Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Piper

I laugh at the littlest child in the camp as he ends up with flour on his nose…and his shirt and I'm pretty sure it might be in his hair too. Lowell is six and the cutest little thing I have ever seen with big, wide eyes and ruffled hair. We've been making pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies for hours now.

Lupa, who is ten, has been helping me with some of the younger kids. Even though she is young, she is so mature and certain of herself. They have been making me and Annie laugh since we started with their stories and antics. Annie has two campers who are a little older over at the stove putting the cookies into the oven. While me and Lowell are in charge of shaping the cookies and Lupa is helping us decorate.

We're all covered in flour and food coloring and are having a ball when a dark shadow falls over what feels like the entire kitchen. Annie looks up and smiles and I don't have to ask who it is. The owner of the camp, and the mayor, Merrik Grimmwood. The man I have been trying to avoid for the past two days.

"Something smells wonderful."

"Merrik! Merrik!" All the kids go crazy, leaving half-made cookies sitting as they run over to wrap themselves around his legs and chatter excitedly. Even the teens head over to him to show him what they have been doing. Annie also moves closer. Only I hang back and hold my ground where I am.

"Merrik, come look at the cookies we've made. Come look at what we've done with Piper."

"Piper." The way he says my name makes my belly feel like I'm on a roller coaster. "I don't think I've met Piper yet."

Oh shit!

I am unprepared for the full weight of his gaze as it lands on me or how his very presence takes all the air out of the room.

"Piper." He holds his hand out and waits for me to take it. I am well aware of everyone in the room looking at us. My hand is engulfed when I finally put my hand into his. "Very nice to meet you, Piper."

I should say something, I know I should. I should at least nod for fuck's sake, but nothing comes out when I open my mouth. It doesn't help that he uses our connected hands to pull me towards him and uses his other hand to touch my cheek. I hold my breath thinking about kissing him when he pulls his thumb away to show me a streak of flour I didn't even realize was there.

He's not trying to be flirtatious or sweet. He's just letting me know I am a mess. The reminder is like a bucket of cold water being poured over me and pulls me back to reality. "Nice to meet you too."

Lowell comes rushing over, talking a mile a minute. Merrik swoops him up in his arms and listens to every word.

"Piper said I was doing the most important work because no one would have the cookies to make if I didn't press them out the right way and no one would know what they were if I didn't decorate them so good."

"Wow, that sounds like important stuff you and Piper are doing." His eyes are back on me.

I give Lowell a smile before I turn back around and try to focus on cleaning things up a little bit.

"Yeah! Piper says good things always happen when a bunch of people work together instead of fighting."

"Piper seems very wise. You should listen to what she has to say."

Everything goes silent and it takes me a while to notice that only me and Annie and Merrik are still in the room. I look over at Annie with a clear question in my eyes only to find Merrik watching me intently.

"I'm sorry, did you say something? I must have not heard you. I guess I was really focused on cleaning." I give a nervous chuckle before glancing over at Annie again. She's eyeing the two of us with something akin to concern on her face.

Is she worried I might make a play for Merrik? I give her a smile that hopefully tells her she has nothing to worry about. I open my mouth to tell the two of them I don't mind leaving so they can, um, have a private moment when Doyle comes breezing in. He's so caught up in finally finding me semi-alone that I don't think he realizes Merrik is in the room.

"There you are. I was looking everywhere for you. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were trying to avoid me. Oh, hi, Annie."

I don't make the mistake of smiling at him. Doyle doesn't need any incentive to try to come on to me. He's asked for a walk in the moonlight, tried to sit next to me during our campfire time, and even tried to talk me into going down to the lake with him alone.

"I have to clean all of this up, Doyle. It wouldn't be right to leave it all for one person to do by themselves."

"No more excuses, Piper. You're coming with…,"

A growl fills the room and makes Doyle turn white. I start looking for the animal when he wheels around to find Merrik standing by the counter. Where is the damned dog that just let out the death growl? Why is no one but me and Doyle worried? Am I losing it? Maybe there wasn't a growl after all. I slide over to be closer to Annie who doesn't seem to be surprised at all.

"Doyle, buddy, join me outside so we can take care of some things. So, no one gets hurt."

The two men leave quickly and the tension in the room leaves with them. "Um, guess we should clean up and head back to the bunkhouse."

She nods and we spend a good thirty minutes cleaning, which is timed perfectly as the last batch of cookies come out of the oven. We put them away but take one for each child so we can sneak it to them before they go to sleep tonight. Neither of us talks about what happened with Merrik and Doyle…or Merrik and me and Annie. And I'm left to wonder if maybe I'm going crazy. Maybe Merrik really wasn't staring at me intensely, there was no animal growl in the freakin' kitchen, and Annie doesn't think I am trying to steal her man. Besides, there is no way a hot guy like Merrik is going to look twice at someone like me.

I'm either certifiable or I need more sleep. Both may be true since I'm stressing out about what I should do after camp is over and I have nowhere to go. There's no time to think about things like sexy men and jealous women when I have so many other things to stress over.