Sydney was hot by the time she arrived at the trailer, and she was looking forward to the air conditioning. She knew that Dr. Easton would be there, working, but she needed to make up her hours, and she wanted to get them finished. Maybe he would leave early and she could work in solitude.

She pushed open the door to the trailer and shut it, watching a surprised Dr. Easton take in her sudden appearance.

"What are you doing here?" It was evident that he was doing his best to hold on to his temper.

"I'm here to work. I have to get my forty hours in before the end of the week," Sydney nonchalantly said as she headed towards her workspace. "Don't worry, I'll stay out of your way."

"Why don't you work during the week like everyone else?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"My schedule was set by Theresa." Sydney fired up her computer and pulled out her phone hooking up her earbuds. She could feel his eyes boring into her back, but she did her best to act like he wasn't there. It was bad enough that they were going to have to be alone together all day.

"What exactly is your schedule?"

"Monday through Friday, ten to four and the other ten hours are up to me to make up on the weekends. I choose to work from ten to four Saturday and Sunday as well." At his look of anger, she shrugged. "I write it down in the book as requested."

"What book?"

She stood up and walked towards him, reaching for a pile of papers on his desk. Buried at the bottom was an old-fashioned ledger where Sydney wrote down her hours.

"Why are only your hours recorded here?" He took it from her, scanning it.

"I couldn't say, I'm only doing as ordered." She moved back towards her desk.

"And Flora?" Easton's voice demanded.

Sydney smiled at the dog who was snoring gently. She hadn't even bothered to get up and greet her when she had entered, but she had opened an eye and wagged her small tail.

"That's a perk." She sat back down. "Just act like I'm not here. If you like, I can do all ten hours today, and you can have the place to yourself tomorrow."

"That will put you here until eight tonight."

Sydney only nodded as she put in her earbuds turning up her music, pretending that his disturbing self wasn't there, sitting just a few feet away.

They worked silently side by side for a few hours, neither saying a word to the other. Just before lunch, the door opened and Theresa breezed in carrying a bag of food from the diner. She had a smile on her face as she looked at Dr. Easton, but the smile quickly faded as she noted Sydney sitting at her desk.

"What are you doing here?" Theresa asked, setting the bag down on Dr. Easton's desk with a thump. The smell of food woke Flora up and she slowly got off of the couch with a stretch before moving over to the bag of food, sniffing at it delicately.

Sydney studied Theresa as she shooed Flora away like she was a giant fly. She was wearing a little blue sundress that stopped well above her knees with small spaghetti straps that barely held it in place. It was evident to Sydney that Theresa had come to try to seduce Dr. Easton, and she had forgotten that Sydney was going to be there, or maybe they were already having an affair, and he had told her to meet him at the site but had forgotten to call and tell her not to come.

Sydney looked over at Dr. Easton and noted that he looked confused.

"I'm working, Theresa," Sydney finally answered, lowering her head back to her work.

"Why are you here, Theresa?" Dr. Easton asked politely, looking reserved. It was a look that she was sure that Theresa had never seen before because the blood rushed to her cheeks then quickly rushed away.

Sydney had been there. She knew what Theresa was feeling because she had gotten that same look for four years now, so she guessed that Dr. Easton hadn't been expecting her.

"I brought you some lunch. I thought you might be hungry." Theresa pushed the bag towards him, and Flora stood back up her tail wagging, eager to see the goodies offered.

"Thank you, that was very thoughtful." Dr. Easton ignored the bag as he focused his attention back on his work.

"Do you need help with anything?" Theresa's voiced had lowered.

"No, go and enjoy your day off with your friends."

Realizing that she had been dismissed and had failed at her mission to seduce Dr. Easton, she turned towards Sydney with all of her ill-humor evident. "Would you like me to take Sydney with me that way you can have some peace?"

Sydney ignored her, trying not to bristle at the accusation that she was distracting. She wished she was but not in the way Theresa meant.

"No, she has to make her forty hours, and so far we've not had a problem sharing the office. If we do, I will send her away myself," he assured Theresa.

"Will you be around every weekend from now on?" Theresa asked, moving towards the door.

"No, there was something that I had to get done this weekend, but I don't plan to make a habit of it." He looked up at Theresa shooting her a cold look, waiting for her to leave.

Sydney felt like standing up and shouting 'take that.' Finally, someone besides her was getting the cold shoulder. Theresa was in the doghouse. Sydney hid her smile as she continued to studiously work while Theresa took one last look at both of them then left.

"What are you grinning at?" Easton asked, almost in a growl.

"At least when I got rebuffed I got to see you naked." Sydney couldn't hold back her grin as she watched his face turn a ruddy red. He stared at her hard before letting his eyes travel the length of her body, reminding her that he had seen her naked as well, her smile died as something in the atmosphere between them changed.

She cleared her throat nodding at the bag. "What did she bring you for lunch?"

He must have been willing to change the subject because he reached for the bag opening it. He pulled out two burgers and an order of fries.

"You want one?" he asked grudgingly, as he held it towards her.

Sydney hadn't been planning to stay all day, so she hadn't brought anything to eat, and she was beginning to feel a little hungry. She stood and moved towards his desk taking the seat across from him while he reached behind him and pulled two bottles of water out of the mini-fridge.

They opened their burgers and started to eat in silence for a few moments before Sydney spoke without thinking. "She'd have been better off planning her seduction scene without onions," Sydney though aloud as she bit into the juicy burger.

"Plan many of them, do you?"

"I have never planned a single one." Sydney met his eyes willing him to believe it. "I never thought anyone would come to the pool that evening." She shrugged. "If I had I wouldn't have gone because the entire point was to be by myself."

"Then why on earth didn't you let me know you were there?" He set his burger down, leaning back in his chair with a frown.

Sydney was glad that he seemed to be willing to listen with a reasonable calm. She looked down at Flora, giving her a french-fry.

"At first I was scared," she cleared her throat, "then I couldn't look away." She couldn't look at him so she focused all her attention on Flora who was looking at her adoringly.

"But after that, in the pool...you were definitely trying to get to me," he pointed out.

"Yes." She couldn't share why because he wouldn't believe that she was in love with him, he would laugh at her. Sydney knew he was staring at her, waiting for an answer because she could feel his gaze on the top of her head.

"Call it teenage hormones." She shrugged again, focusing on her burger.

Dr. Easton didn't say anything as they finished their meal in silence before returning to their corners where they continued to work.

Eventually, Sydney had another box of artifacts that had been cleaned and archived that she was ready to put on the shelves at the back of the trailer. She rose and picked it up, walking between the shelves and out of sight. It was going to be a bit of a stretch to get it to the top, but she thought she could manage it if she went slowly enough.

She climbed the stepstool and moved the other boxes over, making a place where it would go, it had to be under the two already shelved boxes to keep the boxes in their numbered order. She reached down for the box and felt the stepstool wobble, and it made a thump before it grounded itself again. She had gone up on her tiptoes stretching as far as she could and had just gotten it onto the shelf when she had to take a pause and catch her breath. Her arms were extended as far as they would go, but she needed to give another inch to get it secure. She was just about to lift off one more time when she felt a solid form step up behind her.

"Move, I'll do it," he insisted.

"I can't move. If I let go it will fall."

With a sigh, Cole stepped on the step below her, pressing his entire body against hers as he reached up behind her and finished pushing the box where it needed to go, but when he finished, he didn't step back right away. At least it felt that way to Sydney. It felt as if time stood still, she could feel his chest and stomach as it pushed into her back when he breathed. His breath tickled her neck. When he did step away, she felt his hands on her bare midriff, where her shirt had ridden up, as he lifted her quickly off the stepstool.

"I take it these other boxes need to go on top?" He seemed unaffected by their close proximity.

Sydney nodded, unable to talk, her face burning, and the bare skin that he had touched was on fire too. When she was able to breathe again, she stepped away, "Thanks, being so short is the hardest part of my job."

She realized she was staring at his butt and turned her back to him as she headed toward her desk. They had seemed to reach a truce of some sort, and it wasn't an easy one, so she wasn't about to ruin it by getting caught staring at his butt.