Seeking Happily Ever After (Ever After #8) - Elena Aitken Page 0,30

lips. “When you kissed me earlier…well…I know this is going to sound stupid.”

Char’s breath caught in her throat. “I don’t think it will.”

His smile was sweet, but there was heat behind it, too, when he said, “It was the most incredible kiss I’ve ever had.”

“That doesn’t sound stupid at all.”

“It doesn’t?”

She shook her head. “It was the best kiss I’ve ever had, too.”

“Really?” He shifted closer to her, and she nodded.

It was hard to breathe with him touching her. With him so close. With him saying the things he was saying.

“And I want you to know that what Damon said earlier…he wasn’t wrong.”

Damon wasn’t wrong.

“No,” she said so softly, she almost couldn’t hear herself. “He wasn’t wrong.”

He moved even closer so she could feel his breath on her lips. “So what do we do?”

For Char, there was one clear answer, but it wasn’t that easy and she knew it. Still… “I’d like to kiss you again.”

His lips curved up in a smile. “I like the sound of that.”

She did too. So much. She shut her eyes as he closed the tiny distance between them, but before his lips touched hers, he stopped.

“Char?”

Her eyes popped open.

“I can’t promise you anything right now.”

“I know.”

“Amelia is—”

“I know.” She stopped him. “Like I said, that’s why I’m here.”

But it wasn’t the only reason she was there. And that became crystal-clear to her when, a moment later, Nick cupped her cheek with his hand and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that erased any lingering hesitations either of them might’ve had.

And that meant she was in trouble. Because whether she planned it or not, things had just become a whole lot more complicated.

Chapter Eight

From the moment Stephanie had seen the Lynx Creek property, she knew it was special. And every single time she came back to Glacier Falls and saw the progress Travis Bishop had made, she got a little more excited. She hated to admit it—least of all to him, because his head would only get even bigger than it already was—but the man was damn good at what he did.

After her meeting with Charlotte Davis, Stephanie had gone directly to Ever After Ranch to see her sisters and even more importantly, her new baby nephew, Cole. By the time she’d returned to Lynx Creek for the night, it had been late and she’d been exhausted and in no state to check out the process on construction, even if there had been any daylight left.

But with the dawning of a new day, and a coffee in hand, Steph was ready to go exploring.

Her cabin, Bankside, had been the first one Travis had restored. She knew from his last email that he’d recently finished up with a few of the cabins farther up in the trees, so she set off on the trail that led toward them. Overhead, the trees were alive with the sounds of all types of birds that had recently returned from their migration. Steph let the sweet sounds fill her and block out any lingering stress she’d been feeling from being in LA.

There’d been a time when she’d enjoyed the business of the big city, but more and more she longed for the peace and quiet of the forest and the mountains. Certainly, her sister Faith would make some sort of quip about her getting old, and she was probably right.

She didn’t want to say that her clock was ticking, because that wasn’t it. With baby Cole and Amelia in her life, she didn’t feel any strong pull to have children of her own. At least not yet. But she couldn’t help but be envious of her friends who surrounded her with their happily ever afters. It seemed like every time she turned around, someone else was finding their soul mate and falling desperately in love. Since her failed engagement, which ended up in a very public and somewhat embarrassing break-up, she hadn’t had any prospects at all.

Travis Bishop.

No. Travis was absolutely not a prospect.

No way.

Sure, he was ridiculously gorgeous…if you liked that strong, silent, slightly broody, way too cocky for their own good, cowboy type.

Which apparently she did.

But even if she was ridiculously physically attracted to him, it would never happen.

He’d made that more than clear.

Just remembering the way they’d almost kissed, her so sure he was attracted to her as she was to him, only to have him more or less shove her away as if she were disgusting, was enough to remind her that, no, it