His eyes were curious and on mine, not on the TV that was blasting in the background.
"How long do they expect your recovery to take?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. A few weeks or so, I'd guess."
He frowned. "Damn."
My brows lifted.
"Why do you say that?"
I leaned forward, bringing one of the pillows off of the couch to my lap as I slowly started to wrap the tassels around my fingers, watching him think.
"I'll take some vacation," he finally said. "That way I don't have to deal with anyone that I don't like."
My lip twitched.
"You'd take vacation just so you're not stuck with a partner that you don't like," I repeated. "That's dedication right there."
He shrugged.
"I'm old and tired of dealing with other people's misconceptions about me. I'm not hard to work with as long as I like you. Other partners have their own way of doing things. I'm guessing it's because you're so new to being a paramedic that you're more open to other medics' way of doing things."
"Meaning, I don't whine when you want to drive all the time and don't get offended when you open doors for me and always put your back to the wall so you can see the room."
He sighed.
"I … "
The tones dropped, and he got up off the couch, walking to the door where his shoes were waiting.
"Suspected woman in labor on the side of 225. Volunteer medics on the scene." The dispatcher's static-laced voice filled the air.
"Goodie!" I clapped my hands.
If I had to go out in the rain, at least I got to see something good instead of something gory.
Childbirths were definitely one of my favorite kinds of calls.
"It's yours," Sean said.
I rolled my eyes.
Sean had a problem with babies and birthing women. Something I'd figured out after the past few weeks of working with the man. If a woman even hinted at being pregnant, he was passing her off to me.
"I'll deal with the women hiding food under their breasts all day long, not to have to deal with a woman during childbirth," he'd informed me when I'd questioned him.
"Aye, aye, Captain," I saluted him.
He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Don't start."
I grinned and offered him a smile tossed over my shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
***
Six hours later, our shift change showed, and Sean and I both walked out shoulder to shoulder, to the parking lot.
The sun was shining and our eyes were burning.
After delivering a baby on the side of the highway last night, Sean and I had non-stop calls the rest of the night.
I was seconds away from passing out, and I couldn't wait to get home to my bed.
Sean's next words stopped me cold, though.
"Want to go on a ride this weekend?"
Before I could say 'no, that's not a good idea,' my true feelings took priority, and I blurted out the first words that came to mind.
My brows furrowed. "Sure. Where?"
He grinned.
"To Bear's Smokehouse. Though, the ride's going to start within the city limits and lead out of town."
My head tilted slightly toward the side.
"What else is this?"
He grinned.
"A biker bash," he informed me. "I'll pick you up at ten."
With that, he was on his bike and starting it up, and I was left standing there watching him go, wondering if I was making a huge mistake.
Chapter 5
It's the most wonderful time for a beer.
-Not your average Christmas Card
Sean
I was nervous as fuck and couldn't figure out why.
She was my partner. She was my friend.
And I was falling for her.
Certainly not as fast as I'd fallen with my past girlfriends but falling for her nonetheless.
The only good thing I could see in all of this was that we were denying it with everything we had in us.
I don't know why I invited her. I used my days off to recoup from being with her for twenty-four or forty-eight hours at a time, but I'd wanted to see her. And since I was off for three in a row, and she was off for two of those and then partnered with another medic on Tuesday until I came back on Wednesday, I wanted to see her.
Hence, the reason I invited her to go on a ride with me.
It was also my way of showing everyone that I'd moved on from Ellen and the heartache she'd caused me.
Though, that heartache didn't feel like much of anything these days. Even when I saw Jessie James and her together.
They hadn't come out and said that they were a couple, it was a given. I'd known toward the end of our time together that they had a thing. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see the longing glances they had both been tossing at each other.