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He snickered.
She gave him a dirty look. “It’s nice to know my stress level amuses you. Some friend you are!”
He snorted. “Not my fault that you’re so amusing when you’re stressed,” he leaned closer to add, “about me.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Yep.” He seemed in no hurry to leave her personal space. “Especially since I see one very simple solution to all your worries about me.”
The look in his eyes made it a little harder to breathe. “Really? What’s that?”
“Don’t wait too long to ask me out, Prim.”
Her eyes widened in amazement. “Did you hear anything I said to you during the past ten minutes?”
“Every word.”
“Then why?—”
“Relax, Prim. I’m well aware you didn’t walk all the way here from the clinic to ask me out.” He winked at her, which made her realize he was only joking. Again.
It almost made her want to slap him. Instead, she found herself swaying slowly toward his impossible-to-read and just as impossible-to-stay-away-from eyes.
The sharp grind of a motor starting up nearby made her hop back a step. She glanced around to locate the source of the sound and found an enormous yellow tractor ambling its way across the empty lot beside The Longhorn Grill. It had a commercial-sized scoop and blade attachment that the driver was using to move tree stumps, dead foliage, and small boulders. The drone of its engine, as it scraped the debris into an ever bigger pile,grated on her nerves. Or maybe it was just the fact that it had interrupted the moment she and Shep were having.
Swallowing a sigh, she turned back to meet his gaze, but he was no longer looking at her. He was staring over her shoulder with a hard set to his jaw.
“What’s going on?” Instead of raising her voice, she instinctively stepped closer to him, offering comfort with her proximity.
His arm crept around her, splaying the fingers of one large hand against the small of her back before answering. “Guess the rumors are true.”
She frowned up at him. “What rumors?”
His jaw hardened. “That ol’ Levi Paddock followed through on his threat to deed some of his land off to his troublemaker of a son.”
“I sense a story there.” Because of her job on the rez, Prim had heard about the Paddocks, mostly quiet grumbles. Folks seemed too fearful of the family to speak their name at full volume. She wasn’t sure why, since they’d yet to darken the door of the clinic.
“What do you know about the Paddocks, Prim?” Shep’s voice was a low growl in her ear. It made her shiver.
“Not much, other than they sound like punks. I’ve personally never met them.”
“Good. You’re not missing much.” His fingers flexed on her lower back.
“Oh?” From what she understood, it was just Levi and his son, Mato. No wife or mother in the picture. What their neighbors objected to was all their loudmouthed friends who came and went from the rez in flashy sports cars, revving their motors at all hours of the day and night. The cops were forever being called in to make them turn down their music and move their cars from blocking the driveways of other homes. Thoughobnoxious and irritating, it sounded like mostly minor stuff to her.
“Last I heard, they were getting pretty deep into street racing.”
“And that’s a problem, because…?” She knew little about cars other than car colors.
“Because street racing can attract a pretty tough crowd,” he explained patiently. “Drag racing, betting, stolen vehicles, that sort of thing. Heart Lake had some trouble with them in the past. But after a few arrests, it died down. I honestly thought they’d moved on, but the Paddocks seem bent on bringing it back.” He angled his head at the tractor rumbling around the lot next to them.
It shoved its way through the overgrown field, kicking up some pretty big clouds of dust in the process. It was enough to turn the air brown and put the taste of grit in her mouth.
The look in Shep’s eyes grew resigned. “Levi said if the police visited his home one more time, he was going to make sure the entire tribe regretted it. Nobody was sure what he meant by that, but it looks like he’s gonna tear up the land next to everybody’s favorite restaurant, for starters.”
She studied the tractor’s progress. “The path he’s clearing looks wide enough to drive a car on it.”
“Or a bunch of cars.” His voice was bleak. “If they do that, they’ll bury the grill in dirt.”
