“Uh,” he said. “You… aren’t… devastated?”
“Devastated?” she repeated, incredulous. “My God, can you actually hear the words coming out of your own mouth? Get over yourself. You aren’t that attractive.”
“No, I mean, uh.” Buck seemed totally confounded. He absently rubbed at a scar on his upper arm, still staring at her as if she’d sprouted antlers. “You telling me you don’t… feel the thing?”
“Believe me, I have no interest in feeling your thing,” Honey snapped. She yanked the door open. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of unpacking to do.”
Without waiting for a response, she marched into the cabin, slamming the door behind her. Two angry strides took her to her small private bedroom. For good measure, she slammed that door too.
“Arrogant ass,” she muttered. “Who does he think he is?”
With a sigh, Honey flopped onto the bed. Letting her head fall back on the pillow, she stared up at the ceiling. And to think she’d been so excited about coming to camp. It had all gone wrong, and she hadn’t even put her staff t-shirt on yet.
It was going to be a long, long summer.
CHAPTER5
“Mr. Frazer,” Beth said, in the careful tones of someone who’d been practicing the upcoming conversation in their head for the past hour, and still wasn’t at all sure it would go to plan. “Is everything all right between you and counselor Honey?”
Buck jerked his gaze away from the other side of the dining hall, where Honey was busy helping Leonie hand out pens and notepads to a line of waiting counselors. Damn it, he couldn’t have been staringthatlong, could he?
He cleared his throat. “Why would you ask that?”
“Well…” Beth hesitated, biting her lip. “It’s just, um…”
“We heard Zeph and Conleth talking about you two,” Estelle supplied. “And Conleth said he gave it twenty-four hours before she ran screaming over the horizon.”
“Estelle!” Beth hissed. “We agreed we would ask him diplomatically.”
“I am being diplomatic!” Estelle said indignantly. “I didn’t say any of Conleth’s actual words.”
“A whole twenty-four hours, huh.” Buck took a pull of his water, wishing it was something a lot stronger. “Didn’t have Conleth pegged as a wild optimist.”
“You didn’t have a fight with Honey already, did you, Mr. Frazer?” Beth asked. Her fingers fretted with the end of her braid, twisting the silky red strands. “Only, if she leaves, we have to go home too.”
“Not going to happen,” Buck said firmly. “Don’t you worry. Nobody’s going home. I’ll make sure of that.”
From the glances Beth and Estelle exchanged, this did not fill them with confidence.
“Mr. Frazer,” Beth started.
“I can’t have you calling me ‘Mr. Frazer’ all summer, kid. Makes me feel you’re about to try to sell me insurance. Use my first name, same as you would anyone else here, okay?”
Beth looked mildly scandalized by this prospect, but nodded. “Okay. Counselor Buck—”
“No. Try again.”
Beth chewed on her lip for a second. “Alpha Buck?”
“Sounds like a breakfast cereal. Just Buck.”
Beth gave him a reproachful look. “That’s not very respectful. Mom says we should always be polite when addressing our elders.”
“Beth, I do not need you reminding me exactly how much elder I am. You call me Buck, plain and simple. That’s an order.”
“Can we all call you Buck?” Estelle sounded as though this would be the culmination of anyone’s life ambition. “CanIcall you Buck?”
Buck massaged his forehead. “As long as it’s not every thirty seconds. What were you going to say, Beth?”
