“Not the ER. But we’ll have to take your car. All I have is my bike.” He put his hand out for her car keys.

“I’ll drive,” Nilay spoke up.

She looked from one grim man to the other. “But no ER?”

Nilay looked to Daniel. Daniel raised his hands. “I promise.” He side-eyed Nilay. “How long have you had your license?”

“A week.”

“He passed the squirrel test,” Annika assured Daniel. “And I’m not going without him.”

Daniel sighed, resigned. “Let’s go.”

IT WAS DECIDED that Nilay would drive and Daniel would direct from the passenger’s side, leaving Annika in the back seat. Nilay kept up a stream of conversation while he drove.

Daniel was suddenly interested in the traffic. “Watch out for that guy.”

Nilay easily maneuvered out of the way. “So I saw you help Phil get rid of Steven.”

Daniel shrugged.

“Could you show me that move sometime?”

Daniel side-eyed Nilay. “We just met. You don’t know anything about me.”

Nilay grinned. “I know people. Trust me.”

Daniel turned his head to Annika in the back, his eyebrows raised. Annika nodded. “It’s true. He’s got some kind of radar or something.”

Daniel shrugged. “Sure, kid.” He nodded at Annika’s hand. “How’s it feel?”

Her hand was pounding, but it was nothing to how the rest of her was shaking from the encounter with Steven. How had she ever thought she loved him? Honestly, if there really was a radar that detected the character of a person, hers was permanently broken. She met Daniel’s concerned gaze, unsure of what her own face revealed.

“It’ll be fine.”

He narrowed his eyes at her as if he wanted to ask her something, but instead he nodded and faced front again. “Almost there.”

Annika studied his profile, enjoying the lines of his face as he spoke to Nilay and laughed at something her brother said. That warm feeling of contentment passed over her again as she watched them. She shook her head of it. No point in going there. Your radar is broken, remember?

But Nilay definitely liked him, and he had great radar. Maybe...

As they approached a small building with a large field, she sat up straight. “You’re taking me to your chopper base, Chopper Guy?” Oh, shit, did she say that out loud?

“What did you call me?” Amusement dripped from his voice, and he turned to face her, his face lit up, green eyes dancing.

“Nothing.” Annika focused her gaze out the window. Her face heated in response to his smile, even though she couldn’t see it. Thank goodness for brown skin.

Nilay’s face lit up. “This is a chopper base? You’re a flight medic?”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, on the side.”

“Wow.”