Free Unexpected Wedding by Carla Rossi Page B

Why do you sound concerned? Did he back away in horror or something?”
    “No, I think he liked it, but I’m not real proud of myself. It’s not like he had a choice. I was sitting on his lap and all of a sudden, I was planting one on him. It happened so fast I don’t know if he was shocked but happy, or appalled and being polite.”
    “Why were you sitting on his lap? You hardly know the man.”
    “It’s surprisingly not as inappropriate as it sounds. That’s part of my problem. Other than shove me off his lap, he didn’t have any options.” Gia hung a left on the trail toward the camp’s front gate. “It all seemed so natural. He looked so cute with that dark hair curling around his ears. He smelled good—despite how hot and sticky it was. And he said the sweetest thing...”
    “All right. I can see what’s happening here.” Rebekah stopped and put her foot up on a stump to re-tie her shoe. “You like this guy. You had a great time. And let’s be real, Gia. He’s a red-blooded American male. I’m ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine percent sure he enjoyed the kiss and doesn’t care how it started. Don’t worry about it. You can let him start things next time.”
    “He’s Greek, by the way.”
    “As in born in Greece?”
    “No, but his grandparents were. It’s one of the things we talked about last night. My grandparents came from Italy, his from Greece. There’s a strong cultural heritage in both our families.”
    “Well, there you go,” Rebekah said and resumed her trek up the hill. “It’s a Mediterranean-American love match made in Heaven. That and the first date smooch-fest at the Blueberry-Catfish Festival will make for a nice steamy love story to tell your grandchildren.”
    Two counselors passed them on the path. “I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. Don’t say another word. No one needs to know about me and Rocky or that kiss.”
    “Of course not. What do you take me for? We’ll talk later in private.”
    They reached the top of the hill and stepped into the bustling preparation for the arrival of new campers. While the gate remained closed for another twenty minutes, excited, fresh-faced kids were already forming lines, anxious to enter.
    One group of staff members stood ready to accept and tag camp luggage and hoist it onto a trailer for delivery to the appropriate cabins. Counselor-manned tables lined the entry, each with giant letters taped on the front to guide parents to the appropriate list for check-in. Everyone else attended to their own assignments, all swarming with excitement and wearing bright, welcoming smiles.
    “I’m going to pop inside the office and make sure we don’t have any last minute messages about our girls this week,” Gia said. “You understand our job today, right?”
    “I do. I’ll walk on over to the gate with the others and see if I can get something started.”
    “Calm down, rook. Don’t give it all away in the first five minutes. There’s a three-hour window for check-in.”
    Gia slipped into the air conditioned office and took her time getting to the staff boxes. As much as she loved opening day, the week was going to be a hot one and this was her last chance until lights out to get out of the heat. She took a bottle of water from the cooler and stepped to the window. She pulled the curtain aside. That silly rookie was already trying to get the waiting campers to participate in “the wave.”
    “Pace yourself, rookie.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Hey, Sam. I’m talking to myself. My newbie’s out there making us all look bad. We have greeter duty today and she’s already got the crowd riled up.”
    Sam stuck his hand deep into a box and pulled out a crumpled note. “Yeah, we’ll see how she’s doing after a couple hours out there.”
    “I don’t know,” she said and dropped the curtain. “This one’s a lot like the Energizer Bunny.” She started toward the door. “I better get out there and stop her.”
    “So what did