Page 8 of Good Girls Don't Date Rock Stars (Rock Canyon, Idaho 2)

“How far is this place?” Gemma asked, changing the subject as she shut the door of her room.

“Just a few casinos down.” Travis kept pace with her down the hallway to the elevator, pressing the button as he studied her. She’d taken off her glasses, so she must be wearing contacts, and her slim, pert nose had him itching to lean over and kiss it, like he’d done a thousand times before. It was hard to remember that he no longer had the right to touch Gemma freely, to hold her hand and kiss the back of her neck in that place that used to make her shiver in his arms. God, just thinking about the way she’d looked when he’d kiss and touch her, his mouth skimming the skin of her thigh. Her lips would part, her eyes barely opened as she’d wiggle under his kiss and hands . . .

When the door opened, he tried to discreetly adjust the ache of his erection. He was here to make amends, not fantasize about a woman who could barely stand his presence. He followed her in, catching a whiff of sweet vanilla and some kind of fruit, the scent doing nothing to abate his desire. Another thing that hadn’t changed about her, and it was comforting. As the elevator whizzed down, Travis inched closer to her until his arm brushed hers. He could tell by the way she held her shoulders that she was tense and nervous, and he almost reached out to rub them but had a feeling she wouldn’t welcome the gesture.

The doors opened, and Travis felt Gemma jerk beside him when several people pulled out camera phones, clicking pictures as they passed. Travis smiled at them and tried to get the door for Gemma, who had her head bent down, trying to conceal her face with her thick veil of hair, but the doorman beat him to it.

“Good afternoon, folks.” Travis watched the doorman’s eyes widen as he recognized him. He half-expected him to ask for an autograph, but the man seemed to decide against it. “You have a nice day.”

Travis smiled and noted his name. He like a man with discretion. “Thank you. You do the same, Gerald.”

Gerald grinned, and Travis turned his attention back to Gemma, who looked like she was going to jump at the first boo.

“Are you okay?” Travi

s asked as they walked along the crowded sidewalk.

“Is it like that all the time for you?”

“Like what?” He smiled at the people who stared as they passed and ignored a few more camera-phone flashes. He caught Gemma holding her hand up to cover her face and understood. Gemma had never been the type to seek attention, but for him, it came with the territory.

Lately, though, he had been impatient with the tight schedules and fake people constantly dogging him for one thing or another. He loved music and was grateful for his success, but he was definitely done with the users. He had been itching for some time off for a while, which was how he’d ended up with a few weeks off after this charity thing tonight. The only reason he’d agreed to go was because he was in town, and Callum O’Shea, the hotel’s owner and a good friend, had asked him to.

He realized Gemma had said something. “Sorry, what?”

“Do you always have cameras flashing in your face everywhere you go?” she asked.

“Sometimes. It depends. Not everyone recognizes me, especially if they don’t listen to country,” he said, holding open the door of the casino for her, leaving the adoring fans outside.

“Really? They won’t recognize you from that movie you did with Emma Stone?” she asked teasingly.

Travis shook his head. “I doubt it. I keep trying to forget that one.”

“Come on, it wasn’t bad. It was cute. What girl doesn’t dream of falling in love with a hot rodeo cowboy?” She raised her voice over the noise of the casino.

“Yeah, women loved it and men wondered what the hell I was thinking.”

As they wound their way through the slot machines and poker tables, Travis reached back for Gemma’s hand. When she tried to pull it away, he stopped and faced her. “I was just trying to make sure I didn’t lose you in the crowd.”

“I’ll make sure to keep up,” she said, starting off ahead of him, and he had to bite back a wave of irritation.

It’s not like I have cooties or something.

He tried to understand her reaction, to see it from her point of view, and caught up to her. “I’m sorry. It’s kind of hard not to touch you.”

She stopped and swung around, her eyebrow raised. “Considering we haven’t seen each other in ten years, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Maybe that’s what makes it so hard. When you spend years thinking and dreaming about someone and have them fall back into your life? Sounds like fate to me.”

His words shocked even him. Though it was true—he’d thought it was bizarre that they had run into each other—he was sure she’d take the sentiment as a line.

Only it hadn’t been rehearsed or even thought through; it had come straight from his heart.

I can’t do this. I can’t be that guy again, especially when she can barely stand to look at me.

Gemma’s pale face was pinched, and he said, “Gemma, I know you think something happened in Phoenix with that woman, but I swear nothing did. I have no reason to lie about it. I’ve already lost you, right?”

Her silence ate at him, and he almost offered to walk her back to her hotel room, but she surprised him. “I’m trying really hard to believe you, but it isn’t easy to just change your point of view in an hour.”

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