The Camp (7 page)

“Is that so?”

“Steph might come too,” he offered.

I
slouched on the bench, not realizing what my reaction signaled, and he laughed loud enough to cause a few heads to turn.

“Or not. She doesn’t have to come. I didn’t invite her yet.”

“No I’d totally like it if she’d come,” I said, half-lying.

“Let’s pray for a little clearing and then it’s a date.”

“So you were showing me the building out there to convince me to stay longer because I’m pretty sure you can’t get it all completed within a day or two.”

He wrapped his arm around me and brought me into him and my heart literally stopped as he placed a quick kiss on my head.

“Just an option,” he whispered, his breath tickling my skin.

And not a completely absurd one considering what was waiting for me
back at my mom’s house.

“You’ve certainly made sure the campers are b
ehaving.” I laughed, scanning everyone as they wandered around the camp. “That certainly helps.”

“Steph has the paperwork that you can
even turn into OSU for directive internship for credit, possibly. She filled it out this afternoon for you and signed off on it.”

“You guys are thinking of all sorts of things
, aren’t you?” I looked at him slyly.

I angled my head to check him out and his dimples surfaced again, sending me over the edge. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but there was something that pulled me to him.
Steph’s earlier words haunted me as I thought about what could be hiding in Liam’s past, but there was a part of me that needed to find out.

“We’ll see,
” I hummed, standing up. “I’m gonna help with dinner.”

I walked several feet before stopping and turning to look at him.
I knew he was watching me walk away, and my suspicions were confirmed when his eyes connected with mine.

“Be
cause of your bear concerns, I was hoping that —”

“You can count on it,” he interrupted, answering my
unasked question about spending the night in my tent.

Purely for protection
of course.

C
hapte
r
E
ight

I woke up relieved that the tent wasn’t flapping, and w
ater wasn’t dripping. The sun hadn’t completely risen yet, but there was enough light to allow me to see inside the tent without a flashlight. I slowly turned over in my sleeping bag, trying not to crunch the tent flooring as I moved, to catch a glimpse of Liam sleeping. He looked so calm and beautiful. I reached up to my hair and felt the tangled mess. It was too early to wake up Steph for a shower, and I couldn’t even imagine how cold it would be, but I kind of wanted a head start before Liam woke up.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and
turned on my back, staring at the ceiling of the tent as the condensation rolled off the fabric. If the weather really was clearing up there was a good chance the plane would make it in tomorrow, and I’d be able to leave. From the moment I was dumped off in this godforsaken place I’d wanted out. I’d been counting the seconds until the next plane arrived, and now that it was a possibility things weren’t so certain. Liam had made everyone else in the camp aware of what it would mean for them if they touched me, and I actually could see myself possibly liking it here or at least more so than back at home. There was a part of being in the woods that reminded me of my father, and that memory brought me happiness. But if things didn’t work out with Liam then I’d be trapped here for weeks until the next plane arrived.

I accidentally let out a huge sigh that made
Liam stir, and I froze in place closing my eyes. His breathing steadied as if he was asleep once more, and I quietly rolled back over to check on him, only to see him staring at the ceiling.

I started laughing and he turned to look at me.

“That’s not fair to look so good in the morning,” I said, scrunching my face at him.

“I don’t know. The view’s looking pretty damn cute from over here.” He smiled,
propping his head on his elbow. The sleeping bag slinked down slightly, and I noticed that he must’ve taken his shirt off sometime during the night.

“I think I could say the same thing.” I laughed, droppin
g my gaze to his muscular chest before flitting back to his eyes.

“We might have lucked out,” he said,
sitting up. He grabbed his shirt.

My breath
hitched, as my eyes dropped to his bare skin, realizing everything I imagined about him didn’t even come close. Heat began rolling up my neck, and I quickly wiggled back into my sleeping bag, pulling it over my head.

“You’re too much.” I groaned.

“Just trying to work every angle I can.” His voice had moved closer and I slowly lowered the sleeping bag to peer at him. “I want you to stay.”

“Well
, it just might be working,” I mumbled, watching him only steps away.

“Do you always get up this early?” he as
ked, stretching.

He really was working all the angles.
His shorts lowered, hugging his hips, exposing his v-muscle. My heart almost stopped.

Rather than give him the satisfaction of having him catch me taking a glimpse of his abs, I stared intently at his face. It was killing me not to sneak a
nother look, but I stayed strong. Okay, not completely strong. My eyes might have dipped one other time.

“Not usually. It’s just something about camping. I always get up early, probably because I’m freezing.”

“The weather might be cooperating for us.” He smiled and raised his brows at me.

“I’m gonna go shower. Wanna come?” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Hardy-har-har.” I rolled my eyes.

“That’s pretty presumptuous of you.” He winked.

I grabbed my pillow and threw at him and he slapped it down instantly.

“Very mature.” He laughed. “If you don’t plan on showering, maybe throw on some clothes for hiking
and be ready when I get back.”

“No! I totally want to shower,” I said, springing up quickly. “I’d feel gross.”

I ran to my bag and dug out all the shower stuff, and I felt Liam’s gaze on me.

“After you,” he murmured, dropping his gaze.

We got to the showers and the camp seemed dead. We were the only ones crazy enough to be up.

“I’ve got a secret,” he whispered, lifting my
hair up from my ear, sending violent chills up my spine. “The first shower, sometimes the second, has warmish water.”

I stared at him, my eyes huge, as he grinned ear to ear.

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “And because I’m a nice guy, I’ll let you take the first one. Just don’t be a water hog.”

“Unbelievable,” I uttered, as I started to have flashbacks to the day before.

“There’s a generator over there, but it only warms a really small tank and it takes overnight to fill up again.
”

“
Your secret’s safe with me,” I said, feeling a tad guilty about Steph, but not enough to ruin my chances of a warm shower now and then. How horrible of a person I was.

I unzipped the shower, dumped everything on the floor and quickly stripped. I turned on the water
and stood directly in the spray, feeling the ice-cold water roll down my flesh. I was terrified of losing any drop of warmth and was willing to freeze before warming up. Liam better not have been lying to me and before I had time to start to get worried, my plan worked perfectly. The warm water ran against my skin, and my hair was already wet and soapy. I quickly rinsed my hair and squirted the conditioner in it and then worked my fingers through my hair to rinse it out.

I turned off the water, dried off, dressed, and wrapped the towel around my head, capturing the remaining heat from my scalp. I unzipped the door to
see Liam standing, with his arms crossed waiting for a response.

“Nice?” he asked.

“Very. Now hurry up and use up the rest before it goes away,” I commanded.

“There’s a solution to this problem, you know.” His
grin was adorable as he walked to the shower.

“And what’s that?” I inquired, lifting a brow.

“Tandem showers.”

My heart fell to my toes
and my smile was impossible to hide.

“Think you’re getting ahead of yourself,” I joked, but the undeniable
attraction was cruising through my body at an unstoppable pace.

He zipped up the door as he shook
his head, and I stood staring at the shower tent trying to imagine what exactly was on the other side of the wall. My pulse was racing, and I felt warm all over as I thought about him soaping his body. I found myself taking a few steps closer to the shower when his voice interrupted me.

“Water’s not warm any more.
I’m telling ya…my idea is perfect.”

I started laughing and he turned off the water
, as I quickly took a few steps back so I didn’t look like I wanted to jump him. As long as he didn’t exit the tent with a towel wrapped around his waist, I thought I’d be okay. I’d manage to exert a little bit of control.

He unzipped the door and looked over at me, flashing a grin.
He was completely dressed.
Darn!

“Ready for the day?
” he asked, walking toward me. “Are you blushing?”

“Nooo! I’m not blushing,
” I said, stomping off to my tent.

“Well
, it was nice of you to stand guard for me while I was in the shower.”

I glanced back at him and scowled but started laughing.

“I’ll meet you back at your tent. I’m gonna go grab some supplies for our hike. Dan and Caleb are on watch-duty so I want to make sure that guy hasn’t given them any trouble.

“Okay,” I nodded.

“And if the weather doesn’t hold, we’ll come right back.”

“Is Steph coming?” I
asked.

He shook his head. “Want me to wake her up?”

“No. That’s fine,” I said far too quickly.

He flashed me a dubious
grin and took off toward the yurt.

I finished getting ready and towel dried my hair as much as possible before twisting it into a clip. I layered hea
vily and put on some wool socks and grabbed a rain slicker. It’s not that the potential for a nice, warmish day didn’t exist, but it just hadn’t surfaced since I had arrived.

Liam was back at my door and ushered me out.
My eyes stared at the barrel that was sticking out over his shoulder.

“It’s a Winchester .308
,” he replied to my unanswered question.

It was kind of alarming to have someone so heavily armed just for a hiking excursion, but then again I was in Alaska.
I tried to ignore the fact that it was strapped to his shoulder, balancing along his back and I grabbed the backpack he handed me, strapping it on.

“Doubt we’ll use it.” He winked at me

“That’s a nice thought.”

We began walking and talking, discussing all sorts of safe things. Every once in a while he would point
out some cool flower or berry. Wild blueberries were mixed in among the native vegetation and I’d sneak one whenever I could.

I was reaching for a couple
plump, dark ones when Liam touched my hand and began whispering.

“You’ve gott
a be on the lookout. The bears love those things.”

Instead of popping them in my mouth, I
scowled at him and threw the handful at him and watched them bounce off him like he was a stone statue.
It figures!

“Nice.” He shook his head and kept walking up the trail that wasn’t a trail. I was a little winded, but I didn’t want him to notice that.

“What’s that noise?” I asked, hearing a constant rushing.

“That’s the river I wanted to show you.
We’re getting close to the lookout point.”

“So how many girls have you taken here?” I teased.

He stopped walking and smiled at me. “None. Believe it or not, just like you I tend to have standards for the girls I like. Criminal records aren’t really a turn on.”

I started laughing, thinking back to all the crazy things that were running through my mind about Liam. I really could have embarrassed myself if I’d actually vocalized any of them.

We walked a little farther, and I could see what he was talking about. The view was spectacular, even more so than when I came in on the plane. The river rushed quickly, and the vegetation was beautiful as it draped over the running water in between the large rocks and boulders.

“We do need to be on the lookout because the bears tend to visit these places.”

“You really know how to ruin a moment.” I laughed, feeling a prickle up my spine.

The breeze began to pick up slightly, but the sky was still blue with only the occasional cloud or two.

“Steph talked to the airline last night.” He stopped himself and looked behind us toward the rocky cliffs.

“And?” I asked, taking a deep breath in.

“They’re going to fly in tomorrow and take the guy out. There’ll be a police escort, and they’ll be dropping off the rest of the supplies so they won’t be making the trip that was scheduled for later in the week.”

“So it’s now or wait for several weeks,” I stated.

A sudden and unexpected ache surfaced along my body. Liam looked down at me and grabbed my hand. His eyes probing me for some sort of answer that I wasn’t sure I wanted to give yet. If everything could continue the way it had been, I would like to stay, but the thought of not being able to get off the island for weeks if I don’t hop on the puddle jumper frightened me. However, having to deal with my stepfather terrified me more.

“You said there’s a lot to explore around here…” I trailed off.

His eyes brightened as his grin grew into a deep, warm smile.

“Tons.”

“Tomorrow afternoon, if the weather holds, we’re doing a rock climbing exercise with some of the other guys. You might have fun.”

My hands started getting clammy
immediately at the mention of heights and jagged rocks, but I looked into Liam’s brown eyes and knew if I stayed, I’d definitely be rock climbing.

“You’d have to show me how. I’ve never done it.”

“So you’ll stay?” his voice broke off.

“I don’t know yet. I don’t
want to get stuck here in case—”

“No one will come near you,” he interrupted.

“I can totally see that already unfolding.” I paused, weighing my options. I shuddered when I thought back to my stepfather, and Liam picked up on my hesitation but for the wrong reason.

“If it doesn’t make you comfortable to stay, I don’t want to
make you.” He took a step closer to me and grabbed my hand.

“There’s nothing r
eally waiting for me back at the house. I’d probably stay long enough to pack and figure out where to stay in Oregon. The thought of seeing my stepdad makes me…” I looked away, swallowing the dryness in the back of my throat. “I don’t get the heebie-jeebies from thinking about staying up here if that tells you anything.”