Page 65 of Good Girls Don't Date Rock Stars (Rock Canyon, Idaho 2)

Gemma shook her head and held Stormy up for further inspection. “And you? Did your daddy pick out a good one, too?”

Walking over to pick up the last two grocery sacks, Travis said, “I think I did.”

When she met his gaze, there was definite heat in it, and her heart went skippity-skat as his shoulder brushed hers.

“Thanks for getting him the dog. You made his year,” Gemma said softly.

The look he gave her made her want to back away, it was so fierce. “He’s my child. I’d do anything for him.”

“Are there more groceries, Mom?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, a few more,” Gemma answered, watching Travis as he set the sacks on the counter and started pulling stuff out.

“I’ll do that,” she said, shaking herself into action.

“It’s okay, I think I’ve figured out your cabinet system,” he said, sticking a gallon of milk in the fridge. “Besides, I wanted to run an idea past you before Charlie comes back.”

Apprehension settled in as she said, “Sure. What’s up?”

Just as he opened his mouth, though, the front door flew open, and Charlie rushed in. “Got it all, Mom.”

“Later,” Travis said, and started talking to Charlie about what they planned to do tomorrow.

Gemma continued to pet little Stormy, wondering what he’d wanted to ask her. The idea couldn’t be worse than the two of them living under the same roof, though she tried to pretend she didn’t warm up from just being in the same room with him. His sweetness to Charlie, and even his behavior toward her, had been caring, and all of it was getting to her.

TRAVIS CAME DOWN from reading to Charlie and found Gemma at the kitchen table, headphones on, typing away.

Walking up behind her to see what she was writing, he read loudly, “‘Lady Emily couldn’t believe his gall. Moving swiftly, she pushed at his shoulders, knocking him off balance, and with arms flailing, Lord Everton fell back into the fishpond with a resounding splash.’”

Gemma reached up and jerked her headphones off. “What did you say?”

“Why did she push him into the pond? What did he do?” Travis asked.

Gemma pressed a few keys before shutting the laptop. Turning in her seat, she looked up at him with clear irritation. “He behaved insufferably.”

“What, did he forget to lay his coat down over a puddle or something?”

She stood up and took her glass to the counter. “No, he made a rude comment about a kiss they shared.”

“That’s it? What did he say? Her breath was stinky?” he said, trying to make her smile as he followed her.

It worked. Setting down her glass, she shook her head at him, her lips curved into a small grin. “You are ridiculous.”

“Why am I ridiculous? This is before they had toothbrushes, right? People probably had some serious halitosis going on.” Taking a step toward her, he brought up his hand to play across her parted lips. “Whereas now we have all kinds of breath-freshening agents that make the dangers of stinky breath almost nil. Unless you eat garlic.” Dropping his head to let his lips hover above hers, he whispered, “And I don’t remember you being especially partial to garlic.”

“What are you doing, Travis?” she asked breathlessly.

“I’m not sure,” he said, brushing his lips over hers softly.

“We can’t do this. What if Charlie came downstairs and saw us?”

Nibbling at her mouth, he said, “I’ve been thinking about us. I want to forgive you, Gem. I want to start over with a clean slate and see where this goes. What do you say?”

Her eyes were giant pools of uncertainty as she looked up at him and swallowed. “What does that mean?”

“It means I want to see if we can have a real life together. You, me, Charlie . . . we can be a family.”

He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but he wanted her to say yes so badly it was killing him. He felt like he had taken a big step toward being an adult and wanted to have an adult relationship, not just chasing a different skirt every week. And it had all started coming to a head when he’d seen her at that elevator, struggling with her books. He’d realized in that moment that he’d never been able to forget her, and now he really felt like he was ready to make the right move. He wanted the kind of life he’d imagined growing up, and he wanted it with Gemma.

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