Run to Ground(51)

He scowled back at her, but for some crazy reason, that only made her smile widen. His crabbiness was just part of Theo, and she liked it. It made no sense, but she couldn’t help herself. It was the worst time and the worst place and the worst everything, but she still liked Officer Theodore Bosco. A lot. It was hard not to after he’d thrown himself in the line of fire to save them.

“Hi.”

His answering grunt made her beam, even as she mentally rolled her eyes at herself.

“You okay?” Her gaze scanned him, wanting to see with her own eyes that he was in one piece. As soon as they’d emerged from the school bathroom, Jules had heard that a police officer had been shot. It had taken a frantic twenty minutes to find out that the injured cop was Hugh, not Theo. To her shame, relief had coursed through her at the news. Although she’d hated that funny, cheery Hugh had been hurt, Jules had just been so glad it wasn’t Theo who’d been shot.

“Yeah.” And he did appear to be uninjured. At some point since the shooting, he’d changed out of his uniform into well-worn jeans and an equally broken-in T-shirt. Jules tried to focus on their conversation, rather than how very good he looked in civilian clothes. “You? Your family?”

“We’re all fine, thanks to you and Hugh. How’s he doing?”

The corners of his mouth twitched into an almost-smile. “Well enough to be a pain in my ass.”

Relief made her laugh a little too loudly. “That’s good. We’ve been worried. Thank you for what you did for us yesterday.”

Appearing a little uncomfortable, he gave a tight nod as his gaze dropped to the side.

“You saved our lives.” Tears that had been hovering too near the surface for the past twenty-four hours threatened to spill over once again. “I was still trying to figure out what was going on when you dragged us back to the school. We could’ve easily been killed in the time it took for me to realize that someone was shooting at us. If something had happened to Dee…”

As her breath choked off in her throat, Jules stopped that train of thought, since talking about how much danger her little sister had been in, how close she’d come to dying, was a sure way to lose control of her teetering emotions. “So, thank you. It’s such a stupid, tiny thing to say, when what you did was so amazing, so brave, so huge—”

He’d been looking more and more awkward as her speech continued, until he finally cut her off. “Please stop talking.”

Startled, she did.

“Sorry.” Theo scrubbed a rough hand over his head. “I didn’t mean… You can talk, just stop thanking me.” Glancing at her face, he twisted his mouth in a grimace. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She could see how her gushing could have made him uncomfortable. He was just lucky she wasn’t hugging him again, because she could barely restrain herself. There was a pause, and Jules realized she’d been keeping him standing on the porch. “Oh, sorry! Did you want to come in?”

Stepping back, she waved him inside. After a minute pause, Theo stepped forward into the entryway. He always seemed so wary, Jules thought, watching him. That and his cranky demeanor hid the sweetness she knew was in there. He was so good and strong and heroic and looked really, really nice in his T-shirt… Only when he eyed her did she realize she was staring.

“You’re here for Viggy!” she blurted, feeling her cheeks warm and knowing she was probably as red as the lights on top of his squad car. Of course he wasn’t there just to see her, to check in after the traumatic events of the previous day. Her smitten mind had turned the situation to fit her daydreams, when he was just running a necessary errand. “He’s in the kitchen. Actually, everyone’s in the kitchen.”

As usual, he waved for her to go first and then followed her down the hall. It was hard not to let self-consciousness change her gait when she knew he was right behind her, watching her.

“Any news on the shooter?” she asked over her shoulder.

“None I can tell you.” When she looked at him again, slightly taken aback by his abrupt words, he amended his statement. “Yet.”

Her mouth twisted down as she eyed him. “So you haven’t caught him?” Jules figured that if the cops had brought him in, they’d be very willing to share that news right away. If the shooter was still on the loose, it made her decision about whether to go or stay even harder. Theo gave her a steady look, and she couldn’t stop her frown from lightening into a wry smile. “Fine. You can’t say anything yet. Will you let me know when you get the okay to talk?”