Page 21 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

Tara snapped up from her laughing position, and her smile was gone. “That’s going toofar.”

“What’s that, Sergeant Thompson?” Shelly yelled louder, her stomping restarting even more dramatically. “You want an oral report onthe—”

Tara slapped her hand over Shelly’s mouth and narrowed her eyes. “Fine. No criticism.” Tara dropped her hand as her friend stoppedmarching.

“And you have to never, ever mention enlisting in the army ever, ever again,” she said. “I mean, c’mon, Tara. How do you think I’d look in fatigues? I could never pull that off. And as a girl couple, where you go, I go. I don’t do ‘Army Strong,’ or ‘Air ForceHigh,’”

“Don’t think that’s athing.”

“Or ‘MarineProud.’”

“That one yougot.”

“Or ‘NavyDeep.’”

“That’s definitely not athing.”

“Do you get me?” Shelly finished with her hands on her hips and her lipspursed.

“Fine, you made your point. No army or any other branch of the military. Cut me some slack. I’m grasping at straws here. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I’m just trying to survive high school and make sure no one finds out my secret. How the heck am I going to make it throughcollege?”

“We’ll do it together, Tara. Say it with me … Riverbend.” She whispered dramatically and put her hands out as if she were reading a giantmarquee.

Tara shrugged. “I guess Riverbend is as good an option asany.”

Shelly mimed dusting off her hands. “There, now that that’s settled, let’s get back to scoping for eyecandy.

By the time they rounded the second row of booths, Tara was beginning to think the colleges had somehow collaborated to bring only female upperclassmen with them. And the businesses and local government agencies looking for fresh young recruits apparently couldn’t spare anyone but balding, middle-aged men who looked as excited about clerical accounting as Tarawas.

“This has been a complete bust,” said Shelly. “Did you see those two from Riverbend? The girl was such a snob. Did you hear her ask about my SAT score? C’mon, chick. It’s Riverbend, notHarvard.”

“And the guy? Yikes,” offered Tara. “He looked like a Juggalo crossed with anelephant.”

“Exactly. If that’s all Riverbend has to offer, then I might have to reconsider my choice,” Shelly said as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe we should circle back around to the Walmartbooth.”

“Shut your mouth,” said Tara. “Don’t even joke about that. You know I worked there part-time last summer. It’s like purgatory, only withgreeters.”

“You were the hottest cart pusher they ever had,” said Shelly as she waggled hereyebrows.

“I don’t see how that’s rele—” Tara’s words froze in her throat as they turned down the next row of booths. There, a couple of booths down, was a banner that read Tellus Geological Testing and Extraction, Inc, with a logo bearing stylized letters TGTE with a picture of the earth in the center of the G. And beneath the banner was the large man who’d been at her soccer game. Tara gasped. As if he’d heard her over the noise that filled the gym, the man’s head turned toward her and their eyeslocked.

“Hey.” Shelly tugged on her sleeve. “Isn’t that the mountain man from the game? Gah, he’s even hotter up close. Think he’s too old forme?”

Tara would have rolled her eyes if she could have moved any part of her body, because, yes, he was definitely too old for her. He looked to be in his late twenties, maybe thirty. Not that those ages were old, but that would be a ten-year age gap. That seemed like a lot when the younger party was onlyeighteen.

“Hello?” Shelly asked. “You planning on standing there and drooling all day, or are we going to ask the handsome, yummy mountain why he was at ourgame?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Tara finally managed to get her mouth and brain to work in tandem. “I’m worried you’ll attempt to climb over the table and lick themountain.”

Shelly snorted. “There we go, straight into bizarreagain.”

“It’s our thing,” Tara reminded her as she forced her feet to move. The man kept staring even as they approached. When they reached the booth, Tara had to tilt her head back to look up at the handsome man. He really was something. Shelly sighed next to her in what felt like a silent agreement with Tara’sthoughts.

“Hello, I’m Jax,” he said in a deep voice that held a hint ofgravel.

“I’mTara.”

“And I’mShelly.”

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