Eli, however, was ready to take a break from whatever work he was only half doing.
“When are you going to tell everyone that you and the big boss are an item, Tinkerbell?” he asked, louder this time so she couldn’t miss it. “We’ve been waiting for the official announcement.”
She looked up from her monitor and removed her earbud. Again. Maybe she hadn’t heard him correctly. “What was that?”
He took a sip of his morning coffee. Innocent eyes regarded her over the rim of his mug. The corners of his mouth twitched. “You and Dan were on the news the other night. I must say, you make a good-looking couple.”
She couldn’t believe the local news had picked up such a ridiculous story, but then again, Dan was the sheriff, which made him a public figure in Custer County. He didn’t get to put “reclusive billionaire” on his CV.
And to be fair, she’d known better than to get involved with her boss. Besides, she hadn’t heard from him in almost a week—although that in itself likely meant nothing. He was a busy man. There was no need to be miffed that he hadn’t so much as texted.
“We’re not a couple,” she said.
“Didn’t your mother ever talk to you about not giving the milk away for free?” Eli persisted.
As the only woman on base, she was used to the guys’ teasing. But the next few weeks were going to be excruciating. She didn’t have a prayer that the gossip hadn’t spread through the entire team by now.
“Very funny.” Her face had turned red, which gave away a lot more than milk. “One of his partners asked me to pass him an urgent message and the reporter chose to interpret it the wrong way,” she felt compelled to explain, although it sounded lame, even to her, meaning she was only making things worse.
Eli couldn’t hold back his grin any longer. “I get it. There have got to be dozens of ways to interpret him telling the world you’re his girlfriend.”
“He was joking. Do you mind? I’m busy.” She wiggled the earbud into place and returned to her screen.
Her attention, however, was now only half on her work.
She’d had a good time with Dan and his family. Especially with Dan. More importantly, she liked him. A lot. He was good-natured and smart and incredibly capable in any number of ways. There didn’t seem to be much that he couldn’t handle.
But while those qualities were attractive, therein lay the danger. It would be too easy to sit around and wait for him to call, then be crushed when he didn’t.
Fortunately, she’d learned a lot from observing her mother, who’d proven incapable of recognizing that the men she slept with were operating catch and release programs, and she’d taken into consideration the possibility this might happen with Dan. It had nothing to do with whether or not he was a player, and everything to do with Andy, the girl who still had a priority position in his heart. She simply wasn’t so foolish as to become attached to a man who had a history of keeping his options open where another woman was concerned.
Since he’d done the pursuing up to this point, she saw no value in changing the rules. He’d call her when he had time. If he didn’t call, she’d simply suffer it out until October and chalk it up to another life lesson confirmed.