Selena was still sorting through the limited possibilities while waiting for the doctor to come in when a tall, slim redhead with fair skin and freckles came into the room. Rebecca Young had a big gym bag in her hand that Selena prayed held the jeans and top she’d called and asked her friend and fellow teacher to bring, but before she could say anything, Becca charged the bed and hugged her fiercely.
“I was so scared when I saw them bringing you out on that gurney.” Tears welled up in Becca’s green eyes. “I thought Pablo killed you.”
Selena returned Becca’s hug, trying to comfort the woman who’d become her best friend over the past five years they’d been teaching together. “I’m fine. Everything’s okay.”
“But you were bleeding.” Becca pulled back a little to look at Selena, making a face that suggested she wasn’t sure Selena was telling the truth. “I saw it from where I was standing on the far side of the parking lot.”
Selena smiled. “It wasn’t my blood.”
Becca eyed her doubtfully for a moment, then sighed in relief. Her expression quickly turned serious again as she took in the medical equipment around the bed. “If it wasn’t your blood and you’re not hurt, then why do they have you hooked up to all this stuff?”
Selena waved her hand. “It’s nothing. The doctor is concerned that my pulse and blood pressure are a little high. He’s monitoring it. That’s all.”
Becca looked like she wanted to throw a BS flag on that, but after a few moments, she finally relaxed. “After the day you’ve had, I’d be shocked if your blood pressure wasn’t high. I know mine is, and all I had to put up with was seeing Pablo walk into the school showing off that gun.”
Selena blinked. “You saw Pablo before he got to my classroom?”
“Yeah, I saw him and knew he was up to no good. I considered finding the nearest fire alarm and pulling that but was worried the commotion would provoke him to do something rash. Instead, I ran straight to the office and told Eva. She called the police, then I helped her and the other teachers evacuate the school.”
Selena smiled. Hearing Becca talk so casually about the best way to handle an armed intruder at the school, then evacuating students for their own safety, it was difficult to believe she’d grown up in the ritzy University Park zip code with a family that had made its fortune in the oil business. It was even harder to believe the only reason Becca had started teaching at Terrace Grove was because she’d refused to let her family pay for her college education.
The school was part of the state’s student loan forgiveness program, and Becca had once told her that she’d only planned to stay at Terrace Grove long enough to get some of her loans paid off. But then she’d fallen in love with the challenge of teaching kids who really, really needed her. Five years later, here she was talking about guns and clearing the school like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Selena was about to point that fact out, but Becca interrupted her. “I heard your students talking after the shooting. They said that big cop threw himself in front of you to save your life, then carried you out in his arms like a puppy. Is that true?”
“Yes, he saved my life,” she said, smiling again. “Though I don’t know if I agree with the last part. The details are a bit blurry, but I’m pretty sure he carried me like a person, not a puppy.”
Becca laughed. “I saw him coming out after the paramedics loaded you into the ambulance. He certainly seemed big enough to pick you up like a puppy. Hell, he looked big enough to pick up the ambulance.”
Selena thought back, remembering what it had felt like to be in his muscular arms. She’d felt safe there, like nothing could hurt her.
“He’s definitely a big man,” she admitted. “Strong, but gentle, too.”
Her friend’s eyes danced. “Sounds like the details aren’t so blurry after all.”
Maybe they weren’t. In fact, she distinctly remembered gazing into his beautiful blue-gray eyes when he’d set her down on the gurney and feeling the strangest sensation she’d ever experienced. In some way, it was like there was a part of her deep inside that recognized the cop as special. She didn’t understand it, and she couldn’t explain it, but it was still there even now.
“Like I said, I was all the way across the parking lot when I saw him,” Becca continued, a smile curving her lips. “But even from that distance, I could tell he was hot. If tall, dark-skinned, handsome, incredibly well-muscled men are your thing, I mean.”
“Aren’t they everybody’s thing?” Selena asked with a laugh.
Okay, truthfully, she giggled. But that was because Becca brought it out in her, always getting her to comment on guys they saw, asking if she’d swipe right or left on them.
Becca grinned. “So, what’s his name?”
Selena stared at her friend for several long moments, at a complete loss for words as she pictured the man who’d saved her. While she might know every line and curve of his face, she was stunned to realize she had no clue what his name was. In all the time she’d been in his arms, she’d never even considered looking at the name tag on his uniform—if there was one—much less asking what it was.
“You don’t know his name, do you?” Becca asked.
Selena shook her head. “Things were so crazy after the shooting, and I really wasn’t in a condition to talk. Then by the time I was…well…it was too late. I was already in the ambulance on the way here. The guy risked his life for me. I think I should at least thank him.”
“It shouldn’t be that hard to track him down.” Still smiling, Becca mimicked dialing a phone and holding it up to her ear. “Hello, Dallas PD? This is Selena Rosa. I was rescued by an incredibly attractive, muscular, dark-skinned Adonis from your SWAT unit who likely makes a habit of saving damsels in distress. Could I get his name and number so I can thank him in person?”
“That’s all I have to do, huh?”
“Sure.” Becca shrugged. “How many guys like him could they have working there?”
Selena had to agree with her friend on that. The man would definitely stand out in a crowd. But while she honestly wanted to thank him for what he’d done, she couldn’t really see herself calling the police department and asking for his name and number.
