Page 28 of Welcome to Bone Town

But also… essential.

I’ve tried to be more accommodating, helpful. Apart from when she figured out the puzzle box was missing a piece and her excitement spilled over to all of us, she’s responded to each of my attempts with a coldness I would think was disdain if a deep blush didn’t also accompany it. I think she’s embarrassed about what happened—that’s got to be it—which doesn’t sit well with me.

So I climb down into the pit with her and pick up a shovel.

Most of the team is gone for the weekend. They needed a break since they’ve been working non-stop, and we needed to replenish our supplies. I opted to stay the moment I heard Cora was staying. After everything that’s happened, I didn’t like the idea of her being here alone.

Bear stayed so his men could hit the town, too, and Archer stayed because he said he wanted to get caught up on cataloguing what we’ve found since digging in this new location, which isn’t much. From the looks he’s been throwing Bear lately, I wonder if his reason for staying has more to do with his obvious attraction to the security alpha than anything else. I also get the impression he doesn’t like crowds and cities, which I understand. I’d rather be out here, too. But I wouldn’t mind a day resting in my tent with a book.

Instead, I slot in beside Cora, and start digging,dumping the sand onto a tarp we’ll later pull up and out of the hole. My elbow bumps hers.

“Do you mind?” she says with a prissy tone that makes me want to laugh. Despite my early assumptions, Dr. Cora Whitlock is anything but prissy. She’s as fierce as this desert, but her mood shifts as easily as the sands.

“Should we talk about the elephant in the room?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“The fact that I saw your breast.”

When she gasps, I smirk. Her hands fly to cover her chest as if I can see through the white t-shirt she’s wearing. To be fair, it is thin, but sadly not thin enough to give me another peek at that vibrant hummingbird tattoo or her luscious nipples. Some women have tiny little areolas, pert and pale. But Cora’s are deliciously big and dark. Bigger than a quarter, more the size of a small cookie. I lick my lips.

“It was an exceptionally beautiful breast, Dr. Whitlock. A perfect specimen real?—”

She slaps me. Palm landing hard enough to whip my head back and snap some sense into me.What the hell was I thinking?

Good thing I didn’t confess I’ve been dreaming of that left breast every night. That one brief glimpse undid me, and I’ve wanted nothing more than to get a better look at that tattoo, trace it with the tip of my tongue, kiss my way up to suck her taut nipple into my mouth and?—

Shutting down that train of thought immediately. The last thing I need is to end up with a hard-on she’ll most definitely notice.

“I deserved that.” I rub at the sore spot and chuckle, trying to hide my own embarrassment. “Forgive me, Dr. Whitlock.”

Nothing of what I told her was a lie—her breast was, by far, the most beautiful I’ve ever seen—but I shouldn’t have said it aloud. This is exactly why I avoid working with omegas. Biology gets in the way, and suddenly all my brain power rushes to the wrong head.

“What the hell is your problem?!” She shoves at my chest, pushing me back against the dirt wall. “First, you complain about working with me. Then, you snap at me for every little thing, as if I’m responsible for all that’s wrong in the world.Then, you pretend to be nice for a few days, but when I don’t give you the attention you want, you make a pass at me?” Her voice is near screeching by the end of her tirade.

“I wasn’t making a pass at you.”

“Oh, really? What was that then?”

“The truth.”

Her breath hitches as our eyes catch.

“What’s going on down there?” Archer says from the edge of the pit.

Bear stands next to him with a concerned expression. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine,” Cora snaps, turning back to her work.

I let out a nearly inaudible sigh and hit the back of my head against the dirt wall. “You’re right. I’m being an ass.” She glares at me like that’s the understatement of the year. “Fine, yes, I’m being ahugeass.”

“He finally admits it,” Bear chuckles.

“Did you find anything?” Archer asks, trying to change the topic. Maybe the beta isn’t so bad after all. God knows I could use a little help right now so I don’t keep putting my foot in my mouth.

Turning away from all of them, I slam the shovel hard into the ground, harder than I should. Instead of the resistance I was expecting, the blade breaks straight through. I lose my grip on it, and the tool drops into a hole that seems to be getting bigger by the second as the sand attempts to escape through it. The grains beneath our feet shift, sucking downward and pulling us with it. Cora screams, and I grab hold of her with one hand while clawing at the wall with the other, trying to keep us from being swallowed by the spontaneous vortex. I have no idea what’s on the other side, if anything, and I don’t really want to find out.

Bear is yelling above us, but all too quickly, everything is drowned out by sand.

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