Tempt Our Fate (Sutten Mountain, #2)(23)

I take a step forward, trusting that he’ll follow me. My instincts are right. I don’t have to look over to feel him a step behind me.

“This, Mr. Hunter, is our community art show. Well, more like a vendor fair, but you’ll find a lot of art here. And I think it’s important for you to see that beautiful art can come from all kinds of places—and that maybe there’s a lot of talent for your gallery right here in Sutten.”

“Pippa!” a familiar voice calls from a few booths down. I smile at Miss Mary and her booth of handmade soaps. They’re my favorite to use, and even though I pretty much have a stockpile of them at home, if she asks if I want to buy one today, I won’t be able to say no.

“Hi, Miss Mary,” I say with affection as we come to a stop in front of her table.

“I’m shocked you left that bakery of yours to come to the event today.” She wraps her arms across her chest, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders. “And what handsome man do we have here?”

“I’m not always all work and no play,” I answer, eyeing a new scent of soap and lotion I haven’t seen from her before. I look over at Camden, who looks incredibly uncomfortable here with his hands tucked in his pockets and his eyes roaming the space. “This right here is Camden Hunter. He bought the Richardsons’ gallery. He practically begged me to take him here today. He’s been impatiently waiting to check out the local talent.”

It’s only a small lie. He did pretty much beg me to help him with his opening, which I traded for bringing him here today, but he had no idea the things I had in store. Despite the little white lie, I do think he’ll be impressed by what some people here in Sutten have to offer.

Mary clutches her chest as if I just told her Camden saves the lives of babies or volunteers at a homeless shelter. “Wow,” she says in awe. “That’s so kind and thoughtful of you.”

I have to rub my lips together to keep from smiling and blowing my cover. It’s just so funny to see her look at him in wonder, knowing that his skin is probably crawling at the fact the attention is on him. “He’s a very, very kind man,” I lie.

Camden Hunter isn’t kind. He’s a man of power, a man who will do anything to get what he wants, including creating a gallery that goes against all of the small-town values of keeping things local in Sutten.

Miss Mary is completely unaware of the type of man Camden is. She seems to be mesmerized by his charm already, and he hasn’t even said anything. It must be nice to have a face so perfect that you don’t have to say a word for people to fall at your feet.

“Pippa here is the sweetest girl,” Miss Mary admonishes. Now, her bright eyes are pinned on me. “She’s as sweet as they come. I’ve known her since she was in diapers, running around church trying to get naked while Pastor Mark gave a sermon.”

My eyes go wide because she’s supposed to be on my side. No one except for the people in the church should know about me running around at two without any clothes on in the middle of a service. I blame it on my mom. Dad still to this day loves to tell everyone that my mom found it hilarious and wasn’t the least bit embarrassed by my antics. That was my mom. She was vivid and full of life. She could make a joke out of anything, and there are just days that I wish she wasn’t ripped out of my life without warning.

“Pippa sure is sweet,” Camden drawls. He flashes his straight, white teeth, his incisors slightly sharper than the rest of his teeth. “Kind of reminds me—” He pauses as if he’s having to think through his next words. “—of shortcake…”

My eyes turn to slits. His smirk tells me he thinks he’s funny, but I don’t find it amusing in the slightest.

Meanwhile, Miss Mary is eating up every second of it. She stares at Camden with stars in her eyes. Like she just said, she’s known me since I was an infant, and Camden says one complete sentence and she’s clearly head over heels for him.

“Shortcake is my least favorite dessert.”

Miss Mary whips her head in my direction. I didn’t know she could move that fast. “You’ve won awards with your strawberry shortcakes. I thought you loved it.”

She’s betrayed me. Camden snickers while my face heats with embarrassment. I’m going to go home and toss out every single one of Miss Mary’s soaps because she’s supposed to be on my side. She wasn’t supposed to tell him that the little nickname he’s given me isn’t as bad as I make it out to be.

“Well, we’ve got to get going,” I lie, pulling on the sleeve of Camden’s button-up. “So many vendors to see, so little time.”

“Oh, why don’t you just get one bar of soap, honey? Or lotion? In the spirit of strawberry shortcake, I do have a few bottles left of my sugar strawberry lotion.”

“I’m really o—”

“She’ll take it,” Camden interrupts. He pulls his wallet from his pocket and thumbs through hundred-dollar bills. I want to laugh when he pulls out two of them, as if one single little bottle of lotion would ever cost that much.

“I hate strawberries,” I argue, watching Miss Mary wrap the pink bottle of lotion in white tissue paper.

“Lying is a sin, darling,” Miss Mary scolds, looking at me with slight disappointment. “You’ve bought this lotion from me before.”