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“Of making a fool of myself. Of expecting too much.”
He cocked his head to one side.
“I mean, you made clear what you’re like. I just don’t want to go expecting anything from you.”
“For starters, I think you took what I said a little too far.”
“Which bit?”
Did he really have to spell it out? She was staring at him. Apparently, he did. “The bit about me being a womanizer. I’m really not that bad. Yes, I see a lot of women, but only women who …” How could he put it? He only slept with women who slept around? That sounded bad. It sounded worse than it was—or was it really that bad?
“Well, I’m not a woman who … I don’t know what you were going to say, but I don’t think I’m the kind of woman you usually go out with.”
“You’re not.”
“So why bother?”
“Because I like you.” He was starting to wonder why bother, too. It didn’t need to be this complicated. He just wanted to hang out with her. It shouldn’t be this hard. If she wanted to go, maybe he should just let her go?
He got to his feet. “It’s up to you, Piper. I’d like to spend the day with you, but it’s your call.”
She got to her feet. “Okay. See you then.”
He watched as she pulled on her bridesmaid’s dress and collected her purse. He went to her as she reached the door. “That’s it? You’re leaving?”
She smiled. “Yeah. I need to have a shower and get changed. I can’t go down to brunch like this. I’ll see you down there?”
He smiled. “Okay.”
Once the door had closed behind her, he shook his head. He’d been thinking that she was making things too complicated, and then he’d been the one who overreacted thinking that she was leaving, walking out on him, when all she was doing was going to get changed. He went back through to the bathroom to finish getting ready. She really had his head turned around.
~ ~ ~
Piper let herself into her room and leaned back against the door. Was she crazy or what? Cameron was being so sweet and trying to be understanding, and she was being completely irrational. She liked him too much. That was the problem, plain and simple. Somewhere in the middle of the night as she’d lain there enjoying the feel of him all around her, she’d realized that she liked him far too much.
It’d been a year since her last relationship ended. She and Grant had been together since he’d worked with her flying cargo. He’d moved on quickly to fly for the regionals, and that had changed things between them. She’d been a little envious that he’d gotten the opportunity that she never had, but at the same time, she’d been happy for him. She’d supported him. He’d soon started to act like he was better than her. He seemed to think that flying for the airlines made him something special. Maybe it did. The flight attendant that he’d started seeing behind Piper’s back seemed to think he was pretty special. Piper had been sad, but the breakup had been overshadowed by her mom’s death a few weeks later. Since then, she’d found it easier not to bother dating.
Cameron had woken her up to her desires. At first, she’d thought it would be easy to sleep with him and be done with it, but now she knew better. She liked him. He was on her mind all the time, and she didn’t need that. He was a player; he’d told her so. He might want to come back up here a few times to play with his new toy—that’d be her—but then he’d move on. She should be fine with that, but she liked him. As a person, as a friend—a potential boyfriend. None of that was realistic, so she’d be better off to avoid him completely. Stop it before it started. She’d only end up making a fool of herself. She knew it. But that was dumb, too. If she was going to make the most of every moment like she’d promised herself she would after her mom died, then she should just jump in with both feet and enjoy it while it lasted.
She pushed away from the door and headed for the shower.
Twenty minutes later, she made her way down the grand staircase to the lobby of the lodge. There were familiar faces milling around everywhere. Jason, Smoke’s partner at the airport—her other new boss—waved when she spotted him. She went over to him and his wife, Rochelle.
“Morning. Where did you disappear to last night?” asked Jason. “I thought you’d be around to catch the bouquet.”
Piper could feel the heat in her cheeks. Laura and Smoke must have come back after she and Cameron had left.
Rochelle pushed at her husband’s arm and smiled at Piper. “Leave her alone. It’s none of your business.”
“Sorry.”
Piper smiled. “No problem.”
“Hey, guys.” They all turned to greet Luke, another of the pilots who worked for Smoke and Jason. “What time does this brunch start? I’m starving.”
Rochelle laughed. “You’re always starving, but this time I’m with you. Why don’t you find Angel and ask her?”
Luke gave her a sour look, making Jason and Rochelle laugh. Piper didn’t join them. She knew that Luke liked Angel, the woman who ran the lodge. She thought Angel liked him, too, from what she’d said at the bachelorette party the other night, but they’d never gotten together. Piper could relate that Luke might feel a little uncomfortable about the whole thing and didn’t need people laughing at him. She pointed toward the double doors that were just swinging open. Laura and Smoke came out from the function room and started to usher everyone in. “It looks like it’s starting now,” she said.
