“Sexy?” Ethan finally answered for him.
Great. Was it really that obvious?
“What? No. Jeez, Ethan.” Ford rolled his eyes and sneered.
“Okay, sure, Ford. Whatever you say,” Ethan said with one raised eyebrow. “Look, you can admit that you’re attracted to her. Claiming you’re not only makes me more certain that you are.”
Annoyance rolled through Ford’s body. “That’s not what this is about,” he said, trying to turn the topic back to the matter at hand.
“Then you admit it?”
“Admit what?”
“Admit that you’re attracted to her. I’m not going to tell her.”
His mouth twitched and his nostrils flared as he fought to keep the words in. What the hell did this have to do with anything? Best friend or not, it wasn’t any of Ethan’s damn business who he found attractive. But even in her absence, Corrie’s intoxicating hips, pretty mouth, and heavenly eyes taunted him.
“Fine! Yes!” he blurted, tossing his hands in the air. “Yes, she’s hot. There, are you happy?”
A wide smile formed on Ethan’s face. “I am, actually. Thanks.You two always had some weird sexual energy going on back in school. Until you started dating Addison, that is.”
“Okay, can we not talk about this, please?” Ford said, rubbing his forehead and growing impatient with the conversation. “Like I said, that’s not what this is about. I can work with Corrie—if she even agrees to do it, which right now I put at about a fifty-fifty chance—despite the fact that, yes, I find her attractive. She’s a beautiful woman, and I’m sure everyone in this camp would agree, yourself included. Sunny, too. So don’t stand there acting like you’ve cracked the Da Vinci code, because it’s really not all that surprising, is it?”
“Nope, not to me it isn’t,” Ethan said with his chin up, clearly proud of himself. “Nice to finally hear you say it after, what, twelve years?”
“You really are a dick sometimes, you know that, right?”
“Absolutely. But so are you, you know. Maybe cool it with the animosity. She’s really not bad, once you get to know her. And neither are you.”
Oh, he knew her, all right. That night in the library had revealed a different side of Corrie—and he’d liked it quite a bit. She’d managed to break down his walls. And, in turn, Ford had softened Corrie’s hardened edges. It was quite synergistic when he really thought about it. Too bad he didn’t know how to get them back to that place.
And too bad that side of Corrie was locked away.
“I know. She’s just so... so...”
“Impressive?”
That was one word for her.
“I was going to say cocky.”
Ethan laughed. “Don’t you think that’s a little toopot calling the kettle black?”
“Hey, I’m notnearlyas cocky as she is.”
Ethan patted Ford on the shoulder. “Sure, you’re not. You two, I swear. It’s hilarious that you both think it’s the other one who’s got the problem. You’re unable to acknowledge how similar you actually are.”
Similar? Please.
“Corrie and I are nothing alike. I stick with the facts and the rules. She’s one of those goes-on-instincts kind of people. A plays-by-no-rules archaeologist. And, frankly, she’s a bit reckless.”
“Yet you still sent for her.”
“Yeah, because she’s also fucking brilliant. She might have her weird methods and all, but clearly whatever I’m doing here isn’t working.”
Not that he’d ever been on a job with Corrie, but he’d heard the stories about the spiritual connection she seemed to have with the land. An instinct for where to dig. An understanding of the earth. No one could explain it, but when Corrie Mejía was on an expedition, things always magically worked out, even if there were some mishaps and wild escapades along the way.
After three months into this dig and finding little more than a couple of jagged bits of obsidian, he could use a little dose of that Mejía magic. He’d never flat out told Ethan why he wanted to bring Corrie of all people onto the dig, though he assumed it was obvious. Still, Ethan’s brows raised and his jaw lowered, as if shocked by Ford’s confession.
