Her Dirty Archeologists by Mika Lane

16

FLEUR HOLMES

“Soleil? It’s me.”

After Jonas had showed me how to use the satellite phone, and I’d promised to keep my call to five minutes, he left me alone so I could have some privacy.

“Oh my god!” my sister screamed from the other side of the planet. “How are you? How is it there? And how are those hot guys? Tell me everything! By the way, you are calling me in the middle of the night.”

I laughed. “Okay, Soleil, one thing at a time. First, I only have five minutes to talk. I’m on a satphone, and I they’re super expensive. Cell phones don’t work in the middle of nowhere, you know.”

She let out a loud breath. “Okay. That’s why you hadn’t returned my text messages. Whew.”

I’d told her several times there was no cell coverage in the desert. But that was my sister. Details didn’t concern her.

“Soleil, I slept with two of the guys at the same time. And I kissed the third one.”

She whooped so loudly I was pretty sure I heard her clear around the globe.

“Jesus, Soleil, you nearly blew my eardrums out.”

“Oh my god oh my god. You had a threesome? You little slut!”

Was I a slut? But if I were a slut, then the guys were, too.

“Tell me, how was it?” she breathed.

A tingling shot through my core as I remembered. “It was… fucking incredible.”

And I was dying for it to happen again.

Although, maybe I should push that out of my mind. I should not be messing around with anyone I was working with, for heaven’s sake, least of all my advisor.

Jesus. What had I been thinking?

Although it had been amazing.

“I’m thinking I made a mistake, Soleil.”

She was quiet for a moment. Guess she was all screamed out. “I get it, Fleur. But you’re a grown woman. You can enjoy sex with anyone you want.”

Easy for her to say.

“Just chill out and enjoy yourself. You deserve a little fun. You’ve been working on that PhD for years, and you just got rid of jerk-off frat bro—”

“Actually, he got rid of me,” I interrupted.

“Whatever. Chill and enjoy yourself. You are with real men now. No more piss-ant college boys.”

“I gotta go, Soleil. Love you.”

“Love you too, sis!”

I packed the phone back in its case and was hobbling back to the camp’s kitchen area, which seemed to be the gathering place for us anytime we weren’t in our tents or digging away.

“Hey, what happened to your foot?”

I whipped around to find one of the guys from the neighboring camp behind me, looking me up and down like he was hungry and I was a nice, juicy steak.

The guy one who’d stared me down from a distance.

And like the guys in my camp, he was shirtless.

Unlike the guys in my camp, his belly hung over his belt, he had man boobs, and he was sunburned.

“Do I know you?” I asked.

While I was hoping that might put him off, he took it as an opportunity to move closer.

He extended his hand. “I’m Brad. It’s nice to meet you. I already know the guys here, so I thought I should meet you, too. Since we’re neighbors and all.”

I shifted the phone case to my other hand and shook his. “Hello. I’m Fleur.”

He stood there, looking at me awkwardly.

“Well, I have to go. I need to elevate my foot.” I turned to leave.

“Oh wait. What did you do, anyway?” he asked. “To your ankle.”

Was it that hard to figure out? “I twisted it.”

He took the opportunity to take the satphone from me. “Let me help.”

Damn. Now it would be harder to get rid of him.

I hobbled back with him close behind, trying not to put too much weight on the sore ankle.

“Hi, guys. I saw Fleur needed some help, so I came on over,” Brad said.

Drake and Jonas looked up from the drill they were trying to fix and frowned.

I knew it was Jonas because Penn had started wearing a bandana around his neck.

“She looks like she’s getting okay around to me,” Jonas said, turning back to his repair.

I plopped down in one of the camp chairs and put my foot up on another.

“Thanks for the help, Brad. I’ll see you later.”

The smile slipped off his face, and he realized he had no reason to stick around. “Okay. Well, I’ll see you all later. Take care of that ankle, Fleur. Give me a holler if you need anything. You know, like help. Or want to come over for a beer. We have beer,” he said proudly.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Drake looked up at me and winked.

And I almost fell off my damn chair. God, the effect these guys had on me.

“Somebody has the hots for Fleur,” Jonas sang.

“Can’t blame him,” Drake mumbled.

“What? What was that?” Jonas asked.

Drake shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Hey, we made you a chair of sorts, Fleur. You can sit in the sand and still do a little work,” Drake said.

Oh my god. Here I’d been thinking I was going to be pushed out and possibly even made to go home. Granted, I’d slept with two of the guys and kissed the other, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t send me packing the moment I was no longer an asset to them.

If only I hadn’t gone after those damn thieves. I’d been doing so well and now I was hampered by a sore ankle.

Archeology could be a cutthroat business. People didn’t like sharing credit if they didn’t have to. Not that these guys would do that to me. But you never knew how people would behave when there was a lot on the line.

And Drake believed there was a shitload on the line.

Drake and Penn had left my tent that morning before I was even awake, but Drake had returned, having fashioned a sort of crutch-slash-cane out of an extra tent pole.

“It’s crude, but I think it will help. You shouldn’t be out of commission long, anyway. That looks like a minor sprain. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you if you wanted to leave,” he’d said.

“Leave? What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

He gestured at our surroundings. “Leave here. You know, go back home.”

My stomach churned at the fear that he might be using my ankle as an opportunity to get rid of me.

Would he really do that? Fuck me over like that?

Especially after he’d fucked me? Literally?

I stood with the help of my new device. “No. Absolutely not. I am going nowhere,” I said, my chin held high.

“Are you sure—” he started to ask.

But I cut him off. This wasn’t even open for discussion if you asked me. “You can’t keep me away from this dig. I’d crawl on my hands and knees to get to it, if I had to.”

My voice caught. Shit. I didn’t want to look like a crybaby.

“I mean, I usually sit in the same spot for hours, anyway. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

He smiled. “I appreciate your dedication.”

I appreciated his nice, big dick in my mouth…

And then I started to blush. From the prickling heat all over my face, I knew it was a good one, nice and pink, announcing to the world that I was embarrassed as shit.

“Hey, you feeling okay?” Drake asked, touching my forehead. “You’re really red. Maybe it’s the heat? Here, let’s get you some water.”

With the help of my cane, I followed him to the kitchen area, where he propped my foot up and filled a water bottle for me.

I was blown away by his kindness.

And I had a chair to sit in while digging?

You’d better believe I wasn’t going home, not until the absolute last minute I had to.

* * *