Page 34 of Keeping Happily Ever After

“So, what do you think?”

“What?” Steph spun at the sound of the voice behind her. Travis’s voice. He stood on the porch of the old lodge, directly behind where she’d been staring out over the frozen river, lost in thought.About him.

“Sorry,” Travis added quickly. “I thought you heard me pull up. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

A flood of sensations flowed through her body, but fear wasn’t one of them. She pulled herself together and pasted a bright smile on her face. “You didn’t. I was just thinking about how amazing this will be in the summer.” It wasn’t a total lie. She did think about that every single time she visited Lynx Creek. She’d only seen pictures of the grounds in the summertime, having only discovered it a few months ago once the snow had already fallen. But if it was this spectacular in the winter, she knew it would be phenomenal in the summer.

“It is amazing.” Travis had stepped up to stand beside her on the porch. He crossed his arms over his thick chest and gazed out over the snow-covered river along with her. “I’m not going to lie to you, Ms. Starz. I’m more than a little jealous that all this is yours.”

Ms. Starz?She was going to protest the formal use of her name, but Travis was still talking.

“When I was a kid, my dad and grandfather would bring me here once a year for a three-generational fishing trip.” He spoke to her, but he was clearly lost in the memories of those childhood experiences. “We only came about five or six times,” he continued. “Up until the year my grandfather died. After that, my dad never picked up a fishing rod again.”

There was sadness in his voice that drew her closer to him.

“Some of my best memories were on that river with both of them. The stories, the jokes,” he said. “It was a special time.” He nodded, almost to himself, and closed his eyes for a moment.

Steph tried not to stare at him, but she couldn’t help it. She’d never before met a man who was so openly vulnerable with her so quickly after meeting her. She opened her mouth to say something. To acknowledge somehow what he’d just told her. But before she could, his eyes opened again and he turned to look at her. All traces of the seriousness of the moment were gone as he gave her a toothy grin. “You have something pretty incredible here.”

Steph stuttered over words unsaid before finally forcing herself to nod. “Yes,” she said simply. “I really do.”

Steph spent the next two hours with Travis going from building to building, making extensive notes on each one and what work would need to be done specifically to bring them up to the quality Steph visualized.

“This one is actually in pretty decent shape,” Travis said as they stood in the small two-room cabin. “Obviously it will need a little bit of work to bring it up to the standards you’re creating, but it won’t take long. And if you were going to consider staying on site, this might be a good choice.”

“Staying on site?” Steph hadn’t really considered the possibility of living at Lynx Creek while construction was going on. She was still at Ever After Ranch , but the house was going to get a little more crowded soon with the arrival of the new baby. Maybe it was a good option for when she came home after filming?

“You weren’t going to?” Travis gestured around the small space with his free hand. The other held the clipboard he was using to take notes. “Sorry, I just assumed you were because of the supplies.”

“Oh.” She laughed. “Right. I totally forgot to mention it. My friend Jeremy asked me if he could use the cabin tonight.” She shook her head because she still thought Jeremy was crazy when he’d asked her to use the little house for a romantic evening. For the life of her, Steph couldn’t figure out what was romantic about a cold little cabin in the woods.

Sure, when she was finished with her renovations, the cabins would be plenty romantic, but now…

“That makes sense.” Travis nodded. “I was wondering why there were stacks of blankets, pillows, and bottles of wine. It didn’t really seem like the right type of supplies for you. And I didn’t really think that you would—”

“That I would, what?” She tilted her head and stared at him. She put her hands on her hips. “You don’t think I’d live here?”

She wouldn’t. But not for the reasons he was thinking of, that were no doubt that she was toofancyor tooHollywood. And needed a higher standard of accommodation because she was so high maintenance. She wasn’t. Nowhere near it. She wouldn’t live there because if everything went to plan, she’d be gone for the majority of the construction, filming. But the mere fact that he assumed she was too good to live there felt like a challenge.

He shook his head. A sly grin that could only be described as a panty melter—because that’s what it felt like was happening to her panties at that very moment—crossed his face. “No,” he said simply. “I don’t think you would.”

“And why is that?”

“You need me to say it?”

She nodded.

“Because you are a fancy celebrity, Ms. Starz. Not a back country mountain girl. Not unless you’re playing one in the movies.” His words were sharp, but his blue eyes sparkled with mischief. He knew exactly what he was doing, playing with her. Challenging her.

And much to Stephanie’s annoyance, it was working.

“You think I’m a fancy Hollywood type?”

“Definitely.”

“So, five-star resorts, silk sheets, champagne breakfasts, that type of thing?”

“Sounds about right to me.”

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