On her other side, the officer she’d shoved aside dropped down beside her. “I’m also an EMT.” He rolled her a bit to the left. “It was a through and through. Pretty straight trajectory. That’s a plus.”

Meaning the bullet probably hadn’t ricocheted too much off bones or organs and left a ton of unseen damage in its wake.

“What can I do?” Brent had to force the strained question past the constriction in his throat.

“We have to put pressure on the wounds, front and back. Sterile pads would be ideal, but whatever we can muster will suffice.” The man lifted Eve’s wrist and pressed two fingers to her radial artery.

Brent fumbled with the buttons on his shirt and ripped it off. Folded the fabric and tucked it under Eve, against the exit wound.

One of the other officers handed him a stack of paper napkins.

He pressed those against the smaller entrance site and exerted pressure, sandwiching the two wounds.

In the background, multiple sirens pierced the air.

Please let the ambulance be one of them!

One of the other officers started to elevate her legs, but the EMT waved him off, keeping his attention on his watch. “Not with an abdominal injury.”

The man backed away.

Brent watched the rapid, shallow rise and fall of her chest.

Shock was setting in.

Across from him, the officer raised his head. “For the record, she saved my life. I didn’t see the guy with the gun—but he was aiming for me. She must have spotted him, then shoved me out of the way.”

The pressure in Brent’s throat intensified. That sounded like Eve. She was the kind of woman who cared passionately about others, who would rather take a bullet than put someone else at risk.

The kind of woman any guy with half a brain would want to pursue.

And if God gave him another chance to test the waters of romance, he intended to paddle with both oars toward the copper-haired radio personality who’d breathed new life into a heart that had long lain dormant.

Was that Cate’s voice . . . and Grace’s?

Eve strained to hear the hushed conversation taking place just out of earshot.

Yes, it was them—but why were they hovering nearby while she was sleeping?

She shifted—but gasped as pain knifed through her right side.

The voices fell silent.

Had she been dreaming them?

And why did every muscle in her body ache?

Did her discomfort have anything to do with the strange dream she’d—

“Eve?” Someone smoothed the hair back from her forehead with gentle fingers. “Can you hear me?”

Grace again.

She forced her sluggish eyelids open.

Grace stood above her, features fuzzy—but clearly worried. On her other side, Cate gave her an appraising inspection.

Why were they—

Oh!

A swirl of memories engulfed her.

The belligerent crowd.

The guy with the gun.

The intense burning sensation.