Feeling shock at his words and the shiver of anticipation they sent up her spine, she did a shit job of using her depth perception and bonked the lip of the flask against her teeth.

Wow.

Watch out for Thea Pope, world. She’s setting a land-dork flirting failure record and putting her dentist’s kids through college at this rate.

“You’re kidding, right?” He had to be.

He shook his head and winked at her. “Not in the least.”

Was he flirting with her? No. People didn’t do that. They flirted with Jackie. They ignored her, which was more than fine by her. Dinosaur bones she got. People? They left her at a total loss.

When she didn’t say anything because she was too busy gaping at him with her jaw on the dusty ground—yes, she was well aware of how terminally lame she was—he continued.

In her head, she said thank you with an air of confidence and mystery before flirting right back. In real life, she made some kind of gurgling, grunting sound and took another drink from the flask—at least this time she didn’t make a total idiot of herself by forgetting how to swallow or breaking a tooth.

Instead, she just took the drink and then stood there about as useful as the itty-bitty arms on a T-Rex while the man looked at her with an amused grin. Wow. Her minor in communications with an emphasis on public speaking (in case she ever got to present at academic conferences) was really coming in handy.

Yep. It was just her, the hot guy who carried a flask full of Sprite, the sulfur stench of the fumaroles and hot springs dotting the landscape, and the silence of a shy paleontologist who couldn’t string two words together.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Just when the moment was on the verge of morphing from awkward to downright pitiful, the RV door flew open, slamming against the outside of the RV with a metallic thump. Jackie stood in the doorway, her hands on her Disney-princess-levels-of-poof wedding dress.

“You are not supposed to be here,” she said, looking directly at the guy. “It’s bad luck. Plus, you were supposed to shave off that stupid scruff before filming started.”

Unlike nearly everyone else who’d ever been told to do something by Jackie, though, he didn’t cower or immediately agree. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed. Loudly. Right into the cloudless blue sky. Then, without a single word, he turned and started walking toward the groom’s RV.

Mouth agape, Thea held out his flask. “You forgot this.”

He looked back over his shoulder and gave her a slow smile and wink. “Keep it.”

Oh my.

Her panties were barely even a memory at this point.