I had a couple of choices. The first was to tell her the truth, which was not something I wanted to get into. My only other option was to change the subject. The problem was that she’d see my attempt a mile away, and that would just add to her curiosity. And if I tried to walk off, she would lie in wait until I came back and ask all over again.
“He…wants to do a basic exam on me,” I admitted with a grumble.
“Huh, I remember the last time we had someone out here to check us over, you bullied that poor man into leaving you alone,” she said, looking even more curious.
“I shook his hand, and it was covered in sweat. He wasn’t touching me with those.”
“He wore gloves.”
“Not the point.”
“No, the real point is you resist anything to do with your health and yet apparently agreed to be examined by Colin?”
I knew she wasn’t insinuating anything…untoward, but I still felt myself bristle at the nonexistent implication all the same. “Don’t make it fucking weird.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t the one making it weird, though now I’m wondering why you think I was. Has being around all these young guys and your divorce made you eye the other side of the fence?”
“Now you’re making it fucking weird.”
“Yeah, but it’s fun to watch you turn colors. Anything you want to tell me?”
There was only one thing that came to mind, and no way in hell was I going to share that memory. Which was strange,because if I’d been unlucky enough to walk in on anyone else doing what Colin had done, everyone would have known. I probably would have shouted myself hoarse and then bitched and moaned to Cait about it after the fact.
So, why was I keeping it to myself rather than doing what I expected of myself with anyone else? For the same reason that the memory lingered in my thoughts, ready to leap forward eagerly…I had no fucking clue.
“He told me I needed to have an exam because I didn’t even have a recent physical. Seemed easier to let him do his basic ass exam because he’s allowed to legally than to listen to him bitch and moan,” I said with a shrug. “You know how his type can be.”
“Not in the way you clearly seem to,” she said with a snort, cocking her head. “You’re not going to tell me the whole story, are you?”
“That is the whole story,” I said. “He mentioned it; I agreed; now I’m going to do it. Easy.”
“Good to hear,” she said lightly, but I didn’t buy her easy agreement any more than she bought my story.
There was no way in hell I was going to admit to anyone, not even Cait, that the new guy had been impervious to my normally intimidating attitude and then turned around andbulliedme into agreeing to his demands. My reputation as a hard ass might not be what everyone wanted, but it was the only reputation I had going for me, and there was no way I was going to have it damaged because the new guy had more balls than I gave him credit for. Then again, anyone willing to jerk off in communal showers on their first goddamn night had to have guts.
I pushed the thought away. “Make sure Jake remembers that the outpost trucks are not for his hot-rodding.”
“I’ll remind him,” she said.
“Good, stop by my place later and have a drink with me?”
“New stuff?”
“New stuff.”
“It’s a date.”
I chuckled, rapping my knuckles on the doorway. “Good, make sure you look your best.”
“Rain boots and a thick, frumpy sweater, just for you,” she said with a wink.
Smirking, I left her to whatever she was doing and made my way back outside. There was precisely zero between Cait and me that was remotely romantic. I had worked alongside her for years, and to the men she was a mixture between den mother and whiskey aunt, but to me she was the only friend I had out here and was like a sister. The dating jokes between us, done out of earshot of any idiot who might take it the wrong way, had started a couple of years back when my soon-to-be-ex-wife had actually expressed jealousy over my friendship with Cait.
It had been Cait who had made the first joke, and though it had startled me, it had pulled a surprised laugh from me, and I’d agreed that, yes, it was a date. I had been so sour over the accusation that I was cheating on my wife, and with someone who was like a sister to me, that the jokes were a good way to laugh it off when so few things in my life were humorous.
I heard the approaching roar of an ATV and sighed, realizing it was apparently time for me to make my way to the medical building. I took my time, but there was only so slowly I could make my feet move. By the time I rounded the science building, I could see Colin approaching the medical building. He unlocked it, looked around, and spotted me, grinning and waving.
Ducking my head with a scowl, I made my way over. Of course the asshole was so pleased; he had got what he wanted after all. It required some dubious blackmail, which I hated. It also involved him meeting me square in the face when I was trying to be an intimidating dickhead, standing his ground, and doing it with a smile on his face. So yeah, maybe he had earnedthe right to be a little smug and no small amount of respect from me, but that in no way required me to be happy about any of it.