but the tension never left his eyes or mouth, giving away his truest, most deeply-held feelings about his parents.
“Impressive.” I stared at him and remembered the old ladies. “Never married?”
“Nope. You?”
“Nope. Why not?”
He shrugged. “Vet school took up most of my time and, in case you haven’t noticed, I grew up with most of the women in this town. They’re either good friends of mine or my parents’.”
That would make dating hard and getting some nookie downright impossible, unless you were creative. “Bummer for you.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Stevie.”
I blinked innocently. “I would never, ever dream of worrying about a doctor. They know everything, they’ll be fine.” I blinked and he laughed and the sound was deep and rich, like expensive chocolate.
I had to suppress a shiver.
“Good. Glad we understand each other.” Scott flagged Buddy down and I realized more than a couple empty bottles and shot glasses now littered the table. “Why the tattoos?”
“Each one means something to me. A struggle or fight or success. Some people document with photos and souvenirs, I do it with body art.” His gaze seemed less bothered by it now and more… I don’t know, curious, I guess.
“I never thought of it like that.” His finger traced the little bird over the inside of my right wrist. “This?”
I sighed. “A hummingbird. They work incredibly hard just to survive, but all the while, they’re thriving. Fighting off predators and living life, all while constantly fighting just to stay alive. It’s admirable.”
Scott’s look had softened as he looked at me and it was making me feel funny as our gazes connected in a long, sizzling-hot moment.
“Here you are,” Buddy grunted at both of us, breaking the curtain of sexual tension swirling around us.
I frowned. “We didn’t order wings and fries.” At least I didn’t.
“I know, but you’re both guzzling back drinks like you’re fish. Eat this and give me your keys. Now.” Buddy looked like a no-nonsense kind of guy, so I pulled them out and dropped the keys in his hand.
“Thanks, Buddy.”
“Anytime, Stevie. This is the last drink for both of you.” His gaze bounced from me to Scott, waiting for our acceptance before he left us alone.
“Holy crap, we just got in trouble.” I giggled, feeling giddy for some weird reason.
Scott looked around and frowned. “No wonder. We practically shut the place down.”
“I guess I’m better company than even I realized.”
His green eyes met mine and though I couldn’t figure out his expression, I was trapped in his gaze. “Without a doubt.”
I rolled my eyes and ignored the pleased feeling that rippled through me at his words. I would not be charmed by Scott. Or flattered. Or any of the other emotions that caused women to go all giggly and flirty. Nope. No way, no how—and definitely not with the boss. “You’re not totally boring either, Scott.”
“Thanks. I think.” His laugh was so damn soothing, like whiskey and honey in a steaming hot mug of tea.
“Out of questions?” We hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet and he’d barely blushed. Maybe four or five times throughout the night. Maybe.
“For tonight, I think I am.” His gaze was thoughtful and long, as if he was looking right past me and into some other time in his life. It forced at least a dozen more questions to the surface, all of which I refused to ask because that would get me involved. Too involved than I was ready to be in Tulip just yet.
But I could see that Scott had had too much to drink and everyone but Buddy had already gone home, which meant it was time for the Good Samaritan version of myself to kick in. “All right, Doc, let’s get you someplace you can zonk out for a few hours.”
He frowned and glanced around the empty bar. “I’m going home.”
“Maybe, sure. In a few hours. There’s no way either of us will make it out to your place before morning, unless you have an in with local law enforcement to exploit?”
“I could call, but then we’d have a lot of explaining to do, not to mention the risk that Eddy might show up and we’d end up in a hotel room in Alabama together.” He shook his head. “No, thanks.”
“Well, maybe you have friends you can crash with, but I don’t, so thanks for the company and I’ll see you in the morning, Scott.” I stood from the booth, feeling a little wobblier than I had a few