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She clenched her hands. “Nothing’s happened between us.”
“Not yet. But Rick’s a serial womanizer, so he’ll try to make a play at some point.” He smirked. “Have you heard what happened at Palaikastro? The realreason he was fired? It wasn’t just because of his drinking. He seduced the dig director’s daughter.”
She was grateful she’d heard the real story from Rick. “That’s not my concern. We’re just colleagues. I enjoy working with him, but that’s the extent of it.”
“Good. Because I’d hate to imagine how Dr. Roth would react if he learned today’s carelessness had been brought about by distraction. That you were so caught up with your ‘colleague’ that you couldn’t focus on your job.” He gave her a nasty smile. “I doubt he’d approve. If anything, he’d want to distance himself from you academically, and he certainly wouldn’t want to serve on your committee. If you value your career, I suggest you steer clear of deadweight like Rick.”
Fuck. She should have known Grant wouldn’t concede so easily. She steeled her expression, not wanting to reveal how much he’d upset her. “Don’t worry about me. I’m too serious about my future to get involved with some shovel bum.”
Even as she said it, she cringed inwardly. Rick was so much more than that. But she couldn’t let Grant know the extent of her feelings. He’d twist her relationship with Rick into something sordid and spread the word all over camp.
“Then perhaps you’re more mature than I thought,” Grant said. “That being the case, wouldn’t you prefer to work with someone else for the last week of the survey?”
His words crawled up her spine like a spider. Was he challenging her? Testing her to see if she’d choose Rick, no matter what the consequences? Her throat lurched with a hard swallow as she weighed the choice that lay ahead of her. Even if she wanted to be with Rick, she couldn’t risk it. The stakes were too high for both of them.
She had to stop this train before it went off the tracks and derailed their futures. “Sure. Why don’t you put me on Stuart’s team?”
The more distance she put between her and Rick, the better.
