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“No, not at all.”
Did that come out too quick? A little too eager? If so, he didn’t seem to notice, but only continued with “I wanted to talk about flights. I shouldn’t be seen getting on the same one they do.”
“Good point.”
He could pretend he was jetting off to another interview, but she wasn’t giving him any excuse to leave earlier than necessary. Yes, even with that kiss, she had no idea whether she stood any chance of a fling with Chris, but she realized it didn’t matter. Okay, it mattered in the sense that she wanted it—really wanted it—but even if she knew it wasn’t going to happen, she still wanted to spend more time with him.
“I know the crew is flying out tonight,” he said. “I’ll go in the morning. I could get a hotel room tonight…”
“Don’t be silly. Tomorrow is fine.”
Or the next day. Maybe the next after that? Or “never” seems good. Does “never” work for you?
Where did that come from? If he wanted anything, it would be short and sweet, which was perfect.
“Tomorrow would be good,” she said firmly. “The morning flights are super early, but if you need to get back to Vancouver…”
“I don’t.”
“Then there’s a midafternoon departure…”
“Perfect.”
“Zane!” Sofia called.
Chris straightened and lifted a hand, as if she might not see him there.
Sofia came jogging up the steps, the two camera operators following.
“You need to see this,” Sofia said. Then she spun on the operators. “Show him.”
The female operator set her phone down between Chris and Daphne. On the screen was a still photo of Chris. That was all Daphne saw at first. Then she noticed the hulking brown bear.
The shot was taken from an angle where all she could see of Chris was his profile, jaw tense, gaze lifted to the bear’s. The grizzly stood there, looking down at him.
Holy shit, had he really been that close? Daphne had kept telling herself she’d underestimated the distance.
Chris and the bear were close enough that they could have been slow-dancing in middle school, barely a ruler’s length between them.
“That was…” Daphne breathed, feeling stunned. “Wow. You were close.”
“It’s the angle,” Chris said.
The camera operator flapped her hand, as if telling them that part wasn’t important. Then she hit Play, and Daphne realized it was a video. The sound had been scrubbed. You couldn’t hear Daphne giving instructions. Nor Tika growling. Nor Sofia freaking out. None of them were in the shot, either. It was just Chris and the grizzly, locked in a stare-down.
Then the bear backed up, dropped to the side, and loped off.
As the bear left, words scrolled across the screen: #1 NYT BESTSELLING AUTHOR ZANE REMINGTON (“AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD”) FACES DOWN GRIZZLY AND WINS.
“I made sure to include the book title,” the operator said. “And the number one bestseller part. They’re also in the post, along with the hashtags and the show name and Sofia’s name. All the metadata for the bots.”
“Nice.” Daphne patted Chris’s back. “Impressive.”
“Uh, no, you’re the one who—”
She patted his back harder. “Damn impressive.”
He got the message. It didn’t do her any good to take credit.
