The med caravan pulled into Tanner Pharmacy’s parking lot, and Lisa went inside to say hello. Partnering with local pharmacies had proven beneficial for everyone. Lisa didn’t have to keep a large stock of medications, the pharmacy got some extra business, and patients received their prescriptions at a discounted price.

Evie threw on a set of light pink scrubs and memory foam shoes before heading next door to the Med Mobile. Normally, she’d be wearing a mile-wide smile right now. She loved spending time with patients and puzzling out their symptoms. But today her every step seemed weighted with wet sand.

Would Deke watch her every move? Log everything she said on a recorder or notepad? Would he stand too close, smell too good? Could she keep her eyes on her patients with him in the same room? Would her hands tremble under his scrutiny?

Sweet baby Jesus. This was going to be the longest two weeks of her life.

The door to the Med Mobile swung open as she approached, and Deke stuck his head out. Almost as if he’d been watching for her out the window. Don’t go there.

“I’m riding with you next time. Lisa took ten years off my life on those switchbacks.”

“She’s been maneuvering these roads for years.”

He studied her a moment. “Has the shock worn off yet?”

For a split second, her attention shifted away, but she forced her gaze up to his. “I enjoy your company, Deke.”

“Why such a negative reaction to my joining you?”

“I need to focus on my patients.”

Closing the door, he descended the two stairs to stand before her. “You can’t do that with me nearby?”

The answer adhered to her throat like molasses.

Inches separated them now. His shadow engulfed her, chilled her.

“It’s the kiss, isn’t it?”

He remembered.

“If my leaving the next day upset you, I’m sorry. I wanted to spare both of us the awkwardness.”

“Awkward?”

“Too much alcohol. An intimate moment.” The blue in his eyes intensified. “Regrets and next-day apologies. Or worse, oblivion.” He shrugged. “It happens.”

Did he really think she’d been that tanked? Tipsy, yes. But drunk to the point of amnesia? She was beginning to wish her mind had failed.

“I remember everything about that night.” Her eyes sparked. “And the next day.”

“Then my decision to leave had been the right one.”

“How do you figure?”

“When I ended the kiss, your wide-eyed expression made your feelings clear.”

“What is it that you think my eyes revealed?”

“I know regret when I see it.” He tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. “You’re still my Squirt.”

Frustration churned at a nauseating speed in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to be his Squirt. Well, she did, but she craved far more. And she was damn tired of hiding the fact.

“You missed the mark on this one, big guy. What you saw was shock.”

“Shock.” He said the word as if testing the arrangement of letters on his tongue.

Moving into the small space between them, she angled her face up, beneath his. “I didn’t handle last year well. Nerves and alcohol made me clumsy and unsophisticated. My inept attempt at seduction ended in embarrassment. But more than that, I couldn’t believe you’d kissed me back. With such passion.”

She breathed in his scent, his heat, and her voice lowered. “I’ve wanted you longer than I can remember. I want to feel you inside me, over me, behind me—not brotherly nose taps. I’ve been waiting for your Neanderthal brain to catch up and realize I’m a grown woman—with a woman’s needs.”

He stared at her for several clock-ticking seconds. Enough time for her to start analyzing her words and deciding she’d lost her flipping mind. Then he blinked, and his shadow heated around her.

“Neanderthal brain?”

“I know you’re attracted to me,” she whispered. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, sometimes.”

“Yes.” His index finger slid along the ridge of her nose, over her lips, down her chin. “But I’ve got a dozen years on you. Almost a lifetime.”

“Is that why you’ve never acted on your interest?”

“I thought about it a few times.”

“But?”

His features hardened. “You were too damn young.”

“Are you saying you don’t care that I’m Britt’s sister?”

“No, I’m not saying that. If we got together and things didn’t work out, I could potentially lose your friendship and Britt’s. Both of which are important to me.”

Invisible arms curled around her chest and squeezed until it became difficult for her to inhale. “Do you still think I’m too young?”

“Yes.” The one word emerged flat, yet unyielding.

“A dozen years isn’t a lifetime. Nine years separate my mom and dad, and they still managed to produce six kids.”

“How did her career play into their relationship?”

“Mama never went to college.”

“Why’s that?”

“Money was tight.”

“Couldn’t her parents afford to help with tuition?”

The onset of fear stabbed her heart. “No.”

“Why?”

“Our situation’s different than my parents.”

“They married young, right?”

She couldn’t answer. Couldn’t travel the path he wanted to lead her down.

“I recall Miss Joan saying once that if she couldn’t teach the kids, she’d do the next best thing.”

Although her mom never complained about her lot, she’d at one time dreamed of being a math teacher. She loved numbers and analyzing things and children. But she and Eddy Steele started having babies not long after they married, and all thoughts of higher education and classrooms disappeared. Instead, Joan Steele took a part-time office position at the elementary school, where she could be around the children and do a bit of tutoring on the side.

All in all, her mom appeared happy with her life. Now, thanks to Deke, Evie wondered if her mom had crafted a well-executed façade.

“Did she give up her dream of teaching to start a family?” Deke asked in a quiet voice.

Emotion burned the backs of her eyes. “I see where you’re going with this and, the truth is, I don’t know. Though I love her to death, I’m not my mom.”

“But you’ve set your sights on a man whose thoughts have turned toward finding a wife and having kids.”

“You want a family?”

“Watching Britt with Randi has made me realize there’s much in this life that I’m missing.” He stroked a skein of her hair between his fingers. “Are you ready to put your career on hold in order to marry and bear a few rugrats?”

She wanted to say yes, wanted to do whatever it would take to be with him. Wanted to tell him that women do it every…single…day. Yet all words of assurance clung to the tip of her tongue. The muscles in her throat tautened, and his image wavered, grew bleary.

“Babe, don’t.” He cradled her jaw and rested his forehead against hers. “You’ll find someone more your age.”

“I don’t want—”

“Hear me out.” He kissed her forehead. “Find someone who’ll grow with you, someone who’ll give you the time to continue your schooling or settle into a career. Someone who won’t be making demands of you before you’re ready.”

“We can work something out. Figure out a compromise.”

“I would never ask you to compromise your dream.”

“Evie!” Lisa called from across the parking lot. “Is the Med Mobile prepped?”

“Not quite,” she answered without turning around.

“We open for business in thirty minutes. I’m going to put on my scrubs.”

Evie used Lisa’s distraction to slip around Deke and climb onto the bottom step leading into the Med Mobile. With her five-foot-ten height, the new position brought her up even with Deke. She bent toward his ear, swallowing hard, forcing down the emotion. “You don’t understand. I’ve already compromised my dream. For years.”

She turned and went inside.

* * *

“I’m in Haden’s Hollow,” Deke said into his earbud mic. He sat down on a curb facing the RVs and broke open his breakfast—a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.

“Anything yet?” Keone asked.

“Nope, the ladies are preparing for their first patient. I’m staying out of the way.” He snagged a triangle from the bag and shoved the whole chip into his mouth while keeping his attention on the Med Mobile’s door.

“Smart.”

“Got anything on who betrayed our mission and killed my source?”

“Are you eating in my ear?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Could you at least cover the receiver?” Keone didn’t wait for an answer. “The suspicious activity Marisol spotted south of the barn wound up being the exit side of an extensive escape route. The Distributor’s men were loading the last of the contraband into trucks while we were descending on the barn.”

“The Distributor must have been confident about the barn’s concealment to invest in that kind of infrastructure.”

“If not for your source, we would’ve never located it. Know anything about Gold Star?”

“No, what’s that?”

“No clue. We found a reference to it in the barn.”

“See if Jax can come up with anything.”

“Is that a good idea, considering the whole team’s under investigation?”

“Shit. I hate this.” He rubbed his fingers tips over his right eyebrow. “How much more time do you need?”

“It’s hard to say. I don’t have the same technological resources as Jax and Taji.”

“Do what you can to wrap up your investigation. I’d like the team cleared of any connection to the Distributor before I have to tap into our auxiliary support again.”

His medical leave couldn’t have come at a better time. By being part of the MedTour, he could scope out the area without having to request intel or travel arrangements or a dozen other necessities that went along with undercover work. The fewer people who knew what he was up to, the better.

“Will do.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

“Roger that.”

He pulled the buds from his ears and stuffed them into his jeans pocket.

Some townsfolk milled around the outside of the RV emblazoned with Med Mobile - Bringing Quality Health Care to Your Hometown.

A chip got stuck in the back of his throat, and he snatched up his water bottle lying in the grass behind him. Opening it, he took a large swallow.

To anyone’s eye, he would appear a bored, thirty-something guy with not much to do. But those who knew him would recognize the rhythmic sweeps he made over the growing crowd, analyzing, calculating, memorizing. A middle-aged woman with large, swollen ankles, using a walker to get around; a preteen boy throwing rocks across the parking lot and ignoring his mother’s hellfire warnings to stop; an elderly man sitting limp in a wheelchair, his head tilted to the side while his rheumy eyes stared at the ground; a bearded guy idling in his decades-old truck, smoke billowing out the driver’s side window.

They all needed medical attention, for one reason or another. And they’d all traveled several miles to see Lisa and Evie, the only affordable health care around.

Evie.

She’d damned near made him blush with her bold talk of hot sex. In all the years he’d known her, he’d never heard her speak so explicitly.

The fact that she’d been aware of his interest bothered him. He’d tried damn hard to keep his inappropriate thoughts barricaded in a well-fortified compartment. When had he shown his hand? Had Britt picked up on it, too?

How the hell was he going to survive his craving for Evie? Especially now, knowing that she’d been as tangled up in knots for him as he’d been for her. Why couldn’t he be six or seven years younger? Or someone who had no interest in building a big family? He’d always wanted a wife and kids, though that image had been a distant one, always in the future.

Who was he kidding? Even if they were closer in age, he couldn’t see Evie—or any woman—putting up with his long absences or occupational secrets. Lisa was a perfect example. From the start, she understood the demands placed on a special agent. But all understanding flies out the window when the loneliness sets in and the secrets pile up, creating an immovable wedge.

Retiring from SONR wouldn’t end either of those two conditions. He’d still be an agent working for the Service, tracking down poachers. By himself. No more team, no more immediate backup. Just him versus the bad guys.

He rapped his near empty water bottle against the pavement, realizing he hadn’t thought through the whole settling down thing as well as he should. How did other agents do it? How did they make both career and family sync?

Now he had to decide what to do about Evie and her revelation. Knowing her, she wouldn’t give up on them, no matter how compelling his argument. He might have given her some new things to think about, but it wouldn’t be long before her beautiful mind found a way around it all.

While he sniffed out possible connections to the Distributor, he would have to keep a keen eye on his black-haired temptress. His attention drifted from the crowd to the Med Mobile door, waiting for her sweet smile to appear.

What a damn mess.

Rising, he smashed the empty Doritos bag and pitched it into a nearby garbage can.

Time to put aside his dismal love life and do some snooping.

Setting his sights on the nearest patient, he sidled up to a young mother with a toddler clamped around her waist.

“Here to get checked out?” he asked.

The woman moved her child to the opposite hip, away from him. “My baby has a fever.”

Sure enough, moisture dampened the child’s hair along the edges, and a rosy hue stained its cheeks. “Boy or girl?”

“Why, a boy, of course.” She pinched the child’s sleeve. “Don’t you see Harry’s blue T-shirt?”

Deke propped his mouth into a chagrined smile. “Sorry, color blind.”

“Are you messing with me?”

“No, ma’am. Everything’s in shades of gray.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“It’s all I’ve ever known so it doesn’t bother me much.” He made a show of glancing around. “Not too many menfolk around. Must be at work.”

She snorted. “More like off playing with their guns.”

“As in shooting or collecting?”

“They sure as heck don’t own anything so nice as to be considered a collector’s item.”

“Shooting, then.”

Harry started to fuss, his eyes welling with tears.

The young mother glanced at the RV door, rubbing soothing strokes over her son’s back. “Those boys spend hours and hours and hours putting bullets in paper villains. Or trying to.” She lowered her voice. “None of them are all that great.”

“Do they get much hunting done?”

“Enough to keep meat in the freezer.”

The Med Mobile door opened, and Evie appeared. “My apologies for the wait, y’all. Who’s first?”

“This young lady.” Deke eased his new friend and her baby forward.

She dug in her heels. “Oh, no, sir. Three or four people arrived before me.”

“Her baby’s burning up with fever,” he explained to Evie.

Evie glanced from Deke to the mother to Harry to the others trying to form a line, then back to the baby’s rosy cheeks. Her features softened. “Y’all don’t mind if we take the baby first, do you?”

A low murmur of agreement echoed through the group.

Stepping aside, Evie allowed her first patient to enter the Med Mobile. “Thank you.” She studied him a moment. Her gaze thoughtful, yet warm. “Care to do that again?”

“Do what?”

“Ask each patient a few questions to determine their level of medical need.”

Goldmine. He’d planned to pick and choose what patients he would interview in order to keep suspicions down. No one would think twice about a guy burning time by chatting up people.

But Evie presented him with a golden opportunity to speak with each patient. Britt liked to rib him about his ability to cajole even the crankiest into sharing their life history, by the end of a conversation.

“Happy to help.”

She handed him five clipboards. “Have the patients fill out these forms. If you find someone who needs immediate attention, bounce them to the front of the line.”

He read through the questions, feeling Evie’s eyes on him. “Piece of cake, boss.”

“Don’t probe too deeply into their medical condition, or you’ll violate HIPAA. Keep your questions surface level and out of earshot of the others.”

He winked. “Yes, ma’am.”

After Evie closed the door, he turned to address the closest patient and was surprised to see the crowd had swollen to over twenty—and more people were trickling into the parking lot.

The tactical part of his mind clicked into four-wheel-drive and he began developing a game plan.

He passed out the clipboards, then dug into his backpack for paper and pen. His attention landed on a twelve-ish-looking girl who leaned into a woman sitting next to her.

Cocking his most charming smile into place, he asked, “Are you a patient or moral support?”

The girl deferred to the woman, who smiled and said, “Amber’s keeping me company today.”

“Mind if I recruit Amber for a few minutes? I have a small task that requires good penmanship.” He held up his sling. “Mine’s not so good, right now.”

“My daughter’s handwriting is beautiful.” She patted Amber’s hand where it gripped her forearm in a white-knuckled grip. “Would you like to help Mr. —?”

“Conrad. Derek Conrad. Everyone calls me Deke. I’m assisting Miss Evie and Miss Lisa today.”

“I guess,” Amber said quietly.

“All I need is for you to tear this paper into fifty squares, then write a number on each one, from one to fifty. Easy enough?”

Amber nodded.

“When I send a patient over, give them the next number in line, okay?”

The worry weighing down her youthful features lifted. “Yes, sir.”

“We’re partners now. Call me Deke.”

She blushed, and her mother’s chin wobbled with emotion.

The mother’s reaction puzzled him, but his tactical mind was fully engaged. He set off to organize and interview the other patients.

Not until his stomach growled did he realize the lateness of the hour. With one patient left, Deke knocked on the RV door.

Lisa answered. “What’s up?”

“Looks like we’re coming to the end. Can I take you ladies out for a bite to eat?”

“Not me, thanks. I’ve learned to give myself some downtime, or I’m useless the next day.” She peered behind her. “Evie missed her afternoon snack. She’s been holding back yawns for the last half hour.”

“Can I bring you back anything?”

“I wouldn’t turn down a milkshake from Bailey’s.”

“Vanilla with toffee pieces?”

“You remembered.”

“How could I forget? Every Friday night, like clockwork.”

A throat cleared. “Excuse me, Lisa.” Evie stood a few feet away. “Mr. Lester is ready for you.”

“Deke’s buying dinner. Why don’t you go with him. I’ll finish up here.”

“I’m not going to leave you to clean up—”

“I’ve got it, Evie,” Lisa interrupted. “Once I take care of Mr. Lester, I’m off to find a quiet place to read.”

Evie stared at her supervisor for a defiant moment before relenting. “I don’t like leaving you with a mess.”

“Just make sure our new assistant brings back my milkshake and we’ll call it even.”

“Come on, Steele,” Deke said. “My blood sugar’s dropping. If I faint, you’ll have a helluva time dragging my two hundred pounds up those stairs.”

Evie shouldered past Lisa before stopping next to him. “If you faint, I have a nice, cold bucket of water that will snap you back to life.”

Lisa watched Evie march away. “Well, Deke, you managed to wake a sleeping tigress. I hope you’re prepared for her bite.”