Daniel was lost in her movements as she slowly turned and followed the customers back into the bar. She hung her head slightly, and as she passed the older man, he rested a hand on her shoulder. She lifted her face to him and smiled. Daniel just barely caught that smile in the faded light, but it put his heart in a viselike grip. He couldn’t remember ever having seen something so beautiful, yet so sad.

“Daniel!” Crista called out to him. “If I have to corral you in one more time tonight...!” Crista always looked out for Daniel, but she couldn’t be expected to save lives alone.

“Yeah, okay. I’m with you.” Daniel took an extra second and caught a quick glimpse of Annika Mehta through the large window of the bar. She was behind the bar, pouring beers, warmth exuding from her very being. A few pieces of hair escaped the ponytail, and she tucked them behind her ear. The movement was so casual, yet so intimate, that Daniel suddenly longed to be the one tucking back those rogue pieces of hair himself.

“Goddamn it, Daniel!”

The trance broken, Daniel forced himself to break his gaze. He followed Crista to the ambulance that took them and their patient to the chopper.

Once back in flight, Daniel focused on a now-compliant and regretful Mark and getting him safely to the surgeons who could help him.

Thoughts of Annika standing in the streetlight floated in and out of his mind, unbidden. Her smile warmed him. He could think of nothing else except what it might feel like to hold her again. A tiny amount of lightness crept into him. This was all new to him. He hadn’t felt anything like this in almost five years.

It felt like hope.

CHAPTER THREE

ANNIKA

ANNIKA SHIVERED IN the night chill while the EMTs tended to the gunshot victim. Well, the victim had fired first, clearly distraught by the death of his wife. He’d gone on and on about it inside the bar. Annika hadn’t really paid him much attention. Her mind was still reeling from the realization that one of her student’s parents had quite bluntly insulted her on the basis of her skin color. On her very first day teaching.

When the distraught man had pulled the gun on himself, Phil had pushed the button that he’d always had in his bar—the one that summoned the police. Phil managed to talk the man outside before the cops showed. One thing led to another, and before Annika knew what was happening, the man had fired his gun at the police, who were forced to return fire.

She glanced up in the night sky as she heard the helicopter, and shortly thereafter a fire engine arrived. Two flight medics disembarked the chopper. They approached the EMTs with the calm sense of urgency that was second nature to emergency personnel.