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patients should work on one of the ambulances.
"Bill wants you to take another crack at him and see if you can help. If he doesn't
improve within a week he's going to have to let him go," Eric said, fighting back a yawn.
She sighed heavily as she flopped back down on the bed and laid her head on Eric's
shoulder and wrapped her arm around his waist. As she tried to figure out a way to help
Greg deal with his nerves she snuggled closer to Eric. He pressed a kiss to the top of her
head as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.
"I'm not sure if a week's enough time to help him," she said as she absently traced circles
over Eric's chest and stomach, loving the way the light dusting of hair felt against her
fingers.
"No, it's not. Normally I'd offer to grab a few extra shifts, but with you injured," she rolled
her eyes at that, "and the Fireman Muster games this weekend we won't have a chance.
I'm hoping Bill will give us until next Friday before he makes his decision."
As bad as she felt for Greg her mind had moved onto another pressing matter. She
couldn't believe she almost forgot about it, especially since she was competing again for
the first time in four years. "We're going to kick ass this year," she said, knowing it was
true.
For years they competed together in the ambulance portion of the Muster, a competition
between neighboring fire departments to put their skills to the test, they always won. The
last four years she got stuck behind the scenes helping out, but she was sick of that and
told Bill he could find someone else to deal with the venders because she was going to
kick some ass instead.
Eric gently ran his fingers through her hair, careful of her cut. "Are you sure you're up to
it?" he asked softly.
She snorted her disbelief. "Hell yeah, I'm up to it. We are so going to kick some Blackford
ass this year!"
"They kicked out asses last year and the year before," Eric pointed out.
"That's because I wasn't competing," she reminded him.
"There is that," he admitted, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Get some sleep, Joe.
Tomorrow's our twenty-four hour shift and I have a feeling we're going to need every
minute of rest that we can get."
Frowning, she tilted her head to look at him. "Why do you say that?
He sighed heavily as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Because we have Greg for the
entire shift," he announced, making her groan and bury her face against his chest.
"I'm demanding a raise," she muttered against his chest.
"Damn straight."
*******
"Wow, you look like you got your ass handed to you by a psych patient," Jeff said brightly
as he held the side door open for her.
Joe shook her head as she walked past the man. "No, this is what Eric did to me when I
talked back," she said with a shrug.
"She needs to learn her place," Eric informed Jeff with a straight face.
"They all do," Jeff agreed quickly, earning a playful glare from Joe.
He followed Joe to their bunkroom, wondering how exactly he should tell her. He'd
considered making a run for it while she was in the shower this morning and leaving her a
note, or send a test message, but he knew that would just piss her off more. Maybe he
should just tell her.
It was probably for the best that he just tell her and get it off his chest where they had a
modicum of privacy for the fight that would no doubt follow. No doubt she'd be pissed at
him, but he could make her understand and he would. This was only temporary anyway,
well hopefully it would be.
Actually, he hoped to have her the hell out of this line of work and somewhere safe soon.
He was still hoping against hope that Nathan would change his mind and let Joe come
work for him, but if that failed, and it probably would, he would find something else for
Joe. If worse came to worse he could, and probably would anyway to help out, move in
with Joe and take over her bills while she figured out what she wanted to do for the rest
of her life.
If she wanted to go back to school that was more than fine with him. He'd take care of
her, pay off her regular bills and take as much overtime as he could get to help pay for
college. Hell, if she just wanted to relax for a few months he'd be more than fine with
that. As long as she didn't have to worry about her any longer he'd be more than fine
with whatever she wanted to do.
He closed the door behind them as Joe began the tedious job of making her bed. She
sent him a questioning look, but thankfully didn't say anything as she tucked the top
sheet in. After a minute he realized there was no point in putting it off any longer. She'd
find out soon enough and really it was better that they handle this in private.
Praying she wouldn't kick him in the balls, he said, "You're on light duty."
She paused mid-tuck. "What did you just say?" she demanded without looking back.
"I said you're on light duty," he repeated, trying not to wince when she abruptly stood up
and glared up at him. "For the entire shift. You're not allowed to lift or drive," he quickly
explained, mentally kicking himself for not wearing a cup.
"If I'm not allowed to lift or drive then what the hell am I supposed to do?" she asked
evenly as she walked over to him, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for his
answer.
"Rest?" he suggested seconds before she slammed her foot down on top of his. When he
leaned down to check his poor abused foot she shoved him out of the way and stormed
out of the room, probably to track down Bill and give him a piece of her mind. He just
hoped the man didn't sell his ass down the river and inform the grouch that it had been
his idea to keep her on light duty.
Of course the man would rat his ass out. His only hope was that Joe didn't turn her anger
on his balls.
Chapter 14
"Are you still in a pissy mood?" Eric asked as he sat next to her on the couch and threw
his arm around her shoulder.
In answer, she rammed her elbow into his side. "Shit!" he gasped as he bent over and
sucked in a breath.
If she wasn't stuck on light duty she might feel bad about it, but she was. Some people
might enjoy light duty, but she was not one of them. Neither was Eric. It was boring,
incredibly boring and now she was stuck on it for at least this shift, a twenty-four hour
shift, she'd like to point out.
The only thing she was allowed to do for the next twenty-four hours was sit around, walk [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]