His surreptitious visual sweep of the surrounding park and streets before he joined her on the sidewalk chilled her a hundred times more than Harold’s empty threats. “Who was that guy? Has he threatened you like that before?”
“He’s harmless,” Dan assured, slamming the ambulance’s rear doors shut. “He has a psychotic episode every once in a while, but he doesn’t have the power to back up his threats. And he doesn’t remember them by the time he comes back to his senses.”
Cole searched her eyes, clearly not ready to take Dan or the deputy’s word for it.
Sherri shrugged. “What did you expect? This is an ordinary day in the life of a paramedic. Last week, I got a marriage proposal from a prisoner we transported.”
Dan guffawed. “Oh, yeah. A real winner. Missing half his front teeth but sporting a six-pack.”
Cole tensed. “Is he still in jail? How did he take your refusal?”
Sherri reached for the passenger door handle with a teasing grin. “What makes you think I refused?”
Cole pressed his fingertips to his forehead and temple. “Sherri, you’re not taking this serious enough.”
She squeezed his arm, secretly pleased by his concern even though it was his brother he should have been focusing on. “I’m fine. But you look like you should be in bed. Head injuries are nothing to mess with. Just because the MRI was clear doesn’t mean you won’t have any problems if you try to do too much too soon. What are you doing here anyway?”
“Making sure that guy didn’t come after you.”
“The homeless guy?”
“No, the guy in the hoodie I spotted skulking outside the ambulance base as you came out to get coffees.”
Her heart hopscotched over a few beats, but she managed to keep her expression neutral. “That’s why you shouted and pulled the kamikaze routine through traffic?”
His hands fisted again and he looked ready to blow a gasket. “He was seconds away from ambushing you. If that call hadn’t come in when it did—” he glanced around again, scraping his hand across his forehead “—who knows what he might have tried. He must’ve run off when he heard me shout. I searched the area, but couldn’t track him, so I followed you here to make sure he didn’t show up.”
“Cole, you shouldn’t be out racing around after me.” Oh, boy, not something she’d ever thought she’d hear herself say to Cole. But she couldn’t him let him get any closer for both their sakes. His brother needed him. And she needed not to need him. His mile-wide, protective streak was entirely too attractive, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d start admitting things he didn’t need to know. She opened the side door of the ambulance and pressed him to sit on the step. Then flicked her penlight over his eyes, trying not to notice the intriguing shades of blue radiating from his shrinking pupils.
“I’m fine. I need to be out there finding that punk before he shows up on your doorstep.”
She checked his blood pressure, her own spiking at the notion that some creep might show up at her apartment. “The deputies are following all our calls, and Dan is with me. I will be perfectly safe. You need to rest.”
“I’ve rested enough,” he said in a growl.
She lost her patience. “Then spend time with your brother. Considering where he turned up Friday night, he clearly needs help sooner rather than later.”
* * *
The next afternoon Cole shifted in his truck seat, trying to get comfortable. He was still on sick leave, so he’d been parked in the coffee shop’s back lot with a bird’s eye view of the ambulance base since Sherri arrived for her shift this morning. She’d been right about him needing to spend time with his brother, and as much as her scolding had stung, Cole appreciated her concern. He’d kind of enjoyed her playing paramedic on him again, too— looking so intently at his eyes that he’d started to feel as if she could see into his very soul. He hadn’t been able to get her deep blue eyes off his mind since. He just wished she exhibited half as much concern for herself.
Thankfully, the punk hadn’t come back, and so far not even an ambulance call had come in to break up the monotony. He couldn’t help but admire how easily she’d sloughed off the homeless guy’s threat yesterday and joked about a prisoner’s marriage proposal.
Yeah, it was how most frontline workers dealt with the junk, but she’d seemed genuinely unaffected.
Cole glanced at his watch. Eddie would be getting out of school in another forty-five minutes, and he didn’t want to miss him again. Unfortunately, if the kid he’d spotted skulking around the ambulance base yesterday was also in school, he might show up just when Cole needed to leave.
Cole unscrewed his thermos cap and eyeballed the last few ounces of day-old coffee. Forget it. Time to grab a fresh cup. As he pushed open the door, movement along the fence behind the ambulance base caught his eye.
He soundlessly pushed his truck door closed and hunched down behind the hood.
A kid clambered over the chain-link fence. Same black hoodie hiding his face.
The instant he moved toward the ambulance base’s side door, Cole dashed forward and face-planted him into the dirt. Wrestling the guy’s arm behind his back, he hissed, “What are you doing here?”
The punk stopped fighting. “Cole?”
Cole’s stomach tanked. “Eddie?” He grabbed a fistful of his brother’s hoodie and hauled him to his feet, scarcely restraining the urge to connect his fist with Eddie’s nose. He clearly didn’t know him anymore. “How could you?”
Eddie’s eyes ballooned. “How could I what? I came to apologize to Sherri.”
“Right.” Cole felt sick. “That’s why you’re skulking over the fence, instead of walking up from the street.”
“I didn’t want the other guys to see me. I wanted to catch her alone.”
Cole swallowed a rush of bile at how that sounded. He shoved his brother through the hedge flanking the parking lot toward the coffee shop next door. “We need to talk.”
“I’m telling the truth!”
Cole opened the coffee shop door and motioned Eddie to a window seat.
“I always liked Sherri. She was nice to us.”
A waitress sashayed over, clunked two empty mugs on the table, and flashed Cole a welcoming whatcha-doing-later smile. “You must be new here. I never forget a face.” She had pouty lips and an over-the-top makeup job that he supposed some guys would find attractive.
“That’s right.” He pushed his cup toward the pot in her hand.
“What can I get you boys?” she asked as she filled both mugs.
“A couple of the specials,” Cole ordered to expedite her exit.
“Two specials coming up.” She winked and flounced
