“How did he die?” Jayden murmured.
Selena opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again. Thinking about the day Ernesto had come to the apartment to tell her Geraldo was dead always made her sad. But more than that, it made her mad. Angry enough that sometimes she wished she’d been there with Ernesto that day so she could have fought to protect her brother like he had. She’d found that over time, the edge on the sadness grew dull. But the anger was always there, as sharp and painful as ever, even after all these years.
“A rival gang,” she finally said. “Ernesto has always spared me the details, but it came down to jealousy and greed. My brother had everything, and other people wanted it. During a supposed truce talk, a rival gang member shot my brother in the back. Ernesto was shot, too. Geraldo’s death was the last straw from him. He ended up getting out of the life a little while later so he could take over the role my brother had played. That’s how much Geraldo meant to him.”
“I’m sorry about your brother,” Jayden said quietly.
It should have been odd to hear a cop talk about being sorry about a gangbanger killed by other gangbangers, but Jayden was different.
“Thanks.” She placed her dessert dish on the coffee table, though she couldn’t remember when she’d finished it. “But like you said, it was a long time ago. Geraldo has been gone now for over ten years.”
“Ten years is a long time,” Jayden agreed. “But I’m guessing you’re a lot like me, and there’s probably not a day that goes by without you thinking about him.”
Damn, this guy was good.
“True.” She sighed. “But to be honest, I try to avoid thinking about my brother.”
Jayden regarded her curiously, like she’d caught him by surprise. “Why don’t you like thinking about him?”
She shrugged. “Because for whatever reason, when I think about my brother, I get really furious.”
Jayden studied her for a long time, his smoky blue eyes drinking her in like he was reading her mind. “When you get mad, it’s not your brother’s memory that makes you angry. It’s the gangs that took him away from you.”
She wondered if he minored in psychology in college. “Am I that obvious? I hope not. I’ve always heard that women are supposed to be mysterious.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry. Your feminine mystery is firmly intact. But I saw you in that classroom yesterday standing up to Pablo. I saw the anger in your face. It was the same expression you had just now, when you were telling me about your brother. Trust me, I get it. I know what it’s like to hate gangs and everything about them. But take it from someone who knows, you can’t keep letting it get to you. You need to find a way to let the hate go.”
Selena stared at him. She knew she’d said this to herself at least three or four times already tonight, but without a doubt, Jayden Brooks had to be the most amazing person she’d ever met. He’d known her for a few hours and was already reading her like a book.
“But how do you let it go when every time you go to work, it’s right there in your face?” she asked. “When you’re doing everything you can, and it doesn’t seem to help?”
“You talking about me being a cop or you being a teacher?”
“Is there a difference?”
Jayden considered that. “When I first became a cop, I thought I could somehow fix everything, that I could make the world a better place all by myself. But I was wrong. The world is too big for any one person to have an effect on. So these days, I focus on helping the person right in front of me. I save the world one person at a time. It’s that simple. Keep helping the students right in front of you, the ones who are willing to accept your help, one kid at a time, one day at a time. Stop trying to save the world, and be satisfied saving the people in it.”
Selena sat there, gawking at him like he was some kind of heavily muscled Adonis who’d magically shown up on her couch. “Seriously, how the hell are you still single?”
He chuckled, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. “Guess I haven’t met that one-in-a-billion yet. Any idea where I might find her?”
His laugh washed over her, provoking wicked electrical sparks that raced back and forth over her skin before ultimately finding their way to that spot between her legs usually reserved for the tip of her right middle finger—or her vibrator. Then she caught the look in his eyes as he essentially asked her if she was a one-in-a-billion kind of girl. That question—and the heat that followed—had her fighting a crazy urge to yank off her LBD, crawl across the couch, and take a seat in his lap. Because right then, Selena wanted to be his one-in-a-billion girl.
Selena was still thinking about how insane climbing in his lap would be when she felt something thick and solid pressing against the insides of her thighs. She looked down in confusion only to discover that she was straddling Jayden’s lap, his hard bulge dangerously close to her throbbing pussy.
Oh, thank God, she was still wearing her dress!
She had no idea how she’d gotten to his side of the couch, much less how she’d gotten onto Jayden’s lap. She wasn’t bold with men, not by a long shot. Even in her wildest dreams, she couldn’t imagine doing something this out of control.
But then Selena looked down and saw Jayden gazing up at her, an expression on his face like she was some kind of angel from above, and she stopped caring about how she’d gotten here.
“I have no idea where you might find this one-in-a-billion woman you’re looking for, but maybe I can help you search,” she whispered, leaning closer.
Jayden gently cupped her face in his big hand. Then he smiled, and from this close up, she swore it was brighter than the sun. Even his eyes seemed to glint gold. But that was probably only a reflection of the colorful lights of the Christmas tree beside the couch.
“I’d appreciate the help,” he said softly. “If you’re not too busy.”
“I’m not busy at all,” she murmured as their lips came together with a zap.
