“Do you think it’s all the hair?” Bree asked softly. “Maybe the marmot thinks Easton’s a really big, grumpier marmot. Are you getting this, Jessie?”

“I’m already on it.” With a purr of satisfaction, Jessie knelt at marmot level. “Easton, what’s its name?”

“How should I know?” Easton said, knowing they were making fun of him. But when he saw the huge grin on River’s face, the part of him that became stupider in her presence grudgingly played along. “The idiot with the camera wants to know what your name is.”

The marmot chirped.

“It said it refuses to be defined by the confines of a name. It’s far too cosmopolitan for that.” Okay, that was worth the soft peal of delight he pulled from River. “Come on, people. We have a schedule here.”

No one moved except to cluster closer. The marmot chirped in alarm, scuttling behind Easton’s feet. Then it proceeded to scold him for allowing such a thing to occur.

Easton refused to have any feelings on the matter. Nope. No feelings at all.

It took him a while to get them all going, and it really didn’t help when the marmot of dubious nomenclature decided to continue along, as if it were a given that it was now part of the group. Easton tried a few times to spook it away, thinking maybe the animal was sick and that was why it was acting strangely. But every attempt was met with a chittering lecture from the furball, so eventually Easton gave up and continued on his hike.

They filmed as they walked, and as he watched them work, Easton could tell that River was good at her job. She left her people alone to do what they were best at, but she was always watching who was filming what, and every so often, she’d redirect their attentions to a different, better shot.

At first, he was impressed. That feeling quickly changed as Easton realized the only one in this group he could depend on to think rationally was the marmot. The rest of them were determined to poke and prod into every single dangerous place they could find, hauling their cameras along with them. Ben should have helped, but the poor guy was utterly infatuated with Bree. Where she filmed, he followed.

“So, if I asked—” Ben tried as they took a break to rehydrate and grab a quick lunch.

“Nope.” Bree didn’t even look at him as she scrolled through the film on the handheld.

“Not even a—”

“Still a no.”

River said firmly, “Tough break, but this is a professional worksite. Let’s keep it that way, okay?”

Catching his eye, River had the audacity to wink at Easton. Whatever this was, he knew flirtation when it smacked him in the face. And like a marmot with a thus far undiagnosed emotional disorder, Easton had been on River’s heels since they met.