Page 35 of Keeping Happily Ever After

Sure, she’d enjoyed all of those things. Who wouldn’t? Steph was far from pretentious, and she definitely remembered where she came from. But she also wasn’t above enjoying the fruits of her hard work and everything they afforded her. And the truth was, being Hollywood’s hottest celebrity definitely afforded her some of the finer things in life.

“Well then, I guess you’d be surprised to hear that I do in fact plan on staying here.” The words were out of her mouth before she could think them through. She had absolutelynotplanned to stay on site.

Travis didn’t even try to hide his surprise. “You are?” His mouth fell open. “Here? Out in the woods? By yourself?”

“When I’m in town. Yes.” She nodded stubbornly, unable to stop herself.What exactly was she trying to prove to this man?“But not in this cabin,” she said, surprised at her words. “I want the one closest to the river. It’s tucked a little bit away from the lodge to still be private, but it’s not too far away.” As she heard the words come from her mouth, Steph realized that she did in fact want to live in the cabin. More than she expected. “It will get the morning sun on the porch, so I can sit and have a coffee while I watch the river. And then in the evening, the stars will be—”

“Like a blanket,” he finished for her. “The other cabins will be nice, but they won’t have the clear open view to the stars the way the bankside cabin will.”

“Bankside?” A small smile tugged at her lips. “You named it?”

She couldn’t have been more surprised to watch him duck his head with the slightest bit of embarrassment as he nodded.

“I kind of named it when I was a kid. We used to stay in that one.”

“You did?” Steph was touched by his admission. “With your dad and grandfather?”

Travis nodded. “Sometimes we’d go out in the evening just as the sun was setting and the fish were feeding on the top of the water. We’d catch our dinner and then while Dad and Grandpa were cooking inside, and arguing about how much salt to use—it was always too much,” he grinned at the memory, “I would sit out there and toss pebbles into the stream. I always tried to hit the bank on the other side.”

“And did you?”

“Once.” He nodded, lost in the memory. “It was the last time we came. I was about eleven. Two months later, just as the leaves were starting to turn, Grandpa had a heart attack. He died in his sleep and just like that, we quit fishing.”

Steph took a step toward him, instinctively needing to comfort him. Despite the fact that they’d just met, she had the distinct feeling that Travis hadn’t shared that memory before, and maybe he hadn’t even allowed himself to think about it for quite some time. Either way, it felt like a special moment. She reached out to put her hand on his arm. “I’m really sorry—”

He turned and caught her hand in his so quickly, Steph hardly had time to process what was happening.

“No,” was all he said. He held her arm up but didn’t make a move to close the gap between them. His eyes held hers with so much intensity, he might as well have been pressed up against her body.

Her breath hitched and she gasped a little as he squeezed her hand ever so slightly before letting go.

“Don’t be sorry,” he said, the intensity gone, his light, teasing smile back on his face. “It’s just life,” he said simply. “Nothing to be sorry about.”

Steph let her hand drop to her side. She nodded and called on all her training to fix a casual smile to her face. “Of course.” Her voice was light and easy, a professional actress through and through. “It’s just life.”

She knew she put on a convincing performance, because she was damn good at what she did. It’s too bad there weren’t awards handed out for moments like this, because pretending that the little cabin they were standing in wasn’t completely full of tension and passion and emotion of all kinds and that what had just happened between them wasn’t something completely significant and altogether confusing at the same time, was, without a doubt, her best performance in a very long time.

ChapterTwelve

The restof the surprise Jeremy had in storewashot. But probably not the type of hot he’d had in mind when he’d teased Bella earlier. She couldn’t help but laugh as the smoke billowed out of the little cabin only moments after Jeremy had lit a fire in the fireplace. Bella wasn’t laughing because fire of any kind was funny. That wasn’t it at all. But she couldn’t resist the laughter when she saw his face after he realized there was something stuck in the chimney that was causing the smoke to vent into the small space instead of up and out the the roof. The irony of the situation was not lost on her, and once she started to laugh, she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

It was definitely better for her to be outside and let Jeremy take care of the situation. She wasn’t totally sure he’d appreciate her laughter.

Bella retreated to the porch of the tiny log cabin Jeremy had taken her to after their snowshoe adventure and let him deal with the fire and smoke problem inside. He was, after all, trained for such a situation. She tried not to smile at the sounds coming from inside, which included the occasional curse word. To distract her, Bella looked around.

The sun was starting to set behind the mountains, causing the snow-covered trees to glow a little. It all looked so magical. Bella was struck by the simple beauty of a place she had no idea existed. Her laughter fell from her lips as she took it all in. Her mouth opened into a small O, but no sound came out as the moment settled over her.

She was completely transfixed by the silence around them. It was a level of peacefulness she’d never experienced before. It settled into her bones in a way that almost made her cry. Bella closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the crisp, clean air mixed now with the comforting smell of woodsmoke.

“Hey.” Jeremy’s arms wrapped around her from behind and instantly warmed her when she didn’t even realize she was cold. “I think I got it under control in there.” He nuzzled into her neck. “Babe, you’re freezing.” He stepped back a bit and rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

Still, she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the snow-covered trees. “It’s so quiet out here.”

“Right?” He held her close again, and Bella leaned back into his chest. “Do you like it? I hope it’s not too quiet for—”

“No.” A tear came to her eye, which was so ridiculous because she had absolutely no idea why. She’d just had the best day and had absolutely no reason to be sad.

Jeremy must have heard something in her voice, because he turned her in his arms and tilted her chin up with a finger. “What’s wrong? I’m sorry I couldn’t get the fire going. I just assumed…which is ridiculous. I should know better. You’d think that the new fire chief would—”

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