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