Jurassic Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’m funding myself.”
    “Why?”
    That wasn’t an easy question. “Because this kid, Brad—he was here when I arrived―he dug up the partial skeleton. And it’s got some marks on it, some bite marks, and it follows the pattern of what I’d expect raptor bites to look like.”
    “Oh, Nick,” he sighed and popped an olive in his mouth.
    “What?”
    “You know how I heard you were up here?”
    “Twitter?”
    “No,” he said, smiling. “I don’t follow you on Twitter.”
    “Bastard.”
    “Mim called.”
    I waited to hear why this was a big deal. I couldn’t think of one.
    “She wanted to make sure I got you out if you started doing something stupid, since she couldn’t be here to do it herself.”
    “Oh, Mim worries too much,” I said. “That only happened once.”
    Boner quelled me with a look . “Nick,” he said gently, “there’s only one person in the world more obsessed with finding raptors on this continent than Eric White, and that’s you.”
    I rolled my eyes at him. “I’ve spent the past year or so doing educational pieces, Boner,” I said. “I haven’t even been digging. It’s not about that for me anymore. You know where my career is taking me just as much as I do.”
    “And you’re doing a great job,” he said sincerely. “But don’t get caught up in old obsessions.”
    “It’s not an obsession,” I argued. Other people would side with him and Miriam, though.
    My doctoral thesis was on North American predators. In particular, after spending four seasons digging up Velociraptors in Mongolia, I wanted to find those animals on this continent. I had a good theory, too, about the different types of raptor-like species and how they had become such efficient and dominant predators. All I needed now was the evidence to back that up.
    We finished our lunch and worked until the light got poor, Boner mostly watching and catching up on gossip, then returned to the trailer to file our reports alongside the others. On my digs, this was the time when I would usually run a debrief for the day, getting the team to share what they’d been up to and what we’d learned so far. But Eric was, once again, absent from the site, and the team was leaving in twos and threes.
    I caught up with Boner, who had been charming the pants off Nancy, and helped him carry his few bags back to the car.
    “Where are you staying?” he asked.
    “A motel,” I admitted. “It’s good, though. I can’t afford to say there long term. But until I decide what I’m doing, it’s good.”
    “It’s pretty far away from the dig,” he commented.
    “Yeah. Part of the basis of its appeal.”
    I shot him a grin, and he responded in kind.
    After parking in the small lot at the back of the motel, I took one of his bags and led him up to my room. Housekeeping had been in and put fresh sheets on the bed and extra towels in the bathroom.
    Boner whistled through his teeth as he looked around. “Pretty fancy for a motel, Nick.”
    “It does the job,” I said.
    He dumped his bag on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed to unlace his boots. “Do you mind if I go shower?”
    “Knock yourself out.”
    I turned on the small, crappy TV and leaned against the headboard, knowing Boner would take his time. There wasn’t much on, so I tuned in to a game show and instead watched Boner soaping himself up through the open doorway and clear glass shower cubicle. I was suddenly pleased I hadn’t bothered upgrading to a room with a tub.
    When he was done, we switched, and since it was only fair he got to perv on me too, I left the bathroom door open as I showered off the dirt from the day and thoroughly washed my hair. When I had finished, I saw Boner had already dressed in just a pair of pajama pants, so I guessed we weren’t going out again.
    “We should order in something for dinner,” I said. “I’ll get it—you bought lunch. What do you want?”
    He shrugged. “Don’t care.”
    “Are you still on that vegetarian