The Paid Bridesmaid(52)

And what I wanted was to be here, in this tent, with Camden. I was understanding that illicit feeling of excitement Sadie had expressed. I had a handsome man in my tent. If only the girls I’d gone to summer camp with could see me now.

I’d just have to do my best to ignore the possible crawly, invasive predators.

Camden let out a groan and got up, stripping the cot and throwing his bedding on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t spend the entire night with half my body hanging off the bed.”

This also meant that he’d gone from being four feet away to right next to my cot. I lay down, turning on my side so that I could face him. “But you’re going to sleep on the ground?”

He could hear the distaste in my voice. “Weren’t you the one who grew up going camping?”

“I went to camp, not camping. Very different things. But that’s also how I know how much I despise the entire thing. Years of experience. This is why people made civilization. So that we wouldn’t have to sleep on the ground anymore.”

He put his pillow under his head. “Think of it as an adventure.”

“I think of it as a pain in my butt. Do you know what doesn’t have mosquito netting?”

“Is it your bed in the hotel?”

“It is my bed in my hotel room,” I confirmed.

“But you don’t get to be close to nature in your hotel room.”

That was the entire point. “Nature and I already have a good relationship, thanks. I stay indoors and nature keeps to itself. Something about this feels unsafe.”

He grinned at me, looking like he was enjoying our conversation. I was having a fun time, too. “What’s unsafe? Besides the bugs, which I don’t think will be an issue?”

“Um, have you never seen a horror movie? We’re all sitting ducks out here.”

“You think a serial killer is going to tear through here and get us all?”

I nodded. “That’s exactly what could happen. We get lulled into a false sense of security by chocolate chip cookies and then bam!”

“You ate my cookies.”

“I guess that means you’ll be ready if it does happen. Honestly, you should be thanking me for not letting you get sucked in by them.”

“Rachel, you do know that there’s an entire children’s fairy tale about not eating sweets that don’t belong to you?”

I wagged my finger at him. “The moral of that story is about not eating sweets you find in weird places. Like attached to a house. Plus, there aren’t any witches here.”

“Just deadly centipedes and serial killers,” he said with a smile.

“Exactly.”

I put my hand over the side of the cot because I wanted to be closer to him. I saw the way he studied my hand, as if he were considering reaching out to take it. I held my breath, mentally encouraging him to do it.

Instead he folded his hands over his chest, looking straight up at the ceiling. “Are you planning on doing the sunrise yoga?”

“The only thing I want to be doing at sunrise is sleeping,” I told him. “I’m not really one for greeting the sun, either. Which you can tell from me being so pale.”

“Are you anti-yoga, too?”

“If I’m going to pretend to work out, it’s going to be actual exercise.”

He laughed and then said, “Yoga can be pretty intense. Have you tried it?”

“I’ve had to bend over to pick up the TV remote after I dropped it, and based on that experience, I don’t think yoga’s for me.”

He tilted his face back toward mine, and there was something in his eyes I didn’t recognize, a feeling that eluded description. “Putting everything else aside, I want to say that I like being with you.”

“I like being with you, too.” It felt safe enough to say. But those things he wanted to put aside? They were too big for us to ignore indefinitely.

My phone buzzed, reminding me that there was a real world beyond this one. I sat up and scooted down the length of the cot until I reached the canvas tote that had my things in it. I rummaged around and discovered my extra room key, the one I always kept in my pocket. I grabbed it and then located my phone in my purse.

It was a text from Mandy asking me to meet her in the lobby immediately. “Uh-oh. I have to go.”

“What’s up?”

“I think something’s going on with Sadie’s mom.” I put my keycard and my phone into the pocket of my pajamas.

“I’ll come with you,” he offered. I knew I should probably turn him down, but I rationalized my negative feelings away by considering that I might need his help. I had no idea what I was walking into. And Camden seemed reliable enough.

“Okay. But we can’t let Troy catch us. He’s out there patrolling the border like he’s in the secret police and apparently forcing people to go back to their tents.”

“We’re on a secret spy mission, then.”

“I’m not a spy!” I protested but he ignored me as he crawled over to the tent entrance. He stayed low, peering through the flaps.

“It looks safe to me, let’s go.”

Then he grabbed my hand and I didn’t even have a chance to register the sensations flooding through me because we were running across the grass toward the hotel, both of us crouched over. I wasn’t sure how that was supposed to help, and I couldn’t help but giggle as we ran.