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She walked away, leaving them alone once again, and Shep bowed his head over his bowl of chili to bless their meal. He ended his prayer with a silent plea for wisdom.
Prim reached for her spoon. It trembled as she lifted it. “I don’t know if I can do this, Shep,” she muttered.
His heart sank at the realization that she was still overthinking their kiss. He had no idea how to respond, so he said nothing.
“Can you?” She raised her gaze to his.
“Can I what?”
“Just go from being friends one second to being…more?”
“With you? Yeah.” He decided to be flat out honest with her, hoping he wasn’t jumping the gun. “In case you haven’t figured it out, I was crushing on you long before we kissed.”
Her lips parted in astonishment. “Are you serious?”
“I would never lie to you, Prim.” He found it difficult to believe she hadn’t picked up on any of the vibes he’d been sending her. Weren’t women supposed to be wired from head to toe with intuition and feelings?
“Okay, Shep.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth for a second. “I’m sure we’ll figure this out.”
The uncertainty in her voice made his heart ache.
His cell phone buzzed with an incoming call. Though he hated being interrupted in the middle of such an important conversation, policemen didn’t have the luxury of ignoring phone calls.
He pulled his phone from his back pocket and glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Adriel. I better take it.” He slid from the booth and strode to the front door, pushing it open. “Hey, sheriff!”
“We’ve got a situation next door to The Longhorn Grill.”
No kidding!Shep slapped at one of the dust clouds puffing across the parking lot. “I’m standing outside the grill right now.”
“Really?”
“Yep. What’s going on?”
“Just received an anonymous call about a gravestone being dug up. Any chance you can meet me over there with your K-9s to look around?”
“Like I said, I’m already here. Got the dogs with me and everything.”
“Excellent! I’ll be there in less than five. Wait until I get there to unleash the dogs.” It was a polite reminder that he didn’t have jurisdiction on the rez.
“Roger that.” Shep disconnected the call and shaded his eyes to look around. He didn’t have to look far.
The driver of the tractor was standing only a few feet from the edge of the restaurant parking lot. Either he’d turned off his tractor, or it had stalled out on him. He was standing over thefront scoop attachment with a cell phone pressed to his ear. A perplexed expression mottled his wide, round face.
At his feet, a large, rectangular stone was jutting from the ground. It was drenched in dirt and resting at an odd angle. The edge of it had been broken off, probably by the tractor scoop.
Shep could only presume it was the “tombstone” the anonymous caller had reported. There was no telling what kind of stone it actually was without a closer examination.
“Shep?” Prim’s voice wafted his way from the door of the steakhouse. “Are you coming back to eat your chili, or should I have them package it up for you?”
CHAPTER 3: BRUSH WITH THE PAST
Prim’s heart raced as Shep slowly swung back in her direction. Man, but he was a gorgeous hunk of burning deputy! All tall, dark, and…
Ready to be mine.
Just thinking about it took her breath away. How had she missed the fact that he was falling for her? She really had gotten too comfortable around him — so comfortable that she could joke with him about stuff like dating and kissing.
And then they’d kissed.
