Scarlett felt like she was floating through the next day, living in a dream she had no wish to wake from. Even Abbott’s grumbling, more intense than usual, couldn’t put a damper on her mood. She made it through a whole day with him shooting snide, half-veiled criticisms of Travis her way without once taking the bait. She was busy getting him situated in his favorite reading spot by the picture window when Travis stepped into the living room.
“Well, will you look at this?” Abbott asked nobody in particular. “Here he is. Done with his work for the day already, I guess.”
Scarlett patted Abbott’s shoulder reassuringly, then turned to give Travis an apologetic smile. He rolled his eyes, doing little to hide the gesture from his dad. “Hey, Scarlett, I’ve been looking for you.”
“Well, you’ve found me,” she said, her smile turning warmer. “What’s up?”
“Well, I was just wondering if you might be interested in having dinner with me tonight. A proper dinner, at an actual restaurant in town. I know Buckley doesn’t have a ton of options, but there’s a nice little farm-to-table place I think you might like.”
This set Abbott off again, his grumbling decidedly more pronounced. Scarlett stood and headed for the hallway, gesturing to Travis to follow.
“God,” he said, looking in the direction of his father and running an agitated hand through his hair. “He’s in rare form today, isn’t he?”
Scarlett reached up and placed a hand on Travis’s cheek, gently forcing him to return his focus to her. “Your dad is just your dad. You know this. But what’s this I hear about dinner? Do you really think that’s a good idea? I’ve got to look out for Denver, you know.”
“Nope!” Travis said, clearly pleased with himself. “Not tonight you don’t. It’s all taken care of. I talked to Alex and Juniper, and they are more than happy to keep an eye on him. He’s basically always with the girls, anyway, so it doesn’t really require anything extra.”
With that concern answered, Scarlett was happy to accept. While he waited in the living room, talking over matters of the ranch with Alex, she hurried for her room. She hadn’t really anticipated a night out on the town when she’d packed for her temporary stay on the ranch, and she spent a pitiful amount of time worrying over how she looked. In the end, she decided on a crisp pair of black jeans and a plum-colored sweater that made her eyes stand out. She was still a little nervous heading back out to the living room to meet Travis, but she needn’t have worried. The moment he laid eyes on her, his face broke into a wide grin that made Scarlett’s heart skip a beat.
“What?” she asked with what she hoped was a nonchalant smile. “What’s that look for?”
He grinned but shook his head. “Oh, nothing. Just thinking about how lucky I am to have you to myself for an evening.”
“And you’re sure that’s okay?” She looked around the room, half-expecting to see Abbott watching her with a disapproving look. “I’m not technically done with my responsibilities for the day.”
He moved toward her, wrapping his arms loosely around her. “Actually, for today, you are done. It’s all been arranged. Tonight, it’s just you and me on a date like two normal adults.”
Scarlett was so excited by the prospect she couldn’t speak, but she nodded happily and allowed him to lead her to his truck.
She felt a lot like she was living in a dream, a sensation that lasted until they were in town and seated at a table in one of its most popular restaurants. They hadn’t done more than receive their drinks before Scarlett realized that more than a few people were staring at them.
She cleared her throat pointedly and looked at Travis, who didn’t seem phased in the least. “Um, I don’t want to sound paranoid or anything, but have you noticed that people are looking at us? Like, a lot of people.”
He glanced around the room, waved at someone, and smiled. When he turned his attention back to Scarlett, he shrugged. “I don’t really notice it anymore. It kind of comes with the territory. Hometown rodeo star, remember?”
“Oh God,” she laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, believe me, I remember. But hasn’t it been, like, three years since you’ve been home?”
“Sure, but I guess people still remember me around here. And if any of them follow the circuit, then they’ve seen me plenty of times since then, even if it wasn’t in person. It’s part of the gig, getting my face out there. That’s what sponsorship deals are all about.”
Scarlett’s heart jumped uncomfortably when she heard that. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s a big part of it. So, speaking of the road, do you have any idea what’s next for you? Like, when you might head back out again?”
“That’s an excellent question,” he answered with a sigh, running a hand over his hair. “Precisely the one my manager is looking for me to answer. He’s left several messages for me along those same lines. He’s not exactly thrilled that I’m sticking around the ranch for the time being.”
“Does that worry you?” Scarlett was torn between worrying that he was doing damage to his career and being petrified that he was about to say he was leaving.
He reached across the table and took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles in a way that made her shiver. “Right now, I’m perfectly happy where I am. Helping out Alex is the right thing to do. Besides, I’m enjoying my time on the ranch and enjoying my time with you.”
She melted when she heard that, and it was almost enough for her to forget about the people openly staring at and whispering about them. She thought she might really be on the verge of letting her guard down completely when a woman appeared at Travis’s side, laying a hand on his shoulder.
“Travis Harvey, I thought that was you!” she said in an excited, high-pitched voice that made Scarlett shift in her chair. “Even though I told myself I had to be crazy when I saw you across the room. Because it’s been years since you’ve been back in town.”
For a moment, Travis looked a bit annoyed. But then a press-ready smile slid onto his face. Without looking at Scarlett, he stood and gave the woman a friendly hug before he finally turned to look at Scarlett again.
“This is Jennifer Carter,” he said. “I knew her when I was still in town. Jennifer, this is Scarlett Maxwell.”
“Nice to meet you,” Scarlett said politely, not that the woman seemed to hear her. All of her attention was focused on Travis.
She smacked him playfully in the arm, then allowed her hand to linger there. It didn’t take a genius to see that there had been something between them back in the day. “Really? You’re calling me Jennifer now? What happened to Jen?”
His smile tightened a little at the corners, as if it was a struggle to hold on to it. “Well,” he replied, “it’s been a while since then.”
“It hasn’t been that long,” she said with an exaggerated pout. “I remember it like it was yesterday. We had some wild times, me and him, back in the day.” The woman’s attention finally turned onto Scarlett, and it wasn’t something she enjoyed having. “But I’m sure that doesn’t come as a surprise to you. You must know what kind of man Travis is. His reputation kind of precedes him, doesn’t it?”
Travis couldn’t remember ever wishing so badly to be left alone. Usually, he didn’t mind the attention of his adoring fans. A lot of the time, he genuinely liked it. And he was grateful that his celebrity allowed him to get the sponsorships and endorsements that made up a big part of his annual earnings. Couldn’t get any of that without a strong fan base. Right now, though, he wanted nothing more than to be totally anonymous. He’d been looking forward to taking Scarlett on a real date to show her that he was basically a good, normal guy. How in the hell was he going to do that with Jen clinging to his shoulder and so blatantly vying for his attention? He wasn’t used to outright rejecting women, but this was getting ridiculous. If he didn’t do something soon, he was going to confirm all of Scarlett’s worst suspicions about him.
“It’s good to see you, Jen,” he said now, carefully shrugging his shoulder so that her hand slipped off of it as he stepped back from her a bit. “I hope you have a lovely evening and meal.”
She raised her eyebrows in a gesture he recognized well. It was the look she gave him when she couldn’t quite believe he was serious. Then she gave Scarlett an appraising, not altogether friendly look, and shook her head. She didn’t bother saying goodbye as she walked away.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said when she was gone. He took his seat again. “I guess it didn’t occur to me that we might run into people who’d actually come over and interrupt us.”
She bit her lip, and nodded, her arms folded across her chest. “So, she was someone you knew pretty well, then? Not just a fan you chatted with once or twice?”
He was tempted to lie, but even he was smart enough to know that honesty was the best policy in this situation. He made as if to take her hand again, but she kept her arms folded. “No, not someone I met a handful of times. She’s an ex-girlfriend.”
“Someone you met on the rodeo circuit?”
“No,” he shook his head quickly. He wasn’t sure why it made any difference, but he was oddly grateful to be able to tell her that. “She was a high school girlfriend. We only dated for a couple of months during my senior year. Honestly, she seemed more into the rodeo thing than she was into me. That’s been true for most women I meet.”
Scarlett frowned, and Travis was relieved to see a hint of sympathy there. He hadn’t known her for all that long, but it was already enough for him to see beyond a doubt that she didn’t want him for his rodeo ties. It was quite the contrary, actually. From what he could tell, Scarlett liked him in spite of those connections, not because of them.
“So,” she said slowly after several moments of silence. “You’ve dated a lot of women, haven’t you?”
Travis had to fight to keep from wincing. This was a question he had been both waiting for her to ask and dreading. She was clearly familiar enough with his reputation to have heard some of his history with the opposite sex. He was pretty sure that what she was really asking was if he had taken a lot of women to bed. Again, there was the temptation to lie, or at least withhold some of the truth, but he didn’t want to do that with her. He liked this woman, and if she wanted him, he wanted it to be for who he truly was. They wouldn’t be able to build anything real if he was keeping secrets from her.
This time when he reached for her hand, she let him take it, although somewhat grudgingly. “Look, I want to be really honest with you. The reputation I have didn’t come from nowhere. I’ve been with my fair share of women. I’m not proud of it, but I also can’t take it back. And it doesn’t mean that’s who I am today. I hope you can see that, and more importantly, that you can believe it.”
She cocked her head to the side, considering him. She looked at him for so long, and with such scrutiny, that he was tempted to hide under the table. He got the distinct impression that she was deciding on a verdict, and he was more than a little nervous to see what sentence would be handed down.
Finally, her face softened and she gave his hand a little squeeze. “Thank you, Travis. Thank you for telling me the truth. I know it’s probably not the thing you were most hoping to talk to me about, and I appreciate your honesty.”
With a sigh of relief, he let her hand go and they turned back to their menus, discussing what they might eat before turning to other topics of conversation. Travis did his best to shrug their brief tension off, but he couldn’t keep himself from discreetly searching her face when she wasn’t paying attention. She seemed willing enough to leave his past where it was, but were they truly done with the issue, or was it going to keep coming up? He was still looking for signs that it was something she wouldn’t be able to move past.